WORLD WORLDWIDE EUROPE ITALY - news journal UPDATE - (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #24/25 - The Lion and the Horse. Evictions in Milan (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

 In a general context of a radical crisis in traditional geopolitical

balances, and as war once again loomed over the Old Continent, the
Italian government decided to contribute to the social effervescence
with the eviction on Thursday, August 21st, of the Leoncavallo Spazio
Pubblico Autogestito (Self-Managed Public Space), or, if you prefer its
evocative acronym, Leoncavallo SPA. As is well known, the eviction was
"peaceful," and the occupants' response was a demonstration on September
6th, which saw a more than robust national and citywide turnout-an
unusual and, given the times, even surprising turnout.

How can we explain the fact that tens of thousands of people took to the
streets in support of Leoncavallo and that there was a coming together
of political, social, and cultural entities that were not only and not
so much different as radically, at least generally, disconnected?

I propose an extreme case precisely because I believe it gives a
reasonable idea of the variety of actors involved.

Bebo Storti, who along with Paolo Rossi, Claudio Bisio, Gigi Alberti,
Antonio Catania, and Renato Sarti took part in the national march for
the Leoncavallo and, together with them, unfurled a yellow banner with
the words "Comedians," the title of the show directed by Gabriele
Salvatores that was a huge success in 1985, states: "We're a bunch of
idiots, but we have a civic sense. It's important to be here to talk
about the Leoncavallo and the disgusting act they committed during the
eviction. Piantedosi instinctively accepted this ass-kissing of the
government. We know how it went. It was a political closure."

Well, director Salvatores was present this morning at Giorgio Armani's
funeral chapel, where he emphasized the importance of demonstrating for
the Leoncavallo. In other words, he saw no contradiction between
supporting Leonka and paying homage to a leading figure of the Milanese
bourgeoisie, so much so that he called for the participation of a
segment of the bourgeoisie, perhaps the liberal, urban bourgeoisie, in
the mobilization.

I believe an answer to the question is possible if we take into account
several facts:

The very brutality of the government's actions, after years of torpor
and acceptance of the status quo ante, has affected, if not "public
opinion," at least a segment of people who frequent or have frequented
social centers, who appreciate transgressive art and culture, and who
are nevertheless positioned on the left at a time when, despite the
right-wing government, a certain esprit de corps characterizes the left,
however one understands the term;

The reaction to the eviction has overlapped with the mobilization in
favor of the Palestinians, which is decidedly lively and has a large
following among the younger generations. It's a case in which internal
warfare, in the form of attacks on "non-compliant" gathering places, and
external warfare, indirectly supporting the slaughter of the Gazan
population, were perceived in their relations, and, in any case, sectors
of the movement created a synergy.
The eviction of the Leonka occurred at a time when there is more than a
passing attention to a housing policy that favors the bourgeois elite
and severely penalizes a significant portion of the working classes,
those who were unable to buy a home in better years and must resort to
renting, out-of-town students, and the like. Public opinion is quite
sensitive to the legal proceedings of the city's political and
administrative class and perceives the bipartisan nature of the blockade
of those who have seized the city, to quote a famous film.
Returning to the eviction, the Leoncavallo has a complex legal case
behind it, which sets a complicated precedent for other occupations as
well. Indeed, it should be noted that the Ministry of the Interior was
ordered to compensate the Cabassi family, represented by the Prefect,
for failing to carry out the eviction. The judge ruled against the
Association of Anti-Fascist Mothers of Leoncavallo, whose president,
Marina Boer, was ordered to pay EUR3 million in compensation for the
failure to evict the real estate company that owns the property at Via
Watteau 7.

It should also be noted that over the years, Leoncavallo and local
governments have engaged in complex and unproductive negotiations aimed
at "normalizing" the situation. For some time now, Leonka, faced with a
conciliatory attitude from the current mayor, has been working to have
its "social value" recognized by the institutions. (Mayor Sala, when
questioned by the press in recent weeks, responded to some journalists
regarding Leoncavallo by acknowledging its "high social and cultural
value for the city," at least in words, pointing to the tender for a
warehouse on Via San Dionigi, in the Porto di Mare area, as a plausible
solution.)

Out of respect for the intelligence of my thirty-three readers, I won't
dwell on the fact that the "social value" recognized by the
institutions-specifically, by institutions heavily involved in the
renovation for the benefit of the city's high-income classes-is somewhat
laughable.

Precisely this complexity of the Leonka story-a radical and self-managed
birth, an institutional drift, and countless legal issues-determines the
fact that there are at least two Leonkas: one SPA and one, perhaps more
in the imagination than in actuality, a Self-Managed Public Space.

The demonstration of September 6th asserted the Leonka's character as a
movement and emphasized the need to oppose government policy with mass
mobilization regarding public spaces, the right to housing, access to
services, etc.

It therefore sets the stage, or at least could set the stage, for a
paradigm shift on the part of the movements, a paradigm shift that
places the governance of cities, the definition of decision-making
bodies, and the intertwining of welfare demands at its center.

In other words, it's about organizing, in Milan and elsewhere, a
mobilization against the city's bosses. This could involve citizens'
committees on various issues, social centers and occupied spaces, and
grassroots unions for both workers and tenants.

A path that, in my opinion, deserves in-depth discussion and debate.

Cosimo Scarinzi

https://umanitanova.org/il-leone-e-il-cavallo-sgomberi-a-milano/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S  N E W S  S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca