||| THURSDAY 7 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 4 pm – Arrivals and registration of guests from outside Naples
▶ 5 pm – Guided tours of Ex OPG (the building is an old psychiatric asylum), lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
▶ 6 pm – Assembly : “how to make the invisible visible: by talking about work and building class consciousness”
speakers:
– Wu Ming 2 writer, member of the Wu Ming writers collective and of MetalMente, thecollective of metalworkers who co-authored the text “Meccanoscritto“
– Alberto Prunetti writer and, translator, author of “Amianto. Una storia operaia”
– Simona Baldanzi writer and researcher, author of “Figlia di una vestaglia blu” and “Mugello sottosopra. Tute arancioni nei cantieri delle grandi opere”
– Marta Fana economics researcher with a focus on labour and inequality
– Workers and workers’ groups
[more info – workshops and debates]
▶ 8.30 pm – “The informal workers of Naples cook for you”. Fund raising dinner to support the Neapolitan campaign against informal work.
▶ 10 pm – Reading by the Theatre of the People
“WORKERS”
with the participation of
Wu Ming 2 – Alberto Prunetti – Simona Baldanzi
||| FRIDAY 8 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 4 pm – Guided tours of Ex OPG lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
▶ 5 pm – Assembly: “Wars, migrations, racism and the reception system. How do we build a united solidarity movement to defend the rights of all?”
speakers:
– Giorgia Girometti Medici Senza Frontiere – Communication Manager for projects in italy
– Aboubakar Soumahoro International Coalition of Sans-papiers, Migrants, Refugees and asylum seekers (CISPM)
– Gennaro Avallone Professor of urban sociology and activist in the “LasciateCIEntrare” campaign
[more info – workshop and debates]
– starting from 8 pm – barbecue
▶ 8.30 pm – Inbilico Theatre and Film presents:
“JE SO’ PAZZO”
film/documentary about the Materdei Ex OPG
directed by Andrea Canova
▶ 10 pm – Concert
✘ Uanema Orchestra
✘ Maldestro
||| SATURDAY 9 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 10.30 am – On the Saturday morning we have planned five workshops based around different themes that will take place simultaneously. The aim of the workshops is to provide a space for us to get to know each other and to share knowledge, experience and skills. Through the sharing of our knowledge we can improve our capacity to act and give greater focus to our political demands.
WORKSHOP 1. “The centrality of labour: worker struggles, trade unions, and rebuilding the “chambers of labour”. Campaigns against informal work, for the reduction of working hours and for the right to strike.”
WORSKHOP 2. “Mutualism and the fight against poverty: addressing the needs of the community and building responsive people’s networks.”
WORKSHOP 3. “Immigration, antiracist practices and people’s control in the reception system.”
WORKSHOP 4. “School, university, training and culture: how can we make an impact in the field of education?”
WORKSHOP 5. “Environment, health and land: the consequences of the ecological disaster and the necessity of people’s control in fighting speculation on land”
[more info – workshops and debates]
▶ 4 pm – Guided tours of Ex OPG, lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
▶ 5 pm – Assembly: “The new Left in Europe and prospects for Italy. How can we create an effective response to social division and hatred and to rising levels of violence and poverty? For a XXI century socialism.
Speakers:
– Elizabeth Hayden Member of Momentum’s NCG
– Quim Arrufat Secretariado nacional de la CUP – Barcelona/Catalunya
– Marc Botenga Member of PTB (Belgian’s Work Party), external affairs delegate
– Comrades from Greece and France
[more info – workshop and debates]
▶ starting from 8 pm – barbecue
▶ 8.30 pm – Opening and presentation of the exhibition
“DISEGNI DALLA FRONTIERA (DRAWINGS FROM THE BORDER). The narration, on paper, of the barbed wire on the skin”
by Francesco Piobbichi ( graphic artist and social worker from Lampedusa)
▶ 10 pm – Concert
✘ Francesco Di Bella quartet
✘ Orchestra di Piazza Vittorio (in octet)
||| SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 9.30 am – Communal breakfast
▶ 10.30 am – Plenary: “The current political phase, social classes and social movements. Enough pessimism, let’s organise!”
