Interview With Venetian Separatist Viviana Delle Rosa, President Of 'Veneteka'

For the last several days, the citizens of Venice, Italy and several neighbouring cities and towns, have been voting in a independence referendum to decide, without government approval, whether or not to separate from the Italian state.  The referendum ends tomorrow and the results will be counted and announced on the 21st of March.  I was immediately intrigued because I knew already that Venice had at one point been its own country.  In fact, they had been their own country for 1,100 years.  The day the referendum started I was so fascinated that I felt the need to find someone to interview about it.  That is when I stumbled onto Viviana Delle Rosa on Twitter.   Viviana is the co-founder and President of ‘Veneteka’, a Venetian cultural group that is pro-independence and spreads the knowledge of its wisdom to the ancient and loyal citizens of the Most Serene Republic of Venice.  

Q: Why does Venice want to be independent from Italy?

A: Because the farcical referendum which was commissioned in 1866 by the House of Savoy in order to annex to its realm the so called “Veneto”, which was indeed an incomplete Nation (what about the eastern territories of the Venetian Republic? What About Istria and Dalmatia, which are now barely remembered asformer Italian possessions, while they actually were Venetian possessions) was not requested by the Venetian people, so it was all about a rapacious act of colonial occupation. Vote was fraudulent, then, if you think that there were only “yes” ballots, and those who openly opposed the Italian occupation were jailed, sent into exile or even executed: all is well described in many books you will never read at school. One of the very effects of this fraudulent plebiscite is the Venetian diaspora: over a million Venetians left their homeland to seek fortune in the Americas, following the occupation of Veneto: the most prosperous economy in the world had been destroyed because of the looting carried out by the Italians. As to this, we have to point out that in the ’80-’90 of the Twentieth century, the Veneto region was the protagonist of the famous “Miracolo del Nord-Est” (“Miracle of the North-East”), reaching a growth and development rate of 9% per annum, which is a result that has been achieved only by China in recent years, and the Bavarian government began to study the economic model of the North-East. Many of the Venetian contractors who were the architects of this economic growth have recently committed suicide because of the tremendous tax burden imposed on them by Rome.

All this to mean that the Venetian Nation has a historical right to independence in its ancestral territories, since it is a historical European Nation which has been expropriated through violence and deceit of its money and possessions as well as being deprived of its liberty. After this referendum, the Veneteka will draft a request for all damages caused by the Italian occupation, including those that are the cause of the failures of the industrious and ingenious Venetian companies, as we did years ago, in 1998, when we drafted to France a request for damages caused by the Napoleonic invasion of 1797; such request was estimated at two million billion Italian lire by the Venetian patrician Ranieri da Mosto.

If you think that the Venetian Republic lasted for over a thousand years in total independence, and that its government models were based on the principle of good governance, in front of the corruption of the Italian masonic State, the Venetians just can’t help feeling disgust: in front of the Italian misgovernment, Venetians, as well as all other Italic Peoples who aspire to their lost independence (Sardinians, Tuscans, Sicilians, Ligurians, Neapolitans, Lombards, and so on) must seek, then, a way out to regain possession of their own destiny.

Q: This referendum is not recognized by European, Italian or even regional authorities, Does that matter to Venetians?

A: I am not surprised they don’t recognize this referendum, although the Venetian referendum is not farcical. We Venetians don’t recognize the Italian referendum which fraudulently annexed the Venetian territories to the Italian realm, neither, for it was violently and illegally brought against the Venetian People, according to colonial Countries’ best tradition, when they decide to submit foreign Nations through swindle and violence. And what does that teach you? That a peaceful referendum is not accepted by so called democracies, just like in Crimea. As to what the EU or Italy think about what we are doing in Veneto in order to regain our freedom, it is clear that dictatorships are covered with democracy, nowadays. Those monstrous leviathans of modern times are not different from the enemies they pretend to fight in order to achieve credibility, in the case someone still believe in so-called democratic governments. Eu and Italy will have to sign agreements and treaties with the revived Venetian Nation, sooner or later.

