murder

"The Moro Case must be a subject of reflection at all times because it serves as a benchmark for our democracy and a constant warning not to lower our guard against all the dangers that might call it into question."

"We wanted the closure of Asinara as a starting point for negotiating the release. We wanted the same approach as in the Sossi kidnapping, which for us had been a political victory."

"The Red Brigades had shown themselves to be resolute and efficient, but theirs was not a victory. The decision to kill Moro created serious dissent within their ranks, whilst outside there was a deep sense of revulsion at what they had done. It is generally recognised that the crisis of Italian terrorism began with the killing of Moro. With hindsight, it therefore seems fair to acknowledge that the champions of intransigence were right: had Moro been exchanged for one or more terrorists in prison, the Red Brigades would have appeared both invulnerable and willing to compromise, with the result that their appeal would almost certainly have grown. [...] After Moro’s death, Italian democracy not only defended itself but was strengthened."

"I believe that the best tribute one can pay to Moro is to put the episode that marked his end behind us—an episode from which, let’s be honest, his image emerges far from favorable. When I hear that, in addition to the known ones, there are other letters from Moro, I pray to God that they are never found. I already know what they contain, and I prefer not to read them."

"The end of Aldo Moro leaves us appalled; the fanaticism of those who killed him slowly, robbing him of hope before taking his life, fills us with horror. We still hope that the arrogance of these criminals will one day be punished. What matters now is that the country, precisely to pay tribute to Moro and in his memory, learn the bitter lesson this tragedy entails. Democracy must not—indeed, cannot—be weak. Freedom, which makes it superior to any other regime but also more vulnerable, must not be compromised by leniency toward enemies, short-sightedness, or carelessness."

"Probably, if the State had released someone—someone who was ill—I cannot guarantee today that this would have saved Moro, but it certainly would have put those handling the case in serious difficulty. This was, in fact, in my opinion, the only possibility that could have saved Aldo Moro’s life."

"In any case, the government, led by Andreotti, and the Christian Democrats, with the decisive support of the Communist Party, decided to say no to the blackmail of the Red Brigades and Aldo Moro. And it was the only path to follow. [...] The very survival of the state was at stake. What would the Red Brigades have done if the government had yielded to the blackmail? They would have kidnapped the first Mr. Rossi who came within their reach and started all over again. A downward spiral would have begun, at the bottom of which lay only the dissolution of the state and the victory of the terrorists."

"Prospero Gallinari, from a meeting with Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio; quoted in Gallinari su Moro: "Sono in pace con lui, eravamo in guerra", lettera43.it, October 1993."

"Cossiga was advised by a man sent by the US and by a commission made up largely of P2 members. All people who, in my view, wanted things to go a different way from what all honest people were calling for. Moro had to be destroyed politically and physically: had Moro survived, Italian politics would have taken a different course from the one it did. I believe Moro could have been freed had all the institutions worked towards that end. But the formation of a government, supported by Moro and comprising communists and Christian Democrats, was opposed both by the US and, for other reasons, by the former Soviet Union."

"We believed that the assassination of Aldo Moro, as it was carried out, was the height of infamy. We had to change our minds. At the protest rally held in Piazza Duomo in Milan immediately after the macabre discovery in Via Caetani in Rome, a group of ultras shouted: “Moro, fascist!” We prefer the fangs of wild beasts to the drool of jackals."

"I don’t want to attack Andreotti, for heaven’s sake, but how can we forget that he handed the state over to P2 by appointing Grassini, Santovito, and Pelosi as heads of the secret services in 1978? All of them from P2. The three who later conducted the investigation into the Moro murder."

"The Italian state has passed this difficult test with honor, but the judiciary and law enforcement agencies have revealed, in their actions, a disheartening inefficiency that allowed the Red Brigades to operate with mocking arrogance. The blame lies not so much with the police as with those who, out of demagoguery, to please the left, or to gain easy popularity, sought to dismantle the secret services, remove the most dutiful officials, and turn prisons into dormitories with daily leave. The subversives of democracy and the opponents of the law were able to preach and wreak havoc unhindered. We hope not to see them now hypocritically joining in mourning for a crime for which they are, ideologically if not materially, jointly responsible. Theirs were not merely words. A young man blown to pieces by a bomb on the Trapani-Palermo railway—the incident occurred yesterday—belonged to Democrazia Proletaria. The bandits who raided a department store in Bologna came from the Student Movement. It is pointless for these groups to now feign consternation and astonishment at the savage acts of the Red Brigades. Terrorism is their own creation."

