On 18 and 19 October, two days of strike and mobilization were planned throughout Italy
initiated grassroots unions and movements for housing, against the great work,insecurity,
etc.. ---- Friday 18 First, a general strike was called by the conflicting base unions,
and backed up by a range of movements and collectives, especially almost "national" event
called Rome. ---- The next day, Saturday 19, c ' is a range of movements that called for
another demonstration in Rome under the slogans "besieging austerity and insecurity" and
"General Uprising". ---- These two parallel initiatives at the heart of the summer, were,
at least for the day of 19 October, the result of internal debates in various movements
(housing, NoTav, environment, insecure ...), then open meetings inter- movements,
especially during camp NoTav July.
These ideas and proposals were subsequently confirmed and refined at local meetings and at
a national meeting held in the premises of the University La Sapienza in Rome on 28
September. These initiatives are therefore part of a maturation process and construction
(see in this regard, Italy. Towards a warm autumn? )
The eve of the general strike, many offices were occupied Trenitalia in various cities
(Turin, Bologna, Rome, Palermo ...) to protest against the decision of the railway company
not to sell discounted tickets and refusal to organize "special trains" towards Rome for
the thousands of protesters who want to converge on the capital for either the 18th or to
the manifestation of movement Saturday, October 19. Worse, in the days before, as the date
two days of mobilization closer, ticket prices have continued to rise.
October 15, various collectives precarious, especially in the student and academic, took
action in the framework of "social strike" they claim, including Rome intervention in a
supermarket downtown to denounce COLA (compounded by the recent increase in VAT) and
require the "precarious basket" is set at 1 euro! In Bologna an abandoned building near
the campus was occupied and renamed "Student House Taksim busy" in Milan, the heart of the
stock market has been occupied with a press conference, in Palermo, the office of
President of the University was invaded while in Turin, a long closed university library
was occupied and open to the public.
Very general strike followed in transport
That same day was a 24h strike of public transport in the call grassroots unions /
conflict, particularly well attended, particularly in urban buses (up 80%), trains and the
airline industry. In Rome, only the metro worked to allow protesters to move into the
city, to go to the event and leave. Air traffic was very disturbed, dozens of flights
canceled, and the movement has been particularly among ground personnel and the security.
Among the sectors were particularly active secondary school teachers and teachers, health
workers, public sector and local government (with peaks of 80 to 100% of strikers), the
INPS (Social Security and Retirement ), the logistics sector, Mirafiori, Alitalia
threatened with layoffs, class of students, precarious and unemployed, pensioners and also
lawyers, the Italian Forum movement for the defense of water, Roman movements for housing
or a union of tenants groups of retirees ...
In the morning, more than 100 bus arrived near the provincial local USB. Behind the banner
head "Outside the governments austerity Italy and Europe" , more than 50,000 protesters
marched in the center of Rome by the initiators.
These are migrants and refugees who opened the procession to demand the abolition of the
Bossi-Fini law criminalizing immigration, behind many banners and placards ( "Excuse us if
we do not drown" and "Instead of giving citizenship to the dead, give residence to live "
...). They were followed by workers in the Taranto Ilva steel, processions of uniformed
firefighters and a whole string of parades, mainly public sector at large.
In the evening, a concert was organized after several debates and various sockets words
while a tent camp was set up to fill the space all night.
The occupation of the Piazza San Giovanni: the connection between two sequences
In Rome, the camp scheduled night piazza San Giovanni (St. John Lateran), which was
established at the end of the event, has been designed to link with the next day: it is
indeed this same place to begin the great demonstration of territorial movements that will
towards the Porta Pia to "besiege" the Ministry of Infrastructure, which is there, passing
the Ministry of Economy and the Caisse des D?p?ts et loans (state fund public financing),
two other objectives of this symbolic day "uprising".
October 19 has been set since last summer as a day of struggle and national demonstration
territorial movements against austerity and the devastation of the environment (housing,
precarious NoTav, industrial waste, pollution ...)
Armored City
Several hundred protesters have slept in the "acampada" from Piazza San Giovanni. Since
Thursday, Rome is completely shielded by a huge police presence. Officially, 4,000
officials from various departments and units of "policing" are mobilized along the route.