Q:  Tell us about your organization ‘Veneteka’ and their role in this independence referendum

A: “Veneteka” is a cultural association meant to spread awareness on Venetian right to independence through research, study and possibly the publication of historical documents and through the dissemination of Venetian books and items, which do possess philological requirements belonging to the Venetian universe. One of our campaigns is centered on the cultural boycott of products that exploit the image of Venice without expressing its venetianity. Why is this? Because we have a very big problem in Venice, concerning the trafficking of counterfeit, mediocre “souvenirs” that are made anywhere, but not in Venice: a mockery of extraordinary proportions! Venice is flooded with tremendously ugly products of low alloy, and it is absurd that such a city, once a capital of culture, has inflated the market with abominable items produced in China or Bangladesh at ridiculously low prices in order to meet the demand of a mediocre public insensitive to the fragility of Venice, which is not physiologically suited to mass tourism: this happens with the help of Venetians who hold public office and proclaim themselves Italians: what you do for the loaf.

The “Veneteka”, in this context, is the first Venetian ethnic trading post in Veneto, and this is amazing… In our association you can find books and items that do possess and express a genuine link with the territory of which they speak to us in a symbolic way: our ubiquitous patron Saint Mark is represented as a winged Lion almost everywhere. What we are proposing has a deep connection to the Venetian territory, especially with the Venetian lagoon environment, which housed the government of the Republic of Venice, and our books and items are meant to combat the spread of disruptive so-called “Venetian specialties” made in China. To this purpose, the Veneteka also intends to educate, when possible, people to move towards the choice of souvenirs actually produced in Venice and in Veneto.

            From the political point of view, the association is clearly in support of any initiative in favor of the independence of Veneto. From the cultural point of view, one of our recent campaign deals with the environmental disaster the Venetian lagoon suffered last summer, in the most absolute silence of the press: even hired local media had chosen to be blackmailed by the criminal policies of the City of Venice, which is de facto an agency of the Italian government. Following this terrible disaster, where all fishes and crabs in the city were poisoned to death, the “Veneteka”, along with another important Venetian organization, the “Venetian Government” headed by Albert Gardin, formally requested the resignation of the mayor and the superintendent of Venice.

As to our birth as an organization, our association was founded in 2004 in the wake of the events of Saint Mark’s bell tower, when a group of most serene Venetian patriots, known as the “Serenissimi”, liberated Saint Mark’s Square during the night between the 8th and the 9th of May in 1997, climbed the bell tower and barricaded themselves there with the intention of remaining inside until the 12th of May, the day when we remember the fall of the Venetian Republic, which, technically, never abdicated, since the number of Venetian patricians gathered at the Great Counsel in the Doge’s Palace, that day in 1797, did not reach a majority to be capable to issue decisions on the Republic’s future.

However, the “Serenissimi” took action in order to proclaim anew the Republic of Venice. I’ve known those men very well, and especially with one of them, I forged a close friendship based on common aims and interests. His name was Giuseppe Segato, and as the ideologue, he was the Ambassador of the Most Serene Venetian Government, which was the group that orchestrated the blitz. Obviously, this was seen as an act of war  against the Italian government, and actually it was, since they disembarked from a ferry wearing paramilitary uniforms inside an armored vehicle… an astounding scene, indeed. All of them were jailed the next morning, in the end. At any rate, Venetian Ambassador Giuseppe Segato never negotiated his penalty, so he spent more than 2 years and 9 months in jail, divided in three different imprisonments. He died of a heart attack in 2006, and he is now considered one of the Founding Fathers of the revived Venetian Nation.

