Giulietto Chiesa

Political activism

Chiesa has a long experience as a political activist. He started in Genoa as a local branch leader of a student organisation, called Unione Goliardica Italiana (Italian Goliardic Union – UGI) and then as its national Vice-President. Later on he became national leader of FGCI (Italian Communist Youth Federation) and eventually leader of the Genoese branch of PCI (Italian Communist Party) between 1970 and 1979. He was chairman of the PCI in the county council of Genoa between 1975 and 1979, the year in which he left his career as a party official in order to be a journalist.^[3]

Journalistic activities and lectures

He started as a journalist in 1979, first as an editor for the Italian communist newspaper L’Unità and then serving as a Moscow correspondent for the same newspaper from 1980. He has given lectures in fifteen universities and research institutes in the USA, at the State Department, at the Rand Corporation, etc. In 1991 he was again appointed Moscow correspondent for La Stampa – an Italian newspaper based in Turin - and as such he has remained in Russia until the end of 2000. While in Moscow he collaborated with Radio Liberty. He has worked also as a political editorialist and commentator for the newspaper of Turin and he carried on writing for it until 2005, even though less and less frequently over time. In the same period he was writing also for Il Manifesto and other Italian newspapers and magazines. He did several columns for many different newspapers and journals, among them La Voce delle voci and Missioni della consolata. He collaborated also with several European, American and Russian newspapers and journals. During the ‘90s he collaborated with most of the Italian TV broadcasters, with International Swiss Radio, with Radio Vaticana, with the Russian channel of BBC-World Service, with the Russian TV channels ORT, RTR and NTV and with Deutsche Welle. He has been invited a number of times to RAI News 24 and RAI programmes.^[4] He was repeatedly invited to Omnibus,^[5] a TV program on the Italian TV channel La Sette. He wrote a regular column for Photo and for four years wrote a regular column for the European monthly magazine Galatea^[6]

For several years he wrote a regular column on Kompania, a Russian weekly magazine for business circles. He has written several books, ranging from history to news and reportages about the Soviet Union and Russia. His first book, though, harks back to his first months as a journalist in Italy. It is an accurate reconstruction of the events describing the failed attempt to rescue the American hostages from the embassy in Tehran in 1979, Operazione Teheran (Operation Tehran, 1980). Afterwards, from Moscow, he wrote L’URSS che cambia (The Changing USSR, 1987) together with Roy Medvedev, at the time a Russian political dissident. This book was translated into Portuguese in 1988. In 1990 it was published – in the form of a dialogue with Medvedev – La rivoluzione di Gorbaciov, edited in the USA with the title Time of Change and then in Japan as well.

At about the same time, in Italy, Transizione alla Democrazia was published (Transition to Democracy). A new edition of Transition to Democracy - largely revised and updated - was printed in 1991 in the USA - with the collaboration of Douglas Northrop - and afterwards in Russia. Another two books followed - the first was Cronaca del Golpe Rosso (Chronicle of the Red Coup, 1991) and the other one was Da Mosca, Cronaca di un colpo di stato annunciato (From Moscow. Chronicle of a Coup Foretold 1995). Another two books about Russian events were published: Russia Addio ( Goodbye Russia, 1997) whose Russian edition Proschaj Rossija was hugely successful - over 80,000 copies sold - and which was also translated into Chinese and into Greek; and Russian Roulette which, with the same title - Russkaja Ruletka – was published in Russia in July 2000.

Megachip and Zero

In 1999-2000 he founded Megachip – Democracy in Communications,^[7] an association which deals with the critical analysis of how mainstream media work. Furthermore, the association created a website in order to deepen the analysis of the subjects covered (www.megachip.info). The site, in April 2009, had over sixty million webpage hits and in 2010 this number increased to over a hundred million. From Megachip other cultural projects sprang, such as a programme of Education to the media, the movie Zero: an Investigation Into 9/11^[8] and the quarterly magazine Cometa (Comunicazione-Etica-Ambiente Communications-Ethics–Environment).

