By Desiree Bianchi, Potenza Picena, Italy, World BEYOND War, October 27, 2025
I am a retired children’s librarian, mother and grandmother. My husband, Lenny Bianchi, a retired home security technician, and I moved to Italy in 2018 bringing our peace and justice hats with us.
To give you an idea of just some of our personal activism (not counting marches, meetings, outreach and fundraisers), since October 7, 2023, Lenny and I have filed 77 notices required by police (preavviso) in order to host 77 small demonstrations in the neighboring towns and cities in Macerata and Ancona provinces of Le Marche where we live. Protests against McDonald’s, health food store Naturasì, grocery chains Sì con te and Eurospin, several pharmacies and one of Italy’s largest banks, Banca Intesa Sanpaolo for their roles in helping to support the Israeli economy, the economy of genocide. Yesterday was the first time we received a charge of defamation.
After about 90 minutes flyering in front of our local pharmacy informing customers about the campaign to boycott the Israeli pharmaceutical giant Teva Pharmaceuticals, the carabinieri arrived in plain clothes to inform us that the pharmacy was accusing us of defamation, which in Italy is a crime that can carry hefty fines and even prison time. We were ordered to dismantle our demonstration and spend some time in the police station to show IDs and sign documents. We now face these criminal charges of which the next steps are unknown to us.
We were trying to follow the example of Francesca Albanese, the UN Special Rapporteur, who just a few weeks ago stated, “Make sure the ‘Made in Israel’ sign is no longer present in our pharmacies.”
This repression is happening all over the world. Just a week ago, over 800 people, some over 80, were arrested in London for opposing the genocide and supporting Palestine Action. A few weeks earlier, 500 had been arrested. In the United States, legal residents are being deported and students expelled from universities, professors losing their positions for publicly expressing their support for Palestine. We’ve seen flotillas attempt to break the siege of Gaza with humanitarian aid. Hundreds of people from 44 countries aboard these ships risked and suffered imprisonment and beatings. Average citizens are risking imprisonment and some their lives to speak out against the horrific holocaust perpetrated against the Palestinian people, to do what our governments are failing to do.
What does this mean for all of us? Deciding what risks to take is a personal matter. Everyone must decide what they are willing to do.
But the repression and retaliation by businesses, educational institutions and governments to intimidate citizen activists in face of the most horrific crimes against humanity should not deter us. In fact, in our case, our activism continues. Today we protest one of Italy’s largest banks, Banca Intesa San Paolo for financing and investing in Leonardo, Spa. the Italian weapons manufacturer that sells to Israel.
Every day we are reminded that tens if not, hundreds of thousands of innocent Palestinians, hard-working fishermen and farmers, poets and writers, doctors and nurses, journalists and photographers, soccer players and rescue personnel, dedicated mothers and grandmothers, tiny babies and beautiful teenagers with dreams have been and continue to be massacred in horrible ways in Gaza, Palestine. This may be the only time in our lives we have the opportunity to speak out and denounce an ongoing genocide. We must all weigh the gravity of the situation and decide what are the risks we are willing to take.
As a former children’s librarian, mother and grandmother, I cannot in good conscience sit at home to enjoy the stack of books waiting to be read on my nightstand. I want a different world for my grandchildren and for all children. This morning we will don our boycott t-shirts, pile our signs and flyers into our car and head to Civitanova’s Saturday market crowd to talk to people about making an ethical choice for their banking needs keeping our fingers crossed that we don’t get charged again for defamation.