"Even the P2 wanted Moro dead because he was opening the door to the PCI. And Cossiga was powerless."

"[In April 1978, while Moro was still alive, albeit in the hands of the Red Brigades] Firmness is therefore justified. But it will be even more justified if accompanied by concrete signs indicating that the State, in whose name this rigor is invoked and exercised, wishes to renew itself."

"As long as the organization is active, we cannot ask former members to recount what happened, naming the key figures involved."

"It is shameful that even today the Christian Democrats are still criticized for the one occasion on which, by sacrificing their leader, they demonstrated the very sense of duty to the state that they have always been accused of lacking. What, in fact, was Moro asking for? In those letters, the “distinguished statesman”—the man who had governed the country for over thirty years—demanded that the state renounce the principles upon which it is founded, its laws, and its institutions, all to save his own skin."

"We were in favor of negotiations, Renato wanted to stay out of it, but we knew that if they killed Moro, they would kill us in prison too; that’s why we took turns in the cell with Curcio, since we believed he would be the first to meet that fate."

"Despite the jokes made, time and again, I can only repeat: it is historically proven that Moro is our doing. That is why we were convicted. The Mafia has nothing to do with it, the secret services have nothing to do with it. The latter may have intervened, but to manipulate the parties and parliament, certainly not us."

"Bettino Craxi, from an interview by Augusto Minzolini, Per me c'è un'altra lista, La Stampa, 13 October 1999."

"L'uccisione di Moro è avvenuta per mano delle Brigate Rosse, ma anche e soprattutto per il volere di Giulio Andreotti, Francesco Cossiga e del sottosegretario Nicola Lettieri."

"The die is cast. And it is cast not only for Moro, to whom we extend our deepest and most respectful sympathy. It is also cast for a “Belle Époque” style of politics, which Moro’s destruction—whether physical or moral—brings to a close. History is regaining its tragic character, and it compels those who make it—or aspire to, or delude themselves into thinking they make it—to conform to the script. We are entering one of those “Iron Ages” in which power is paid for, or can be paid for with iron. No one is obliged to take this risk. Those who do so should know that today it was Moro’s turn; tomorrow it may be theirs. Only if it realizes this and accepts it will the political class find the strength to close the Moro case. And it is time for it to do so."

"Upon the announcement of Aldo Moro’s death, the unions sprang into action, organizing demonstrations and calling for a general strike. We are certain of their profound condemnation and their sincere participation in the national mourning. We believe, however, that workers and their representatives would make a more constructive contribution to the fight against terrorists by keeping a close eye on factory extremists, who are all too often protected and defended. Likewise, the “committed” students, if they truly wish to distance themselves from the Red Brigades, must expel from their ranks the delusional agitators and bombers who hide Molotov cocktails and weapons in the basements of the faculties. Those who turned a blind eye to the “escalation” of violence in recent years should keep their eyes closed today so as not to shed crocodile tears."

"One can evade the Italian police—the Italian police as they are trained, organized, and directed—but not the laws of probability. And according to statistics released by the Ministry of the Interior regarding police operations conducted during the period from Moro’s kidnapping to the discovery of his body, the Red Brigades did indeed evade the laws of probability. Which is plausible, but cannot be true and real."

"Younger people identify with the Red Brigades; they are admired. The neurotics are both astonished and admiring. For the psychotics, it is a little more complex, as it is for the paranoids. But the neurotic’s astonishment and admiration are directed at someone who had the courage to do what he had long fantasised about. He took the leap."

"We have been faithful allies of the U.S. and the Atlantic World, but we have also had the courage to express opinions, perspectives, and concerns: after all, Moro was an example. The lessons we learn from the past help us understand how to handle situations today. We have always discussed the relationship between Moro and the PCI’s entry into the government. And the major clash is the Mediterranean, a geopolitical issue that erupts and involves the conflict, for example, between Moro and Kissinger."

