above the heads of the court millions of small fragments make up a vast mosaic dusty and faded reaching the ceiling and depicting a scene of confusion a furious battle on the left are the forces of evil represented by strange beings contorted monstrous entangled in dominant colours of green and mauve and on the right the forces of good angelic transparent harmonious blue and feather-light clashing in the centre in a furious battle but the forces of evil are already clearly defeated they are beating a retreat pursued by the implacable forces of good below in a gilded oval stands the imposing figure of justice blindfold holding in one hand the sword in the other the scales a little lower the legend in relief says the law is equal for all
on the left behind the barricade of carabinieri are the wooden screens behind the screens is the public gallery it’s almost totally empty but for some relatives mother father sister brother cousin uncle sister-in-law no friend no comrade because they’re all afraid because seen from outside the law-court looks like a stage-set for war metal screens and barbed wire cordons of police and carabinieri a succession of barriers and armoured cars in strategic spots while other armoured vehicles circle the building continually then dogs and metal detectors at the door and searches questioning files threats warnings hints and all the rest
the small door behind us opens once again and in the midst of another swarm of carabinieri emerging at the top of the steps are the women they too in chains and all of them handcuffed we all get up and go towards them the cage is filled with shouts with greetings with smiles with different perfumes all of them have dressed in the brightest of colours long skirts bright shirts bright scarves rings on their fingers necklaces chains brooches bracelets pendants on their wrists big fantastic earrings clasps in their hair in the chaos the carabinieri get edgy they shout orders the dogs growl menacingly the photographers’ flash guns burst into light again the journalists make frenzied notes in their notebooks the handful of relatives wave and shout hello behind the screens and other shouts and greetings answer them
one after another the carabinieri slip off the chains and remove the handcuffs the girls run to us we run to them on the steps we mingle we entwine we entangle in a mosaic of embraces of hugs of kisses of voices all that interests us now is to talk talk about so many things talk about everything at last to talk to talk as long as we can to touch and hear one another as men and women together everything vanishes around us the courtroom the carabinieri the photographers the dogs the judges everything that’s on the other side of the bars is alien to us it doesn’t exist presents get passed across good luck tokens small objects everything that could be brought there right into the cage we exchange clothes too shirts sweaters kerchiefs scarves
a bell rings out from the court bench and the investigating judge dourly begins reading the long list of individual charges this one that one charged with etcetera etcetera with having etcetera etcetera this one that one charged with etcetera etcetera with having etcetera etcetera in accordance with the law in an unvarying monotone hurried offhand this one that one charged with etcetera etcetera with having and so on and so on he rushes through it he slurs his words in his haste this that armed band association and so on and so on you can follow none of it he hurries to the end and then come the preliminaries and the lawyers with no conviction and as pure formality bring the usual futile objections therefore recess and the court’s withdrawal to decide on the defence’s objections and a few minutes and they’re back already and the bell’s rung again to say that of course all the defence’s objections are overruled and the bell’s rung again and the court declared in session and the investigating judge declares debate open
2
The agreed day arrives and early in the morning before they open the gates we’d put up a big poster to announce the mass meeting and inviting everybody to come along we are taking the meeting not asking for it it says in big letters and underneath Gelso had added as well as everything else we need the headmaster Mastino gets in first as usual and he starts reading the poster then his face turns ugly and he scowls at us stares at each of us as if to say I’m marking you down and I’ll see to you later then the teachers get there and they read it without saying a word just look at us as though we’re crazy a few minutes later out come a bunch of janitors that Mastino has told to pull down the posters
the bravest janitor who was also the stupidest one reaches up to remove the poster but Cocco gets in front of him in a rage with his arms raised with his long black overcoat with the scarlet lining and he lets out a scream at him the janitor stops in his tracks taken aback and then the rest of us get in front of the janitors they don’t know what to do they look up at Mastino who looks down at them from the window of the headmaster’s room but in the end they decide to go back inside because they realize if they push it it’ll come to blows the first students to arrive have seen what happened they start talking it over with us and they don’t go in and gradually the group gets bigger then Mastino decides to make a move himself and he comes out under the arcade so we can see he’s there and he starts pacing up and down
I feel as if I’m watching the boss pacing in front of the factory in those stories I’ve read about the first workers’ struggles the first strikes the same kind of intimidation and in fact the students get scared somebody starts saying he wants to go inside they come up with no end of excuses even though we keep explaining that if we all stay outside Mastino can do nothing he can’t suspend us all but there’s too much wavering and too much fear and a first little group heads shamefacedly inside it’s like a general signal and the others all rush in too within a few minutes nearly everyone’s gone in only twenty or so are left outside along with the six of us and Mastino goes back in too with a smug grin on his face
