Enrico Vigna,  14 december 2021
 

Falco Accame, a former socialist deputy and admiral, passed away on 13 December. He was 96 years old.
With deep emotion, on behalf of the Civg (Initiatives Center for Truth and Justice) of which he was and will remain, to our great honor, Honorary President, and active member of the Belgrade Forum  Italy of which he was a part, I intend to greet with these lines the disappearance of a great man, socialist and sincerely democratic, ethically upright and tireless fighter of a thousand battles for truth and justice. A simple but culturally profound man, who continued to be a "partisan" up to the last, that is, deployed in battles, even if unable to move.

I had the honor of having been at his side in the last thirty years, in many battles for the peoples attacked or trampled on, by imperial and imperialist arrogance. Falco had a profound sense of the State, a profound sense of ethical values and social justice, a firm defender of our Constitution born from the Resistance, always beyond bounding logics, continually aimed at the interests of the working class, the humble, the least. A socialist, not from a party, but a socialist of social values. From the courageous choices to continue the battles with the Foundation of General Nino Pasti, his great friend and comrade, against NATO and all wars, to the thousands of interpellations, with which he invested the defense commissions of trend and color, both when he was a parliamentarian, but also later from the outside, in the battle to unveil the criminal use of depleted uranium weapons, which destroyed countries, peoples but also Italian military personnel. Always at the forefront of any fight against wars. In 1999 he was one of the pillars of the Ramsey Clark International Tribunal for NATO War Crimes against Yugoslavia and was always present for any initiative of denunciation, struggle and solidarity against NATO and the side of attacked or oppressed peoples, without NEVER hesitation or calculation of utility or opportunity. This of him being upright and not willing to compromise or accommodation, as well as being marginalized by his Party, had also accumulated a strong resentment and hostility from the political apparatuses and various intelligence services. In the late 1990s, he was dragged into the Mitrokhin scandal, accusing the 261 suspects of being alleged Italian spies in the service of Russian intelligence. A real reckoning towards those who did not align themselves with pre-established truths or functional to national policies towards the countries of the international socialist movements. Accame he considered this accusation so ridiculous and unreal that he often answered ironically on the phone with «... Hello, I am the spy from the East ...».

When nine years ago we proposed to him to help us in the construction of the CIVG, he did not have a moment of doubt to give his name and contribute articles, materials, and often in public or televised debates he presented himself as President of the CIVG. For us this was and remains a great honor.

In a note, his son Carlo remembers him as the author of numerous books and dossiers on depleted uranium, on the Moro case, on military and NATO issues, also honorary president of the Center for Truth and Justice Initiatives (Civg) and deputy -president of the Seagull Committee for safety at sea ... During his life he has always loved to understand the multiplicity of elements that generate "reality", to deepen, analyze by actively participating in the public life of the country with articles, bills, debates, demonstrations . At 96, perhaps the time had come to leave us because he felt he was no longer able to fight against injustices ", he wrote.

I report the letter sent to the constitutive meeting of the CIVG held on 22 September 2012:
To those present and adhering to the meeting for the establishment of the Initiatives Center for Truth and Justice, I send greetings and applause for this attempt to build a collective path on the basis of a serious and concrete program, which goes beyond the limits and narrow-mindedness of the time in which we live and that surrounds us: wars, corruption, social, moral and political ruin. From the top of the long experience of democratic and civil battles and struggles, without ever accepting settlements or settlements of "personal opportunities", having read, shared and even contributed with some suggestions and indications on the merits, regarding the proposed work issues, I wish you a good job in the concrete setting for the achievement of the set objectives, which I share and approve, giving my willingness, as far as possible, to support you and collaborate on the issues that have distinguished and marked my political and civil existence, from issues of peace and military, to those of the use of depleted uranium, on which I am still engaged.

Falco Accame was senior naval officer and represented Italy at Unesco, at the 1973 World Congress on Threat Perception and distinguished himself for the many battles to denounce the business and anti-democratic background of the military organization. In July 1975 Accame resigned from command of the Indomito ship to protest the authoritarian management of power in the Armed Forces. Elected to the Chamber of Deputies in 1976, on the Socialist Party list, he was president and vice-president of the Defense Commission as well as a member of the parliamentary commission of inquiry into military orders. He was also elected as a councilor to the Liguria Region and the Municipality of Rome, and was the national councilor of the Lega Ambiente. As President of the Nino Pasti International Peace Foundation, he represented the R. Clark Tribunal for NATO War Crimes in the former Yugoslavia in Italy. President of the National Association of Families of the Victims of the Armed Forces (Anavafaf). Deputy chairman of the Seagull committee for safety at sea and member of the committee for the defense and revitalization of the Constitution. Author of numerous essays and articles, he is particularly active in denouncing the unclear role exercised in Italy by the secret services to the dependence of the United States and the changes taking place in the military institution, to make it more suitable for Italy's aggressive role in the field born on the international scene. Companion of Nino Pasti in many battles to denounce the business background and the undemocratic purposes of the military organization, Accame was a senior naval officer and in this capacity he directed the Joint Forces Operations Research group and represented Italy at Unesco at 1973 World Threat Perception Congress. In July 1975, Accame resigned from command of the ship "Indomito" to protest against the authoritarian management of power in the armed forces. In October 1999, the dossier of former KGB agent Vasili Mitrokhin was made public. Among the politicians allegedly contacted by the Soviet services is Accame. In 1977 the KGB would have pushed him to present a question against the presence of US submarines in Sardinia. When the Mitrokhin scandal broke out, Accame flaunted confidence and irony, calling the whole situation ridiculous. To phone calls from journalists he replied: "Hello, I am the spy from the East". In the case of depleted uranium he immediately took a stand, making it a battle that continues to this day, demanding truth and justice. He never hid his criticisms of the work of the Commission of Inquiry led by Franco Mandelli. Endowed with great culture and with an acquired patrimony of documentary knowledge, Accame was a very active parliamentarian and prone to controversy, both towards the military leaders and his party comrades. In recent years he has mainly devoted himself to the study of new non-violent defense strategies and the struggle for peace. A way to combine his ancient military vocation with his passion for civil rights.

He left us a great fighter, a man of one piece, a man who not only wrote, talked, debated, but every day of his intense life, did his part, took sides and fought, and as he said Ramsey Clak, former United States Attorney and president of the homonymous Tribunal against NATO, who later became his friend and companion in battles: "...." The measure of your quality as a public person, as a citizen, lies in the difference between what you do and what you say ".
My memory is contained in a single word: THANK YOU for what I have received, as teachings and ethical, social and political example.