Complexity and Social Movements: Multitudes at the Edge of Chaos ...

States fight back 83
established the idea of a plural left through ‘autonomy at the base’ during
the 1960s and early 1970s. This central principle was enshrined within the
Autonomia movement in 1973 as the basis for both work place and social,
notably housing, issues. In 1979, the Italian state crushed Autonomia
arresting and imprisoning 1,500 intellectuals and militants in a single year.
The establishment of social centres throughout Italy and the reinvention of
autonomist repertoires through movements such as the Tute Bianche coincide
with robust union organisations and the Communist party. The Italian
left is characterised by a significant diaspora of ‘civil society’ associations,
more formalised social movement organisations, unions, and political party
representation. This network continues the centuries old struggle for ascendancy
within Italian civil society underlining the importance attached to
hegemony by Gramsci and approaches emphasising the centrality of culture
to political life (Hall 1980).
Fascism, formally defeated in Italy following the fall of Mussolini after
Second Word War, remains a barely submerged sub-text in terms of formal
politics, key state security services, and ‘Southern’ civil society associations.
Within contemporary debates the alignment between Prime Minister
Berlusconi’s political and business interests, the role of Berlusconi owned
media in the portrayal of both the global and Italian ‘good life’ and the relationship
between the political and security state are all prominent issues.
These left/right traditions are differentially sedimented across state institutions
and urban administrations resulting in a variable geometry of political
alignments. The meeting in Genoa represented a return from the
isolated citadels for world summitry with the Berlusconi government keen
to maximise material and symbolic gains. There was a particular emphasis on
achieving a secure summit where world leaders would be safe from acts of
terror. Airport security was particularly intense and the reported arrival
of body bags in the run-up to the event underlined the potential for violent
confrontation. The Genoa Social Forum had been central in organising the
event negotiating key resources including dedicated convergence space,
information and media centres in municipal buildings. Despite this, the
sheer scale of the event represented a significant challenge given the diversity
of participating groups.
Italian security services in collaboration with US and European security
and intelligence networks created a secure ‘Red Zone’ as a no-go area
within which the summit would convene. Area denial was achieved through
the construction of a double wire perimeter fence and the use of shipping
containers to limit access to the labyrinthine side streets. This ring of steel
was defended by around 18,000 armed personnel drawn from a range of
police and military units. The mobility and manoeuvre used to advantage
by ‘Pink and Silver’ on the streets of Prague was extremely limited with only
main thoroughfares remaining as obvious conduits.
Irrespective of the underlying issues about chains of command, it is the
policing of the Genoa plateau that is of central importance to this chapter.