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

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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.
84 States fight back Accounts of the event from a remarkable range of commentators reveal some consensual points that can be summarised as follows: ● The established coloured zones depicting ‘types’ of engagement were not adhered to by police and security forces. ● The defence of the red meeting zone was accompanied by wide-ranging police actions across Genoa. ● Systemic and brutal beatings were inflicted upon any and all categories of protestors. ● The police raid on the Diaz school was an attempt to seize images of the foregoing police violence and demonstrate that officially sanctioned spaces were not beyond the reach of force of ‘law and order’. To these it is worth adding that the actions of the Italian state were seriously in conflict with the legal definition of human rights enshrined within the European Union. The exercise of such brutality by a nation claiming to be part of a superior civilisation reminds us of Habermas’s descriptor ‘advanced barbarism’. We make no attempt to conceal our point of reflexive departure here – the tacit standards and established best practice for the policing of public order situations were breached in Genoa. A member of the BBC World Service Spanish Division is reported to have said ‘I know this well, it was like this before, in Chile under Pinochet’ (Porter 2001: 79). The policing of Genoa differed from previous plateaux where resources had been targeted at containing ‘black bloc’ elements. In Genoa, the ‘black bloc’ remained relatively free and unrestrained by police intervention. Numerous accounts suggest the presence of agent provocateurs within the ranks of the black bloc pointing to the relative ease with which commercial properties were attacked and destroyed. Video footage of police and security personnel dressed in plain clothes and a mixture of uniform and plain clothes testifies to the use of both clandestine and explicit presence on the streets. Debates on the political accountability of the police operation revolve around the presence of Italy’s Deputy Prime Minister in police headquarters during two days of escalating police violence. Claims of personal affiliation with Fascist organisations and the presence of pictures of Mussolini in police stations are central to such accounts. Police units operated throughout Genoa repeatedly driving vehicles into crowds at speeds estimated to be in excess of forty miles an hour. One such event resulted in two police vehicles losing manoeuvrability in Piazza Alimondo, which contained a significant number of protestors. Eye-witness accounts describe a fire extinguisher being dumped from one of these vehicles. This was picked up by Carlo Giuliani, a 23-year-old protester who brandished it in the proximity of the rear of the stalled vehicle. Here, mainstream media images reveal a young officer pointing a semi-automatic pistol directly at Carlo. This image dominated print and broadcast media
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Complexity and Social Movements Che
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Complexity and Social Movements Mul
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Contents List of figures vi Acknowl
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Acknowledgements With thanks to all
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Preface ix activists and engaged ci
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2 Introducing global movements poli
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4 Introducing global movements arou
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6 Introducing global movements esta
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8 Introducing global movements Thes
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10 Introducing global movements exp
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12 Introducing global movements che
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14 Introducing global movements Fra
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16 Introducing global movements ‘
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18 Introducing global movements for
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20 Introducing global movements and
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2 Prefiguration and emergence Intro
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24 Prefiguration and emergence on T
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26 Prefiguration and emergence 9 If
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28 Prefiguration and emergence Prop
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30 Prefiguration and emergence agai
Page 43 and 44: 32 Prefiguration and emergence C. E
Page 45 and 46: 34 Prefiguration and emergence The
Page 47 and 48: 36 Prefiguration and emergence Glob
Page 49 and 50: 38 Prefiguration and emergence In t
Page 51 and 52: 40 Prefiguration and emergence Neo-
Page 53 and 54: 42 Prefiguration and emergence from
Page 55 and 56: 44 Identities, protest dynamics and
Page 79 and 80: 68 States fight back when trust in
Page 81 and 82: 70 States fight back academically,
Page 83 and 84: 72 States fight back streets from d
Page 85 and 86: 74 States fight back ‘green Parli
Page 87 and 88: 76 States fight back to trivialise
Page 89 and 90: 78 States fight back beneath Big Be
Page 91 and 92: 80 States fight back ran out. The p
Page 93: 82 States fight back The attempt to
Page 97 and 98: 86 States fight back hair, infringe
Page 99 and 100: 88 States fight back crisis is in e
Page 101 and 102: 5 Ecologies of action within global
Page 103 and 104: 92 Ecologies of action attractor wi
Page 105 and 106: 94 Ecologies of action embedded in
Page 107 and 108: 96 Ecologies of action The assimila
Page 109 and 110: 98 Ecologies of action compatibilit
Page 111 and 112: 100 Ecologies of action linking up
Page 113 and 114: 102 Ecologies of action occurred wi
Page 115 and 116: 104 Ecologies of action leading to
Page 117 and 118: 106 Ecologies of action siege of in
Page 119 and 120: 108 Beyond resistance to global nex
Page 139 and 140: 7 The death of collective identity?
Page 141 and 142: 130 Global movement as a parallelog
Page 143 and 144: 132 Global movement as a parallelog
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134 Global movement as a parallelog
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148 The map is not the territory th
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150 The map is not the territory of
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152 The map is not the territory Ne
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154 The map is not the territory mi
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156 The map is not the territory or
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158 The map is not the territory mo
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160 The map is not the territory of
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162 The map is not the territory ne
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Notes 1 Introducing global movement
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166 Notes 12 Ya Basta’s! subseque
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168 Notes 19 This practice has been
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170 Notes Afro Bloc parading drum b
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172 Bibliography Barker, C., Johnso
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174 Bibliography De Sousa Santos, B
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176 Bibliography Grubacic, A. (2003
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178 Bibliography Lash, S. (2002) Cr
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180 Bibliography O’Neill, J. (200
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182 Bibliography Thompson, E.P. (19
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Index Note: Page numbers in italics
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186 Index class: affinities 93; and
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188 Index G7 23 G8 23, 100; meeting
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190 Index London 52, 63, 69, 116; E
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192 Index Poland 44, 45; ‘Orange
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194 Index Taylor, P. 168 n.2; call
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