This report will explore the Red Brigade
group. I the Deputy Director of CIA for Operations, will identify their
objectives for conduction their terrorist attacks, the reasons behind their
approach, and speculate on future threats that the organization may pose on the
nation of Italy. I will finally, propose some of the means that can be used to
disseminate and destroy the group before it is too late. The report will discuss
issues that happened before the group’s inception, those that have taken place
within the five years they have been in operation (1969-1974) and those that
the group is expected to conduct in the future.
Historically, terrorism did not just
start. There are records of up to 1880s when the first wave of Anarchist
emerged in Russia. The group called itself “The People’s Will†(Narodnaya
Volya) which continued to the early decades of the nineteenth century. The
Anarchism wave was followed by the anti-colonial wave which started around the
1920s and has just ended ten years ago, (1960). The end of the anti-colonial
wave opened doors to the New Left Wave which we are currently experiencing
where groups of people with particular agendas rise and disrupt the peace in
countries they are present. Italy as a country is experiencing one of the many
extremist groups in the world and which has gained popularity since its
inception in 1969, five years ago, (Parker and Sitter).
The group is calling itself Brigate Rosse
(Red Brigades in English). There have been other terrorist groups in the past
that may not fit in the wave categories like the Ku Klux Klan which ran between
1865 and 1876. However, these groups still terrorized people and disrupted the
peace of a nation. The current times we are living is when there are so many
extremist groups with ideologies based on Nationalism, Capitalism, Marxism or
Marxism-Leninism all over Europe (Parker and Sitter).
The origin of the
Brigate Rosse and its ideologies
The Brigate Rosse is a group of
communist students from the University of Trento in the Northern parts of
Italy. Other members of the group are workers of the factory around the same
locality as the University. The leader of the group is believed to be Renato
Curcio a former student and an advocator for the communism. Curcio has a wife
by the name Margherita “Mara,†who is also a significant figure in the
organization. From what is known about the two is that they were formerly
Catholics and married in the church. They studied sociology and a few years at
the University led to their entanglement in the student’s movements and where
they ganged influence (Smith 16). The school forms a ground for student’s
activism, innovation and radicalism as it is the only one in the region with
students who have lots of potentials.
In 1969 Curcio together with his girlfriend
Margherita Cagol left the University for Milan, where they met another youth, a
communist like them by the name Alberto Franceschini from the Italian region of
Emilia-Romagna. The three founded an organization that was meant to bring
together and radicalize all anti-capitalist in the universities and in working
capacity. The group was officially formed on 20th October 1970 and was first
named Metropolitan Political Collective. The organization was as a result of
the Communist Party failure to engage in revolution while working for the goals
of the extremists. As a result, the Red Brigades emerged as the leading and
influential organization in Italy (Sundquist 53).
It is evident from the brief history of
the organization that their primary purpose is to do away with the capitalism
as they are advocating for communism. The leaders of the group consider
themselves to be true Marxists and intend to spread the influence among their
followers. The group has also been found to follow doctrines and ideologies
that allow armed violence against any state that supports the ideology of
capitalism. Curcio is a firm believer that capitalism is an ideology that is
monstrous and is about to devour the world and with this, he has been able to
attract people to listen to him and to buy in his ideology. The organization
continues to gain influence and recruiting the young and energetic people in
the society (Sundquist 56-57).
The primary objective
of the Red Brigade
All the activities that have taken place
are directed to the capitalists in Italy and the political leaders. The group
sorts to create a real socialist state which is Italy aligned with Mao Zedong’s
and Lenin’s ideology in the large Italian cities which are Milan and Turin. A
significant element of the Marxist-Lenin ideology is that all developments that
took place in history were obtained through struggle (Sundquist 55). The
struggles could be within a nation where a group of people, for example, the
Red Brigades push for change. It could be between two countries like Italy and
France fighting for the border. It could also be overall issues affecting the
world, and the world has to struggle to eliminate then, they would be issues
like imperialism. The struggles could be illustrated through an example of a
leader by the name Joseph Stalin, the head of the Union of Soviet Socialist
Republic (USSR). Stalin helped the Russia succeed in bringing revolution based
on socialism. The Red Brigades organization finds inspiration from the
revolution of the socialism by the USSR (Smith 17). The political movement
leaders operate mainly in factories where labor disputes pressing and the
social disparities between various members of the society are evident.
The leadership of the organization is
pressing for the creation of a revolutionary Italy by creating a split between
the Italian government and the other Western Alliances, through armed struggle.
Due to the group’s disdain for the Union leadership poor treatment of the local
factory workers and the government’s reservation in solving important issue put
forward by the unions, the group has resolved in attacking the people involved.
They include businesspeople, politicians, and unionists. The attacks on these
leaders are through the destruction of their vehicles, factory equipment, and
the business offices without leaving out the union’s Headquarters (Sundquist
57-58). The tactics, however, have shifted since 1971 where the organization has
committed more dangerous crimes.
The Red Brigade group has claimed
responsibility for several kidnappings that have taken place in Italy. The
organization is slowly becoming prevalent in Italy and the entire Europe as
their work has been widely seen and felt. Their target on the human was first
felt in March 1972 when they kidnapped a foreman in the factory Sit-Siemens.
From this, we learn that as the group progresses, their strategies change and
not for the better but worse. Today as we speak (May 1974), the group has
kidnapped Mario Sossi, the district attorney. Sossi an openly aggressive
investigation on the group and the activities they conduct (Smith 15).