The main arteries and driveway departments, the Senate, the seat of the executive are
blocked. The police have also set up checkpoints on all access roads to the city of Rome.
Thursday evening, five persons of French nationality were arrested: they are presented as
known to the police for involvement in violent demonstrations NoTav movement and two of
them to "terrorism." The fact that they were not about mobile phones is considered by
police as suspicious behavior. The five were to be deported. Also, Friday night and
Saturday morning, 14 people were arrested preventively 9 in a neighborhood of Rome, 5
outside while traveling in a car. The day before, four people were arrested on their
"dangerous goods" (a knife, two slings, a balaclava, a carabiner, a tear gas spray
according to the press).
Other arrests were made at the checkpoints of the police occupants of several cars were
arrested and taken to the premises of the Digos (political police "terrorism") because
they have carried sprays tear, gloves, glasses, fireworks, glass bottles, anti-dust masks
... Others, because they are stuck as "antagonists insurgent" are detained the time of the
event and then expelled from the province.
Blocked bus demo delayed
The start of the event is expected to 14h. In the morning, protesters began coming by the
hundreds and thousands. Place fills gradually. Two-line metro stations are closed.
Information or rumor spread saying that the police threatened to close the GSM network
coverage of mobile phones within the scope of the event. The protesters called the Romans
to "open wifi" to use this alternative with portable devices. Other information: In some
hospitals, the Polyclinic, the beds were released to make room for possible future injuries.
Around 13.45, comes a procession of students from campus Sapienza (which was closed by the
police for "reasons of public order") through the San Lorenzo behind a banner "Contro
crisi e austerit? it 19 ottobre assediamo the citta " ("Against the crisis and austerity,
October 19, besieging the city"), with flags and slogans NoTav against evictions and
foreclosures.
Among the protesters, we see a large group of Roma Via Salviati. After living in a camp in
Castel Romano, they have now moved to another camp they refuse to give up. In August, they
barricaded themselves inside and thwarted an attempted eviction. They are now integral
part of the movement for housing, said a member of the BPM (Blocco precari Metropolitani),
which supports their entry into the dynamics of occupation of buildings and spaces they
develop for months.
The banner head "Una sola great opera: e reddito casa per tutti" ("One major project:
housing and income for all"). The first fuse slogans: "Our Europe has no borders, we are
all illegal" .
At 14:30, the procession is still not gone. The start was delayed by an hour. The
protesters decided to await the arrival of all buses. Many are stuck at the north entrance
to the city by the police, including those from Bergamo, Milan, Bologna. To the south as
inputs, bus Naples were blocked, then released to the threat of protesters blocking off
the highway.
Large presence of movements for housing ("to live in the crisis"), migrants, distributed
in many gathering points on the spot. As in the event of the day, processions of migrants
and refugees march at the head of the procession.
"Stiamo arrivando, siamo il futuro"
"Housing and Income" and "We are coming, we are the future" were among the slogans chanted.
At 15:30, when the procession has just started, a representative of the movement to "live
in the crisis" is about more than 30,000 demonstrators while there was still more than 20
bus stuck out of town for a toll highway. The demonstrators wishing to join the procession
on foot are blocked by police forces encircle makes the area of the event and kept closed
most of the access path with armored vehicles and trucks. According to a reporter for La
Repubblica , at 16h, there are 50,000 protesters, or according to him, more than yesterday.
At 16:30, the figure is well over. The pro-government daily La Repubblica talking about
70,000 people. This is the biggest event for years in Italy.
At 4:45 p.m., members (thirty?) Of the extreme right movement Casa Pound, gathered outside
the headquarters of the movement around the course, throwing bottles at the demonstrators.
Some protesters then decided to head to the neo-fascist but a cordon of police in riot
gear moves quickly and is dam.
The website of the Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport, objective of the
demonstration is suddenly inaccessible. Signed: Anonymous. Five other institutional sites
(including the Deposit and the Court of Auditors) are taken out of use at the same time. A
beautiful coordinated attack.
For a protester NoTav came from Val di Susa, "Rome was militarized and shielded as in the
Val di Susa years to give a signal of intimidation."
