<nettime> microreport from genoa six years after

["Alex Foti" <alex.foti@gmail.com>]

it was a supermassive demo (at least 50,000 people) with the genoa
generation -- that of tute bianche, indymedia, black and pink blocs --
opening in front and assalti frontali blasting the right kind of
politically rhymed speech from the first truck. It was 20,000 youth
that spearheaded the demo, almost silent in their boiling anger, with,
because of the choice made by supporto legale and global project
organizing the demo, no symbols and no flags, save a handful of
nodalmolin, pirate, anarcho/red, guevarist, zapatista symbols. The
parties, associations and mainstream unions were relegated to the
smaller half in the back. The numbers and thrust of the demonostration
were constituted by the body politic of centri sociali, who reacted
with promptness and anger to the public prosecution asking for
hundreds of years of prison for protesters. They called for everybody
subversive to hop on the rebel trains from milan, turin, venice, rome,
naples and plenty other cities and towns (it was tough for little or
no money getting on the trains at the stations heavily presided by
police and carabinieri; thousands got there that the demo had just
started, because trenitalia manipulated by the minister of the
interior refused customary discounts for demos and delayed trains).

We demanded with all the forces of our bodies and minds to free the 25
under trial from all ridiculous charges brought against them (ten
years of prison per person + zillions of euros for having tarnished
the image of spaghettiland abroad, no joke) as if the italian state
hadn't committed murder, butchery, torture during those fateful two
days in the third week of july 2001 in the port city, then under
medieval self-siege to protect the g8 from radical democracy, today
open to demonstrators, especially in its popular and ethnic
neighborhoods by the waterfront (the manifestation ended in the city's
navel, piazza de ferrari, where a big stage was built across the
square from a garibaldi statue donning a red-cloth poncho because of
the celebrations surrounding the bicentenary of his birth, this
somewhat incongruous scene was unfolding under a skyscraper topped by
a megapixel screen advertising the genoa aquarius and the genoa soccer
club).

The cops kept at safety distance and were invisible during the whole
thing, also considering that week a poliziotto had aimed and shot at a
soccer supporter, a popular dj in sections of rome especially with
traditionally fascist lazio hooligans, while he was resting in his car
at a gas station, sparking assaults on police stations in rome, street
turbulence in milano and stadium break-ins in bergamo. but you know
that as well as the state-decreed intolerance of roma people aka
gypsies (postfascist fini who commanded the police forces in genoa
called for ethnic cleansing even went beyond, saying they're as people
incompatible with italy), what you may not know is that aldo bianzino,
a cool 44-year-old man arrested for cultivating pot plants, was beaten
to death while in custody in perugia last month.

The parliamentary left and its media allies tried to manipulate its
message saying the demo was in favor of some hazy parliamentary
committee that the head of the newlyborn and american-inspired
democratic party already said it should investigate "the violence of
demonstators and of the police": precisely in that order, that is. The
genoa generation doesn't care one second about such lofty baloney, it
only cares for our people to be freed from judicial persecution.

Yesterday it was the noglobal generation back in force as we hadn't
seen since 2003-2004, asking for justice and loudly declaring that it
wont' allow its history be put under trial, its ranks replenished by
riotous teens and rebellious earlytwentysomethings who couldn't have
been in genoa and suffered at tolemaide, diaz, bolzaneto.

ciao noglobal da genova e da milano,

lx


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