12 dicembre (1972) - full transcript
On December 12th, 1969 a bomb went off at the Piazza Fontana in Milan that killed 16 people and injured 84. Railway worker and anarchist activist Giuseppe Pinelli was picked up, along with other anarchists, for questioning regarding the attack. He was held and interrogated for three days, longer than Italian law specified that people could be held without seeing a judge. Just before midnight on December 15, 1969 Pinelli was seen to fall to his death from a fourth floor window of the Milan police station. Although officially deemed a suicide, the reporter who watched the fall from the street maintained that he was pushed. Three police officers interrogating Pinelli were put under investigation in 1971 for murder but charges were dropped because of lack of evidence.
Premium Platform
Milan: 12th December 1970
1 year after the slaughter in Piazza Fontana
Milan: 12th December 1970
1 year after the slaughter
it's been 1 year since the
slaughter here at the Agrarian Bank
who do you think it was?
-who knows!
who knows?
would you have anything to
tell me about the slaughter?
I transported the man who blew up the bank
and here's the story the taxi driver told me:
I was at the taxi stand when I saw a
man come out of the Corso shops a man
who was going towards the square
he has a suitcase in his hand and was coming to my taxi
he said to me "take me to the Agrarian Bank"
and I naturally told him,
"but the bank is only 100m"
you'd be quicker to go by foot
but the man opened the door and got into the taxi
so naturally I took him in front of the Agrarian Bank
[L.Paolucci continues to relate the dialogue
he had with the taxi driver Rolandi]
I waited in front of the bank for
a minute and then he came out
I took him where he needed to go
and only after half a hour I found
out about the explosion at the Bank
and in that moment I remember that
when he had gone into the Bank he had
the suitcase and when he came out he didn't
I remembered that he had a very dark face
and he spoke a perfect Italian, without accent
?...my advice is that you leave immediately
and while leaving he said to me,
you met [drove?] me here, and if I go to the police
all will be talking about me, radio, television,
and at this point I have to say
that I'm asking myself if
I was a servant of the truth
you will ask me why
so I will tell you immediately what my doubts are:
1. Why did the police, half an house after
ask me if I had asked the taxi
driver what the man was wearing
why didn't the police question me directly?
why did I never meet Rolan?
Cornelio Rolandi,
sole witness in charge of Valpreda,
died 16th july 1971, after 12th dec 1969
8 people had already died,
all related to the slaughter
no interviews to anyone because
during the worse times, even for me
[C.Rolandi - Taxi driver]
when I was interviewed, it seemed
like everyone was helping me
but instead nowadays, it's
almost 6 months i'm unemployed
no one helps me
people who came to visit me
are friends, journalists haven't come
i wait for proposals that are useful to me and family
but up to now i have found no
one that has made any declaration
for the future, even for my son, and i don't know
I'm here, a man suspended from eveything
Sunday morning, the 14th
around 9.30, I don't know,
I get a call from the police
and not from Pino, saying that
Pino was at the station and ill
at 14:30 on monday, yet another
phone call from the police
they said, "your husband has been
stopped at the station for check ups"
he repeats this again
who was asking for Pino's documents [license?]
ten minutes later I call saying
i'd found it, should I bring it?
he says, no Miss, we are coming
but where is Pino exactly?
- he's here where he is much better
at 23:00 a policeman came to get the document
at 1:05, of the 16th, journalists
came to tell me that Pino had died
he said, you know lady, we have a lot to do
At my house a policeman came, put his hand
on my shoulder and said, lady, come with me
and he took me to Dr.Allegra's room
who asked me, who are you?
I said, I am Pinelli's mother
lady, assure the mother of the children,
that Giuseppe is not involved in anything
we were just following leads from Rome,
because of the seriousness of the case
when I left I phoned his wife and my daughter
assuring them that there was nothing on Pino
and telling them what Dr.Allegra had told me.
And at an earlier time, when Alice had said she
was worried that Pino was too involved in his party...
with the anarchists, the movement
I observed him a little and said, "Pino be careful
because, you know, anarchists not well considered"
And he replied to me,
"anarchy is not what they taught you when you were a child,
it is not violence, we do not want violence
and we don't use it".
he assured me with those words,
and that was the last time I saw Pino
in the evening, after the journalists had arrived
after Calabresi's reply, which
I heard because I was near the phone
to hear the reply, I was
the first to go to the hospital
so a nurse of the hospital took me to an inside room
she said, "lady, wait here, are you on your own?",
I said, no, I'm waiting for my daughter-in-law
while we talk, a nurse (male)
comes in and searches for a document and says,
"is this the council's certificate?"
when I heard that phrase I thought, Pino had died.
and the nurse says, "he was
brought here in pretty bad shape"
they took us to see him, I remember very well
and I don't ever want to relive it
[Bridge of Ghisolfa Centre - (Anarchist)]
At that moment that the Ghisolfa
was closing, Pinelli arrives on his motorcycle
"Do you want to follow us?"
