As happened in various European cities over the last fortnight, in Italy a number of high-profile protests took place against the Israeli bombardment and invasion of Gaza which to-date has resulted in the death of up to 1,3001 Palestinians.
In cities like Rome, Bologna, Milan, and Florence, amongst others, parades took place that included the disturbing and commonplace burning of the Israeli flag. Elsewhere in Three Monkeys Alberto Mucci usefully describes the dynamic of a simliar march attended in London.
Of course it’s reasonable to point out that the flag burnings are the work of individuals, and almost certainly do not reflect the attitudes of the vast majority of protesters. The act of flag-burning, from at least the 1970s onwards, also seals an unwritten pact between protesters and the media – if it’s done, the media will deem the protest ‘newsworthy’.
But the burning of the Israeli flag, or its defacing with symbols from the third reich, anywhere is deeply disturbing. In an Italian context it is doubly so.
In a lengthy interview on the talk show parla con me Moni Ovadia, an Italian Jewish writer,actor, and activist put it best when describing the protests:
“Someone burning a flag has something to get out of his system – like an addict, if he doesn’t burn a flag every now and then he feels ill. Has burning a flag ever managed to do anything for an oppresed people? Not even once! […] Let’s change things a little. If I burn the flag of the United States, I’m also burning the flag of Noam Chomsky, of all those Americans who are in opposition, the flag represents the nation – the left, the right, the centre, the radicals and the moderates. You just don’t do it [burn the flag]. It’s stupid.
And then if you put a swastika over that flag? If Palestinians do it, you need to understand that rage can make you lose your patience and reason. Let’s take into account that the Palestinians are a people imprisoned for over forty years, without a future, the most abbandoned people in the world; their children can’t play like other children; their children can’t study like other children; their youth live in constant frustration, so we can say it’s wrong [the burning and defacing of the israeli flag], but we can understand it.
If a young Italian does it though, he should remember that this is a country that introduced anti-semitic racial laws [under fascism], and he’d be better off using his head a little.”
Notes
1. Hamas, Israel hold fire; Gazans reel at war’s toll, Reuters 19/01/2009
2. Moni Ovadia interview Parla con me 14/01/2009 (youtube link http://it.youtube.com/watch?v=LuTBaeFQP64)