From the latter part of the 1990s he started to monitor the issues related to globalization, in particular how it affects the world media system. In this context lies the participation of Giulietto Chiesa at the foundation of the World Political Forum, based in Turin and chaired by Mikhail Gorbaciov.^[9] In 2010 President Gorbachev carried on his activities about international research, founding in Luxemburg the New Policy Forum, of whose Advisory Board Giulietto Chiesa is a member.

Chiesa published a number of essays about that for Italian and foreign journals. Among them, two essays are derived from the lectures held at the Academy of Science and at the institute for Economy and international Relations (IMEMO).

For few years he collaborated with Limes, an Italian journal of geopolitics and with other Russian journals, such as Literaturnaja Gazeta, Delovoi Vtornik, Moskovskie Novosti, Itogi. He has been political commentator for Russia Today. In recent years he has collaborated regularly with many Russian TV channels, such as Pervij Kanal, Rossija 1, Rossija 24, NTV, Ren TV, Zvezda, Kultura.

Once returned to Italy he wrote other books as well as dozens of essays gathered in collections co-authored by him and others. His chronicle of the events that happened during the G8 in Genoa was published with the title G8/Genova (G8/Genoa, 2001). In the same year Afghanistan Year Zero was issued, a book co-written with the journalist and satirical cartoonist Vauro and presenting a preface written by Gino Strada, the Italian surgeon who founded Emergency. This last book remained for one year at the top of the chart with over 115,000 copies sold and it was translated into Greek. In Spring 2002 La Guerra Infinita was launched which remained for a long time at the top of the non-fiction charts. It was translated into German, English and Spanish.

In March 2003 Superclan was published, a book co-written by him and Marcello Villari. In Moscow - in 2003 as well – was launched Beskonechnaja Voina, a collection of essays which includes parts from Afghanistan Year Zero, The Infinite War and Superclan. At the beginning of 2004 La Guerra come Menzogna (War as a Lie) was published, which has been translated into French. The essay Invece di questa sinistra (Instead of This Left) was also published, which includes the political manifesto of Mr Chiesa for the European election campaign of 2004.

On the verge of the American attack on Iraq he promoted – together with a large group of volunteering journalists – the experimental project of an independent satellite TV, called NoWar TV.^[10]

In 2004 Giulietto Chiesa was elected to the European Parliament elections as a member from the Italy of Values list of Di Pietro-Occhetto-Civil Society. At a later time, due to the incompatibility between his worldview and Di Pietro’s, he left the parliamentary group of Liberals and Democrats – which he had joined at the request of Di Pietro - to join instead the PSE group (Party of European Socialists) as an independent member.^[11] In Italy he created the group Cantiere per il Bene Comune (Construction of the Common Good) together with Achille Occhetto, Paolo Sylos Labini, Elio Veltri, Antonello Falomi and Diego Novelli.

In October 2004 I peggiori crimini del comunismo (The Worst Crimes of Communism) was published, co-written by him and the cartoonist Vauro, a biting satire which reveals the leftist past of some of the closest associates of the current Prime Minister of the time, Mr Silvio Berlusconi.

In 2005 a book of interviews was issued, edited by Massimo Panarari, entitled Cronache Marxziane (Marxian Chronicles), translated a year later into Russian with the title Vostok-Zapad:Voinà Imperii. In the same year a collection of essays was published called Prima della tempesta (Before the Storm).

In 2007 Mr Chiesa produced two volumes: Le Carceri segrete della CIA in Europa (The Secret Prisons of CIA on EU soil) - co-authored by him and two of his closest collaborators, Francesco De Carlo and Giovanni Melogli – and Zero: Why the Official Version About 9/11 is a Fraud, co-authored by him and many other writers and edited by another of his collaborators, Roberto Vignoli. The contributions of Mr Chiesa to this collection are the Introduction and a long essay on geopolitics called Europa, perché Marte ha sconfitto Venere (Europe: Why Mars Defeated Venus). In October 2007 the Movie Zero: inchiesta sull'11 settembre (Zero: An Investigation Into 9/11) was presented at the International Movie Festival of Rome. It was created by a group - promoted by Giulietto Chiesa - led by Paolo Jormi Bianchi and was directed by Franco Fracassi and Francesco Trento. It began to be distributed from the beginning of 2008. It suggests that officials inside and outside the US Government were directly involved in planning and executing the attacks. In an interview with PressTV, Chiesa stated that the attacks involved a calculated conspiracy implicating US, Israeli, Pakistani and Saudi secret services. On 12 September 2008 Zero was put out by the Russian TV Channel 1, achieving an extraordinary success in terms of audience. Over thirty million people watched the movie and we need to add to it millions of Russian speaking viewers in the formerly soviet republics. The movie was deeply debunked in the book "Zerobubbole" (in Italian) by a group by Italian debunkers and international experts. The book is freely available on the Internet.

