"In the belly of the beast". Ipotesi sul contenimento della violenza dei white radicals americani

This paper suggests an original interpretation of the American white radicals’ protest. The author points out that this segment of the New Left in the United States of America, almost unanimously and constantly, paid respect to the human life. Despite the escalation of few fringes, such as the Weather Underground, the threshold of the violence against people was never crossed. Proceeding from this assumption, the essay summarizes the historical evolution of this protest cycle, which took place between the Sixties and the early Seventies, documents the process of partial radicalization, and proposes a hypothesis on the three key factors that could have moderated the repertoires of action. First, the integration of some revolutionary issues by the political system, together with the isolation of the violent-prone fractions; second, the deterrent policing of protest (even if, extremely repressive in several circumstances); third, the militants’ personal choices, shaped within a cultural background where the ‘antibody’ against hatred and violence were strong and effective. The author eventually suggests that a study about the containment of political violence can also be a helpful research tool in order to investigate the missing or non-operational factors in the historical cases of violent radicalization (e.g. Italy).