we’re left in the lurch Malva’s upset but Cocco’s determined we’ll go in and do it just the same those of us there are he says we have to do it just the same anyway we’ve got nothing to lose now he shouts and that way we’ll persuade the others to hold the meeting just the same we all go in together and we install ourselves in an empty classroom on the ground floor and we’ve only been there a minute and we haven’t even started speaking when Mastino arrives yelling what are you doing here you you and you you’re all suspended come to my room one at a time and he walks out leaving the door open Scilla kicks the door and then he barricades it we shove two benches in front of it we’re silent for a moment we must do something we eye one another but we don’t know what to do we feel trapped
then in a flash I can see as if it was in front of me the page of a pamphlet I’ve read this summer about forms of struggle in the factories and all that stuff I can see that page in front of me with the heading in bold print indoor demo and I say indoor demo we must have an indoor demo what say the others yes an indoor demo we’ll go into all the classrooms and we’ll get all the others to come out at least we can try we’ll start with the top class and we’ll go through them all everyone agrees we go out and form a small procession in the corridor and we reach the first classroom the lesson has already started we burst in we all go into the classroom together in silence the teacher notorious as Mastino’s toady takes fright and doesn’t say a word all the students are facing the door
Valeriana is firm when she talks she is nervous of course but clear her voice carries well and her words are distinct the headmaster says he has suspended us all because we wanted to hold a mass meeting without his consent everyone knew it you all knew it too that this meeting was planned we’ve been talking about it for a fortnight now today you came inside out of fear but if you’re scared today you’ll be scared tomorrow as well and always and we’ll never be able to settle our problems ourselves so you’ve got to make a start now right away we must all hold the meeting right away to show that in this school we aren’t slaves we have to do it so we can do what they’re doing in all the other schools to show that we’re the ones to decide because the school is ours it’s not Mastino’s
by the time Valeriana’s halfway through the speech they’re all up and ready to walk out there’s no need any more even to talk they’ve got the idea already the noise is bringing everyone out from the rest of the classrooms the procession swells and the whole ground floor is swept in we take the stairs in procession up to the first floor and go into the first classroom we come to by now there are so many people that they can’t all get in and there too all the students come out right away the ones pushing in collide with those pushing out we don’t even go into the other rooms the students come out by themselves all over the place on the second floor too we see some leaning over the banisters screams of everyone out and we climb up the stairs to the second floor and when we reach the corridor they’re already all out of the classrooms and they join the procession
the procession has come to a halt up on the stairs they’re all crowding up the whole length of the stairs you can hear Mastino below screaming something but it’s unclear it’s hard to make out what he’s saying there’s an incredible din then we lean out and see Mastino down on the ground floor in the centre of the stairwell tearing his hair desperation on his face all you can hear is him screaming the stairs the stairs paper pellets are raining from above and landing on Mastino’s head then from the first and second floors come a hail of biros erasers pencils then exercise books and textbooks too they’re all throwing things down at Mastino who is down there alone in the centre of the stairwell he’s not even trying to shield himself his hands are thrust in his hair but not as a shield and he keeps on screaming the stairs the stairs
the teachers are nowhere in sight the janitors have vanished some teachers have run into the empty classrooms and locked themselves in in one classroom after another the glass door panels cave in and the teachers can be seen standing scared stiff with their backs to the wall down below Mastino delivers one last desperate shout that succeeds in being audible the stair’s giving way the shouts quieten down less because of Mastino’s words than because people have now let rip enough Gelso looks at me from behind his little round glasses he asks me what the fuck’s the shit shouting and Cocco says he’s bluffing he’s got nothing else left beneath us Mastino lifts his outstretched arms imploring boys and girls boys and girls stop the stair can’t hold all that weight calm down and walk down the stairs at an orderly pace no running no noise
but these are orders don’t you hear him he’s still giving orders shouts Cocco now you can take back all your threats take it all back in front of everybody no more suspensions and mass meetings whenever we want them there’s a great rumbling roar mass meeting mass meeting everyone’s shouting below Mastino holds out his arms and then lets them drop and when he manages to speak he pants out yes yes all you want but come down here at once I entreat you I’m saying it for your own good come down here come down quietly don’t run I beg you there won’t be suspensions you can have your own meetings but come down I beg you everyone’s shouting victory victory but no one’s going down nobody believes all that about the stairs collapsing nobody takes the least bit of notice
