It鈥檚 like something out of Kafka. Anti-science anarchists in Italy appear to be ramping up their violent and frankly surreal campaign. , the group has vowed to target Finmeccanica, the Italian aerospace and defence giant.
In on 11 May, the Olga Cell of the Informal Anarchist Federation International Revolutionary Front said it shot Roberto Adinolfi, head of Ansaldo Nucleare, in the leg four days earlier. 鈥淲ith this action of ours, we return to you a tiny part of the suffering that you, man of science, are pouring into this world,鈥� the statement said. It also pledged a 鈥渃ampaign of struggle against Finmeccanica, the murderous octopus鈥�. Ansaldo is one of Finmeccanica鈥檚 many offshoots.
The cell has , and in 2010 it tried to bomb an IBM lab in Zurich, Switzerland. The attempt resulted in three conspirators being caught and jailed.
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In April 2011 the anarchists sent a parcel bomb to Swissnuclear, a group in Olten, Switzerland, that lobbies on behalf of the nuclear industry. .
Mexican connection
The anarchist federation is also linked with eco-anarchist groups in Mexico that have targeted nanotechnology researchers, injuring two with a parcel bomb sent in August 2011 to the Monterrey Institute of Technology. Others were sent to nanotechnology researchers at the Polytechnic University of the Valley of Mexico and the Polytechnic University of Pachuca in Hidalgo.
In its letter to Corriere della Sera, the federation attacks science and technology, accusing it of serving capitalism at the expense of humanity, and turning everyone into mindless consumers of the world鈥檚 resources. 鈥淚n past centuries science had promised a golden era, but today it is being carried out toward self-destruction and more total slavery,鈥� it said.
鈥淭he science-technology pairing has never been at the service of humanity, and in its deepest essence it shows the imperative need to eliminate everything that is irrational, to dehumanise, to annihilate, to effectively destroy humanity,鈥� it continued. 鈥淚ndividuals today are free to realise their subjective selves only through the consumption and production of goods.鈥�
鈥楨uropean Fukushima鈥�
Turning its attention towards the nuclear industry, the letter warned that 鈥渋t is only a matter of time before a European Fukushima reaps death on our continent鈥�.
Michael Hagmann, head of communications at the Empa institute in Duebendorf, Switzerland, which investigates the potential adverse environmental impacts of nanotechnology, says that the threats should be taken seriously.
鈥淎t least with animal rights activists, you know what they want, but with these anarchists, I鈥檓 not sure,鈥� he says. 鈥淒o they want us to stop all scientific experiments, stop driving cars or go back to living in caves? I don鈥檛 know.鈥�
Until now, the most notorious campaign waged against science and technology has arguably been that by the Unabomber, aka Theodore Kaczynski, a recluse and former mathematician at the University of California at Berkeley. His 20-year campaign of letter bombs killed three and injured 23. He was caught, tried and jailed for life in 1997.
