In this photo, taken on the ground floor of the Mondo Beat premises,
Giò Tavaglione is the first on the right,
next to him is Giorgio Contini. Gunilla Unger is the first sitting on the left, next to her is Melchiorre Gerbino.
*
The sixth issue of Mondo Beat magazine appeared at the height of the Movement's history, during the Barbonia City time, when the Free Speech Movement in Berkeley and the Provo Movement in Amsterdam were in decline and the youths of the Mondo Beat Movement opened up the scenarios of the Contestation in Milan.
Barbonia City lasted from May 1, 1967, the day when its campsite opened, to June 12, when it was destroyed by the military, but the long wave of sexual liberation it aroused would have reached all of Italy. Italians, who had been sexually repressed, especially Italian women, from this wave would emerge among the most sexually liberated people in the world and such would have remained.
This cover was prepared by Melchiorre Gerbino with slogans which had marked the path of the Mondo Beat Movement. Some of these slogans are puns and can be understood only by readers who are familiar with the Italian language, of the others, there is here the translation into English:
- "La scuola fucina di cervelli, preservativo di idee. Studenti, gridatelo dai banchi!" School is a forge of brains and a condom of ideas - Students, shout this from the school desks!
- "Pubblicazioni sequestrate - La Procura della Repubblica di Milano ha disposto il sequestro di «Mondo Beat» n. 1 dell’ 1.3.1967 giudicandolo di contenuto contrario al buon costume" Seized publications - The Milan Public Prosecutor ordered the seizure of «Mondo Beat» n. 1, dated March 1, 1967, having judged its content contrary to morality.
- "Spazio morale per una generazione d'emergenza!" Moral space for an emergency generation!
- "Al Vietnam in minicoscienza, alla Vettabbia in minigonna" In Vietnam with a mini conscience, at the Vettabbia with a miniskirt. ("Vettabbia" was the name of the stream which ran along the eastern side of Barbonia City camp.)
- "La bomba atomica per la fame nel mondo" The atomic bomb for world hunger.
- "Negli zaini dei beats non c'è posto per le cartucce" There is no room for cartridges in the backpacks of the Beats.
- "Dateci i sacchi a pelo e tenetevi le bandiere" Give us the sleeping bags and keep the flags.
- "Beats si vive, inseriti si muore" As a Beat you will live, trapped in the system you will die.
- "DIO.OOO.OOO esiste" GOD,000,000 exists.
And, of course, of all the slogans the most prominent was
The one integrated, protesting - the Beat contestating.
It was Mondo Beat's most qualifying and successful slogan.
*
Mondo Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 2 and 3
At the top left of this large page, signed OM, is a poem by Silla Ferradini on his wandering on the road.
Below, in the same column, there are 6 verses by Tella Ferrari.
In the central column there is an article by Anto (Antonio) Mariani, "The family, home of selfishness" (La famiglia focolare d'egoismo).
Antonio Mariani was from the Base of Mondo Beat and the editorial staff of the magazine. In this article he described how a typical Italian family of the time, to conform to hypocritical moral precepts, prevented a young from participating in social life as he wished, even if there was nothing wrong with that.
In this photo,
the longhaired Antonio Mariani
is the second from left among those seated.
At the top right of the page, signed "Claudio Pitschen", there are verses by an
external contributor to Mondo Beat magazine.
Below, in the same column, is a poem with a futuristic title, "19664", by Renzo Freschi, who couldn't help but write, even though he had nothing interesting to say.
To tell about Renzo Freschi after Mondo Beat time, he started a business as a dealer in oriental art and openly expressed his rejection of the part he had had in Mondo Beat, as he hadn't made any profit from this. But, over the years, having realized that he would not be remembered for what he had sold as a merchant, but perhaps for his participation in the history of Mondo Beat, he tried to mystify this history on Facebook and Wikipedia, with the aim of carve out a noble part for himself, that of one of the founders of Mondo Beat. Melchiorre Gerbino couldn't help to intervene to make it clear that Renzo Freschi was an impostor, and Renzo Freschi, once again, would not have made any profit from Mondo Beat, instead would have lost credibility as an oriental art dealer.
*
Mondo Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 4 and 5
Half of this double page is covered by an "Open letter to Mondo Beat" (LETTERA APERTA A MONDO BEAT) by Michele Rallo, a young fascist who understood nothing of the anarchist nature of the Mondo Beat Movement, but believed it was influenced by the Communists. Michele Rallo thus underlined that Jack Kerouac and other characters of the Beat Generation were not communists.
