The assassination of a top adviser to the Italian government is ringing alarm bells, not simply in Italy, but throughout European capitals. Politicians are asking themselves if perhaps political terrorism is about to return, after 20 years of relative quiet. When Germany’s Baader-Meinhoff gang was finally broken by the authorities, it became apparent that the majority of its murderous members were the young products of comfortable middle-class homes. Like so many revolutionaries throughout history, they knew little of the realities of being poor. Guilt at their good fortune coincided with the normally short-lived standard rebellion of children against the values of their parents’ generation, to produce angry individuals who were easily exploited by a few psychotic revolutionaries.
Italy’s Red Brigade terrorists were, however, of a different order of magnitude to the deluded German killers. Italy’s postwar Communist Party once had more members than any other Communist Party outside the old Soviet bloc. It was a breeding ground for extremism. Worse, the left-wing terrorists acquired what was called "radical chic", with some left-wing intellectuals seeking to justify their bestial behavior. Of even greater concern, neofascist terror groups sprang up, whose atrocities, such as the bombing of Bologna railway station, were every bit as terrible and sinister as the political assassinations of their Marxist counterparts.
Thirty years ago, at the height of the last European political terror, comfortable liberals throughout the continent were appalled and apparently powerless. In Germany, intellectuals who should have known better sought to give spurious value to the childish demands of the terrorists. Certain sections of the left-wing media and student press even elevated these killers into folk heroes. It was a serious nonsense that served to hamper the forces of law and order, as they sought to track these criminals down. Without a death penalty, the worst risk the young hoodlums ran was being gunned down during one of their attacks. If they were captured they could look forward to high publicity trials, during which they could spout their Marxist claptrap, and then a comfortable imprisonment — at one point as special "political" prisoners.
European governments would be foolish to allow such stupidity to take hold again. Swift and firm action needs to be taken to crush any political terror before it can gain momentum. The problem is that Italy remains an administrative and moral shambles. Premier Berlusconi destroyed the anti-corruption campaign that saw the indictment of his own brother. He has fixed the law to allow his continued dominance of the Italian media while still the country’s leader. The price of this behavior is an angry and disillusioned electorate.
If the drive by the Italian public prosecutor’s office to root out corruption is stymied, the result will be a catastrophic disappointment among ordinary Italians, already hugely cynical at the disgraceful antics of their leaders. It is into the moral vacuum at the heart of Italian politics that the men of violence are clearly planning to move. Unless high public standards can be re-established, and it seems a big ask, the bigoted murderers from both political poles will have a clear field.
