I can hire one half of the working class to kill the other half.
Jay Gould, Railroad Magnate
Before the 1886 strike on his Southwestern system.
thetimes.co.uk
Excerpt:
"I fired the pistol because I thought I was going to die," Signor Placanica said, tears in his eyes. "My hand trembled, but I pulled the trigger. I couldn't even see what I was aiming at."
On the face of it Giuliani was the opposite of the clean-cut Carabinieri officer who killed him. He was the son of a middle-class trade unionist. By the time he joined the riot which ended his life he was living in a squat with his dog for a companion.
His father, Giuliano Giuliani, 63, insists that beneath the veneer of the street radical, his son was a nice young man who did not take drugs or engage in violence.
In fact, Signor Giuliani sees his son and Signor Placanica as twin faces of young Italy - one "fighting against injustice", the other defending the State by donning a uniform. "They were about the same age," he said. "Carlo was a bit older. But they come from the same generation. Both are victims of the tragedy. But only one is dead."
Some of his son's friends admit that he was "not exactly a pacifist". His girlfriend, Ilaria, said he had become a bit of a rebel. "He felt the world was against him and he was against the world." Giuliani's father said he had begged him not to go on the demonstrations, "but he wouldn't listen". He added: "I feel only pity for the officer who shot him . . . I think the real blame lies with those who deployed young officers who did not know how to react in the situation."
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