gisw13_chapters

italyThe internet and activism for women's rightsLea Melandri and Giacomo Mazzone (with the supportof Centro Nexa and Arturo di Corinto)nexa.polito.it and www.dicorinto.itIntroductionThe women’s movement in Italy started 40 yearsago – in line with other movements born all over Europeat the beginning of the 1970s. Its moments ofglory included the mobilisation around various civilliberties (such as the law that legalised abortionin Italy in 1978) and the protest against violenceagainst women that brought millions of womenonto the streets to claim their rights.The general decline of political action in the1980s (characterised in Italy by the rise of terrorism)impacted on the women’s movement, whichrenounced mass street protests and preferred toconcentrate on local action and on initiatives affectingdaily life.The trend changed again in 2005, thanks to theuse of the internet by the women’s movement. Myriadmicro-initiatives have found ways of mobilisingagain using the internet, without the support of bigorganisations (such as unions and left-wing parties)and even without the support of the traditionalmedia which, in Italy, seem to have totally forgottencivil rights campaigns and gender debates since theend of the 1990s.Political contextThis phase of “underground” activities coincidedwith the nearly 20 years of Silvio Berlusconi-ledgovernments ruling Italy (1994-2011, with two interruptions).The political rise of Berlusconi wascharacterised by the aggressive use of traditionalmedia (he owns the three major commercial TVchannels, two of the main national newspapers,one radio network and the biggest chain of cinemasin the country). This provoked major changesin the level of the country’s national discourse.One of its main characteristics has been the deliberateuse of women’s images in the media(often naked or half naked), the total denial of thecivil rights campaign, the criminalisation of immigrantsand, in general, a negation of diversity insociety.In such a context, union action became moredifficult and access to rights for women (such asabortion in public health structures) became virtuallyimpossible. Not only was civil action difficult toorganise, but when it finally did happen, because ofBerlusconi’s tight control on the media, these protestswere not covered at all, or their support andimpact were minimised. The message was clear: allaction against the official dogma was not welcomeand needed to be censored.As a result, any social activism that wanted tosucceed in Italy needed to reorganise at the turn ofthe century according to new criteria and principles.The internet, as the only medium that cannot becontrolled in the traditional way (and by the usualsuspects), is welcomed by all social movements asa unique opportunity to communicate, raise awarenessand act – even if this means taking on thetraditional media.The women’s movement and the internetToday the women’s movement is divided in two: thegroups, initiatives and organisations existing beforethe mainstreaming of the internet (that now have asecond life thanks to the web) and groups, initiativesand organisations that were started online andthen have tried to create an offline presence.Among the best known examples of the first kindare LUD (Libera Università delle Donne or Free Women’sUniversity) in Milan, which was founded in 1987as a centre for study and debate on gender and thefeminist movement, and which launched its websitein 1999, 1 and Libreria delle donne (Women’s Bookshop),founded in 1975, which launched its websitein 2001 2 and completely revamped it in 2013.As for the second category of women’s organisations,the most relevant is probably the websitewww.controviolenzadonne.org, the result of a successfulnational demonstration held under thesame name on 24 November 2007. This became theportal to access all the centres that assisted womenwho had been victims of violence in Italy. 31 www.universitadelledonne.it (English version: www.universitadelledonne.it/english/index.html)2 www.libreriadelledonne.it3 www.controviolenzadonne.org/index.html142 / Global Information Society Watch