Struggles in Italy

[en] Solidarity with the NOTAV arrestees: updates

strugglesinitaly — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 10:21:00 +0000

The solidarity for the NOTAV movement does not stop. Against the arrest of 25 people, last week, NOTAV demonstrations took place in various Italian cities. In Milan, on Friday and Saturday the 17th and 18th of February, about 3000 people gathered for a concert and a march that terminated in front of San Vittore prison. On the 17th a march took place in Genova and other direct actions were reported in Venice and Bologna where activists occupied the Freccia Rossa club, symbol of the contested High Speed trains in local train stations. NOTAV public assemblies have been held in Roma, Napoli, Palermo, Pisa and other Italian cities preparing for the national march that will be held in Val Susa on the 25th of February.

The common ground of a struggle that unifies a multiplicity of political actors across Italy is the protection of local territories and the common goods from property and financial speculations. Political actions demonstrate that the NOTAV struggle has become the national icon of a new grassroots democratic project. Its struggle was born in a small valley in the north of Italy and soon has spread inside Italian biggest cities, Milan and Rome, as an example of territorial organization and political inclusion. NOTAV public assemblies represent an important novelty for Italian urban movements whose internal cohesion has been historically more difficult. These assemblies became important spaces for dialogue where ideas and political practices find a shared space for consensus. Local gathering directly challenge the Italian political life still based on masculine politics and old leadership models.

Further English information about NOTAV arrestees and solidarity:
On our site
On ItalyCalling

Sources:
- text [it] Contropiano.org
- text [it] Globalproject.info
- text [it] Infoaut.org

[en] 16 years sentence for Eternit owners

strugglesinitaly — Thu, 16 Feb 2012 13:18:19 +0000

The courtroom in Turin was crowded. People had to wait on their feet until the judge finished to read the sentence. They were asbestos victims relatives, ex-workers, doctors, environmental activists, people living in cities and villages were Eternit had its plants. 1500 people from all over Italy, but also from abroad, participated to an historical sentence that will certainly influence other trials currently in progress in other countries against the multinational company Eternit.

The accused have to answer for 2889 asbestos related deaths and the civil accusers are about 4500: victims relatives, but also unions, environmental associations, local institutions and more. After a 30 years struggle and a 2 years trial, the sentence is an important victory: 16 years of prison for Stephan Schmidheiny and Jean Louis De Cartier, Eternit owners. They have been found guilty for permanent and intentional disaster and for intentional omission of security measures in relation with the crimes committed in Casale Monferrato and Cavagnolo (both in Piemonte). Unfortunately, due to time-barred the criminal proceedings in other two Italian cities, (Bagnoli (Naples) and Reggio Emilia) did not produce the same results causing the rage of citizens. Only in Bagnoli asbestos made 400 victims out of 573 people affected by asbestos related diseases.

900 people present in Turin came from Casale Monferrato, the town that became symbol of the asbestos victims struggle where there have been 1800 deaths in a population of about 36.000 citizens. Casale Monferrato will receive 25 million euros from Schmidheiny and De Carier, the region of Piemonte 20 millions, Asl (public healthcare) 5 millions and the victims relatives association (Afeva) 100.000. Victims relatives will receive between 30.000 and 50.000 euros each, around 95 million euros totally.

Eternit trial is with no doubts one of the most important trials ever held for industrial disasters, and the hope is that this sentence can “make history”, tracing the road for others.

Related articles on Struggles in Italy
- Casale city council accepts money for the 1800 victims of eternit

Sources:
- [en] text France 24
- [en] text Asbestos in the dock
- [de-fr] video Documentary “Dust. The great Asbestos Trial”
- [it] text Il fatto quotidiano
- [it] text Repubblica
- [it] text Repubblica on Eternit factory in Bagnoli

[en] Resume of Italian News 1-10 february

strugglesinitaly — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 15:42:15 +0000

