The Moro Morality Play: Terrorism as Social DramaOn March 16, 1978, the former prime minister of Italy, Aldo Moro, was kidnapped by the Red Brigades, and what followed—the fifty-five days of captivity that resulted in Moro's murder—constitutes one of the most striking social dramas of the twentieth century. In this compelling study of terrorism, Robin Wagner-Pacifici employs methods from sociology, symbolic anthropology, and literary criticism to decode the many social "texts" that shaped the event: political speeches, newspaper reports, television and radio news, editorials, photographs, Moro's letters, Red Brigade communiques, and appeals by various international figures. The analysis of these "texts" calls into question the function of politics, social drama, spectacle, and theater. Wagner-Pacifici provides a dramaturgic analysis of the Moro affair as a method for discussing the culture of politics in Italy. |
Contents
Introduction | 1 |
Italy 1978 | 22 |
The Country in the Streets | 62 |
Recognition and Negotiation | 127 |
Elaboration of Symbolic Power | 164 |
Theory | 205 |
The Praxis of Reconciliation and | 239 |
Conclusion | 272 |
Documents of the Drama | 295 |
Notes | 307 |
| 339 | |
| 349 | |
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Common terms and phrases
actions Aldo Moro analysis Andreotti appeal April attempt audience Bocca breach Brigate Rosse-Stato chapter claim Communist party Constitution Corriere della Sera crisis defend democracy demonstrations discussion establishment mass media event fact fascist forces genre Giorgio Bocca Historic Compromise hostage Ibid identified interpretation issue Italian politics Italy L'Unità La Repubblica legitimacy legitimate Lockheed Lockheed scandal Lotta Continua March 16 mass media ment metaphor Milan moral Morcellini and Avallone Moro affair Moro social drama Moro's family Moro's kidnapping Moro's letters negotiation newspapers no-negotiation protagonists organization participation People's Prison Piazza police political parties Popolo position Potere Operaio presented proletariat radio reason recognition Red Brigades reference relevant Resistance response revealed rhetoric ritual role root paradigm sacrifice Sanctity of Human Sciascia Selva and Marcucci Silj Socialists society spectacle strike structure symbolic terrorism terrorists theater tion Torino trial Turner ultraleft victim violence words workers Zaccagnini