The Unseen

by Nanni Balestrini

  that injured lance-corporal stayed there through the whole revolt because they didn’t want him they didn’t want us to hand him over to them this poor wretch no way did they want us to hand him over to them we did everything we could to hand him over but they didn’t want him no way at all he stayed there lying on the floor the whole night moaning pretending to be worse than he was the night went by and we were at a loss as to what to do and then in the morning came tiredness and the fear that in the long run things wouldn’t work out gradually as time passed you could hear in more voices the tiredness that was starting to get to us people were very tense and everyone was saying that a solution to the problem had to be found as soon as possible

  let’s stop dwelling on this stuff so long as we’ve got this positive feeling between us so long as there’s a chance of things turning out all right the thing is the prison here is still standing we haven’t wrecked it the guards haven’t been touched there’s no real damage been done we’ve done something really big but there hasn’t even been one casualty there’s one injured with a stab wound and we have to hand him over before he dies these were the things being said this was the kind of tension then towards evening the latest news of the negotiations got around one of the comrades conducting the negotiations came out of the guard post and announced that things were going well that things were in motion for dismantling the revolt that shortly preparations would begin for the release of the kidnapped guards and that in other words we’d won

  after this news there was momentary relief there was momentary relaxation there was momentary fatigue but also relaxation everyone was asking but what will they do to us now will they beat us up maybe not comparisons were made with how other revolts had ended and there were some packing their kitbags because they thought there’d be immediate transfers and at the same time the surveillance of what was going on outside had slackened nobody bothered any more to keep a watch from the big windows the comrades were assuring the guards that it was all over that soon they’d release them there was this atmosphere of relaxation and fatigue when at five in the afternoon when by now this was the prevailing mood there was a deafening noise

  12

  After something like two or three hours we’re woken by Nocciola’s voice they’ve seen the carabinieri drive up in the second bus blocking off the road and they’ve got out of both the buses they’re all carrying machine-guns and pistols they’ve closed the road off at both ends I struggle out of the sleeping bag it’s five o’clock it’s still pitch dark China says take it easy please let’s sleep a little longer I stand up I’m shivering all over with cold and when I move I ache with stiffness I get dressed quickly gently I shake China who’s sleeping with her face buried in her hair and I tell her to hurry and join me downstairs because they’re coming I dash downstairs putting on my torn black leather gloves and winding the red scarf twice round my neck

  down in the big hall among the remains of the party the comrades are hurrying to get ready the floor is now a sea of bottles beer cans paper wrappings there’s nothing left on the stage on the wall behind the stage you can now see the murals Gelso did that nobody could see last night in the dazzle of all those lights it was a tropical landscape with palms and monkeys in the trees and in the background a huge erupting volcano with red lava running down towards a kind of New York skyscraper scene we hear people running down the stairs Scilla arrives clearing the steps four at a time followed by the others who’ve been taking turns at watching the barracks I’ve been round the back he says gasping for breath there’s now a line of lorries that goes on for ever they’re in the barracks square but the line goes on right out to the street

  then we get moving we barricade the doors we all barricade the doors we shove the benches against them we shove the stage up against them too against the big main door and we turn on all the lights in the big room then the first of us start climbing up to the attic where there’s a trapdoor that gives access to the roof in the attic someone stumbles and the candle goes out pitch darkness and time is wasted finding it and lighting it again Scilla is swearing and insulting everybody fucking idiots move your tails he’s like a sergeant-major drilling his platoon into shape we can hear the lorries arriving then stopping with the engines still running Nocciola gives a push to China who’s in front of him and he too vanishes up through the trapdoor Scilla asks where are the petrol bombs don’t worry they’re already on the roof we climb up last and Cotogno closes the trapdoor and we’re all on the roof

  on the roof they can’t see us because the street-lamps aren’t lit because we threw stones to smash them I can make out the line of comrades heading across the roof voices reach us from below curt orders mingled with the noise of the engines that are still running I can see Scilla stretched belly down on the tiles crawling to the edge of the roof he supports his hands on the gutter and leans his head out I and some others reach him and we look down just then they cut out the engines they’re all lined up in three rows with their shields and their helmets their visors lowered the front row with rifles with CS cartridges stuck on the end the other two rows carrying long truncheons there’s a small group of non-commissioned officers and plain-clothes men talking quietly at the end of the street

  the big windows shed their light on the front row motionless with the rifles and CS cartridges pointed upwards we expect them to give an order through a megaphone for us to clear out because they’re sure we’re all inside instead nobody goes near the building a non-commissioned officer leaves the group at the end of the street he signals and the front row lower their rifles aiming at the windows muffled shots are fired almost all simultaneously we can hear the cartridges puncturing the plastic sheeting on the windows four petrol bombs and we’ll get the lot of them says Scilla we should throw them now now that they’re all bunched together but Cotogno puts a hand on his shoulder they’d deserve it those bastards but we decided that the petrol bombs would only be used to stop them if we didn’t all get out in time