"you know, it's a formal question, no pressure
we know you have nothing to do with it"
so in that way, a friend Artau go into the car
while Pinelli followed on the scooter
to the police station.
I started to be involved with Giuseppe Pinelli
[Milan Courts: first hearing
on case of Lotta-Continua - Calabresi]
basically one year ago, the
same night of the day that he died
Pinelli is invited to present
himself at the police station
and here, during the night between the 12th and 13th
that is, between Friday and Saturday
they interrogate until the
early hours of the morning
the second day arrives, Saturday,
the night between Saturday and Sunday,
Pinelli had stayed in a secured room
the next day is the day of the tragedy
according to the reconstruction by certain journalists
between 23:58, 23:59 and 24:00 hours
the body of Pinelli falls
in the courtyard of the station
he is taken to hospital
he arrives some 10 minutes after midnight
or 15, or some minutes later
he is treated by Dr. Fiorenzano
In the rooms of medical visits
we were brought a man of about 40 years old
whose conditions were extremely serious
with no pulse or pressure
in the meantime there was a
movement of people, even in the medical room
the situation was such that to my
questions of what happened how did it happen
someone explains that Pinelli,
during the interrogation,
makes a precise murder charge, the phrase was unambiguous
someone else in this movement says,
"he got up suddenly, went to the window and
because of the heat, threw himself out"
operations were suspended,
Pinelli had finished living.
Some say, to enter
the history of this case
that Pinelli had a sudden impulse
[Lawyer Gentini - defending
Lotta Continue - continues]
that he got up suddenly,
threw himself towards the window
that he would have climbed the fence
hurting himself
to his family, to his
political ideology, to everything
others say, that he went close to the window
that with a movement flicked the ash from his cigarette
after finishing to smoke
to fool the police around him.
and then threw himself
it was around...23:56
I remember because I looked at my watch because
I wanted to get the early edition of the newspaper
and when I decided to go, I said bye to my collegues
got the newspaper
I went as usual by the stairs
I lit a cigarette
arrived in the courtyard and
just in that moment heard the noises
something hitting, a shout
and then 3 consecutive noises
something that fell, hitting twice then
the final impact on the ground naturally
then there were some muffled noises, two closer, and one further away
so much that after, I said,
this body that fell, must have hit the two edges
Hyphotheses...[?]
and they are these:
a rough meeting during the interrogation
that made the people present think
that Pinelli was close to death
there in custody, under the eyes,
those days, of the whole of Italy
in other words, they really sent him to death
they chose to drop the
anarchist and talk of suicide`
rather than put into crisis, with the
police of Milan, the whole investigation
with the facts of the 12th of December.
Another hypothesis:
Murder.
[Group of workers meeting in the
headquarters of the Lotta Continue in Milan]
I think, the bombs, were exploded in that moment
only because the working class,
was going through an excellent period
with regard to the socialist movement
So that these people, with the support of the
government, of the State, exploded these bombs
to blame the left, the people who were fighting
when it was clear that the murders
were fascist and nothing else
It was a reply, really, a reply
to the advance of the workers
The case was in Milan, but within the factories,
especially Fiore, the event was immediately understood
there were no doubts, that the bombs were put by anarchists
or whatever, it was immediately understood that it was fascists
even the most unpoliticised worker knew this
It was a black thread that tied everything together
it tied parliament, the repression
of workers, and all these things
[Group of ex-partisana of Sarzana]
I think that the right position
in this direction would be to do
towards directors of the Italian State
and all the parties
to talk about the illegality
the affairs of the fascists
we are always there
It's the Italian state that is fascist
how can it talk about laws?
Agnelli pays two: pays Colombo and pays Borghese
I came home in '45
and in May they were already home
they had come home, it was all over
and they waited for me because
they told me, look, Martini,
you suffered there, and we suffered here
now let's try and make an Italy with another regime
with another system, democratic system, an advanced system
get rid of tyranny, remove the monarchy
do the reforms, etc...etc...
I agreed, I listened to them
When we went to the hills, we were a nucleus of people
people who fought for an ideal,
to really change the situation in Italy.