At 17 hours, the organizers believe that there is now a 100,000 demonstrators in the
streets of Rome. The head of the event, consisting of thousands of migrants and thousands
of people (15,000 according to the leftist daily Il Manifesto ), especially young people,
who now live in sixty occupied locations (office buildings abandoned, hotels, buildings
...) from the capital, reaches the Termini train station, that is to say, halfway through
the final goal. A group of demonstrators off the procession and repainted the statue of
John Paul II with the slogan "Produce, consume, bursts."
In the vast procession, hundreds of flags NoTav but also banners and placards against the
great destructive work, the polluting industrial projects, and also against the mega
events such as Expo 2015 in Milan or major sporting ceremonies. Some protesters,
especially the Romans, were already in the street the day before, some not. Among them,
"Mamme Vulcaniche" ("volcanic mothers' mothers against the mega-dumps in the Vesuvian
area), class against an incinerator in the same region, in Acerra in the" triangle of
death "(because the surcontamination caused by toxic waste) north of Naples, the NoTav
committees No MUOS (station ?tatsunienne military communications in Sicily), Blocks of
Precarious Metropolitan (Roman movement for housing) ... and of course unions based Cobas
Confederation (base committees) and USB (Trade Union of base) at the initiative of the
one-day strike and demonstration the day before.
At 17 h 30, protesters surround the Ministry of Economy, renamed Department of insecurity,
with smoke bombs and firecrackers, Eggs, firecrackers and some bottles were thrown at
police guard located in front of the side doors of the building. Small loads of police
against demonstrators fled into side streets where few erect barricades. Some
demonstrators were arrested.
Barricades and garbage burned in Via Quintino Sella near the ministry. The German Embassy
was also targeted by a group of protesters who left the procession to throw bombs in paper
and smoke in the building. The branch of a bank (Unicredit) is vandalized. Local company
Trenitalia, the Italian railways, is also the target of demonstrators.
The procession reached without difficulty redial and again. Part of demonstrators who had
dispersed into adjacent streets begin to arrive at Porta Pia joining hundreds of people
already present, it is 18: 30 pm when the head of the procession arrives at the end of the
journey that lasted three hours. Immediately tents begin to be drawn up by teams of
demonstrators while others are placed in protective cordon. The Ministry of
Infrastructure, protected by riot police, receives its share of shots.
"Senza padroni, senza frontier"
Moments of tension. Recorded music and amplified percussion migrants arriving
demonstrators in a continuous stream.
11 demonstrators were arrested at loads of afternoon. According to the police, responsible
for incidents during the parade in the afternoon would have been a hundred anarchists, who
were hiding in the crowd after acting dressed in black, they then return to the event with
a New Jersey (!). A little later, the police spoke of 15 arrests, most carried around the
Ministry of Economy.
"No boss, no border. Freedom of movement " is what is written on the banner placed side
camp that from 19 h, formed with two dozen tents.
Police are still encircles the site. Despite tensions, the atmosphere seems relatively
serene.
A loudspeaker announced that dinner will be available soon. And calls to maintain the
headquarters of the Ministry of Infrastructure in occupying the place all night in a new
"acampada". A meeting of the movement is drawn up for the next Sunday morning.
In conclusion, partial and very temporary
While it is too early to make an assessment, obviously the challenge of the two-day
mobilization was gained beyond what was expected.
Five years after the start of the crisis / austerity, two years after the relative failure
of the repressive episode of Roman event October 15, 2011, two days mark a significant
turning point, both quantitative and qualitative social struggles for current and future,
both for those who lead in the scene of the direct use are those companies that are
developing in the territories, metropolitan as rural, which operate the social
reproduction (housing, education, health ...) and the looting of natural assets for the
accumulation of capital.
A movement that is built without political parties, without parliamentary representation,
without official union confederations CGIL-CISL-UIL, a movement built from the struggles
and debates that take place and which addresses their needs and goals: to make the
Bossi-Fini law on migrants may impose and freedom of movement, block evictions and get
social housing with a view to redefining the purpose of the city, stop the great works and
the destructive infrastructure projects in Val di Susa Sicily dismantle polluting
equipment ... An antagonistic social movement multifaceted, capable of initiative and
political autonomy, which tends bridges between the various figures and social segments
that are now suffering the crisis and austerity full force and have decided not to accept
'pay the price, between young and old, urban and rural, Italian and migrant workers, and
unemployed / precarious, between workplaces and territory, between those who are losing
their rights and those who do never ...
