Determined to avoid another bloody fiasco like last month's Group of Eight summit in Genoa, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has asked the U.N. Food and Agricultural Organization to move the World Food Summit, which is scheduled to be held in November in Rome, to Africa. That would be a mistake: Not only would it violate Italian pledges made when it offered to host the organization, but it would only encourage more violence by antiglobalization protesters. Italy, and the world, would be better served by fixing the problems that left Genoa a mess rather than running away from them.
Mr. Berlusconi's reluctance to host another international gathering is understandable. The summit that he had hoped would serve as an international platform gave him a black eye instead. Determined protesters clashed with security forces that seemed to have vengeance in mind rather than justice. The bloody confrontations, filmed for the world to watch, left one protester dead and hundreds wounded. Several hundred individuals were arrested, and the city of Genoa incurred tens of millions of dollars in damage.
In the aftermath, charges of police brutality have been leveled against the Italian police by European governments; a parliamentary inquiry is under way and three senior police officials have already been fired. Italy's police chief has conceded that excessive force was used, but he maintains that the security forces were provoked by extremist demonstrators.