They fooled us
They sold what was the partisan movement
Things basically were not changing.
I saw strikes, strikes started
fights started, they started to shoot again,
so I said basically
"What republic have we made?"
When there are deaths,
when the police shoot
When Togliatti gave
amnesty to the fascists
What sort of republic have
we made, I would say
So they would reply
"Step by step, step by step"
For me, steps were taken
but always in the same place
so that there must be
a hole 2 metres big
in these steps that the
Communist Party would take
to repress marches
or to divert them
For example, it was seen
the elections that took place in Sicily and Calabria
and why all those votes for [?] came out
It's not because they
have just now emerged
it's not that they
have just become fascist
They were fascists before but before they were
hidden behind the mask of the D.C. [Christian Democrats]
[Colonnata village (in Carrara) -
white murders and toxicity]
Every year, give or take,
about 20 people come, 30..40..
How do people die here?
Under blocks of stone, squashed
Or some of the accidents have to do with fear
to lose their jobs, to lose the
company, they have families and kids
They go for the dangerous tasks,
I won't go, you go...
Bosses take advantage of us because the workers
need the money, even just 30,000 lire
those 30,000 that the
son brings, they need it
to pay for this and that,
so they take more risks
When they say, "go and work there" and I see that
it's dangerous, I am constrained to go
because if I say I won't go, I go home
and my father says "now what do we do?"
"here we can't even eat"
And he takes advantage of us
The work we do each day, I work over there
It's already seven years
that I work with one hand
and when one expresses an idea over there
that does not appeal to these bosses
they are threatened day by day
they are threatened when one goes on strike.
Look lads, we have to fire 20 or 15 men
15 workers
People over here react when
there is a deadly accident
Here even children react jumping
out of bed naked and barefoot
each one tries to get
inside where the father is
who works and brings the bread home
They all shout, and go home and
tell everyone where they are
then they have more of a chance
he died here he died there
and the whole thing finishes
like that you see?
Because here, even with the bosses,
we can't have contact with them
They will always not care about us,
so for the usual problem I think
the time has come to say
"enough" even with rifles
you've exploited me until now,
now you will give me back all you took
to me my father and grandfather
Let's listen to the young, I listen
to the young because here we are fed up
I dream, every night I dream that
in the morning something will happen
something big, maybe
even the revolution
There was a time in my
team, really tough work
So we had an meeting one evening saying "Guys,
we need to strike, to ask for a 20 lire increase"
The workers, maybe some of
these things they don't understand
I interrupted this meeting saying
it's fair to give
them the 20 lire increase
but the most important thing is to strike,
to put more men, 4 men instead of 3
but we have to let them realise that toxocity
isn't removed with money, because work is always
hazardous. It is removed with more workers
A specific case, where I work
these spraying machines last 30 years
30 years ago we used to work in twos
now we are 8 or 9,
so we spray each other
and this provokes TB and illness
In a chain production line, where a worker
works and does the same movements 8 hours a day
Always, from morning to evening,
this individual after some time
is not capable of discussion certain
things or understanding certain things
Toxicity is not only the smoke but also
is able to repress the complexity of man
For me toxicity begins first thing
in the morning because I get up at 3.30
and get to work at 5:45i
18 kilometres it was impossible that the parties
and those who think they're doing something
they should also do those 18 kilometres
Because a man that gets up at 3.30 in the morning
when I do the first shift, which means I come home at 4
and because of this toxicity,
beyond toxicity, also human satisfaction
I have to say, are you unemployed?
How many unemployed are there?
[Pasolini interview with
the unemployed of Bagnoli]
Who are you protesting
against? against who?
Against the bosses who
exploit us all year round
He needs a lot of work
How many unemployed are there here?
-We are many. How many?
about 50
[Naples accent - incomprehensible!]
In all these discussion...we go to
the employment office to ask for a job
A constitutional strike to make
national contracts, they throw us out
They throw us out for a strike which
is constitutional, so then we go to Rome
It doesn't exist
we went there, me and 5-6 workers
we went into a room with 8 of them
Mr.Torozzi and 4-5 employees
They replied, ok. If you want a place to work
you should be ashamed.
You in this room should because it's only 8 people
talking to the representiatives of the unemployed in Naples!
The problem with kids, like this kid here
the problem of kids is that all in all
in a family of 8, where they earn 15,000 lire
because they can't even eat
This is the fight, the fight of the young
["La lotta, dura, senza paura!"]
["The tough fight, without fear!"]