In the evening, the deputy mayor of Rome, Luigi Nieri (SEL, ecological Left) invited the
movement for housing a round table with the Minister of Transport Maurizio Lupi to be
attended by the Mayor Ignazio Marino. First sign that something may be starting to change
in the way political power seeks to manage this new situation? The future will tell. Sign
in all cases when the media lynching / prevention / suppression criminalization scenario
does not work, do not give the expected results, that is to say, when the reality of the
balance of power begins to change, then the channels interlocution and mediation tend to
open as if by magic. Meanwhile, the movement called for a rally outside the court on
Monday to demand the release of 15 protesters arrested.
Beyond these two days appear to be a very important step in a largely self-organized
social reconstruction and political construction process. Unlike actions and mobilizations
that punctuate the day without the usual social agenda and the hum of routine policy,
these initiatives have succeeded and could be linked to one another - a sign of the first
political maturity - and the demonstration of October 19 ended with the non-symbolic
occupation of a place, a camp, a meeting, a sequel. As one commentary on these two days,
"for the first time in recent years, this event has ended for not finishing."
To be continued.
JF (for OCLibertaire)
On October 20, 2013
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Comment of Roman components of the initiative on 19 October
Join us at Porta Pia! ! Besiege the halls of power! Tomorrow at 10 am: Meeting
The numbers and quality of participation in the day of action # 19o show, without a doubt,
the strategies panic introduced by the direction of the police and the mainstream media
over the past few days n ' not work. The message of terror did not accept people in their
homes, or the attitude of Trenitalia has prevented thousands of people coming from all
over Italy to bring their contribution and voice struggles. In the event there was, and
there tonight instead, the protagonists of the movements for housing, with a mongrel
composition and metropolitan movements against the devastation of territories by
speculation, young students and / or precarious that self-organize in the struggle for the
reappropriation of income and knowledge.
The only major works of interest are housing and income for all / all! We reaffirm here,
since this site that we reclaimed by tens of thousands.
Today's acampada is not the end point but the uprising: a contribution to the beginning of
a broader process of social participation and reappropriation.
The acampada besieging the palace austerity Porta Pia, we invite the city of Rome (even
one that was not there today) at a meeting to discuss and recovery process control
tomorrow to 10 hours.
Join us at Porta Pia! ! Besiege the halls of power!
Freedom for all / all
bpm / Abitare nella Crisi
October 18
Quick Comment posted on Info-aut
A first comment: it was a great day of action. At least 100,000 people demonstrated
against the austerity policies and Letta government, despite the climate of fear created
by the media on purpose to discourage participation in the procession. But as might be
expected, dirt-worn and threadbare archi-on "infiltrators" began to circulate. We must be
clear: no infiltrated, no provocative, no Black Bloc abroad (the only "black" were before
the Casa Pound), only a social activist and composition, companions and comrades who have
achieved the objectives that If they had set. The Ministry of Economy should be besieged,
and the seat was made. To feel his rage at the Ministry of Labour, the German Embassy and
other recognizable goals, and it was so. No service order has prevented anything, because
the maturity of the movement did not need to. From head to tail, a united procession,
which was not broken even by acts of provocation of the Guardia di Finanza and Carabinieri.
This event was not a walk - eleven compagni are currently still under arrest - but
firefighters and politicians were for once the window is limited to observing, unable to
leave the usual little fable " trap ", that like a broken record, we had to swallow from
Genoa in 2001 until now.
The week before the event already provided important insights for today's mobilization,
unity, maturity, to build a social subjectivity able to make confrontation and conflict
mediation without its own DNA: radicalism and achieving the goal. These are important
signs that come from this event, which we hope they will reproduce, in other areas in
other cities. Finally, thanks to Anonymous for the accuracy and timeliness of its attacks.
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