She had promised that the first council of ministers would be dedicated to
expensive energy, and instead she started to discuss raves and the vaccinationobligation: if ever there was a need, the right in the government confirms thecontinuity with the Draghi government. on the hottest topic, namely theelectricity and gas bills that are throwing thousands and thousands of people onthe pavement. It becomes so interesting to analyze the mobilization that inSicily already in September is involving many people from all walks of life, in acrescendo that has so far resulted in the regional demonstration in Palermo on 7November. And that could expand further. We asked a few questions to TizianaAlbanese, from Trinacria, who mainly follows the protests in the Madonie and inthe rest of Palermo.The committees against expensive bills in Sicily are very transversal: what arethe reasons in your opinion that bind people and interests that are sometimesvery different?In recent years, the Sicilians have paid the consequences first of the pandemiccrisis, then of the war, now of the climate and energy crisis. Rising inflationhas led to a generalized rise in prices, including those of basic necessities,drastically reducing the purchasing power of households - without, however,having seen wages rise at the same time. Energy multinationals have seized the opportunity of the war and the economiccrisis, speculating on the gas markets and causing a surge in bill prices thatguaranteed them billion-dollar profits from paying their bills. Bills and thecost of living are rising for everyone: business owners, traders, workers,unemployed, students and even mayors, who have to make ends meet by supportingthe costs of municipal offices and public lighting. In Sicily then, we arewitnessing the mobilization of the agricultural sector, which for some time hasbeen suffering from the effects caused by the pandemic, floods and increases inthe price of fuel and which is now further buried by expensive energy. Inparticular, the olive growers, who this year did not see the sale price of theoil agreed at the beginning of the harvest, showed great organizational andmobilization willingness - stopping the olive harvest until an initial priceagreement was reached. What has been hit is therefore a transversal compositionwhich in recent weeks has been finding the social response to the current crisisin the streets and in the establishment of committees. What we certainly observe,however, is that the main subjects of this mobilization are the owners ofbusinesses and small businesses, especially if they are family-run and do nothave large resources with which to cover their backs. The presence of workers andunemployed, of proletarian families, especially in large cities like Palermo, isstill scarce, probably because this social composition is preferring to find anindividual solution to the problem, for example through illegal connections.Some time ago, a comrade from Rome of the Noi non pagiamo movement argued that ifwe do not activate it, the scenario will be that of the neo-fascists ingovernment and the fascists in the squares. Do you see this risk? Or do yousimply need to know each other in the squares, and before you want to, stay?In Sicily we are not registering a presence of neo-fascists in the streets and inthe committees. We believe that within transversal movements like this one mustknow how to stay there, having the ability to anticipate the trend and organizeit to avoid others leading them or remaining on the wave of unorganizedspontaneity and therefore extinguished.What are the inconveniences and problems that you have most frequentlyencountered due to such high bills?Those who do not have large capital to cover their backs are unable to bear thecosts to run their businesses, often choosing the path of closure, lowering theshutters and sending employees home. The mass layoffs that could be carried outare the most worrying thing. In the agricultural sector, the risk is that, alsohaving to be competitive with the large-scale retail trade which has much lowerlabor and production costs and which now dominates the market, it is no longerconvenient for small producers and breeders to work, since the production costsnow exceed the profit. For families, failing to pay for the utilities will meanundergoing interventions for the disconnection of electricity, gas and evenwater. In some neighborhoods of Palermo we have already seen MAP, the investeecompany that deals with the management of the water network, intervene todisconnect users in some buildings for arrears. We think these interventions willbecome more and more widespread. For local authorities, the risk is that havingto put in place economic support for the poorest families and having to increasethe costs for lighting and heating in offices and public places, especially theMunicipalities already in predissesto or instability, if they do not receive aid.by the central and regional government, they will have to cut public spending,subtracting other services from citizens. For school students, the challenge willbe to understand how the warm-ups will be organized in the coming months; whilefor university students it is difficult to bear the costs of the energy crisisalso because, to this, they must add the weight of other increases, such as highrents, which this autumn is forcing hundreds of out-of-home students intoeconomic hardship. In Palermo rental costs increased by 9.1%, excludingutilities. This increase, when combined with the stellar costs of bills, makesaccess to the university incredibly difficult, especially in universities such asPalermo where scholarships and beds are unable to cover all applicants.What are the demands that the committees against high bills make to the government?The requests are different: from the payment in installments of all municipaltaxes to the recognition of the rates applied in 2021, up to the blocking ofpayments. Local authorities are certainly asking the National Government for helpso that it can intervene with adequate transfers in order to guarantee essentialservices that will soon fail. Certainly the work that is being done most is toreveal and indicate as a counterpart the energy multinationals that arespeculating on the emergency by enriching themselves on the shoulders of thepoorer classes. Taxing the extra-profits, demanding that these taxes are actuallypaid to the Italian state and using the proceeds to calm the bills is one of themain claims in the field.What meetings have you carried out so far and what are the next steps?In recent weeks, demonstrations have taken place in Bagheria, Mazara del Vallo,Agrigento, San Cipirello and San Giuseppe Jato, Sciacca, Palermo, Messina,Catania and in the Madonie. In many municipalities in Sicily, on the other hand,open Municipal Councils are being held, from which shared documents are emergingto be sent to the prefects and mobilization initiatives. The preparatory passageto the squares is the establishment of open committees that meet weekly and thatare continuing to work even after the demonstrations with meetings at theMunicipality and public assemblies in the square. The stage on which everyoneworked is the regional event that was held in Palermo on November 7, whichbrought together movements, trade unions, trade associations, committees andindividual citizens from all over Sicily.What do you answer to those who think that the situation in Sicily could besimilar to that of the Forconi in 2013? And what balance do you think can bedrawn from that experience?We do not believe that the situation is similar, except for the element of thetransversality of social participation. The main difference is that in thepitchfork movement there was a driving social block which was that of farmers,ranchers and hauliers. That experience was an important mobilization withenormous potential, unfortunately frustrated by the representatives of thatsocial bloc who at a certain point did not want to make that necessaryqualitative leap, which would however have entailed a tougher response from theItalian state, and instead have preferred to be satisfied by receiving crumbs anddemobilizing the principals and blocks that had put large-scale distribution andthe police in great difficulty.https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/_________________________________________A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C EBy, For, and About AnarchistsSend news reports to A-infos-en mailing listA-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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