Following the national protest held in Rome on October 5, which coincided with global days of action leading up to October 7 and was marked, particularly in Italy, by a climate of increasing institutional militarisation and government repression, this afternoon, October 8th, numerous citizens, human rights activists, and members of student movements gathered in the business district of EUR (Esposizione Universale Roma) in southern Rome. The plan was to rally and march towards “La Nuvola” (the Cloud) Congress Centre, chanting “Sabotage the genocide. Boycott the war and those who profit from it” in protest against the arms industry and all the lobbies profiting from the ongoing genocide in Palestine. The city of Rome is actually hosting there the opening day of “Cybertech Europe 2024”, a key European event in the field of cybersecurity, promoted by the global platform “Cybertech.”, that brings together leading figures from the arms industry and influential representatives of Israeli society.
Another major focus of the protest is the responsibility of Leonardo S.p.A., a controversial Italian multinational company specialising in aerospace, defence and security with significant public ownership and a successor to the industrial conglomerate. According to the independent Swedish research institute SIPRI, which conducts analyses of conflicts, weapons, arms control, and disarmament, Leonardo S.p.A. ranks as the largest arms seller in the European Union. The company also has long-standing ties with Israel and other notorious authoritarian regimes, including Egypt and Saudi Arabia.
For several months, protests across Italy and beyond, in universities and public spaces, have loudly called on governments and academic institutions to cut ties with the arms industry, starting with the numerous collaborations with Leonardo S.p.A. In its corporate presentations, Leonardo S.p.A. is described as an “industrial and technological leader in the Aerospace, Defence, and Security sectors” boasting a significant presence in Italy, the United Kingdom, the United States, Poland, and Israel. The latter is not only a client of Leonardo S.p.A. but also a top-tier government partner, with shared production facilities.
Moreover, in July 2022, Leonardo S.p.A. acquired RADA Electronic Industries Ltd., an Israeli company specialising in advanced tactical military radars used in Israel’s “Iron Fist” system, mounted on armoured fighting vehicles (AFVs) of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) as an advanced hard-kill APS aimed at enhancing the self-defence capabilities of AFVs against any battlefield threats. These vehicles are used to repress the Palestinian population in Gaza. Additionally, Leonardo has sold combat helicopters to the Israeli army, and missiles currently being used in Gaza contain components manufactured in Italy. Through its subsidiary OTO Melara, based in La Spezia, Leonardo S.p.A. is also responsible for producing the 76/62 Super Rapid (SR) Gun Mount, a lightweight, rapid-fire naval gun providing high-performance and flexibility in air defence and anti-surface roles, particularly in anti-missile operations, which currently arm Israel’s new “Sa’ar 6” class corvettes used in sea attacks.
This afternoon’s protest marked a significant opportunity to bring dissent to a less central area of Rome, which nonetheless is serving as a key hub for the European and international arms industries. The “Cybertech Europe 2024” convention indeed risked continuing undisturbed amidst the gleaming glass of Fuksas’ Cloud (named after the eccentric architect Massimiliano Fuksas who designed it), acting as a showcase for the arms, surveillance, and espionage industries. The convention aims to strengthen relationships between corporations and organisations in these sectors while normalising technologies used for repression. Among those attending the event’s debates are Prof. Roberto Cingolani, CEO and General Manager of Leonardo S.p.A., Engineer Lorenzo Mariani, Co-General Manager of Leonardo S.p.A., Mario Beccia, NATO’s Deputy Chief Information Officer (CIO) for Cybersecurity, as well as representatives from Israeli companies such as Netanel Amar, COO and co-founder of Cynet Security, Gil Shwed, founder and CEO of Check Point Software Technologies, and Yossi Vardi, President of Cybertech Conferences and founder of numerous Israeli companies. Also present were the Undersecretary of State to the Presidency of the Council of Ministers, Alfredo Mantovano, the Director General of the National Agency for Cybersecurity, Bruno Frattasi, the Secretary-General and founder of the European Cyber Security Organisation (ECSO), Luigi Rebuffi, the Director of the Postal Police Service, Ivano Gabrielli, the Head of the Department for Technological Innovation of the Ministry of Justice, Ettore Sala, the Director of the Agency for AgriculturalDisbursements (AGEA – Agenzia per le Erogazioni in Agricoltura), Fabio Vitale, and the Director of the Operating Systems of the Department of Civil Protection, Umberto Rosini.
At the end of the afternoon, the demonstrators were prevented from reaching the convention venue by a huge and disproportionate deployment of police forces. They peacefully gathered behind a banner reading “From schools to universities to the streets of our city: Free Palestine”, and the hopeful message “May not even a cloud hang over us” in reference to the Congress Centre, nicknamed “Fuksas’ Cloud” after the ambitious architect who designed it. Leaving behind the rainbows that had appeared over EUR’s Lake, the group moved on to Largo Giuseppe Pella and was forced to stop there as the final destination of the citizens’ protest. The mass gathering remained entirely peaceful, continuing until the reopening of the underground stations, which had been closed earlier in the afternoon. It concluded with chants at the EUR Fermi metro station, promoting upcoming events, particularly in Rome’s public universities, aimed at fostering dialogue and raising awareness about ongoing conflicts and the specific complicity of the Italian government in the genocide taking place in Palestine.