The reform of Italian labour market is the top priority of Monti’s Government. The key themes of the current political debate are the improvement of job flexibility and the controversial reform of the article 18 of workers’ law, to dismiss workers of big enterprises without “a just cause” . The proposed round table between government officials and Italian unions seems to be far from an agreement in the short term, while Minister Fornero declared that the reform will be done either with or without unions’ consent. A crucial issue appears to be the definition of social safety nets in case of unemployment, while the government is committed to contain public expenditure. In fact, according to recent estimate, in Italy almost one million of jobs have already been lost and unemployment rate reached 31% among younger generations. Meanwhile, factory workers’ strikes and protests are mounting in most of the country. Sardinia is the outpost of a financial crisis, which is slowly striking all the production chain. About 1000 Alcoa workers, the aluminium multinational giant, are now in redundancy payment, de facto paralyzing the economy of an entire district dependent on Alcoa’s salaries in the south west of the region, where unemployment rates are already above the national average. Other workers all over Italy suffer similar conditions, just to mention a few: Fincantieri, Servirail, Ferrotel and Omsa Workers (covered in this blog).

Austerity policies also canceled State funds to political and cooperative press. After “Liberazione” newspaper (reported in this blog), which closed down, from February 8th also “Il Manifesto”, the historical leftwing newspaper, will be closer to bankruptcy. Against this general climate of economic cuts and expense reductions, the Defense Ministry plan to buy 131 new F-35 in the Joint Strike Fighters programme has been confirmed. In the havoc produced by the financial crisis, Italian Government with its European partners and the US committed to participate in the most expensive military programme of Italian history. While hiding to public opinion the actual costs of such operation, the Minister just claimed: “it will create new jobs”. Similar analysis could be made about the coherence of supposed pro-growth policies when analyzing the construction of High Speed Railway lines (TAV). Recent studies of the Milan Engineer Faculty (Politecnico di Milano) confirmed that only the Roma-Milano line will produce economic benefits, while other lines will most likely present financial loss. In the light of this, the NoTav movement and the persecution against it is becoming more and more a critical space where the Italian class conflict will be fought in the near future.

The 25 NoTav activists arrested on the 26 of January are still in jail or under house arrest. Solidarity actions took place in Turin, in Val Susa, Milan, Bologna, Rome, Palermo and in many other smaller Italian cities. On the 8th of February a solidarity concert by Assalti Frontali was organized outside Le Vallette prison, in Turin.

More on Struggles In Italy
- text [en] Little Victory for OMSA workers
- text [en] Omsa Worker Call for Boycott
- text [en] Fincantieri workers struggle
- text [en] Servirail and Ferrotel workers protest
- text [en] Repression against the NOTAV movement
- text [en] Occupy Liberazione
- text [en] Murder attempt inquiry to be dismissed over G8 facts in Genova

More on other sites
- text [en] Alcoa Workers Struggle
- text [it] Analysis of the job market
- text [it] Analysis of F-35 Joint Strike Fighters deal
- text [it] Evaluation of TAV lines

[en] Murder attempt inquiry to be dismissed over G8 facts in Genova

strugglesinitaly — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 18:38:17 +0000

Mark Cowell is a British journalist who went into coma after being beaten by the police in Diaz school in Genova, during the 2001 G8 meeting. The public prosecutors declared the aggression to which Cowell was subjected as “brutal” and “potentially lethal”, so much that the accuse definition is “murder attempt”. Despite the seriousness of the accuse, they had to ask for the inquiry dismissal, as they clashed against a real code of silence inside the police, which prevented them from finding the offenders. As the inquiry went on, prosecutors were faced by “the will to hide the facts and the responsibilities” in order to preserve what was perceived as the “honour of the institution”.

The end of the inquiry over Mark Cowell murder attempt is the impteenth scandal around the abuses perpetrated by the police during the 2001 G8 in Genova, in a climate of impunity and violence that led to the murder of Carlo Giuliani, to the tortures in Bolzaneto barrack and to hundreds of wounded and arrested.

As the offenders investigation approaches to an end, Marc Cowell will probably become the first G8 abuses victim to get an economic compensation. It’s an important step on the symbolic plan, he says, but the dismissal of the penal inquiry is undoubtedly a defeat for the Italian justice. The public prosecutors identified twenty policemen who were at the Diaz school or who were in charge of the operations that night. Despite that, prescription will probably clear the accusations.

This news has never reached the national media in Italy, and it just gained the attention of few local and leftist newspapers and websites.

