Re: <nettime> Statement by Banca Etica regarding the forced closure of the Autistici/Inventati account

[Lorenzo Tripodi via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org>]

Also, a couple interesting contributions from the Wu Ming collective. (I let you do the DeepL translation).

'We don’t usually publish articles on Giap two days in a row. When we break this rule, it’s because there’s an emergency – like a bomb has fallen on our house.
The attack that Autistici/Inventati is currently facing is a barrage of bombs being dropped on our homes, our meeting places, and our political and trade union headquarters.
Following Luca Casarotti’s article on the legal aspects of Trump’s move <https://www.wumingfoundation.com/giap/2026/09/attacco-ad-autistici-inventati/>, here is one by Alberto Di Monte, also known as Abo, perhaps the most detailed piece published so far. The situation is evolving and deteriorating rapidly; the affair has enormous implications – it concerns the answers to the question: who controls the tools we use to communicate? – and has far-reaching repercussions."
https://www.wumingfoundation.com/giap/2026/09/come-si-e-arrivati-allattacco-usa-contro-autistici-inventati/;
Il nemico è la rete che non ti spia. Storia dell'attacco ad Autistici/Inventati
wumingfoundation.com



Lorenzo

> On 2. Sep 2026, at 09:56, Patrice Riemens via nettime-l <nettime-l@lists.nettime.org> wrote:
> 
> 
> (In olden days I would have ended with 'translated by yrs truly', but I have been made redundant by
> Deepl.com. What's left is the boring job of c+p-ing a text in free version compatible chunks)
> 
> The original is here:
> 
> https://www.bancaetica.it/area-stampa/autistici-inventati-banca-etica-condanna-uso-improprio-ofac-valutazioni-per-non-chiudere-il-conto/
> 
> refer to it for the high-lighted parts in the original text as the translation is in plain text.
> 
> CiaoCiao, p+2D!
> 
> -----------------------
> 
> Banca Etica and the sanctions imposed on Autistici/Inventati: no to the use of anti-terrorism legislation against dissent. Urgent institutional responses are required.
> 
> On Friday 28 August 2026, news broke of the US administration’s decision to add the Italian collective Autistici/Inventati to the so-called OFAC lists, as part of measures aimed at “countering the growing threat posed by violent far-left terrorist groups”. Autistici/Inventati is a Tuscan collective that develops independent IT services and provides email addresses, websites, blogs and newsletters to other activists and collectives. The Autistici/Inventati association has held an account with Banca Etica since 2018: the current account has always operated normally without raising any concerns from an anti-money laundering perspective, to the extent that it has remained within the medium-risk category. Following the US administration’s decision to designate A/I as a terrorist organisation, Banca Etica contacted Autistici/Inventati to inform them that, in effect, the bank is obliged to raise the risk profile and temporarily suspend the current account pending further investigation; unfortunately, it is likely that the account will soon have to be closed. 
> 
> Banca Etica is currently contacting the banking trade associations (ABI; Assopopolari) and the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF) to ascertain whether there are any viable solutions that would allow Banca Etica to keep the Autistici/Inventati current account operational without jeopardising the accounts of Banca Etica’s other 130,000 customers and members. Banca Etica is also seeking further technical advice to assess the scope for manoeuvre permitted by the US measure.
> 
> In the absence of any ruling or guidance from Italian and European institutions on how a bank can protect itself in such cases, an Italian bank that maintains relations with an entity included on the OFAC lists could be subject to ‘secondary sanctions’, which entail the cessation of all services provided by US intermediaries: this would mean that all Banca Etica customers would be unable to use credit and debit cards (which currently rely on a virtual monopoly held by US operators) and would be unable to make payments outside the eurozone, for which financial intermediaries – almost always US-based – are required. Such an operational block would cause intolerable harm to the bank’s customers and would jeopardise the very survival of the bank.
> 
> Banca Etica:
> 
> -- strongly condemns the use of inclusion on OFAC lists for political purposes and the imposition of the associated sanctions outside the strict scope of the original mandate of these measures, which were established to combat criminal and terrorist activities
> 
> -- once again calls, with even greater urgency, for European and national political institutions to combat the abuse of such instruments, so that European citizens and organisations are not targeted by the improper use of these sanctions;
> emphasises the need to mitigate the impact of the current dominance of global digital financial infrastructures by major US operators, as the extreme interdependence of banking systems effectively makes such unilateral sanctioning measures binding on European operators as well, even where they are unlawful and detrimental to European citizens or entities.
> 
> These are crucial issues for democracy and respect for human rights, on which Banca Etica, together with the European Federation of Ethical and Alternative Banks, has been seeking answers from Italian and European institutions for months, ever since the US added the UN Special Rapporteur on the Palestinian Territories and the judges of the International Criminal Court to the OFAC lists. Banca Etica will continue to play its part in fostering international and institutional mobilisation to put an end to this unacceptable practice of targeting those with political views differing from those of the current US administration, equating them with terrorists and effectively excluding them from the financial system.
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> -- 
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