[more info – workshops and debates]
▶ 1.30 pm – communal lunch and goodbyes
—
PRESENTATION
This is the third edition of our annual self-funded and autonomously organised festival. . The festival will see four days of debates, workshops, dinners, exhibitions, stands, theatre and concerts, with people from all over Italy and Europe, of all ages and from many different backgrounds, coming together to share experiences, make new connections and to enjoy themselves, united, most importantly, by a common will to bring about change in Italy.
We are determined to challenge the pessimism of those who say “there is no alternative”. We believe the rules of the market both can and must be challenged. And they must be challenged for the following four reasons::
1. To put into practice a healthy sociality.
Socialising, play and communal entertainment are fundamental for the growth of individuals and society. However, nowadays, the ways we socialise have become commodified and marketised and to have fun you need to pay for tickets, or to dress in certain ways. Venues for music and the arts are characterised by their exclusivity and as a result, unhealthy or even violent forms of entertainment become widespread, as people are drawn to activities that allow them to numb their senses or vent their anger. Many modern forms of entertainment have become a competition or a contest. We want to create a different way of socialising; of joy, vitality and positivity. A way to come together that is not mediated by money or by labels, where “clubs” and “customers” are replaced by a community who dances and thinks, laughs and relaxes, and listens to good music without having to spend a fortune.
2. To make Materdei and its history known to the world.
In the last years, Naples has experienced a surge of civic pride. However, too many prejudices continue to burden us, prejudices which despite their gross contortions still point to truths that we should not seek to hide. The beauty of our city may have faded from the view of some , but in our streets it resists. And it is our desire to make it known to everybody; to break down the barriers that are everywhere being constructed, even within our national confines. Bringing people into a popular, working class district such as Materdei means bringing them out of the usual tourist drag. For this reason, during the festival, hundreds of young people from all over Italy will come to Naples. They will get to know the city and will find out about the things that are happening here. And we will share with them our experiences and ideas and hope that they will share theirs with us.
3. To make Ex OPG “Je so’ pazzo” known to the world, and to attract support for its activities.
A “house of the people” like ours can survive only thanks to militant participation and to the money we manage to raise through funding. We need the festival not only to collect funds to support our activities, but also to make our activities known to the city as a whole. We hope then that new people will join us and give their contribution, in terms of time and skills, so that we can keep up the levels of engagement we have seen over the past years. In a world based on money and power, places like ours represent a concrete alternative, which needs to be developed and extended. And this is up to you, or rather, to us!
4. To organise something new at the national level.
We can do many positive things in our local context, but for as long as our lives are governed by the greedy and the profiteers, we will never be safe from harm. For this reason political activity is a vital necessity. And for this reason we need to make connections with similar minds, to affirm a different idea of what being together means, and to give voice and strength to those who have none. We have been suffering from injustices for too long, for too long we have seen the rich becoming richer and richer, while we have become poorer and poorer. We do not believe that there exist the means to patch up this system. We must solve the problem at its root. And the strength to do this we will find in our numbers, in our determination, and in the clarity of our vision. .
To do this, then, we need to organise. This Festival has the aim of bringing together collectives, campaign committees, grass roots organisations and individual citizens, to create something new. The attack on our communities and our livelihoods is becoming unsustainable, and we are constructing our response.
This “something new” is the “power of the people”, which in many places has already shown its potential. It is made of practices and interventions aiming at improving living conditions and at making demands on local administrations through grassroots participation and the autonomous organisation of the majority: this is the key to overcoming the economic and political crisis. Our aim is to exercise political control from the bottom up, and to insert elements of resistance and counter-attack against the neoliberal regime in every institution, administration and factory. We know that we can be effective when we organise.
There are people making the same reflections all over Italy. Because too many people are unsatisfied with the way things are. And many people feel that the task of this historical moment – and of the younger generations in particular – is to rebuild something big, something credible, something that allows the voice of the excluded to speak out. We need a movement that can open up a horizon, and provide a light for all those who, as it stands, are sinking ever further into poverty and depression. The objective conditions to make change happen are all present: what is left to us is to unite everyone and every organisation fighting poverty and oppression within a veritable army. Now is the time to construct our shared programme and to rediscover our enthusiasm.
If you share these thoughts, and if you also want to change things, help us out! You can share the info and the event, you can join us in our initiatives and assemblies, and you can even sign up to the rota and help with the day to day organisation of Ex OPG, in the bar or the kitchen, for example… every contribution is welcome!