"Io scrivo a voi, uomini delle Brigate Rosse: restituite alla libertà, alla sua famiglia, alla vita civile, l'onorevole Aldo Moro [...] Io non ho alcun mandato nei suoi confronti, né sono legato da alcun interesse privato verso di lui. Ma lo amo come membro della grande famiglia umana, come amico di studi, e a titolo tutto particolare, come fratello di fede e come figlio della Chiesa di Cristo. [...] vi prego in ginocchio, liberate l'onorevole Moro, semplicemente, senza condizioni, non tanto per motivo della mia umile e affettuosa intercessione, ma in virtù della sua dignità di comune fratello in umanità."

"History—nor even current events—is made with “ifs.” But it is legitimate to speculate on what might have happened if the Red Brigades, instead of obeying the lust for destruction and death—the very lust that led a militant to dream of the advent of a Pol Pot-style regime, with a massive and salvific bloodbath—had freed Moro: that Moro who had showered his party friends with accusations and recriminations, who had renounced the Christian Democrats, who would have reemerged from the catacomb-like seclusion of Via Montalcini brimming with resentment and eager for cold, calculated revenge. For the Christian Democrats, his presence would have been disruptive, if not devastating. The martyr who had escaped death could have become—as his wife and children would eventually become—the worst enemy of the Christian Democratic Nomenklatura. Forget Cossiga (the Cossiga of 1991, to be clear)."

"There is talk of civil war. We have experienced them, but in this case we are not facing the struggle of even a small part of a people against another part. That is not the case. We are facing a handful of professional terrorists who are waging a relentless war against our institutions and our freedoms; we are facing a small group of murderers who are attacking the institutions of Italian democracy."

"When, with Berlinguer’s PCI, I opted for the line of firmness, I was certain and aware that, barring a miracle, we had condemned Moro to death. Others turned out to be negotiators later on; the Moro family, moreover, took it out only on me, never on the communists. The point is that, unlike many social Catholics, who are convinced that the state is a superstructure of civil society, I was and remain convinced that the state is a value. For Moro, this was not the case: the dignity of the state, as he wrote, was not worth the interest of his grandson Luca."

"The Moro Case continues to live on with its mysteries. The real ones and those artfully created. Whether and when a foreign hand was involved in that affair, no one has ever managed to prove it."

"I truly believe the Moro case was the turning point. A leader who was opening up to the communists held captive for 55 days—where could that happen? And then the handling of the manhunt for the kidnappers... the ruse of the séance to pinpoint the hideout where they were holding him... the negotiations involving the Mafia..."

"On the afternoon of the following day, Moro was found in Via Caetani. Some said he had been dumped there deliberately between Botteghe Oscure and Piazza del Gesù. Everyone had to realise that this marked the end of the historic compromise between Catholics and Communists. Scialoja pushed his way through the crowd, waving his press card amidst the dismay, anger and grief. In the boot of the red Renault lay a shrivelled body. This is patricide, thought Scialoja. They shot the old father; they looked him in the eyes as he died. This is patricide. A father’s blood always falls upon his children. That gaunt, bony, bird-like face; that unkempt grey beard had reminded him of his father in the coffin."

"I had serious doubts about the Moro kidnapping. I set them aside, thinking of our comrades in prison who were pushing for action."

"[On the decision to kill Aldo Moro at the first sign of a possible opening by the institutions] Because they feared that the opening would be minimal, but sufficient to split the Red Brigades between those who were in favor of the killing and those who were not."

"In any case, if there could have been any doubt about the “line of firmness” at the time the events unfolded, such doubt is no longer valid today. It is no coincidence, in fact, that terrorism began to lose ground precisely after the Moro case and dissolved within a few years. This proves that the line of firmness was right not only from an ethical and legal standpoint but also from a practical one. If we had listened to Craxi, Mancini, Signorile, Pace, Liguori, and Deaglio, that is, to the entire faction that flirted with terrorism, today Renato Curcio would be the master of the country."

