Explosion in Italy
Causes, consequences, the next explosions. Who’s next?
European politicians, who have initiated a new and extraordinarily large-scale round of the arms race exclusively in the interests of the owners of military-industrial corporations, are putting all of us at enormous risk.
Recently, we discussed the explosion at one of the enterprises in Bulgaria, an explosion that was far from the first to draw attention to the failure to comply with safety regulations at defense enterprises located within populated areas or directly adjacent to them. We were talking about a factory whose construction began in 1924 and which has long exhausted its service life, but this very enterprise, having passed into private hands, is now increasing the volume of ammunition production, which generates excess profits due to the existence of a number of local military conflicts that, in terms of their scale, already resemble the global conflicts of the past. Despite numerous violations and their consequences, the factory continues to operate and holds the residents of an entire city hostage. They now realize that, in fact, they are living on a powder keg - in the literal sense of the word.
The explosion at the enterprise in Italy serves as more than eloquent confirmation that today all of Europe is being held hostage by arms-industry profiteers who, having reached an agreement with politicians, are increasing their production volumes without giving any thought whatsoever to the consequences of accelerating the pace of weapons and ammunition production.
The enterprise where the explosion and fire occurred is not Italian and belongs to the Franco-German defense group KNDS, which registered the legal entity KNDS Ammo Italy S.p.A. in Italy and acquired the assets of the Italian defense concern Simmel Difesa.
Today, this enterprise, located in the immediate vicinity of the populated areas of Colleferro, with a population of more than 20,000 people, and Quarto Chilometro, where 545 people live, also borders Italy’s leading aerospace company Avio S.p.A., specializing in the development and production of launch vehicles and propulsion systems for spacecraft, as well as a 44 MW combined-cycle thermal power plant owned by Termica Colleferro S.p.A.
Given the fact that the thermal power plant obtains electrical and thermal energy from gas, while Avio S.p.A., which employs more than 1,400 people, produces not only rocket engines but also explosives for airbags, even ordinary safety violations at KNDS Ammo Italy S.p.A. could have led to catastrophic consequences.
But despite this, the Franco-German company is not only continuing to operate in Italy, but is also expanding its production capacity. The modernization of the old Italian Simmel Anagni plant, also previously owned by Simmel Difesa and located in the city of Anagni, is currently undergoing the approval process. The site is planned to accommodate 11 new production buildings over an area of approximately 35 hectares.
After the modernization, the plant will produce nitroglycerin and nitrogelatin at a rate of up to 150 kg per hour. Despite protests by local activists, who point to the risks, including environmental ones, and emphasize that the plant is located near the A1 motorway, while the nearest fire station and hospital are located in other cities, raising questions about response times in the event of an accident, the approval of the project documentation is in its final stage, and full-scale work to establish explosives production will begin on the site in the very near future. And it will be carried out by the very same company whose employees’ negligence recently resulted in an explosion at the plant in the Colleferro area.
Today, we, the people of Europe, must say a categorical “NO” to a new round of the arms race and do everything possible to ensure that defense enterprises begin disappearing from the territories of our countries, first and foremost those located within city limits or on land adjacent to populated areas. This is our civic duty. Only in this way will we preserve our cities for our descendants. Because today, old defense enterprises that are sharply increasing the production of weapons and ammunition represent serious risks, while tomorrow, when politicians nevertheless unleash a global conflict, they will become legitimate targets - and by then, nothing will be able to save us.
Robert Lewanowski