Let us show you that both Naples and the grassroots of this country are able to do beautiful things, without sponsors or political patrons: we’ll show you what the people can achieve when it takes power in its own hands!
And after all, where better than a madhouse for dreaming crazy dreams?
||| THURSDAY 7 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 5 pm
Guided tours of Ex OPG, lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
A short tour for guests to understand what OPGs (psychiatric hospitals) were, what mental illness is and how it is treated, because real change cannot happen without the overcoming of cognitive, affective and relational problems and without a real understanding of the impact capitalism and authority have on people’s psyche.
▶ 6 pm – Assembly : “how to make the invisible visible: by talking about work and building class consciousness”
speakers:
– Wu Ming 2 writer, member of the Wu Ming writers collective and of MetalMente, thecollective of metalworkers who co-authored the text “Meccanoscritto“
– Alberto Prunetti writer and, translator, author of “Amianto. Una storia operaia”
– Simona Baldanzi writer and researcher, author of “Figlia di una vestaglia blu” and “Mugello sottosopra. Tute arancioni nei cantieri delle grandi opere”
– Marta Fana economics researcher with a focus on labour and inequality
– Workers and workers’ groups
In the last 30 years we Italy has witnessed a fierce attack against its workers. The last stage in this attack was the Jobs Act, approved with much fanfare by Renzi’s government. The Jobs Act took away yet more to those who still had a little, giving nothing but greater precarity to those who already had nothing. We, as workers, are put in the spotlight by the media every time a new measure is debated or approved: reform of the labour market, of our pensions, of welfare. Yet as soon as the debate is over we go back to being invisible.
We do not exist, even if we are there. They make us feel lonely, in danger of extinction, but the reality is that we are many, millions. And it is thanks to us that this country moves forward: we produce, pack, write, translate, teach, clean, transport, place products on the shelves, and sell products that are bought in Italy and abroad. And we want to take back the floor. We want to tell our stories, because we are convinced that new relationships, solidarity and knowledge can be created through the exchange. We want to share the condition we experience, a condition which is not only individual, nor belonging to those regretting a better past. We are not simply victims, because we organise, resist and think about how to fight back. Our lives are complex and they go beyond the mere description of the activities we carry out in the enterprises where we work. Our lives are made of laughs, chats, hangovers, travelling, dreams, solidarity and love. But how can we return to being the subject – and not the mere object – of history?
||| FRIDAY 8 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 4 pm
Guided tours of Ex OPG lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
A short journey to understand what the OPG was, what mental illness is and how it is treated, why a real transformation cannot happen without taking care of cognitive, emotional and relational problems, without comprehension of the impact capitalism and authority have on people’s psyches.
▶ 5 pm – Assembly: “Wars, migrations, racism and the reception system. How do we build a united solidarity movement to defend the rights of all?”
speakers:
– Giorgia Girometti Medici Senza Frontiere – Communication Manager for projects in italy
– Aboubakar Soumahoro International Coalition of Sans-papiers, Migrants, Refugees and asylum seekers (CISPM)
– Gennaro Avallone Professor of urban sociology and activist in the “LasciateCIEntrare” campaign
The approach of the Italian authorities to immigration and the presence of migrants has taken an unprecedented and deeply disturbing turn. It began with the attacks on NGOs operating in the Mediterranean that brought about the closing down of rescue operations. It continued with the expulsions of refugees from their homes through violent means, most recently water cannons were used against families and pregnant women in Piazza Indipendenza in Rome, and with the abuses in the refugee reception centres. But the shift in the approach of the authorities is only one aspect of a shift of all political forces to the right, all the more evident in the last few months. It is fair to say that racist attitudes are becoming commonplace in Italian society more generally, and the occurrence of racist acts, even against Italians with dark skin, is increasing. The ruling Democratic Party has essentially decided to deal with the tensions expressed in the referendum result of 4 December 2016 – regarding wealth redistribution, labour, social inclusion – through fear-mongering and the setting up of a battle between the worst off against the even worse off. On its side, the 5 Star Movement has decided, with elections approaching, to ride the wave of xenophobia, thus giving further strength to such ideas. It is not that crazy to say that we are witnessing the birth of a new fascism. And we need to fight it by any means possible:: first of all, through access to correct information, through knowing the facts about migration and rescue at sea, and about the reception system. Secondly, by opposing war and the imperialist policies ravaging African and Middle Eastern countries. Finally, by building international solidarity networks between. Our objective must be the creation of a united front to achieve better life and work conditions for everyone: whether black or white, man or women. How we do this is the theme of this assembly.