Reggio Calabria [southern state] 1970
The fight for main town
The anger against bosses
a piece of watch or something
There's no work, there's nothing
everyone, all these guys are dying of hunger
-Why?-
Look at our condition!
In these shacks, the rats eat you
People who support the strikes
are mostly poor people
They would descend to get beaten or
killed, to get actually killed
while the bosses sat in their balconies
to see the spectacle and make fun of us
When there were fights between youth and police
There was an old woman with her shopping bag who
went to and fro picking bringing back thrown stones
When we heard that story about the bombs we fled
-You escaped?-
Some older friends had sea-masks
they put on and ran away
They would have vans following behind
them, they would shoot every 15-20 blocks
They would even shoot bullets
On their return they would
find another barricade
and again, until they were
forced to not enter St.Katherines
because they would die - I was so scared!
They didn't come in the nights,
because it was scary
-The police were scared?-
Yes, because the lights were all broken here
We let the police pass over the bridge, but they managed
to get past the barricade at St.Katherines then we held them back
-You did the republic?-
Yes we did the republic with barricades
Then we blocked it completely to
not let the police pass at all
In each group there were about 100 of us, 150
but united we were about 500
-A large battle?-
Large because in the end....
-And who won?
We won because the police
didn't go beyond the barricade
They would punch, spitting in the mouth,
they would make the prisoners drink salt water
they would make them go up stairs and
trip them over to break their teeth
If we were just 4 hoodlums as the TV said, why did they
send in an army? Why did they send 8000 police and carabinieri
Then they stopped me and I said
"don't arrest me, don't beat me, I'm an invalid"
They beat me, the ripped up
my certificate and other things
The president of one of the occupied schools,
found and documented with photos these things
Things that had been left behind
they would take all these
things before loading
There were reasons for leaving,
totally valid reasons for the protest
But on the other hand one has to realise that
there was a certain manipulation by people
by people who have particular interests
on Reggio and on the
question of "Capoluogo" [main town]
The population did not identify
these elements that were used for
that were used for provocation or manipulation
Shut up a second!
I wanted to say that...
There was...
-It's true, it's true!
The population combated and fought
and the same people have returned
to power in the municipality and province
We want the "capoluogo" and that's
all!, it will come, thanks anyway!
If they won't give it to us,
we will take it by power
But I agree with you!
We were not pushed by anyway,
we went down into the square [piazza]
But I'm saying that the ideal reasons
are totally valid it's only that there was
some people who took advantage of this.
Let him speak!
No one exploited us, no one!
We descended into the piazza, not for the rich
but we descended for us, for the "capoluogo"
Who tells you that after all you've
done, you went to prison, the other to hospital,
that those to benefit this shouldn't be us?....
[A worker of the Pirelli factory speaks]
This is the complicity of the Community Party`
Where there was hunger, there was
desperation, and the fascist took advantage of this
When the proletariat is taken over by desperation
terrible things can happen
I have to say of the 100 clients
I have, 99 of them are southern
and a Piedmontese, this is true isn't it?
They come here to work, hoping to make
a house, when they arrive they put them in barracks
near Porta nuova, they don't have
a house, they don't have anything
When you have 100 workers like that,
find them a house, give them what they need
Otherwise what do these people do?
I am willing, in any moment, I am old
but I am an old fighter, I am a revolutionary
and I am for sweeping away...to get rid of the bosses
They should go away, they should never be seen again
Here you become a robot, not a human
any more and you have a wife and kids
Here instead you become a robot
you know that in the morning at 3:40
you have to wake up and go to work
you have to produce, produce and produce
The bosses exploit us from the morning to the evening
The owner Agnelli, who is he? who is
he? He's the one who exploits us no?
We get 100,000 lire of salary while
outside the cost of life is how much?
-And it's Agnelli who exploits you?-
Of course it is, of course
Listen - who increases production here?
If you found yourself face to face
with Agnelli what would you do?
-I'd shoot him!
Immigrants are not only those who come
from the south to work to find a better place
it is also a worker from here,
a farmer from here who is exploited!
I love my Sicily so I...
If I could return,
I would return there
Sicily is beautiful but I think
it's beautiful only for holidays
She is well here, there are
no entertainments in Sicily
there really aren't
She got the habit of people in Turin
well, here I found
another style of life
It's small but I like everything.../
The film you have seen was shot between
the end of 1970 and the beginning of 1972`
A long time ago
The film has been restored, cut and
remounted thanks to the collaboration of Enzo Ocone
of the authors and Pasolini Foundation
The original version is stored in
the archives of the Pasolini Foundation
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nov 2nd 2008