Veneteka’s main symbol is represented by the Winged Lion of Saint Mark, the very glue capable of combining the Venetians into a single powerful entity. There’s a Venetian motto which says “Ti co nu, Nu co ti!” (You with us, us with You!), an excerpt from the Proclamation of Perasto, the doleful farewell the Venetians dedicated on the 27th of August 1797 to the glorious Venetian flag with the Lion of Saint Mark, when they had to bury it following the tragic events on the so called “fall” of the Venetian Republic. This excerpt sound like this: “…and we have always been faithful to You, You with us, us with You”. This motto well embodies our highest ideal as an organization dedicated to the Most Serene Republic of Venice.

Q: You have voted and you voted a resounding YES, why and what does this referendum mean to you personally?

A: I am not worried about the results, at the moment. I receive about 50 calls a day, and they ask me how to vote, what to vote, who to vote. Think about what we could do if there was media coverage…

However, we must not forget that what we are witnessing is merely an attempt to achieve independence, let’s say a technical attempt, such as when testing lights, microphones, and so on before going on the air. At any rate, on the 16th of March, during the first day of the tests for independence, 700,000 Venetian voters have expressed their willingness to return to be independent, as it was under the Venetian Republic: not bad, if you think that Italy has unsuccessfully tried everything to silence the Venetian People’s attempt to escape the Italian cage.

Q: If successful, officials have plans in the works to draw up a declaration of independence, if this happens, do you expect retaliation from Rome?

A: Venetian independentists have always to expect retaliation from Rome, and this is quite normal. The Most Serene patriots (“Serenissimi”) in 1997 were jailed because they dared to question the article number five of the Italian constitution, which declares the Italian Republic as one and indivisible, as if it dealt with a deity to be worshiped, and it’s pretty ridiculous that a government that professes the secular State wants to be so adored, right? And it’s also insufferably conceited by the Italian State to expect that the modern geopolitical planning of the Italic Peninsula must be eternal. We were the most powerful Republic in the world when Italy didn’t even exist…

Retaliation is not normal when used against pro government characters, such as the athletes of the Italian national team, that is to say, their own voters, while on the podium waving the tricolor flag like crazy: you can clearly understand  they are subtly forced to play the part of the patriots, without even knowing what that flag devoid of glory actually represents, that is to say, bloody colonial invasions that cruelly subdued the Peoples of the Italic Peninsula: just as if the Jews waved the Nazi swastikas or the Native Americans waved the stars and stripes, so to speak. Those athletes, anyway, do guess very well that retaliation might be around the corner for them, if they don’t act that way: like those who maintain they “love” Italy, they are just courtiers at the court of a revengeful “democracy”.

Q: Other independence movements are closely watching Venetia’s referendum, What would you say to them to give them hope that they will gain independence too?

A: Never give up! Our day will come, citing  the Irish patriot Bobby Sands. Independentists usually know they are not working for themselves, but for their People and homeland, and by virtue of this, they are perfectly aware that their struggle could not give the desired results while they are alive. We have the duty, in the meantime, to cultivate the Memory of our Ancestors, and then to fight for our Country and our People, which will continue to exist even after our death. So, as Venetian Patriot Giuseppe Segato taught us, always ahead with unwavering Faith!

Q: Have you talked to other voters and if so, what is your feeling of how this referendum will go?

A: Yes, I did. We almost think this referendum has already reached the fixed goals: first of all, it did frighten the Italian invader, who could only ignore it, in order to censor, according to the best Stalinist propaganda, even the slightest reference to what is happening in Veneto: pathetic attempt, if you think the Italian media, as a rule, reserve ample space to frivolous topics in order to sidetrack the reader: great showmanship, no doubt about it.

Q: I wish you and Venetia best of luck and I hope Lady Liberty answers your calls for freedom

A: Thank you so much! As to Lady Liberty, I hope She will remember that once upon a time, the American Founding Fathers, who inspired themselves to the Republic of Venice, asked the Venetian government to be recognized as an independent Nation! May Saint Mark be with you, as well! LONG LIVE SAINT MARK!! LONG LIVE THE REPUBLIC OF VENICE!!