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Italy

Naples Protests G7 ‘Lords Of War’

Thousands of people took to the streets of Naples on October 19, demonstrating against the G7 military agenda and Italy’s proposed reforms that would limit the freedom to dissent. Protesters, representing a host of organizations including student associations, trade unions, and community centers, rallied against Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni’s government’s policies, demanding a shift in priorities toward social needs instead of military spending. Side by side with the protest in Naples, demonstrations were held in dozens of cities across Italy, as reported by the left political party, Power to the People (Potere al Popolo).

Action At The Port Of Genoa Against Rearmament And Genocide

[There were] a paralyzed port, traffic jams, enormous damage and delays for shipowners and terminal operators — a day of struggle that points the way for class opposition to rearmament and a war economy.  On June 25, the port gates San Benigno, Albertazzi, Etiopia and Lungomare Canepa in Genoa — Italy’s most important port — were simultaneously blocked for almost 10 hours with endless queues of lorries. Meanwhile hundreds of other people headed towards Terminal Messina (de facto blocked by the anti-riot police trucks), completely paralyzing the already jammed traffic.  

Greenpeace Turns To Italy’s Highest Court In Lawsuit Against Oil Giant Eni

Italy’s Supreme Court will decide on a landmark lawsuit brought by Greenpeace Italy and advocacy group ReCommon against oil and gas company Eni, according to the two groups. Both nonprofits said on June 21 that their Supreme Court appeal was to expedite the trial, by showing that the Italian judiciary is the right jurisdiction to decide on climate lawsuit cases like this one. “The climate crisis fueled by fossil fuel companies is here. We have seen it with soaring temperatures, we see it with extreme weather events.” Simona Abbate of Greenpeace Italy said in a press briefing. “We want immediate action to be taken, and that is why we went to the Supreme Court.”

G7 Fail To Deliver On Fossil Fuel Promises At Italy Summit

Today, G7 leaders released a joint communique, marking a significant failure to build on the momentum from last year’s UN COP28 decision to transition away from fossil fuels. New Oil Change International data shows that G7 nations are not leading on climate either at home or abroad. G7 countries represent 27% of global oil and gas production, and will be responsible for nearly 48% of CO2 pollution from planned oil and gas expansion – the equivalent lifetime emissions of nearly 600 coal plants. They are also major providers of taxpayer finance for international fossil fuel projects, providing USD $25.7 billion a year in international public finance for fossil fuels, compared to USD $10.3 billion for clean energy.

Italian Students Challenge Universities For Complicity In Israel’s Crimes

With these words, just 15 days after the Israeli aggression began in the Gaza Strip on October 7, 2023, the Palestinian University of Birzeit recalled the responsibility of the international academic world in the Palestinian question: to tell the truth about the genocide in Palestine and to isolate university institutions collaborating in it. The Zionist barbarism can be stopped only by increasing international pressure on all Israeli institutions economically, politically and even academically through boycotts, one of the most important tools which international solidarity movements have historically used in their struggles.

The GKN Workers’ Fight Continues

On 9 July 2021, Melrose Industries announced the closure of its GKN Driveline (formerly FIAT) factory, which produces car axles in Campi di Bisenzio, Florence, and the layoff of more than 400 workers. While in many cases the workers and unions would settle for negotiating enhanced redundancy benefits, the GKN Factory Collective took over the plants and kickstarted a long struggle against decommissioning. However, what makes the Ex GKN Florence dispute really unique is the strategy adopted by the workers.

Are Europe’s Farmers Protesting Green Reforms? It’s Complicated

Across France, Italy and Belgium last week thousands of farmers descended on capital cities to express their deep discontent with the European food system. The scenes were dramatic. Parked tractors brought traffic to a standstill in Paris, and on Thursday burning piles of hay and debris sent up huge, dark plumes of smoke in Brussels. The protests show no sign of slowing down and are expected this week across Italy, Slovenia and Spain. Farmers’ demonstrations have been portrayed as a revolt against net zero, by the media and far-right groups. This is the message received by governments – and they are acting on it. So far, the farmers have won key concessions.

How Workers Of An Italian Factory Are Creating History

The fight against plant closures, offshoring, mass layoffs, and persecution has been an almost a daily affair for the working class in Europe over the past two decades. COVID-19 and the escalating cost of living crisis further pushed workers to the brink. Over these years ridden with scorching attacks of global finance capital marked with austerity and ‘slave’ labor, grassroots mobilization and solidarity were two major pillars of working-class organization and resistance. It is in this context that the fightback by the workers of the former GKN factory in Campi Bisenzio near Florence in Italy against layoffs and plant closure, which has been on for more than 900 days, has created history.

