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European Social Forum, Italia
by Piero Babudro
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Nov 6-10: Florence, Italy.
Autonomous Space at the European Social Forum (ESF)
Starts from the streets, with the demo against the American military base of Camp Darby on 6th november. At the same time at Fortezza da Basso, the European Social Forum is ready to begin. Cobas together with Movimento Antagonista Toscano are transforming piazza Santissima Annunziata in a Social Transformation Square. There will be also The Theatre Forum, the student Forum, the Anarchist three days. On 9th November the big demonstration against the war will be on the way. These days Florence is expected to welcome thousands of people, coming from every part of Europe to know each others and conspire together to construct a different world. Without caring of legends, bad news and disinformation, the city of Florence will be coloured with radios, newspapers and news, electrodomestic tv experiments and subvertising actions. In Parterre (piazza della liberta'), not really far from Fortezza, an area of creation and free fruition of knowledge will take place; it is called Hub project and it includes laboratories of experimentation for social and media activism. Moreover, a group of bikers will go through the Appennino and will invade Florence in the name of "bike to the people". The Disobbedienti will take place in the Plazzetto dello Sport with nOWorKNoShOp and with the Global TV. Thousands projects, working groups and ideas are coming to Florence, despite of the shameful "witch-hunt" made up by media disinformation and politics."
From Italy Indymedia
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16th century heavily decorated rooms framing the auditorium, which contrasts for its modern and technological style. Some people are lying in a sleeping bag. They unwillingly stand in the way to enter the conference hall. Green dyed hair, long coloured plaits, piercings in their ears and in their lips. Some punks move around in groups, followed by their dogs. Next to a boy looking like an English college student, an Italian priest, very busy, explains to some people the contents of his speech.
Indeed the social forum in Florence was also like that. Different worlds joined together in ancient buildings, in rooms whose ceilings are painted with frescoes, in a town, which saw history passing by before the massive party-like manifestation on Saturday November the 9th. A number of people, from 750000 to a million persons, took part to it. Maybe history is bond to pass by once more. Different worlds, which, maybe for the first time, have found their own common ethic in the dialogue and confrontation. Maybe the concept of "net-working", which the modern guru of digital and virtual are fond of, reached here its real determination, a concrete way to get practical. It is difficult, at first, to understand the process going on in the Global Village. Starting from the events in Seattle, after only three years it brought up, by the way, a generation which was considered lost after hedonism and the so called "success at any cost". It's going on a strong and radical change from a "topographic" vision of the power, represented by the pyramid-like model, to the use of knowledge in a relational and cognitive way, i.e. the Net.
60,000 people took part to the debates. 1,000,000 people demonstrated on Saturday. Most shopkeepers didn't answer to the government's appeal, shared by some intellectuals from the Right Wing, to close their stores to starve the participants. In the streets, the citizens were offering to the no-globals the coffee they carried from home in thermoses. We could see an elder men showing up from the first floor balcony of a building with his medals gained for the military valour in the Resistance, during the second world war.
Thanks to this international meeting, finally showed up in Europe a new political subject, which isn't a political party neither a trade union, but it does carry out both this functions. It brings into discussion topics such as the relation within industrialised countries and poor ones. In this matter now in Italy both the political sides are rushing to assure they're ready to dialogue. This success was even so clear that those who organized the event had to write an open letter to the press and to the Italian public opinion, to stop the argue between the Left, led by Rutelli, and the Right, led by Berlusconi, over who was supposed to gain the merit for the good outcome of the manifestation. "The Success of the manifestation for peace it's good for both the Italian and European society, it isn't nobody's merit." said the delegates of the international council of the forum. "Everybody should understand that there is a movement in Europe which doesn't need politics and builds up by itself the very reasons of policy making." A new movement, stronger, which might give up some important parts, such as the "disobbedienti" led by Luca Casarini, and on the other side might be a little exploited by the Italian moderate parliamentary Left Wing, at least at the beginning. That could be dangerous, as this exploitation by the Left would have led some groups to dangerously drift into apathy. The movement was born again, and now is dictating to European politics, word by word, the next agenda of international affairs.
"We have the NATO meeting over the expansion to east in Prague on November the 21st, then on November the 30th there's a big demonstration against the centres of detention for immigrates in Turin." A movement, it's worth to say "the movement of all movements", which was considered dead over the asphalt in the Genoa of the G8, and which was believed dying after the meeting in June 2002, again in Genoa, a year after the death of Carlo Giuliani. In that circumstance the Catholics of the "Rete di Lilliput" even abandoned the manifestation, evidently breaking up with the sectors more excited.
