Pagina dettaglio corso numero uno

by Martina Caslini, PhD candidate at the University of Rome “La Sapienza” 

According to reports from various news outlets, the Milan Public Prosecutor’s Office has recently opened an investigation against unknown individuals, described by the media as “weekend snipers,” on charges of voluntary homicide aggravated by cruelty and base motives (ANSA, il Fatto Quotidiano). The investigation allegedly involves some Italians who, during the siege of Sarajevo in the context of the 1990s war in the former Yugoslavia, reportedly paid large sums of money to have the opportunity to position themselves around the city and personally shoot at civilians. 

A phenomenon of such magnitude, if confirmed, raises significant questions about violence and the fascination it can exert on certain individuals, particularly the desire to participate in it actively. 

First, it is worth noting that the literature has addressed the theme of “dark tourism”, although the hypothetical circumstances of this case seem to lie on a more complex plane, extending beyond behaviors traditionally included in such studies. 

Specifically, the concept of dark tourism is defined as the practice of visiting places associated with death, suffering, the macabre, or shame, either for conscious motives or occasionally out of curiosity. In this regard, areas that have been the site of battles – such as Sarajevo – and other sites connected to armed conflicts have attracted visitors for over a millennium, reflecting a long-standing human interest in remembering violence and death, as observed by Baldwin and Sharpley (R. Sharpley, P.R. Stone, The Darker Side of Travel: The Theory and Practice of Dark Tourism, 2009). 

However, it is essential to distinguish between the passive consumption of violence, which characterizes dark tourism, and active involvement in committing it. Dark tourism primarily focuses on post-event experiences, where the visitor observes or reflects on others’ suffering without directly contributing to it. The case of the “weekend snipers,” by contrast, represents an extreme extension of this fascination: no longer mere observation, but organized and active participation in violence itself. 

Moreover, this phenomenon raises concern when considering that the individuals involved were, according to some media reconstructions, affluent people who deliberately chose to pay to spend time engaging in the act of shooting civilians. In this regard, it is worth noting that the commodification of violence has also been the subject of several academic studies. For example, Binik questions the extent to which it is permissible to turn a place of death into a “tourist package”. The author also shows how the fascination with crime intertwines with economic interests, emphasizing that, for some, violence represents “the current core business of the entertainment industry” (O. Binik, Quando il Crimine è Sublime, 2017). In the case of the weekend snipers, the killing of civilians, if confirmed, would constitute an example in which the experience of violence is purchased and consumed almost like a form of “vacation.” Violence is made possible by a sophisticated logistical structure designed to facilitate the carrying out of a macabre “recreational activity”: a terrible “game,” a tragically authentic paintball. 

In summary, the phenomenon of the “weekend snipers” shows how fascination with violence can intertwine with economic dynamics, prompting reflection on how the transformation of lethal violence into a consumable experience can become understandable, even if wholly unacceptable.