But stupider than this open letter was the reply, written by Gianni De Martino, a newcomer to the editorial staff of Mondo Beat magazine.
This newcomer had introduced himself as a homosexual Catholic and had asked to be part of the editorial staff of the magazine. He was accepted because it was understood that he would address the issue of the civil rights of homosexuals. But he would not write about it, instead, replying to the fascist Michele Rallo, Gianni De Martino would have attacked Jack Kerouac because he drank instead of thinking about Jesus!
He wrote: "No one has ever recognized Jack Kerouac as a master" - and then directly scolded Jack Kerouac - " Good old Kerouac, do you remember Jesus? When you're not drunk, do you think about his words? They wrote a lot about him, you know, Kerouac? They called him socialist, liberal, fascist, violent, pacifist, narcissist, megalomaniac, artist, god. "
A homosexual Catholic, Gianni De Martino, scolding Jack Kerouac from the pages of Mondo Beat magazine.
The stupidest article published in Mondo Beat magazine.
Signed OM, at the bottom of the central column is the article "Without motivations. Without soul." (Senza motivi. Senza anima) by Silla Ferradini. It is a writing of revolt against the consumer society.
In the last column on the right, signed "Paola", there is an article by an
external contributor to Mondo Beat magazine.
*
Mondo Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 6 and 7
Upper half of the "Manifesto di Mondo Beat", by Giò Tavaglione, reproduced in 6,000 copies of the 12,000 in this issue.
Monique Charvet
Monik.
In this photo, taken in the Cave at the time of Mondo Beat's hunger strike, the first on the left is Monique Charvet Monik, a French girl. Next to her are Ringo and Jenny, Romans.
Monique Charvet took part in the Demonstration of Flowers and in the Demonstration to Contestate the Establishment. She was caught by the police in both demonstrations and deported twice to France, from where she returned twice. At Milan Police Headquarters, they were kind to her and never put her in prison. Giò Tavaglione was inspired by her. In the upper left corner of the "Manifesto di Mondo Beat" there is written "Siamo tutti a viso aperto" (We are all open-faced) "ma Monik di più" (but Monik more). And there are also signature and date (Giò 67).
Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 6 and 7
Lower half of the "Manifesto di Mondo Beat" by Giò Tavaglione, reproduced in 6,000 copies of the 12,000 in this issue.
"Manifesto di Mondo Beat", by Giò Tavaglione, was published by Edizioni di Cultura Contemporanea (2,000 copies edition) in May 1967. Chronologically, it is the first manifesto of the Italian counterculture. Edizioni di Cultura Contemporanea have kindly authorized the reproduction in Mondo Beat magazine.
As for Giò Tavaglione, he died a few years after Mondo Beat time. He slipped into the hotel room where he lived and banged his head against the edge of a piece of furniture. He did not drink alcohol, nor did he take drugs, it was a terrible accident.
A closeup of Giò Tavaglione in the Cave
*
Mondo Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 8 and 9
In the upper part of this page, there is an article, "Dalla foglia di fico alla vernice", (From fig leaf to patent leather) by that
external contributor
whose mother killed the wolf dog.
At the bottom left of this page, there is an article by Claudio Alemagna, "EDUCAZIONE SESSUALE ALL'ITALIANA" (Sex education in the Italian way) which is worth to be translated:
«
The press is announcing that the government is preparing some texts for sex education in schools, as it is "a necessity which cannot be postponed".
The news fills us with dismay, because we imagine what can be sex education in a country ruled by Vatican proconsuls. So far, the bigots who govern us have adopted the strategy of ignoring the issue of sex education, by strictly forbidding any discussion on the topic. But now that young people are getting rid of many taboos, those bigots are abandoning their silence and are preparing an attack.
To predict what will be sex education in our schools, just look at some of the many small volumes that various Catholic organizations have recently published.
These publications usually begin with a very detailed exposure on reproduction, that is, with photos of sperm and ovules, discourses on chromosomes and on many other details of little interest to the nonspecialist. Such scientific explanations are intended to intimidate the reader, to make understand how great is his ignorance on the topic, in order to prevent the reader from criticizing the bullshit which will be said later.
On the other hand, when it comes to contraception, the discourse becomes very fast and highlights the insecurity of all means of birth control and the "immoral, unnatural" characteristics of these means. Therefore, it is claimed that the safest method of contraception is abstinence.