"There are countless gray areas. Several parliamentary commissions have been established, and even within these, there are gray areas. There appear to be extremely serious failures on the part of the state, and it is impossible to accept that the state could have been so inefficient. This leads one to believe that, rather than state inefficiency, there was “deliberate” inefficiency—and as such, in effect, complicity."

"But now that the Christian influence has diminished in India, the old tantric cult is coming back openly on the surface. There are around fifty-two known centers in India where tantra is taught and practiced. In its crudest forms, it includes worship of sex organs, sex orgies which include drinking of blood and human semen, black magic, human sacrifice and contact with evil spirits through dead and rotting bodies in cremation grounds, etc."

"One of the complaints leveled against me is, "Oh, Bill, you're such a meanie. Why do you have to go after religion? It gives people comfort; it doesn't hurt anything." Okay, well, other than most wars, the Crusades, the Inquisition, 9/11, arranged marriages to minors, blowing up girls' schools, the suppression of women and homosexuals, fatwas, ethnic cleansing, honor rape, human sacrifice, burning witches, suicide bombings, condoning slavery, and the systematic fucking of children, there's a few little things I have a problem with."

"“I'm not optimistic,” he said. “The issue clearly flies in the face of the First Amendment. People have a right to tell kids whatever they want about religion.” “Do they have a right to push human sacrifice?” “Of course not, Mac. But this isn’t human sacrifice. It’s just a church school.” “I'm not sure the effect isn’t similar.”"

"He tried to read an elementary economics text; it bored him past endurance, it was like listening to somebody interminably recounting a long and stupid dream. He could not force himself to understand how banks functioned and so forth, because all the operations of capitalism were as meaningless to him as the rites of a primitive religion, as barbaric, as elaborate, and as unnecessary. In a human sacrifice to deity there might be at least a mistaken and terrible beauty; in the rites of the moneychangers, where greed, laziness, and envy were assumed to move all men’s acts, even the terrible became banal."

"Neumann assumes for the whole region of the Mediterranean a universally adopted religion of the Great Mother Goddess around 4000 BC, which was revived about 2000 BC, and spread through the whole of the then known world. In this religion the Great Goddess was worshiped as creator, as Lady of men, beasts and plants, as liberator and as symbol of transcendent spiritual transformation. The Indus civilization also belonged to that tradition in which the cult of the Great Goddess was prominent. Numerous terracotta figurines have been found: images of the Mother Goddess of the same kind that are still worshiped in Indian villages today. Several representations on seals that appear connected with the worship of the Great Goddess also exist. On one of these we see a nude female figure lying upside down with outspread legs, a plant issuing from her womb. On the reverse there is a man with a sickle-shaped knife before a woman who raises her arms in supplication. “Obviously it depicts a human sacrifice to the Earth Goddess.” The connections between !"ktism, Mohenjo-Daro civilization, and Mediterranean fertility cults seem to be preserved even in the name of the Great Mother: “Um" for her peculiar name, her association with a mountain and her mount, a lion, seems to be originally the same as the Babylonian Ummu or Umma, the Arcadian Ummi, the Dravidian Umma, and the Skythian Ommo, which are all mother goddesses. The name Durg" seems to be traceable to Truqas, a deity mentioned in the Lydian inscriptions of Asia Minor. There is a common mythology of Great Mother: she was the first being in existence, a Virgin. Spontaneously she conceived a son, who became her consort in divinity. With her son-consort she became the mother of the gods and all life. Therefore we find the Goddess being worshiped both as Virgin and Mother”(2000:188-189). quoted from Kazanas, N. (2015). Vedic and IndoEuropean studies. Aditya Prakashan."

"One young man summed things up towards the desperate, tired end. "Is there any policy you can offer me that would positively impact my life?" he whinnied. The sense of hurt entitlement and rage: me, me, me. Is Sunak a political vending machine? That's where politics is now: give me what I demand at all times."