2008 Russian-Georgian Conflict

Concerning the 2008 conflict between Russia and Georgia, Chiesa stated that "Russia did precisely what had to be done." He added "I think Europe is partly responsible for this war, by unconditionally supporting Georgia’s president Mikheil Saakashvili and his claims on South Ossetia and Abkhazia." Regarding media coverage of the war, Chiesa declared that "the information given by the media is shameful for the west. Western news channels broadcast images and headlines that were politically biased. Some of them claimed that Russia wanted to conquer Georgia, although no evidence whatsoever backed up that argument. Mikheil Saakashvili was portrayed as the unfortunate victim of Big Bad Putin and very often images of Tskhinvali razed by bombs were not shown. It is the worst coverage I have ever seen since the war in Iraq."^[12]

Pandora TV

During the last months of 2008 Mr Chiesa, together with a large group of journalists, writers and intellectuals linked to Megachip, created the experimental project Pandora TV - an independent, multi-platform television channel funded by its own viewers (www.pandoratv.it).

In April 2009 he was candidate for the European Parliament elections in Latvia for the Party For Human Rights in United Latvia.^[13]

In 2010 he produced two books, one called La Menzogna Nucleare (The Nuclear Lie), co-written by the physicist Guido Cosenza and the eco-physicist Luigi Sertorio. In the autumn the same publisher launched Il Candidato Lettone, Inedite avventure di un alieno in Europa (The Latvian Candidate. Unusual Adventures of an Alien in Europe), reportage of the campaign for the elections in Latvia, translated both into Russian and into English.

In April 2010 Chiesa founded Alternativa, a laboratory of cultural and political ideas, in Genoa of which he is still the President.

In 2011 – in commemoration of the ten years after 9/11 - the publisher Piemme printed Zero 2. The Smoking Guns. The volume begins with a large essay focused on all the new evidence which debunks the "official version" (commonly accepted history) on at least seven irrefutable points and which were no longer mere questions and clues but instead very detailed indictments. The essay remained at the top of the sales charts for several weeks. Also in 2011 he put out Barack Obush, co-authored by him and Pino Cabras.

In 2012 he launched Instead of Catastrophe: Why it is by Now Necessary to Develop an Alternative. The book is basically Giulietto Chiesa’s political manifesto, a summary of his ideas and of his view on the world crisis. In recent years Mr Chiesa has faced the challenge of the social networks, which for him meant a radical turning point. At the end of 2014, when he was held in custody in Estonia and then deported, his posts spiked with over 1,300,000 internet viewings. During the major moments of international political crisis, in the course of 2015, indicators quite often counted over 500-700,000 viewings, making Giulietto Chiesa’s blog one of the ten most visited Italian political blogs.

At the beginning of 2014 Pandora TV started to be operative. By the end of 2015 it was claiming a great success in terms of audience and supporters, counting tens of thousands of viewers on a daily basis.

In the meantime he issued the Russian edition of Invece della catastrofe. A book of interviews, promoted and edited by Ekaterina Glushik, was published in 2015 with the title Мир на пороге воины. Also in 2015 a new volume was published, called È arrivata la bufera (The Storm has come) which begins with a preface devoted to the terrorist attack against the staff members of the satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo, entitled I misteri di Parigi (The Mysteries of Paris).

In 2016 the French edition of The Storm has come was released. The book starts with a large preface which alleges there was a double false flag operation including both the Charlie Hebdo attack and the 11/13 attack. At the same time a brand new book by Mr Chiesa was published, called Russofobie 2.0, which is published simultaneously in Italy (with the title Putinfobia) and in Russia (with the title Руссофобя 2.0).