Information returns plentiful when it comes to sexually transmitted diseases: infertility, paralysis, blindness, madness, abnormal children, are spectra dramatically agitated before the eyes of the reader.
When the effect of terror has been achieved, they inform, with only two lines, that venereal diseases can be treated and cured.
Finally comes the statement that abstinence has never hurt anyone and can easily be achieved by any normal young person.
Thus, to defend what has been achieved so far in the field of sexual freedom, we can only hope in the current attitude of rejection of our young people towards school and teachers.»
In the central part at the bottom of this page, Melchiorre Gerbino published a photo which he had collected from those already published by the newspaper L'Unità, that of a girl who looked like those girls who attended Barbonia City. And he added the caption "Bring us 50 kg of spaghetti every day to Mondo Beat campsite, Via Ripamonti. Help us contestate you. ".
In the lower right part of this page, signed "A. OM", there is an article by Silla Ferradini against compulsory military service: "Dateci i sacchi a pelo e tenetevi le bandiere" (Give us the sleeping bags and keep the flags.).
*
Mondo Beat N. 4 (Issue 6) - pages 10 and 11
On this double page, the first two columns are covered by articles of three
external contributors.
In the last column there are two articles, the first, "Il campione" ; (The champion), by Gianluigi Castelli, who expressed his approval for Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) refusal to participate in the Vietnam War.
Below, there is the article "e il morto" (and the dead man), by Renato (Renè Vento), who complained that in Monte Carlo, where a Formula 1 driver had died in an accident, there were people in the Casino who weren't in pain but were still playing roulette. With this article Renè Vento believed he was contestating the System, when in reality this is one of the stupidest articles published in the magazine (the second stupidest, after that of Gianni De Martino on Jack Kerouac and Jesus Christ).
In conclusion.
This last issue, although original as layout, had few interesting articles to read, as too many were those written by people unrelated to the Contestation, who wrote nonsense because they did not understand what was going on. Evidently, Melchiorre Gerbino was in a critical situation with Mondo Beat magazine and he was aware of it. He had therefore decided that after this last issue the magazine's publications would be suspended for a while, as he wanted to change the nature of the magazine, publishing only cartoons, images with lapidary captions and photomontages. Surely then a selection of original contributors would have been made, while the external contributors would have been automatically eliminated. Melchiorre Gerbino had talked about this project with Giò Tavaglione, whose collaboration he had sought. Gerbino and Tavaglione had calculated that it would take until the beginning of October before they would be able to publish a first issue conceived in this new way. After that, another 3 or 4 issues could be published before the end of the year, when the magazine would end publishing for good and the Mondo Beat Movement would have been dissolved.
Why put an end to the publication of the magazine at the end of 1967 and dissolve the Mondo Beat Movement?
Because the Mondo Beat Movement, which would have had its greatest vigor in October, November, December of that year 1967, when it would have committed itself to unleashing the mass contestation, would inevitably have declined thereafter, so the best thing to do was to dissolve it at the end of that year, for ending in style. This, because the Base of Mondo Beat could no longer be renewed by those heroic youths who formed it. The fact that youths no longer had to face the Milan Police Headquarters made it impossible to see who was who among the newcomers. Now, among the newcomers, there were characters who pretended to be Beats who came from cities here and there, when in reality they were secret service agents. And then, if at the end of 1967 Mondo Beat had not been able to trigger the mass contestation, in no case could it have subsequently, so, at best, would have become a fashionable movement. Therefore, its dissolution at the end of 1967 was appropriate, especially if the Movement had missed the objective of mass contestation, because it would have already been half success to have thousands of young people who would spontaneously stage contestations throughout Italy, rather than having them in a fashionable movement which the System could easily have controlled.
Returning now to the topic of the renewal of Mondo Beat magazine, since we had calculated 4 months time before being ready to come out with a first issue with the new features, we had ordered 12,000 copies of the current issue, to sell them meantime. Thus, on June 1, when Tecnografica Milanese delivered the copies of this issue, half were stored in the Cave and half were put into circulation. As it was almost summer and people were already going on vacation, we estimated that the 6,000 copies we put into circulation would have been sold in the arch of one or two months. Instead, they were sold in 3 days. So, we had to stop selling on the street, for not having all the 12,000 copies sold out in a few days. Incredible paradox, the magazine was most successful when it was at its worst with the quality of the articles. Evidently, this success was due to the sexual revolution taking place in Barbonia City, of which Corriere della Sera, Corriere d'informazione and La Notte have informed hundreds of thousands of people every day with furious articles.