  we’d be better off getting out of here says Valeriana we can see the smoke below coming out of the windows and it rises slowly thickly we start to smell the teargas and we climb back up the roof diagonally stooping forward I cast a final glance down the police are still lined up in the same formation maybe they’re waiting for us to open the door and come out we hurry on to the rooftop Ortica and someone else are carrying the heavy sackload of bottles that are knocking about as if they’re going to smash we go on to the little terrace and from there we climb down into the park everything’s quiet there you can’t hear a sound we run across the park we get to the railings and we climb over them there across the road are the cars the others have already left we’ve arranged to meet at the centre

  Ortica is already waiting to put the sackload of bottles in the open boot of a car we hope we don’t get stopped with the bottles in the car they’ll put us all away yes it’s better not to take them in the car they’ll put us all away if they find us with this stuff and then it would come in handy for them to heap shit on the occupation it’s better if we leave them here no it’s better if we empty them for if they find them here later it’s the same thing yes but not here over there behind the hedge Ortica carries the sack over we take the bottles out of the sack but the stoppers are well and truly stuck and I can’t get them out so we break the bottles with stones after taking off the cap with the sellotape still stuck to our fingers frozen with the cold then we throw the shards a long way away the stink of petrol fills our nostrils and clings to us even when we’re in the car

  we take a road through the fields everything is quiet we make a long detour and we get to the centre there are no police around inside the light’s on and all the comrades are already there we decide we’ll all go home and meet there again this evening but somebody has to go and see what’s happening at the Cantinone we decide that a group is to go and see in a couple of hours’ time four or five are all that’s needed the comrades mill about i
n little groups talking quietly Gelso goes home to get his camera we stay there talking to keep ourselves awake for if we stop talking we’ll fall asleep except China who falls asleep right away it starts getting light we get back in the car we go to the bar in the station for a cappuccino

  a bit later Gelso turns up with the camera we get into the car and we get to the road junction there they are the two minibuses and the car from police headquarters the line of lorries is gone and on the corner across from the Cantinone there’s no one to be seen and I tell Cotogno to drive round the block so we can stop there and take photos we drive round and we stop at the beginning of the street that runs past the Cantinone China and Valeriana stay in the back seat of the car Cotogno Gelso and I get out and go behind the car so that we aren’t seen Gelso leans the camera on the roof of the car and starts taking photos in front of the main door I can see building workers laying cement over a wall of bricks across the main door they’re walling up the Cantinone there are carabinieri there watching with their hands in their pockets

  we can see the plastic sheeting on the ground floor windows ripped and scorched from the cartridges we’re so absorbed that we don’t notice one of the police cars has left gone round the block and comes up behind us I hear Valeriana speak she’s seen them coming she says look out the car brakes with its tyres screeching two people come dashing out of the back the car stays there in the middle of the road with the engine running and the doors open the two are beside us one is gripping the butt of his pistol Gelso hasn’t even time to try and hide the camera one of them wrenches it from his hand and says what are you taking photos of the other opens the car door and says you two out right now get out the policeman who was driving came over too and they ask us all for an identity check

  while one policeman takes our documents over to their car another searches Valeriana’s handbag while the other one keeps us at gun-point a moment later the one who’s gone to the car waves me over I don’t understand right away and the other one prods me with the barrel of the pistol I walk over and stop by the front window hunched up in the back seat there’s a guy with a light-coloured raincoat who’s turning off the radio receiver he’s holding the identity cards mine on top of the others he lifts his head he looks at me through square glasses haven’t you caused enough trouble in your school he says but it’s not aggressive it sounds like a reprimand to a disobedient little boy I say mildly we were only taking photos I don’t think there’s a law against it

  he says nothing then it occurs to me that this is Dottor Donnola the head of the political squad at headquarters the one who’s outside the school whenever there’s any commotion always there in his car some distance away talking into the transmitter one of the policemen now brings him the camera but he doesn’t even touch it he nods and then the policeman opens it and pulls out the roll of film then he closes it and thrusts it at me I take the camera and keep it in my hand one by one Donnola flips through the identity cards again then he slaps them on the edge of the window and hands them to me I take them and he looks straight at me from behind his square glasses and as if he was sighing he bids me goodbye