Bibliography

• Operazione Teheran (Operation Tehran) (1980). Bari. De Donato.
• L’URSS che cambia (The Changing USSR) (1987). Roma. Editori Riuniti.
• La rivoluzione di Gorbaciov (1989). Co-author Roy Medvedev. Garzanti.
  • American edition: Time of Change (1991). Translation from the Italian by Michael Moore. London-New York. I.B. Tauris & Co.LTD.
  • Japanese edition.
• Transizione alla Democrazia (1990). Roma. Lucarini.
  • American edition: Transition to Democracy: Political Change in the Soviet Union (1991). Co-author Douglas Northrop. University Press of New England.
  • Russian Edition: Perekhod k Democratij (1991). Mezhdunarodnye Otnoshenija.
• Cronaca del Golpe rosso (Chronicle of The Red Coup)(1991). Milan. Baldini & Castoldi.
• Da Mosca. Cronache di un colpo di stato annunciato (From Moscow: Chronicle of a Coup Foretold) (1995). Bari. Laterza.
• Russia Addio (Good Bye Russia) (1997). Roma. Editori Riuniti.
  • Russian edition: Прощай, Россия! (1997). Geja.
  • Chinese edition: (1999) Beijing. Nuova Cina.
  • Greek edition: (2000) Athens. Kastaniotis.
• Roulette russa (1999). Milan. Guerini & Associati.
  • Русская рулетка (2000). Prava Cheloveka.
• G8-Genova (G8-Genoa) (2001). Genoa. Einaudi.
• Afghanistan Anno Zero (Afghanistan Year Zero) (2001) Milan. Guerini & Associati.
  • Greek edition.
• La guerra infinita (2002). Milano. Feltrinelli.
  • German edition: Das Zeitalter des Imperiums (2003). Hamburg. Europaische Verlagsanstalt.
  • English edition: The Infinite War (2003). Translation by Robert Elliot. Yema.
• Superclan (2003). Milan. Feltrinelli.
• Beskonechnaja Voina (2003). Russia. Neizvestnaja Voina.
• La guerra come menzogna (War As a Lie). (2004). Rome. Nottetempo.
  • French edition: (2004). Giveva. Timeli.
• Invece di questa sinistra (Instead of This Left). (2004). Rome. Nottetempo.
• I peggiori crimini del comunismo (The Worst Crimes of Communism). (2004). Milan. Piemme.
• Cronache marxiane (Marxian Chronicles)(2005). Rome. Fazi.
  • Russian edition: Vostok-Zapad:Voinà Imperii(2006). Eksmo.
• Prima della tempesta (Before the Storm).(2006). Rome. Nottetempo.
• Le carceri segrete della Cia in Europa (The Secret Prisons of CIA on EU Soil) (2007). Milan. Piemme.
• Zero. Perché la versione ufficiale sull'11 settembre è un falso (Zero: Why The Official Version About 9/11 is a Fraud) (2007). Milan. Piemme.
• La Menzogna Nucleare (The Nuclear Lie) (2010). Milano. Ponte alle Grazie.
• Il Candidato Lettone. Inedite avventure di un alieno in Europa (2010). Milan. Ponte alle Grazie.
  • English edition: The Latvian Candidate (2010). Tribuna.
  • Russian edition: Латвийский кандидат (2010). Tribuna.
• Zero 2. Le pistole fumanti (Zero 2: The Smoking Guns) (2011). Milan. Piemme.
• Barack Obush (2011) Milan. Ponte all Grazie.
• Invece della catastrofe. Perché costruire un'alternativa è ormai indispensabile (Instead of Catastrophe. Why It Is By Now Necessary to Develop an Alternative) (2012).
  • Russian edition: Что, вместо катастрофа (2014). Tribuna.
• Мир на пороге воины, a book of interviews by Ekaterina Glushik (2015). Завтра.
• È arrivata la bufera (2015). Milan. Piemme.
  • French edition (2016)
• Putinfobia 2.0 (2016). Milan. Piemme.
  • French edition: Russofobie 2.0 (2016). Editions du Cercle.
  • Russian edition: Руссофобия 2.0 (2016). Эксмо.