May 9th

Yeah? Not yet, after all?

Well, I have tried: to draw Aldo with outstretched arms. But he didn't want to.
He struggled against my pencils, until the picture below emerged. He still isn't over it. How could he?

 

It happened on this very day, 37 years ago. Two days earlier, Mario Moretti, leading member of the Brigate Rosse, had telephoned Mrs. Moro, beseeching her to influence the government so that Aldo wouldn't have to die. He executed the death sentence in the early morning hours.

It was not without controversy. Some members of the BR were very much in favour of letting Aldo go away alive. Moretti, however, who had "asked Mrs. Moro for help" and claimed to have felt "deep sympathy" for Aldo, not only insisted on the assassination, but also on performing the act himself.

The reports about the actual event of the murder vary. More or less all Brigadisti insisted that they had been concerned about Aldo not having to suffer. Therefore they told him all sorts of things before leading him to his death: he would now be able to go home, he would just be brought to a different hiding place, and whatever.

I am certain that he was very aware that the end had come.

Later, some members of the BR cried at Aldo's grave, and Cossiga, the Minister of the Interior, who had dropped him, cried as well. Many tears, and all of them received much more public attention than those of Aldo Moro himself.

All of this still doesn't make any sense. It will never be transfigured into anything good.

The case of Aldo Moro severely contradicts all those cute encouraging proverbs about gentleness being stronger than hardness, about patience paying off in the end, and so on. There is no comfort, no edifying lesson in this story.

 

The blurb of the French publication of some of Moro's letters says:

"Aldo Moro was one of the most beautiful and amiable figures of the 20th century. His message was that the protection of life always takes priority, and that diplomacy takes precedence over violence. It still holds true."

 

Looking at the world of today I can only recognise that this message is valid less than ever. For the Brigate Rosse, it was at least a really tough decision to kill Aldo. Today's terrorists are not squeamish about slaughtering several hundreds of people per day.

Why am I writing this today? I am on a pilgrimage for Aldo, searching for the hidden tears.

And today is the anniversary of his death.