Now they seem to cooperate, but it's hard to imagine how this movement will be really incisive, mostly when they have to put together the reformist current with the revolutionary one, the lays and the Catholics, over topics and problems which need an ethic union which is more than the simple demonstration.
The most important thing - states one of the organizers - is that after the demonstration on Saturday the 9th it will be harder for the Parliament to vote in favour of the Italian participation to the possible war against Saddam Hussein." Also because the main proposal approved by the meeting in Florence was that of a generalized European strike, agreed by the CES, the European confederation of trade unions; a strike, which won't block only factories and commerce, but the whole public life of the towns. Banks, offices, stores, schools, public transports. All closed. In the meantime they approved also the hypothesis of direct disobedience actions, such as occupation or temporary sabotage (organized and realized on November the 8th) in a factory owned by CAT, the company producing the bulldozers used to destroy the Palestinian villages.
The second big initiative will be a European day for, and together with the migrants, aiming at a law granting the right of asylum for everybody. The third theme, in synthesis: the precarious working relations, which will concern an other European demonstration. Then meetings, starting from Prague, then from Salonicco and Hyderabad in India, ending up with the G8 in 2003, which will take place since June the 1st to the 3rd in Evian, France, where they're already thinking to introduce again the concept of "red zone". Therefore to prevent the same provocations about the demonstrations as a matter of public order, the social forum is already planning to organize in Paris (about 70 km far from Evian) the second edition of the European Social Forum, to avoid what happened in Genoa. Overshadowing the G8 with their own meeting, instead of trying to enter the red zone. A project similar to the first "Porto Alegre" born in contrast with the Meeting in Davos. Meanwhile, going around the stands in the "Fortezza da Basso" I hear many delegates talking about local strikes beginning very soon: there are a lot of matters to work on. From the crisis of the FIAT and of job in general, to the precariousness in the schools, that's why students have already occupied some high schools in Venice. To end up with the cloud of toxic gas coming from Asia to Europe.
There are the premises, according to Naomi Klein, to convert any town into an oasis of resistance.
Post forum UPDATE:
Lots of no-globals were arrested, the day after the successful European
Social Forum in Florence. At least 30 people are under arrest in Naples,
Taranto, and Cosenza. They are charged with accuses going from subversive
criminal association to acts of terrorism against public and economic order.
One of them is Francesco Caruso, who leads the Neapolitan branch of
the "disobbedienti" movement and the net of "Sud Ribelle" (Rebel South). He's
indicted of having participated to the disorders organized by the black block
in Genoa, during the G8 in July 2001, and in Naples at the time of the Global
Forum in March 2001.
The upsetting theory supported by the examining magistrate is the following:
together with the black block, in Genoa came out a sort of "red block", an
organization not well-defined (which is supposed not being completely
organized yet), whose members should be, together with the
quoted "disobbedienti" movement led by Caruso and Luca Casarini, people
connected to politics and the left wing of Parliament. Investigations pursued
together with the ROS (special investigations department of the Carabineers)
showed possible links with the new "brigate rosse" and other terrorist groups
such as the Territorial Anti-imperialistic Nucleus, which were completely
unknown up to a few years ago, and always raised doubts about infiltrations and
misleading tracks. By the way, the only one in Italy who seemed having found
out something significant about them, died mysteriously few months ago, while
he was helping the police in the enquiries over the murder of Marco Biagi.
It is clear that last night action represents the will of some parts of the
police force and of the magistracy to criminalize the no-global movement in
Italy. As a matter of fact, as soon as this morning, the Attorney General's
office in Genoa, which is still investigating over the acts of violence during
the G8, lets us know that nobody between the arrested is suspected of having
participated to the disorders in July 2001.
The reason behind this initiative is quite clear. In South-Italy, a
longstanding source of votes for the moderate Right, the no-global movement is
getting stronger and stronger, and it is cooperating with the 8000 FIAT workers
who risk to be fired. Furthermore many demonstrations are planned concerning
the bridge of Messina, which is already scandalizing because of the many
infiltrations of the Mafia in the contract working.
Immediately the politicians and the public opinion showed their disappointment:
this morning the parents of Carlo Giuliani accused themselves in front of the
General Attorney in Genoa, stating that if disobedience is considered a crime,
then they are both subversives. Fausto Bertinotti, leader of the Italian
Communist Party, declared that this measures are suspected, mostly because they
follow the great success of the demonstration in Florence which a million of
people took part to.
In Bologna about twenty young people with their faces uncovered occupied
symbolically the court of law, claiming for justice for their fellows held in
jail; there will be sit-ins all over Italy.
And in Trieste somebody already thinks about the No Border Camps in Petisovci,
Slovenia, where they suppose the acts of violence in Genoa were planned.
– Piero Babudro
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