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long-awaited answer for a movement that wants toremain dispersed but connected and without a hierarchicalorganisation.The internet and the degrading use of imagesof womenAnother issue around which the women’s movementand its supporters have been mobilised is theuse of degrading images of women in public. Thisprotest followed the discovery of the “bunga bunga”parties held by then prime minister Berlusconiand involving underage girls.The revelations quickly resulted in public demonstrations.On 13 February 2011 nearly one millionpeople gathered in the streets of the main Italian citiesunder the slogan SNOQ – “Se non ora quando?”(If not now, then when?) 8 – supported by the newspaperLa Repubblica as well as the TV station Rai3.The initiative was started by a group called “DiNuovo”, led by some well-known women in theworld of the performing arts, cinema and TV (suchas film director Cristina Comencini, actress FrancescaIzzo and many others). 9 This group emergedthanks to the internet.Following the success of the demonstration,Di Nuovo – claiming to represent the one millionparticipants – opened negotiations with traditionalparties, trying to negotiate rights in favour ofwomen including a reserved quota for women’s candidatesat the next national elections.The internet as an aggregation tool for thewomen’s movement?After these three successful initiatives in the “real”world, the Italian women’s movement decided togo one step beyond and to determine if, throughthe widespread use of the internet, a new form oforganisation (more agile, totally decentralised andopen) could replace the traditional organisation ofparties or unions.Using the net once more it launched a call forthree days of discussion and analysis in Paestumon 5, 6 and 7 October 2011 (right in the middle ofthe crisis in Berlusconi’s government and his resignation,and a few days before the inauguration ofMario Monti as prime minister). The choice of theplace to hold the discussion was not an accident:Paestum was the venue for the last gathering of theItalian women’s movement in 1976, when it was stillcalled the feminist movement. However, with theinclusion of younger women, the agenda for the8 www.senonoraquando.eu9 www.leiweb.it/celebrity/personaggi-news/10_a_di-nuovocomencini.shtmldiscussions was quite different, including perspectiveson jobs, equality and so on.The women’s movement discovers itsinternational voice using the internetIn February 2013, on Valentine’s Day, many collectivesin Italy promoted the idea of participatingin the Italian chapter of the “One Billion Rising”campaign. 10Once again, thanks to the internet, the initiativewas celebrated in many Italian towns. 11 The campaignaimed to combat violence against womenusing the language of music and dance with theidea that this would be more appropriate than politicalslogans and political quarrels.The circle is now closed: a national movementmade up of small groups and local initiatives is alsoable to interact, coordinate and exchange informationon an equal footing with global initiatives usingthe internet.ConclusionThe women’s movement in Italy discovered the internetquite late (around 2005). Activists studiedit carefully, and once they realised that the onlineworld supported a non-hierarchical and decentralisedmovement, they started to use it widelyfor information sharing, support and campaigns.Essentially, the women’s movement adopted theinternet as an alternative to the traditionally highlycentralised structures of political parties and tradeunions, linking initiatives, groups and individualsaround specific and concrete battles such ascombating violence against women and ensuringrespect for women’s dignity. But in doing so, theItalian women’s movement has also been consistentwith its different and quite unique approachto feminism since its origins 40 years ago, in itsview that it is more important to produce changesin daily life than to change laws. According to thisapproach, gender problems, such as foregroundingthe debate on gender roles, are more importantthan parliamentary political battles. The key phraseof this approach is: “The thinking that producesconcrete changes in human behaviour is alreadypolitics.” The internet supports this approachperfectly, because it allows political action and campaigningwithout the need to obtain the approval oftraditional political channels of expression.10 The Italian initiative is a local chapter of the global initiative of thesame name, promoted by US playwright Eve Ensler, best known asthe author of the “Vagina Monologues”. www.onebillionrising.org11 www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=Kn9hn0n46ac144 / Global Information Society Watch