||| SATURDAY 9 SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 10.30 am
On the Saturday morning we have planned five workshops based around different themes that will take place simultaneously. The aim of the workshops is to provide a space for us to get to know each other and to share knowledge, experience and skills. Through the sharing of our knowledge we can improve our capacity to act and give greater focus to our political demands.
WORKSHOP 1. “The centrality of labour: worker struggles, trade unions, and rebuilding the “chambers of labour”. Campaigns against informal work, for the reduction of working hours and for the right to strike.
”The biggest problem facing Italy today is work. Not only because there is no work, but because when there is work, it is precarious, badly paid and dangerous. A mass political project cannot happen without a real intervention in the issue of work. Therefore, we have organised a workshop to discuss ways of pursuing labour struggles, of building solidarity bonds and of overcoming trade union fragmentation and resignation. This workshop aims at being very practical, since we are convinced that we do not need big proclamations to engage workers, but little concrete victories that have an impact on their daily life. We will look for answers to the following questions: what is the state of the working class and what state are the labour unions in? What have we learn from recent experiences of struggle? How can we fight informal labour, layoffs, increasing working hours? How to create a network and how to give visibility to our results? What was the impact of the last set of reforms on women? How can we control the private sector and how can we give visibility to what happens inside factories, construction sites and enterprises?
WORSKHOP 2. “Mutualism and the fight against poverty: addressing the needs of the community and building responsive people’s networks.”
After-schools, popular gyms, medical drop-ins, theatres, football teams are all part of the myriad of services and activities carried out everyday by local committees, social centres and associations, mostly free of charge. Their aim is to build relationships with local communities in order to spread the seeds of a new consciousness. The question we need to ask ourselves, however, is: how do we ensure that these experiences do not become purely exercises in charity? How do we make sure they do not become sticking plasters to patch up the voids in this society or, worse, a form of escapism from the harsh realities of the wider society? How do we go from mutualism – necessary to meet the needs of the communities and to allow people to make connections – to a conscious mass political intervention creating reproducible struggles? How can we involve women and mothers, who are often very present in the social sector? These are some of the fundamental questions we need to answer if we are to turn the social force our comrades in Italy still possess into agitation; a movement based on popular involvement driven by the needs of the community.
WORKSHOP 3. “Immigration, antiracist practices and people’s control in the reception system.”
The issue of migration is at the centre of Italian and European public debate. It is, perhaps, the issue that has most allowed right wing formations to assert themselves. However, some struggles and advancements on our side are being recorded. We have to link up these successful practices and make them a point of reference for every antifascist, for every grassroots organisation. In order to understand antiracism not only in ritualistic and charitable terms, we need to understand how to develop solidarity mechanisms among exploited people. We need to understand how we can control the siphoning off of public funds intended for reception system by private entrepreneurs, and how we can successfully counter the propaganda and the practices of institutional racism and street fascism. Furthermore, we need to understand how we can inspect the control centres of the reception system and restructure our institutions, from our municipalities, to effectively represent the presence of migrants and above all the presence of migrant women. Finally, we need to understand how to make drop-in services and Italian language schools function as education centres for a new citizenship, based on the struggle for rights and on a horizon in which has the social human being at its centre…
WORKSHOP 4. “School, university, training and culture: how can we make an impact in the field of education?”
We cannot have a successful movement without a creative vision a critical capacity and the ability to dismantle the dominant ideology. School, university and the world of education, research and culture are a critical terrain of struggle in the rejection of the dominant vision of the world. But not only that: they are also places where people are exploited (in particular precarious teachers in private schools and the work-linked training in technical education schools), people are disciplined, where a harsh class selection works to prevent working class children from reaching higher levels of education. How can we intervene on these issues? Where are we at with school work-linked training? How can we control school principals-managers, school curricula, book price increases from below? How can we build solidarity and support networks? How can we use the corporative professors’ strike to our advantage and mobilise in universities, which, after 25 years of counter reforms, have all but been demolished?