Sources:

- text [it] Altreconomia
- text [it] Website of Rifondazione Comunista Party local section of Genova

[en] Little victory for Omsa workers

strugglesinitaly — Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:16:26 +0000

On the 31st of January, the national boycott campaign against Golden Lady products has reached its peak producing a first important result for Omsa workers in Faenza. During an official meeting with local and national institutions, Golden Lady declared its intention to ask for the redundancy payment period prosecution while continuing the negotiations to convert the industrial production of the site.

On 27th of December the company communicated to the workers the end of the redundancy payment period denying also any link between them and the new company in charge of the site from the 14th of March. Since then, workers have started an internet campaign to boycott Golden Lady products which soon spread all over Italy.

Following this mobilization, the company has changed posture and committed itself to present a new industrial plan to relaunch Faenza factory with the new owner, whose name is still unknown. The dismissal announcement has not been formally withdrew yet, but, as the Filctem Cgil union says, “it’s a small step on the direction of a solution that will preserve the workers employes”.

The company is undoubtedly trying to clean its brand after the boycott campaign, however the effort, the union and the workers say, “is out of time”. Nerino Grassi, founder and owner of Omsa, keeps on telling that the cessation of the production in Faenza and the re-collocation of the factory in Serbia was a painful need for the company, due to the economic crisis which has put its survival in danger. Considering that Omsa keeps on having a turnover of 620 million euros, the economic juncture seems to be a real excuse to simply move the production to more convenient countries.

Related articles

- [en] Omsa workers call to boycott

Sources

- text [it] Il fatto quotidiano
- text [it] infoaut.org

[en] Students protest against President Napolitano in Bologna

strugglesinitaly — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:17:51 +0000

On Monday, the 30th of January, the University of Bologna has had a very special guest for the opening of the academic year, the Italian Head of State Giorgio Napolitano. Around 250 students and far-left activists protested against him for his behaviour during the handover of power that allowed Mario Monti to become the new Italian Prime Minister.

They accuse him of being the author, together with ECB and IMF, of Monti government, and of using his credibility as a “good and wise” politician to rise the popularity of austerity policies. Since the start of the Italian new course with Mario Monti as PM, Napolitano has progressively embodied his role as constitutional guarantee, an institutional figure whose role is to reassure citizens about a future that is, indeed, quite uncertain. And this – the students say – is inadmissible when speaking about an unelected government, nominated to protect financial powers rights against the risk of an Italian default.Furthermore Napolitano’s credibility is controversial. During his political history he has been heavily criticized, especially for the well-known law “Turco-Napolitano” about immigration.

Two rallies tried to reach the ceremony site, but every road was guarded by hundreds of policemen. A student and a journalist were slightly wounded by a police charge during one of the attempts to get closer. “That’s how they face dissent”, the protesters declared.

Sources:
- text [it] Ansa.it
- text [it] Infoaut.org
- text [it] Turco-Napolitano law on Wikipedia

[en] No-Tav demonstration in Torino

strugglesinitaly — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:13:07 +0000

Saturday 28 January 2012, two days after the police blitz in which 41 no-tav activists were arrested or subject to precautionary measures, the “no-tav” movement demonstrates in Turin against that judiciary action with a march of about 10 thousands persons. The demonstration was already planned but tought to be a small informative action, intended to illustrate the damages caused by the building and the militarization (its title was “take back your rubbles”) and not suposed to interrupt the normal city activities, but after the arrests priorities have obviously changed.
After bringing solidarity to the ferrotel workers’ garrison inside Porta Nuova Railway station the march proceeded in Roma Street (the most prestigiuos streeet of Torino) to the Castle Square, where the regional administration building is, and then on Po street (another shopping area).
On Friday, the local editions of national newspaper (“La stampa”, “Repubblica”) warned about supposed risks for the shops of via Roma, and also Turin’s Major Piero Fassino (PD, center-left) declared his concern for the demonstration, but nearly none of the retailers of Roma Street closed their shops and no incidents happened tough “La stampa” (whose si-tav position is clear) now complains about writings on the walls of Rome Street. Alberto Perino, one of the no-tav leaders, also shortly criticized the wrtiters before giving appointment to the national demonstration of february 25th in ValSusa, but the actual damages are not comparable to what the newspaper expected, despite the accusation seen on the net (expecially on twitter), many of wich are based on oax like the “#Bobbio” case (see here
Other solidarity demonstrations took place in other towns such as Mestre, Livorno and Naples, where the high speed railway have been blocked by protesters (photo here)