The team is using Sossi to threaten in
negotiating for the release of their fellow militant men. In his
investigations, Sossi had discovered that the Red Brigades was the same group
he had investigated in in the late 1960s. The group has placed leaflets on
telephone booths informing the police that Sossi is being held at the “People’s
jail†where he would later be presented to the “revolutionary tribunal†for a
trial (Smith 16). We are not sure whether the court will grant the organization
their demands as by doing so would mean that the terrorist's group has
overtaken the country. The kidnapping of the district attorney Mario Sossi is
proof that the organization is intending to not only attack the factory and
address their issues but also go beyond the capitalist system. Going after
someone who was only doing investigations on the group is proof that the
organization is willing to do anything to cover its tracks and protect anyone
who is a close associate of the militant. The attacks present a threat to the
leaders in the country and the state itself as they are directed to the people
who run the country (Smith 15). Their intentions are clear in that they want to
make Italy insufferable by all means they can so that Italy abides with their
demands for the country leaving the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
Threats posed by the
Red Brigades.
It is believed that the organization is
going to publish a manifesto next year which will help the organization define
future goals and objectives. From what we can speculate is that their
intentions will be to continue spreading terror in the entire country trough
attacks directed to leaders as they have been doing in the past few years. The
manifesto to be created will have a clear guidance and will give in details
some of the political targets the group has done from its conception till 1975,
around the time of publishing the manifesto. The declaration is aimed at
solidifying the organization’s reasoning as they head to do more attacks on the
legal authorities, local police officers. The document will be aimed at uniting
the group in their efforts of enhancing their terror operations all over the
main cities in Italy. It will also highlight the ideologies the organization
has had and the shift to the new ones to gain more followers from both that
political arena and the worker’s movement. The manifesto will align the
organization to be more of a nationalistic militant movement against the other
organizations which are Italian state and the regional authorities (Sundquist
59).
As seen earlier on, the movement is
becoming more aggressive by the day. Through the evolution we have seen, the
group change from being soft to roughing up members of the public. We cannot
expect them to change for the better instead the situation will become worse.
The aggressiveness would measure up to anarchism which unfortunately is one of
the most dangerous in the world as it disregards all forms of authority,
beliefs, and involuntary rule, therefore, will present chaos all over Italy
disrupting any developments from taking place. The approach would be one
influenced by writings and ideas of Lin Biao, Carlos Marighella, Abraham
Guillen and Che Guevara. Carlos Marighella was the author of the book
Mini-manual of Urban Guerrilla Warfare and which describes how to conduct the
urban campaign in details. The organization, after all, has always followed the
teachings from extremists. The book is currently used by the group to carry out
some of the attacks in the major cities of Italy (Marone).
Considering that in any society leaders
are always few compared to the followers, Italy is therefore in dire danger. If
the organization succeeds in convincing the majority that they will destroy the
leaders and make Italy a free state, the country will no longer be safe for
anyone holding a position in the government. The organization is currently gaining
support from young people in the country and within no time they will be able
to convince the elderly. The organization is capable of this and more as they
will be susceptible to external agencies pretending to support them yet their
underlying motive would be to see the downfall of Italy as a state. The outside
organizations in question would be like the shadow wars fighting in Italian
cities between the cold war powers which are spreading a rumor that the current
Italian government is about to fall. The
idea has turned out to be beneficial to the Red Brigades as many people are
joining the organization (Smith 20). The people range from working middle class
to the intellectuals at the corridors of the universities and regional levels.
The organization is also gaining a lot
of support, and their numbers are currently on the rise, there has been a
speculation that the organization has over 100 full-time members who are paid
by the organization. There I also an above-ground group of members within the ages
between the mid-20s to late-30s living their normal lives with ties to the
organization that dates back to their time in the university like the founders
of the organization. The members hold high positions in large corporations in
the country, in government offices and on political parties as well. Other than
the individuals, it has been determined that larger powers are interested in
funding and arming the organization with the necessary tools they need to bring
down the ideologies followed by the Italian government. Groups like Red
Brigades that disregard authority are a hazard to the society as they can storm
in any place like banks and rob money to fund their activities. They may also
kidnap people especially government dignitaries and demand for ransom. The idea
of kidnapping is not too far from what the organization does as they have
recently started capturing people. As we have seen, their activities are
becoming worse with each day. Therefore, it is expected that they will get
worse if they are not controlled (Smith 19).
Recommendation on how
to destroy the Red Brigades
·
Infiltrating the organization. Through
this, our operatives working undercover will be able to learn all that there is
to learn about the organization. Included are their chain of command, hideouts,
strategies and even their plans, and from this, we can be able to destroy them
from the inside. The easier way of doing this would be creating a division
between the leaders. Infiltration will also help us arrest all the heads which
will ultimately destroy the organization.
·
Crackdown on terrorism
sympathizers. The people supporting the
team are known with evidence based on the financial aid they provide.
Therefore, arresting them would render the group without funding or leadership
which will help save thousands of people touched by the organization.
·
Review the university policy to limit
radicalization where the organization originated.
·
Sensitize the youths and the vulnerable
in the society on the adverse effects the group will cause in the future which
would discourage the young from joining.
The Red Brigades is a threat not only to
Italy but the rest of the world too. The organization could gain control over
the whole of Europe and spread the disease to the entire world. Its strategy of
appealing to the public through its narrative of fighting the inequity,
injustice and the need for revolution puts various nations in a compromising
situation and therefore the need to extinguish it before it gains more strength
to paralyze the entire world.
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