Part II: Occupy Rome Protest Photos - The Aftermath

Two days after the Occupy Rome protest took place, I decided to take a little walk around one of the major areas where plenty of violence and destruction occurred.

It's astounding at how much has already been cleaned up.  I was told that cleaning crews have worked virtually round-the-clock since the event ended.  Can you imagine sand blasting walls to remove spray paint graffiti or putting walls of tape up across retail store windows that have been broken in?  How about placing bright orange cones and metal gates around freshly poured concrete where sections of sidewalk were either destroyed or vandalized?

It's sad to see such destruction but the more I read articles written by scholar and amateur alike regarding the violence, the more I realize this result was a long time coming.  Better put as many others have said before me including the following excellently written source, the violence was not surprising.    

It seems an astounding percentage of the population are unhappy with the current leadership in Italy.  Silvio Berlusconi, Italy's Prime Minister, recently squeezed by on a vote of confidence from the country's parliament.  617 individuals were present for the vote which would basically determine if he would remain in office until the next election.  316 voted for him. 301 against (source).  If you didn't catch that, he was able to keep his job because of 15 votes.  If this quorum were representative of the entire country, 48.8% of the people would vote him out.

Though I have personally talked with only a few dozen voting Italians since I moved out here, keep in mind I have not conducted in-depth political surveys with them.  However, if the topic comes up, my ears are wide open, and all I hear are complaints about Mr. Berlusconi.

I met an older gentleman recently while visiting the city of Teramo, Italy.  He looked to be near 60 years old and was standing next to me at one point.  After he randomly asked me a question in which I understood nothing, I responded by telling him I don't speak Italian well, "non parlo italiano bene".  He immediately went into quite good English.

"You speak English?"
Yes.
"You are American?"
Yes.
"We trade you Berlusconi for Obama."

That one caught me off-guard.

With general unhappiness due to the country's leadership as well as economic hardship, I, too, can see how peaceful protests were a good excuse for the violent to make their appearance and make their anger known.

Let me rephrase so you understand my position.  I didn't say I understand how they can be violent.  I can simply see how people who are looking to cause violence would use this scenario to their advantage; to have a better chance at getting away with it.

It still pains me to see some of their damage on my walk.

 Let's zoom-in on it a little more.

This is an information booth of sorts where I've seen police sit in these all over the city and when the street gets busy, they come out and help direct traffic.  The Tribune is behind it (at the same palazzo as Santa Scala and San Giovanni di Laterano).  The question I find myself asking is WHY?  Why did this object get destroyed, and for what reason?  What's worse is that this was the second one in row that I found clearly attacked.  All I see in this photo is senseless, and useless, destruction.

I spotted this bank a little further down on my walk.  If you click the picture, it will open the photo in full size and you can see in more detail what has happened to the windows.  What does it prove to try and break the bank's windows?  And who knows what happened with the wall above the door?  I am confident the exterior surface did not look like this before the protest.  It looks like something was torn out, perhaps a sign for the bank.  All over the wall, you can see dried splatters from something that left several marks.

I was foolish for not getting my camera out as I walked past a man wearing a nice looking suit putting a sign on one of the many vehicles which were burned to their shells.  No fabric, glass or paneling remained.  Just an ash-grey exoskeleton.  I was crossing the street but still curious as to what he was doing.  So I made it across, looked one more time and upon seeing him leave, I noticed he taped a piece of paper in the glass-less window for all people and passing traffic to read.  In big, bold letters the paper said this:


roma città aperta


Rome city open.  Rome city open?  That makes no sense to me.  What message is that man telling the world?  There has to be some deeper meaning to these words.  My brain thirsted for more knowledge.  I hardly knew anything about Rome's and Italy's extensive culture so I went to one of my Italian friends for help.

She pointed me to wikipedia.  She said "'roma città aperta' refers to an Italian war-movie.  Here you can find the plot http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rome,_Open_City."

Ah hah!  My first clue toward inner turmoil resolution.

Source

I clicked the link and read the plot of the movie.  Ok, made in 1945.  Goes into the characters and what they do while the Nazis occupied Rome during World War II, specifically the year 1944.  It won several awards.

It wasn't enough information for my thirst to solve this case.

I asked another friend what it all means.  She is very, VERY good at speaking and writing in English and I've made very few edits and translations to her response below.

"Carissimo [Dear] VASGO, 

Roma Città Aperta is indeed one of the most beautiful films ever (I must have seen it at least 10 times but I still cry every single time I watch it). 

Very interesting question anyway: it is a film about Rome's day as an open city, and it is set during World War II.  Rome was in fact declared by the Italian government an 'open city' in August 1943, under the attack of the Germans. 

Being declared as an ‘open city’ means that the government has officially given up to any defensive effort knowing that the capture of the city is imminent, and it is usually done in order to defend and protect all the civilians as well as the historic and artistic landmarks. Once a city is declared 'open city', the attacking armies of the opposing military are not expected to bomb it anymore.

Florence, Italy and Athens, Greece were also declared 'open cities' at some point during World War II and this prevented them from being destroyed, just like Rome, even though sometimes the attacking armies did not respect this declaration. 

I believe that the guy who put this page on the burnt car from Saturday's riots meant to say that Rome should not be touched in this kind of 'bombing'. Meaning we are in a war, in fact. 

A bit exaggerated, I know, but it makes sense... (unfortunately)

Hope this helps, a presto [see you soon]!"

My hunger is satisfied.  It's all much clearer to me now and my brain swirls thinking about all the different meanings behind the man's statement.

We are in a war.  Don't destroy our city.  Look at what you have done.  Stop the violence.

Still so many meanings to consider.  So many ways to interpret his words and the imagery it was placed on.  All of them, powerful and thought provoking.