Resources

- video [it] Rai3 Piemonte
- video [it] RaiNews24
- text [it] Il Manifesto
- text [it] Il Fatto Quotidiano
- text [it] La Stampa

[en] Police repression against No-TAV movement

strugglesinitaly — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 14:08:30 +0000

25 activists from all over the country were arrested in the repressive turn against NOTAV , while 15 more people were subject to precautionary measures and one french activist recived a prohibition of residence in Torino’s province, which includes the Susa Valley. Only three of the arrested people are originally from the Susa Valley: Giorgio Rossetto, leader of the Turin-based squatted community Askatasuna and Guido Fissore, 66, member of town council of Villarfochiardo, and Mario Nucera, barber in Bussoleno.

The custody orders were issued by Preliminary Hearing Judge Federica Bompieri, at the request of Public Prosecutor Andrea Beconi, as a result of prior police investigation.The charges include resistance to officers and they are related to the participation to the clashes on July 3 (2011) in Chiomonte, Susa Valley, where allegedly 200 police officers and dozens of demonstrators were injured (see “Around the fortress” at the bottom of page).

Giancarlo Caselli, the attourney of Torino, well kwon for its anti-mafia work in the 90’s, stated that for each of the arrested there are ‘strong evidences’ of guilt.To many no-TAV activists his ‘strong evidences’ reminded the ‘granitic evidences’ stated from his predecessor Laudi against three notav accused of more than 10 terrorist acts. The ’granitic evidences in the trial resulted in a complete acquittal (Silvano Pellisero was condamned for a robbery and coulpable fire, while Edordo Massari and Maria Soledad Rosas died in prison), this association is reinforced by the fact that one of the arrrested Tobia Imperato is the author of a book on the history of the trial named “The shoes of the suicidal”.

Alberto Perino of the No-TAV movement declared: “They are hitting the movement because it is a leading force in the current political unrest. These arrests are a coded message to all the other movements that are now standing up for their rights.” He has also highlighted that only two of the arrested people are from the Susa Valley (Guido Fissore e Giorgio Rossetto; he forgot Mario Nucera), while the repression hit people from all over Italy, thus misrepresenting the movement as manipulated from outside.

More generally the decision of the judiciary seems consistent with the anti-terrorism policies coming from the Seventies (inidentally, Giancarlo Caselli have been a protagonist of that season), which led to many doubtful judgements, like the ones on the cases of Pinelli and Battisti(see links below). This judgements are so doubtful that Nobel recipient Dario Fo wrote a piece about the death of Pinelli, and Brasil recently refused extradiction of Cesare Battisti to Italy, giving as a reason the unfairness of the trial.

The activists received immediate solidarity from many social movements and from public personalities such as the collective of writers Wu Ming, who issued a short narrative piece in solidarity with the arrested. Paolo Ferrero (leader of the Communist Party PRC) condemned the repression as an attempt at criminalizing the No-TAV movement and as an evidence of the political continuities between the current executive and the previous one. The left-wing autonomous union USB also issued a solidarity statement.

A torchlight walk with about 5000 participants took place in Bussoleno, in Susa Valley, hometown to two of the arrested , while a spontaneous rally was called in Turin. Further initiatives in solidarity of the protesters were called widely across the nation. A rally and a a temporary street blockade were held by radical students groups and collectives in Bologna, while in Rome a symbolic occupation took over the building of the Ministry of Transportation. More rallies were held in Milan, Trieste, Asti, and several other locations in Northern Italy.