  Part Two

  13

  This is something I’ll always remember a truly deafening noise a noise coming from high above an all-enveloping noise getting louder and louder more and more deafening we realized almost at once that it was the sound of helicopters and these helicopters were making a thunderous noise it wasn’t just one helicopter there must have been lots of helicopters everybody froze for a moment everybody was very confused because they were all convinced there was no possibility of a military intervention at this point in the situation just when the negotiations had got this far and then there was the matter of the nineteen guards nobody thought they’d risk the lives of the nineteen hostage guards with a military intervention

  and there they were you could hear this deafening noise of helicopters everything was shaking the walls were shaking and it felt as if everything was shaking and everyone’s reactions then were different to me it was total mayhem it was a situation I’d been through other times before when the police charge into a demonstration and there are no stewards to take on a police charge and protect people in the demonstration to keep things calm so that they can retreat and get away calmly that’s it that was the situation a state of general panic but despite this panic everyone was still sure it was a bluff that these guys were bluffing that they really weren’t coming in and even when the first blasts were heard the thought was that it was only meant as a warning

  so this is how the military action unfolded what happened was that these guys arrived in the helicopters the scene I witnessed was these huge helicopters coming in making this deafening noise and through a window in the corridor I quite clearly saw these guys in black uniforms every one of them armed to the teeth with these all-in-one helmets completely covering their heads I saw them on the helicopters and climbing down from them getting ready to climb down with little rope ladders and cables I don’t know what anyway they were landing on the roof they were landing from the helicopters on the flat roof above us and there was this deafening noise these explosions the helicopters were coming in waves these guys were climbing down and more were arriving right behind them and so on

  these guys arrived on the roof they climbed down on to the roof and they started throwing grenades they got on to the roof and on the roof there was a trapdoor they blew open this trapdoor with grenades this trapdoor led to a spiral staircase this spiral staircase led to a metal gate that led to the second floor rotunda and that we’d welded so right away they blew open this trapdoor on the roof that led to the spiral staircase and no sooner had they opened this trapdoor on their way down than they started throwing down a series of small plastic explosives I mean they were actually throwing bombs down the staircase and as the bombs reached the rotunda there were these really deafening blasts these explosions

  at this point everyone realized that these guys were really coming in that it wasn’t a bluff at all and what’s more it wasn’t only above us that you could hear the explosions but you could now hear them below us as well because they were also attacking from below then there was widespread panic and just then what happened was that everyone made their own decision about what they should do there was no coherent response to the thing there it is there was no collective coherent response and even the ones who’d made organized preparations failed to react in a disciplined organized way not even those who’d reckoned with a break-in who thought that could happen there was no organization at all when we saw that these guys were starting to throw bombs in earnest

  there was well a structure along military lines and so on had been organized that was armed I mean there were these guys who had there were comrades who had bombs all ready who had this plastic stuff inside the coffee machines but there was no coherent response I found myself caught up in total confusion I was caught up in total confusion everyone responded instinctively they responded with what they thought was the best response in circumstances like these but individually meaning that there was no sign then of any coherent response nobody took anybody else into account they reckoned only with themselves and their own instincts

  people began taking to their heels running running backwards and forwards backwards and forwards inside this restricted space running backwards and forwards up this corridor going in and out of the cells all in a shambolic and chaotic way those endless minutes with no idea of what to do searching for somebody else and not finding him going in and out of the cells in fact the classic situation of flight from an oncoming police charge when you’ve made no defences but the difference is that when you take to your heels from an oncoming police charge you have ahead of you an infinite space here instead they were all rushing around like mice in a cage because they all knew instinctively that there was nowhere to go you were inside a blocked space and these guys were coming at you throwing bombs and there was this deafe
ning sound of non-stop explosions that were ear-splitting

  well I remember that I just had time to confer with my cellmate about what to do I saw him there in the corridor and I said listen what do we do and he said I think we should go down to the first floor because these guys are dropping down on us they’re coming down on us from the roof in a few minutes they’ll be here and so it’s better to go down to the first floor and I remember saying to him but look they’re coming up from the ground floor as well which makes it exactly the same thing and the problem right now isn’t whether we stay here or go down to the first floor the problem is what to do do we surrender or do we do something and what do we do if something can be done but he said no I’m going down to the first floor

  so what happened was that instinctively everyone made a spontaneous choice about what was the best thing to do in this situation and there was this division between the ones that stayed and the ones that went below and the ones that stayed up there wound up as a mixture of those who were against resisting because it wasn’t possible to resist because anyway there was nothing to be done and it would be enough if we got out of it alive and then those who believed instead that we could put up some resistance even if they had no idea no notion how to do it it wasn’t a case of these ones staying up there and the rest going down below but they ended up all mixed up together everybody in a muddle