Abstract
Squatted Social Centres are urban protest actors, but not only. They are spatially localised in the city centres or in the peripheral/working-class districts, but their reach of action is often also regional, national, and global. In fact, they are often engaged in broader protest campaigns and social movements. In particular, research on LULU—Locally Unwanted Land Use movements in Italy has highlighted as Social Centres activists are central actors, bringing generational resources, political-organisational experiences, and repertoires of action. While often labelled as violent by the media and the authorities, they are integrated into protest networks through their participation in mobilisations and a growth in bonds of mutual trust, contributing to turn the struggle from NIMBY (Not In My Back Yard) to NOPE (Not On the Planet Earth). They nevertheless can bring elements of internal tensions to the movement with respect to more moderate and institutional actors involved. In this paper, based on previous and current field research—participant observation, semi-structured interviews—we focus on the role played by Social Centres activists within two LULU movements in Italy, the No TAV and No MUOS movements. The interactions of the Social Centres militants with other movement groups and activists have been analysed, highlighting both the internal tensions and conflicting and cooperative relations. We have confirmed their ability to attract youth participation and to favour the cross-issues and cross-territorial scale shift, but we have also noted their ability to maintain the unity of the movement, notwithstanding the large difference with other groups. Moreover, the positive and negative feedbacks of their involvement in the LULU movements have been pointed out, as well as the differences in terms of modalities of cross-fertilisation with other movement members and of geographical characteristics affecting the level of participation. Lastly, we have noted the ability of SCs activists to involve their “urban constituency” in extra-urban mobilisations, and to mobilise together for a common goal with other groups and organisations, with whom they usually have difficult relationships, of non-collaboration or even open conflict.
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Notes
- 1.
Although both authors share the contents of this chapter, Gianni Piazza wrote the paragraphs one–three and Federica Frazzetta the sections two–four, while they wrote together the concluding remarks.
- 2.
In Italy, the ‘antagonistic left’ is distinguished from the ‘radical left’. On the one side, the ‘antagonists’ are those groups and activists belonging to these different political-ideological networks: autonomists, post-autonomists (ex White Overalls-Disobedients), Marxist-Leninists, anarchists, and so on, in which the Social Centers are divided, making the movement heterogeneous and often split (Mudu 2012; Piazza 2013). On the other side, the ‘radical left’ is composed by the political parties placed on the extreme left of the political-institutional spectrum, such as SeL-Sinistra Italiana (Sinistra e Libertà-Left and Freedom-Italian Left), now merged into the new political group Liberi e Uguali (Free and Equals); and those currently without representation in Parliament: PRC (Partito della Rifondazione Comunista-Refoundation Communist Party), within Potere al Popolo! (Power to the People!) PdCI (Partito dei Comunisti Italiani-Party of Italian Communists), and others (Piazza 2011).
- 3.
For example, the city of Naples in the last years has been open to urban movements, including the SCs, but it is ruled since 2011 by a radical leftist government led by the mayor De Magistris, quite different from center-left administrations.
- 4.
Aware that the terms militants and activists are often used with different meaning, in this context we prefer to use them both as synonyms when referred to Social Centres.
- 5.
The No Bridge movement was aimed to prevent the construction of a bridge on the Messina Straits between Sicily and Calabria. The outcome of the protest was successful because the bridge was not built and the project stopped, at least until now.
- 6.
In the case of the No Tav movement, our analysis is based first on four semi-structured interviews; then, even if our participant observations has not been continuous in time, we have taken part in the most important public assemblies and demonstrations in Val Susa. For what concerns the No Muos case, other four semi-structured interviews have been carried out, while the participant observation lasted from February 2013 to August 2014, during which marches, assemblies and meetings have been observed; moreover, we have participated in the main demonstrations from 2012 onwards. Lastly, all the interviews has been carried out, between January 2014 and September 2016, to the activists considered as key-informants for the SCs belonging to the two movements. Despite the key-informants interviewed are all males, the gender has not been a determinant variable in the choice of the activists to interview.
- 7.
Beyond the Askatasuna, the main SC in Turin, others were active—as Gabrio, Asilo, and Murazzi—but their activists were usual to participate in the No Tav movement not as representatives of their SCs. This is why we chose to take into account only the SC Askatasuna in our analysis.
- 8.
The White Overalls were another political network of the Social Centers (see endnote 2)—above all in the North East Italy—coming from the Autonomia—as the Antagonist/Autonomist network of the SC Askatasuna—with which a political split took place in the 1990s. The break was because WO chose the ‘entrista’ policy, which was the strategic choice to ‘enter’ in the local institutions by participating to municipal election in alliance with the radical left-wing parties (Mudu 2012; Piazza 2013).
- 9.
For local administrators here we mean the mayors, the city councillors and cabinet members.
- 10.
On the 24 May 2011, thousands of No Tav activists occupied the ground in a mountain area named Maddalena, to prevent the start of the TAV building site. The occupation has been called “Free Republic of Maddalena” to claim the right of the people to decide on the use of land where they live. The occupation lasted until the 27 June, when a large deployment of police evicted the squatted land.
- 11.
In December 2013, four No Tav activists were arrested on charges of terrorism (recently dropped) for having sabotaged a compressor. Even if the event has affected individuals that do not belong to the issue discussed herein, it is anyway important to report the event because of the gravity of the accusation.
- 12.
“NO MUOS, NO PONTE, NO TAV Appeal”: joint release of No Tav, No Bridge and No MUOS movements, 28 February 2013.
- 13.
Order for the application of personal precautionary measures, Court of Gela, 16 July 2014.
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Interviews
Int. No Tav A.: Interview with Andrea, Askatasuna Social Centre Militant, Venaus, 30 July 2016, Carried Out by Alessandro Rapisarda.
Int. No Tav G.: Interview with Gianluca, Askatasuna Social Centre Militant, Torino, 6 June 2015, Carried Out by Massimiliano Andretta.
Int. No Tav G.2: Interview with Gianluca, Askatasuna Social Centre Militant, Venaus, 24 July 2016, Carried Out by Alessandro Rapisarda.
Int. No Tav S.: Interview with Stefano, No Tav Activist, Venaus, 30 July 2016, Carried Out by Alessandro Rapisarda.
Int. No Muos A.: Interview with Antonio, Reporter and Antimilitarist Activist, Messina, 17 January 2014, Carried Out by Federica Frazzetta.
Int. No Muos F.: Interview with Federico, Officina Rebelde Catania Militant, Catania, 18 August 2015, Carried Out by Federica Frazzetta.
Int. No Muos I.: Interview with Ivan, Ex Karcere Social Centre Militant, Palermo, 14 January 2014, Carried Out by Federica Frazzetta.
Int. No Muos I.2: Interview with Ivan, Ex Karcere Social Centre Militant, Palermo, 24 September 2016, Carried Out by Alessandro Rapisarda.
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Piazza, G., Frazzetta, F. (2019). Squatted Social Centres Activists and ‘Locally Unwanted Land Use’ Movements in Italy: A Comparative Analysis Between Two Case Studies. In: Yip, N., Martínez López, M., Sun, X. (eds) Contested Cities and Urban Activism. The Contemporary City. Palgrave Macmillan, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-1730-9_9
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