Sources
- video [it] Repubblica.it
- text [it] Il Fatto Quotidiano
- text [it] Infoaut on police operation
- text [it] Infoaut on no-tav’s reaction in Rome
- text(pdf) [it] “The shoes of the suicidal”
- text [it] Battisti case
- text [it] Pinelli case
- text [it] Pinelli case – Dario Fo’s “Accidental death of an anarchist”

[en] Servirail and Ferrotel workers in protest

strugglesinitaly — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 11:00:17 +0000

Saturday the 21st of January in the morning “Mobilitiamo Messina”* a committee composed by trade unions, political and social organizations mainly but not only of left wing overtones organized a demonstration for the right of public transport, both locally and nationally.
In particular they claim that Fs (Ferrovie dello Stato), the national railway service, has chosen policies that disadvantage Southern Italian regions. A proof of this is the plain reduction of the number of trains that connect Sicily to the rest of Italy. According to the data presented to the media, only four years ago, there were more trains and destinations, and about two thousands seated places each day more than now. The organizers also claim that the Fs industrial plan 2011-2015 calculates that only 2% of the the total investments will be spent in Sicily.

This defection provoked also the termination of contracts for 800 workers of the nocturne lines, 85 of them are from Messina’s area (Servirail workers).
Moreover, workers from Ferrotel, another service linked to Fs, are concerned about the end of their redundancy fund expected for the

end of this month. Both the categories are maintaining a permanent pickett on the first binary of the railway station.

The committe is composed by the following organizations and associatio

ns: Api, Associazione L’Altra Città, CGIL, CAN, Circoli Socialisti, Circolo Walter Tobagi, Comitato Pendolari dello Stretto, Confapi, Dimensione Trasporti, Fast. Fe

d. Dei Verdi, Idv, Lega Autonomie locali, Lega Coop, Officina delle Idee, Orsa, Pd, Rifondazione Comunista, Sel, Ugl

Resources

- [it] text Tempostretto (local newspaper)

[en] The Pitchforks Movement in Sicily

strugglesinitaly — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 11:32:39 +0000

What’s happening

A strike and blockade action has started the 16 by the association representing Sicilian truck drivers (Associazione Imprese Autotrasportatori Siciliani) and soon collected support and spread among fishermen, farmers, builders, unemployed and other categories. The action is now called “Operazione Vespri Siciliani”. Sicilian Vespers was a rebellion that broke out on the Easter of 1282 against the rule of the French/Angevin king Charles I (curiously, “operazione vespri siciliani” was also the name of a years long police operation against the mafia during the Nineties). Its ralling cry is “Fermo Sicilia” (Sicily Blockade). The protest has been organized by the variegated “Movimento dei Forconi” (Pitchforks Movement) and it is intended to last until january 20, and possibly more if their demands won’t be answered.

The Sicilian truck drivers blocked entrances and exits of the ports in Pozzallo and Catania and roads and motorways in Palermo, other groups and citizens have occupied railways and started several parades on the island. The main asset blocked is the fuel traffic from the island refineries: in Sicily is produced the 50% of italian fuel. The 17, second day of protests, fuel shortage is spreading, mostly in the island big towns. In Gela, the blockade gained the solidarity of the refinery workers, who joined the protest demanding jobs and investment. The protest has been mainly non-violent as of now (the 17), although there have been some incidents: in Lentini a stallholder stabbed a protester in an attempt to break a block and in Santa Flavia a train almost caused a massacre at an occupied railstation (luckily, no one was injuried). Fearing goods shortage, supermarket have been overcrowded since days, as with the fuel stations. Some ships had to stop in the ports because of the truckers strike. Latest news report of the protest and blockade spreading to the near Calabria. There are not reported cases of clash with police.

Composition and claims of the protest

The main gripe of truck drivers is the price of fuel which they believe has reached “unsustainable levels”, as the cost to transport goods is greater than the cost of the actual product; the same concern is shared by every other category, and particularly felt by fishermen. The related claim is the lowering of the high fuel taxes. AIAS president Giuseppe Richichi said he’s “satisfied” about how the protest is going and for the “spontaneous” support it obtained. Other unions are not backing the protest: FAI (Federation of Italian road transport) and Cna-Fita (Federation of craftsmen transport) said that they are contrary to a local struggle which risks to isolate and damage the economy of the island, and because of its “political nature” which is not substantial with the category “real problems”. Also the Italian Farmers Confederation (CIA) fears damages for the local economy, but a lot of farmers are supporting and joined the blockade with their tractors.