WORKSHOP 5. “Environment, health and land: the consequences of the ecological disaster and the necessity of people’s control in fighting speculation on land”
Destruction of territories for the construction of gas pipelines such as the TAP, or major works such as the TAV, drillings near the coastline, but also forest fires or illegal disposal of waste: today capital also create profit by brutally exploiting nature. National or local institutions, on the other hand, distribute earnings in a way that ensures consensus through networks of patronage. Those who pay the ultimate price are the majority of the population: the damages do not affect only citizens’ direct use of natural resources, but their own health, which in turn, the greedy hands of private hospitals benefit from. Environment and human well-being are two sides of the same reality, both for those who want to exploit and for those who wants to protect. In the face of all this, the crucial practice of “people’s control”, mechanisms of accountability effected by the grassroots, is becoming ever more vital and has been embraced by dozens of grassroots committees across the country. But how do we make it happen? How can we link struggles in defence of the land to the struggles in defence of our health? What alternative programmes can we develop?
▶ 16:00h
Guided tours of Ex OPG lead by psychiatrists and by the “memory group”
A short journey to understand what the OPG was, what mental illness is and how it is treated, why a real transformation cannot happen without taking care of cognitive, emotional and relational problems, without comprehension of the impact of capitalism and of authority on people’s psyches.
▶ 5 pm – Assembly: “The new Left in Europe and prospects for Italy. How can we create an effective response to social division and hatred and to rising levels of violence and poverty? For a XXI century socialism.
Speakers:
– Elizabeth Hayden Member of Momentum’s NCG
– Quim Arrufat Secretariado nacional de la CUP – Barcelona/Catalunya
– Marc Botenga Member of PTB (Belgian’s Work Party), external affairs delegate
– Comrades from Greece and France
All across Europe, people are becoming increasingly aware of the dramatic context of the crisis in which we live. Many people now understand that the situation is untenable and have started to organise themselves. In Greece, Spain, Portugal, France, Belgium and the UK, many, above all young people, coming from popular or impoverished middle classes, have begun to take action: “old” organisations have radicalised and have achieved significant electoral results, or new organisations have emerged, organisations dedicated to social justice, to the struggle against race and gender discriminations…
Of course, these are limited reactions, sometimes local or without a stable base, and in some cases (see Greece) quickly defeated. But this does not take away from the fact that they sent a message of revival, they changed, at least partially, the public debate, they ameliorated in practice the lives of the popular masses and produced initial measures of redistribution. This presence has also prevented right wing organisations and governmental forces from capitalizing on terrorist attacks and from building a society based on fear, control and hate.
For several reasons, this revival, this organizational process, has not yet happened in Italy. And yet it has become increasingly necessary. We want to discuss this together with various European organisations’ cadres and militants in order to learn from them and understand together how to build a new internationalism, that restores at its centre not the border, but the unity of the exploited, to build a socialism of XXI° century.
||| SUNDAY 10th SEPTEMBER |||
▶ 10:30 am – Plenary: “The current political phase, social classes and social movements. Enough pessimism, let’s organise!”
Following three days of meetings, workshops and individual discussions, we would like to give space to individuals and grassroots’ organisations from all across Italy that want to bring their contribution to the topic of ‘people power’, and the ways in which we can affirm it. We will try to sum up the debate from the previous meetings and workshops, in order to better outline, from the practical experience, the idea of ‘people power’. This idea is based on a set of practices of mutualism, of self-organisation around needs, as well as around the construction of a political-organisational level that can speak to the masses and can communicate a vision of a new society.
Unfortunately, after the victory of the Referendum, the initiative fell back into the hands of the dominant classes. They worked to de-activate further elements of tension (see the referendum on article 18, procurements and vouchers). We were not organised enough to capitalise on the NO victory, and we have been set back by the attack of our opponents who are preparing for a general election by mobilising the masses towards reactionary positions. Months of electoral campaigning lie ahead, which will function as a kind of poison injection into the body of the country. We need to prevent this by any means necessary. To face an unconventional situation we cannot use conventional means, such as the usual electoral or street parades. We need a structured and more determined project, able to speak not only to the residual niches of the left, but to the whole population. We call on every collective, every committee, every grassroots organisation to get involved.
