Teaching the history of terrorism in Italy: The political strategies of memory obstruction

1. Introduction

“…69 The groups that were most active in the strategy of tension were Ordine Nuovo, Avanguardia Nazionale, and the masonic lodge Propaganda Due, all with a neofascist ideology and with links to the secret service. 65 Amara (2006) 66 Hajek (2010) 67 , p. 86), Cento Bull (2007 68 , Ferraresi (1996, p. 71), Cento Bull (2007, p. 57), Willan (1991, p. 40) 69 Bull, M. (1992), Cento Bull (2007, chapter 4), Willan (1991), Bale (1996), De Lutiis (1998 Propaganda Due included high-ranking and influential members of the police, military, and secret services, as well as industry leaders and politicians. The secret services were dominated by neofascists and anticommunists, and the connections between all these groups made coverups and the systematic obstruction of justice possible.…”

8. Statistical Testing of Regality Theory

“…69 The groups that were most active in the strategy of tension were Ordine Nuovo, Avanguardia Nazionale, and the masonic lodge Propaganda Due, all with a neofascist ideology and with links to the secret service. 65 Amara (2006) 66 Hajek (2010) 67 Ferraresi (1996, p. 86), Cento Bull (2007, chapter 4) 68 , Ferraresi (1996, p. 71), Cento Bull (2007, p. 57), Willan (1991, p. 40) 69 Bull, M. (1992), Cento Bull (2007, chapter 4), Willan (1991), Bale (1996), De Lutiis (1998, chapter 4) Propaganda Due included high-ranking and influential members of the police, military, and secret services, as well as industry leaders and politicians. The secret services were dominated by neofascists and anticommunists, and the connections between all these groups made coverups and the systematic obstruction of justice possible.…”

Testimony of terrorism: Civic responsibility and memory work after a political massacre

“…Furthermore, the choice by the Italian Government to name the day of Aldo Moro’s assassination as the National Day for the victims of terrorism shows the political intent to condemn certain forms of terrorism more strongly than others. Actually, as demonstrated by the analysis of Hajek (2010), in Italian history books, the history of neo-fascist terrorism ( stragista ) is partially obscured by one of the left-wing terrorist groups, so that the ‘Years of Lead’ are more easily remembered than the ‘Strategy of Tension’ (the name which defines right-wing terrorism). In this situation, the associations of the families of the victims, and especially the victims (meaning the people who were at the attack and remained physically unharmed or only injured), and the relatives of murdered and/or injured people who later became testimonies carried out an important role for the transmission of memory of the massacres.…”