But protest organization, composition and demands present themselves as much wider than these claims. The Pitchforks Movement was born last summer, during the visit to Sicily of the agricolture ministry. Among its leaders and founders, there are: Martino Morsello, ex-socialist and “unlucky” businessman; Mariano Ferro of MPA (Movement for the Autonomy, a Sicilian center-right party – the Sicilian governor’s party); and Giuseppe Scarlata, ex Christian Democrats supporter, which bravely states “once we were against mafia, now the enemy is the State”. A new grassroots, Forza d’Urto (Shock Force) linked to the truck drivers, is born too a month ago, at the encounter of the Pitchforks with Giuseppe Richichi, and animates the action within the Pitchforks. Among their slogans and bywords we find “Away with this political class, as we made with the French, with Vespers” and “All the Sicilians unite to free Sicily from the bondage of this political class”. Calls for more indipendence from the central government go along with hopes to spread the revolt to the whole Country. The pitchforks, brandished with pride, are the symbols of the protesters determination, against corruption and political deafness, against Monti and ECB politics, and “for dignity”. Requests for the Sicily governor Raffaele Lombardo to resign have been made, as several sit-in beset the institutions buildings. Many of the protesters don’t esitate to call for a revolution, and some already refer to the protest as such. The final phrase of the movement manifesto (in Sicilian dialect) says: “Si’ un omu camina calatu torci la schina, se un populu torci la storia” (If a man walk bended, he folds his back, if the people walks it folds history). Another common grievance is for the initial general media silence on what’s happening.

Political support and backing

The Pitchforks Movement self-declares itself as “non-political” and “against party politcs”, while many observers have denounced the presence of far-right and neo-fascists organizations and parties within or in support of it. After the second day of protest the biggest italian parties, instead, have yet to make statements about it, and are ignoring the events. Among the few exceptions, Italia dei Valori, an ideologically vague political party for “values” and “honesty”, historically allied of the centre-left, which has declared its support to the “peaceful Pitchforks”; and La Padania, newspaper of the xenophobic and north-indipendentist party Lega Nord, is, only apparently unexpected (given its historical hatred for the southies, but also their claims of separatism) the only one major newspaper to show support and report the news on its first page.

But, as mentioned before, lacking others, the worrisome political presence is another one. Forza Nuova (New Force), a neofascist movement and party, has showed full support to the Pitchforks, with the words of its leader Roberto Fiore, claiming that this is only the first stage of a forthcoming Italian “revolution”. A few Forza Nuova representatives have taken part in the parades with their banners and a local leader spoke to the Pitchforks some weeks ago. Moreover, according to some observers, this is not just the classical “fascist infiltration”. Morsello Martino, the Pitchforks spokesperson and somehow “leader” and one of the founders of its inner movement Forza d’Urto (Shock Force), would be a seignioragist and the father of Antonella Morsello, fascist and Forza Nuova affiliate, with whom organized a seignioragist meeting, just in a Forza Nuova centre. Another shifty backing comes from Maurizio Zamparini, president of Palermo soccer club and recently founder of “Movimento per la Gente” (Movement for the People) a populist propaganda organ against Equitalia (the private agency that collects unpayed taxes in Italy, object of widespread hate and Forza Nuova “symbolic” attacks, and also victim of several letter bombs in the last few months).
Also Beppe Grillo, leader of the previously covered Movimento 5 Stelle, stated support for the Pitchforks, not without condescending to some anti-unitarian and south-indipendentist rhetoric. Curiously, he also directed his populism against Equitalia lately, going as far as being apologetic about the letter bombings. At this quite gloomy panorama one should add the myriad of little and minuscule far-right groups, “think-tank”, facebook and twitter clicktivists, crypto-fascist web pages, all of them perkily enthusiastic about the Pitchforks.

The heavy silence of the major left organizations is, on the other hand, broken only by the asks for clarification by many indipendent observers and other political activists. At this need the almost only answer by the Pitchforks is the above mentioned claim of non-political and non-party nature of the movement, which completely ignores the point about the (crypto)fascists’ support. Some of those observers already started to call for boycotting the protest for good, while two Palermo left social centers, which are partecipating in the Pitchfork movement, warned about being high hat and early judgmental: “their [the fascists’] play” they say “is just what they always try to do, nothing new. We stand with the Pitchforks because it’s a legitimate, popular and wide participated struggle, which needs good contents. We’re not afraid of getting our hands dirty doing that.”