Gelso is cleaning his glasses contentedly Malva and I hug in delight and you can still hear Cocco’s great hoarse voice yelling so that’s the end of your big-talk now eh and then he adds Mastino you’re suspended permanently go to the headmaster’s room when we send for you Valeriana’s voice can be heard saying we ought to go down to the yard now to hold the meeting because it’s the only place where there’s room for us all together and everyone shouts in agreement everyone shouts mass meeting mass meeting yard yard and they start coming down the stairs and instead of coming down at an orderly rate as Mastino wanted they all run down and what’s more thudding along with leaps and bounds to spite him and all shoving Mastino is still there motionless with his arms raised and his head down shouting no no quietly quietly and then everyone knows how it ended
3
In town the youth groups have organized a festival in the cathedral square China and I take the train on our own we get there earlier than we’ve arranged with the rest of our comrades and there’s already loads of people the police are turned out in force all around there’s graffiti being done on the walls and the ground free space is a right or make society a festival or let’s reclaim life the police begin to hassle us to move on there are a few scuffles a couple of CS rockets go off that don’t frighten anyone but they get hold of one comrade and beat him up a bit we leave the square but in the side streets we start to smash up cobblestones and fill our bags with them meanwhile large groups mainly from the outlying ghetto districts make their way to the meeting place
we try to link arms and manage to form into a long snake that’s not bad at all we can see the others from our collective they’ve all come they’re in small groups mixed up with the rest the front of the march is heading straight for the cathedral square holding up a banner that says the time for rebellion has come it’s a carnival you can see from the confetti and the paper streamers on the ground families have brought children for the outing dressed up as Zorro and Sandokan or the black pirate we go right round the cathedral square and that’s when all hell breaks loose because the carabinieri attack the back of the march they let off teargas at once the air is impossible to breathe everyone has weeping eyes the families are seized with panic they’re chasing after their Zorros and Sandokans and black pirates scattering in the stampede
China and I stay with a group that’s throwing broken cobblestones and next to us we find Cotogno Valeriana and Nocciola we see the carabinieri starting out at a run to charge then some comrades move a few cars into the middle of the road a couple of petrol bombs on the cars and the carabinieri are lost behind the flames and the clouds of black smoke a hundred yards ahead there’s a group that’s got it in for a Rolls Royce the bodywork battered with sticks and crowbars stones hailed on the windows and a petrol bomb there too and the boss’s car makes a nice bonfire we play hide and seek a little while longer with the carabinieri through the streets of the centre finally we scatter and we all meet again at the station
all our eyes are stinging and we keep rubbing them even though it makes it worse and there’s also the stinking smell of teargas in our nostrils we wash our eyes at the water fountain Malva turns up she’s had a fall she’d come in high heels she hit her nose and it’s all grazed Gelso’s glasses fell off as usual and in the melee someone smashed them and and he can hardly see now Verbena breathed in a lot of gas she feels sick and she’s going to throw up Ortica arrives lifting the skirt of his raincoat to show us a big black truncheon we very nearly brought back something else didn’t we Cocco Cocco found a rifle on the ground they’d even lost one of their rifles you should have seen Cocco running along like an ostrich with the rifle in his hand everyone was laughing and clapping but then we threw it away what were we going to do with a rifle
another time one evening in mid-April on television there’s the news of a comrade’s murder a fascist shot him he was seventeen and there’s an immediate spontaneous reaction in the morning we all meet on the train for the city the same faces the same tennis shoes the jackets the shoulder bags the scarves the kerchiefs the gloves the berets the carriages are packed people are standing in the corridors nobody’s talking and at each station more get on on the walls of the vi
llages we pass through you can see the fresh graffiti the same words that can be read on the silent faces of the comrades at the last stations in the suburbs a tide of people gets on pressing on the platforms they’ve got plastic bags with helmets in them and under their jackets spanners bars iron rods in their pockets slings ball-bearings bolts
when we arrive there’s a long procession filling the platform and it’s moving up the stairs of the metro no one’s bothering with tickets and in the carriages there are flags and the long poles for the banners someone has a go at singing but the mood is grim threatening we reach the university in the square in front of the university there’s a tide of people but not just students not just young people all ages are there old people too there are workers in overalls with red kerchiefs round their necks the demonstration is already there drawn up ready to go the stewards in front kerchiefs masking half their faces and the heavy sticks with small red flags tied on there’s a dull rumbling sound then a shout and a slogan launched murdered comrade you’ll be avenged everyone together a roar and the demonstration sets off
in front of the law courts in front of the steps there are ranks of riot police poised for battle with teargas canisters stuck onto the muzzles of their guns and helmet visors down the demonstration comes to a sudden halt and slogans are launched against the police the tension mounts seriously the demonstration moves on again and then stops once more in a square hoisted up on the base of the obelisk that’s in the middle of the square I see an old man with a red kerchief at his neck lifting a bugle to his lips and sounding the call for silence and at once there’s a fearful silence you can only hear the bugle’s high notes when the bugle stops there’s a roar a great roar all around thousands of fists are raised all armed with bars and spanners
The Unseen Page 2