"First Moloch, horrid King besmear’d with blood Of human sacrifice, and parents tears, Though for the noyse of Drums and Timbrels loud Their childrens cries unheard, that past through fire To his grim Idol. Him the Ammonite Worshipt in Rabba and her watry Plain, In Argob and in Basan, to the stream Of utmost Arnon. Nor content with such Audacious neighbourhood, the wisest heart Of Solomon he led by fraud to build His Temple right against the Temple of God On that opprobrious Hill, and made his Grove The pleasant Vally of Hinnom, Tophet thence And black Gehenna call’d, the Type of Hell."

"Convinced republican that I am, and foe of the prince who talks to plants and wants to be crowned "head of all faiths" as well as the etiolated Church of England, I find myself pierced by a pang of sympathy. Not much of a life, is it, growing old and stale with no real job except waiting for the news of Mummy's death? Some British people claim actually to "love" their rather dumpy Hanoverian ruling house. This love takes the macabre form of demanding a regular human sacrifice whereby unexceptional people are condemned to lead wholly artificial and strained existences, and then punished or humiliated when they crack up."

"I'm sure one reason that so many Greek myths deal with terrifying, powerful women — Medea, Electra, the Erinyes, the Bacchae, — is that at some point in the misty past, women held a power that was terrifying — terrifying not because they were women whom men felt threatened by, but because they wielded that power in terrifying rituals that almost certainly involved human sacrifice. This would not be a popular platform on which to base a feminist agenda."

"I admit that there are many good things in the New Testament, and if we take from that book the dogmas of eternal pain, of infinite revenge, of the atonement, of human sacrifice, of the necessity of shedding blood; if we throw away the doctrine of non-resistance, of loving enemies, the idea that prosperity is the result of wickedness, that poverty is a preparation for Paradise, if we throw all these away and take the good, sensible passages, applicable to conduct, then we can make a fairly good moral guide, — narrow, but moral. Of course, many important things would be left out. You would have nothing about human rights, nothing in favor of the family, nothing for education, nothing for investigation, for thought and reason, but still you would have a fairly good moral guide. On the other hand, if you would take the foolish passages, the extreme ones, you could make a creed that would satisfy an insane asylum. If you take the cruel passages, the verses that inculcate eternal hatred, verses that writhe and hiss like serpents, you can make a creed that would shock the heart of a hyena. It may be that no book contains better passages than the New Testament, but certainly no book contains worse. Below the blossom of love you find the thorn of hatred; on the lips that kiss, you find the poison of the cobra. The Bible is not a moral guide. Any man who follows faithfully all its teachings is an enemy of society and will probably end his days in a prison or an asylum."

"Humans kill one another – and in some cases themselves – for many reasons, but none is more human than the attempt to make sense of their lives. More than the loss of life, they fear loss of meaning."

"On the other hand ⁠— or maybe at the same time ⁠— we can also expect that, among the powerful and among the rest of us, there will be calls to reject the “return to normal,” but in order to embrace something even worse. It is likely that the chaos and deaths of the pandemic will be blamed on too much democracy, liberalism and empathy. Now that states are flexing their muscles and taking full command of society, there will be many who do not want the sleeve to be rolled back down. We may yet see, in this crisis, the use of repressive force on civilians ⁠— as it is already being used on migrants and incarcerated people ⁠— and I fear that it will be seen by many as justified, a to feed the Gods of fear. In the wake of the pandemic we can be sure that fascists and will seek to mobilize tropes of ⁠— racial, national, economic ⁠— purity, purification, parasitism, and pollution to impose their long-festering dreams on reality. The vengeful romance of the border, now more politicized than ever, will haunt all of us in the years to come. The “new” authoritarians, whether they emphasize the totalitarian state or the totalitarian market ⁠— or both ⁠— will insist that we all recognize we now live ⁠— have always lived ⁠— in a ruthless, competitive world and must take measures to wall ourselves in and cast out the undesirable."

"The precursors to a civilization that’s going under are the same, time and time again. … What's human sacrifice if not sending guys off to Iraq for no reason?"

"“The Umnians did make their own jewelry, though, which largely consisted of scenes of human sacrifice, badly executed in every sense of the word. They were incredibly inventive in that area. A theocracy, of course,” he added, with a shrug. “I don’t know what it is about stepped pyramids that brings out the worst in a god…”"