International Solidarity At The First ‘World Congress For Climate Justice’

Milan, Italy — For many years, transnational movements like “Fridays for Future” or “Extinction Rebellion” have tried to push governments to comply with the 1.5 C climate threshold set in 2015 by the Paris Agreement, yet activists believe not enough has changed. The struggles against mega-projects — be it coal mines, pipelines, motorways, train lines, construction for Olympic games, or water privatization — are still happening in every continent, and many are crying out for an immediate reaction to a dystopian future. One such reaction happened in October in Milan, Italy: The World Congress for Climate Justice (WCCJ).

Italian Students Occupy University For Gaza

On the morning of November 6, 2023, the students of the “Orientale” University of Naples, Italy, occupied their university to demand an immediate ceasefire in Palestine and the interruption of all collaboration of the Italian university with political, economic and military institutions of Israel. Since October 7, the Gaza Strip has been uninterruptedly under siege by the Israeli forces, aided by the silence and complicity of the United States, Western governments and, not least, the Italian government. The student declared: “What we are witnessing is a true genocide: while Gaza is cut off from food, water, fuel and medical supplies, the bombings continue day by day and indiscriminately, targeting homes, schools and hospitals.”

Workers Around The World Stand With Striking US Autoworkers

As the first-ever simultaneous strike at General Motors, Ford and Stellantis continues, the United Auto Workers (UAW) union is being cheered on not only by a majority of Americans, but also by much of the international labor movement. Over the past two weeks, the UAW has received messages of solidarity from worker organizations in multiple countries, including a letter from the National Union of Metalworkers of South Africa and an email from Malaysia’s National Union of Transport Equipment & Allied Industries Workers — both of which represent autoworkers in their respective countries. “The world is watching, and the people are on our side,” UAW President Shawn Fain said last Friday.

Lessons From Gramsci For Social Movements Today

He has been called one of the most original political thinkers of the 20th century. Historians point out that “If academic citations and internet references are any guide, he is more influential than Machiavelli.” And his impact on the way we think about the processes of social change has been described as “little short of electrifying.” The accomplishments of Antonio Gramsci, born in Italy in 1891, are all the more remarkable considering that his life was both short and notably difficult: His family was destitute in his childhood; he was sick for much of his life; he spent the prime of his adulthood confined to prison by Benito Mussolini’s fascists after his own party’s attempts to foment revolution had failed; he was often denied access to books during his incarceration; and he died at the age of just 46.

Antifascism In Italy: ‘We Are At The Beginning Of A New Phase’

In Italy the Republic has never been able to fully settle accounts with fascism. By that, I mean that, under various conditions and in different cycles of Italian history, the antithesis between fascism and anti-fascism could emerge again, albeit in ever-changing ways. Anti-fascist culture has been through many ups and downs. It has, at times, enjoyed an absolutely overwhelming hegemony, also because of its rebirths — as in the early 1960s, and as in the long cycle opened up by 1968 and 1969, that is, in moments when it resisted attempts to erase or manipulate it — when it resisted attempts to reduce anti-fascism to nothing more than an ancient, historical memory. But what we are seeing today is another turning point.

A Regime Of Private Corporations That Is Normalizing Fascism In Italy

Italy is one of a few countries in the European Union without a legal minimum wage; 21 out of 27 EU countries have instituted minimum wages. In Italy, minimum wages are only determined in collective labor agreements, but these salaries are often very low — around four to six euros per hour. In addition, Italy is the only country in the continent where since 1990, real wages are not growing — they even diminished by 3% in the last 30 years. Thus, one out of 10 people in Italy are working poor, among the youth, this number increases to one out of six. Already a year ago, Potere al Popolo started a political campaign seeking the introduction of a legal minimum wage. At the end of May, together with the alliance Unione Popolare, we submitted a legislative proposal to institute a minimum wage of at least 10 euros (US$ 10.72) per hour, which will also be automatically inflation-linked.

Group Of Seven Should Finally Be Shut Down

During the May 2023 Group of Seven (G7) summit, the leaders of Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States visited the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum, near where the meeting was held. Not doing so would have been an act of immense discourtesy. Despite many calls for an apology from the US for dropping an atomic bomb on a civilian population in 1945, US President Joe Biden has demurred. Instead, he wrote in the Peace Memorial guest book: ‘May the stories of this museum remind us all of our obligations to build a future of peace’. Apologies, amplified by the tensions of our time, take on interesting sociological and political roles.

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