'Courage is the weapon of those who have no other choice. We will all,
in our poor lives, be brave at some point. Don't be impatient.' ----
Caroline Laurent, The Banks of Wrath ---- In my few 24 years of life I
have had to make not many decisions that seemed truly important to me.
One of these dates back to a few weeks ago when I decided to do my first
civil disobedience action with Ultima Generazione, a group that does
nonviolent civil resistance to prevent climate collapse, basically the
ones who throw paint on monuments and block traffic. The action itself
was very simple and "low risk", in fact it involved diving into the
fountain of the trapezoidal pier of Palermo and washing some dishes and
clothes. The objective was to bring attention to the water crisis that
is gripping Sicily at the moment, a symbolic gesture for which we
expected few legal consequences, but instead the Palermo police
headquarters decided that this action made me and the other two people I
was with " individual dangerous to public safety" and therefore I was
issued a one-year ban from the city; a repressive measure and in my case
illegitimate given that I am a student at the University of Palermo. A
disproportionate measure which had the unpredictable effect of bringing
a lot of media attention to my situation, so the last few weeks have
been a succession of interviews by newspapers and TV and conversations
with unknown people who expressed their solidarity with me. In finding
myself catapulted into this environment, the most complex part was
precisely the interaction with others and in particular with those
people who, reluctantly, gave me a label: activist. At the beginning I
didn't give it much importance, for years now the media narrative on
Ultima Generazione has been divided into two opposing opinions: either
dangerous eco-vandals or courageous activists. However, after having had
the same reaction from ordinary people who expressed their solidarity
with me and applauded me for my courage, I began to feel a feeling of
unease for which I could not give a precise explanation. The problem
wasn't the word itself but the responsibility that came with it, the
feeling that they were turning us into heroes, the hope placed in us as
if we could make up for the bad choices made by previous generations. An
enormous weight under which I felt suffocated. At the same time I
understood where this mythical idea that I also had before joining UG
came from when I observed these kids who let themselves be dragged by
the police and went to trial without showing fear and I told myself that
I would never be able to do something such. Then I met them and
discovered that they are not all kids and that fear and anxiety are a
fundamental part of what they do, they are the engine that drives them
to transform anger into struggle and resistance. But I also discovered
that there are no heroes or martyrs, that everyone makes their own
contribution and that everyone has their own limits, and that perhaps we
tell ourselves the story of heroes because it makes it easier not to
feel the responsibility to take matters into our own hands. So I would
like to repudiate the term activist, on the other hand I think that
entering a fountain is something that anyone can do, and I would like to
say to all those who proclaim empty solidarity that unfortunately words
are not enough, we find ourselves in a world one step away from collapse
in which the only response should be to take to the streets and protest.
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
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
in our poor lives, be brave at some point. Don't be impatient.' ----
Caroline Laurent, The Banks of Wrath ---- In my few 24 years of life I
have had to make not many decisions that seemed truly important to me.
One of these dates back to a few weeks ago when I decided to do my first
civil disobedience action with Ultima Generazione, a group that does
nonviolent civil resistance to prevent climate collapse, basically the
ones who throw paint on monuments and block traffic. The action itself
was very simple and "low risk", in fact it involved diving into the
fountain of the trapezoidal pier of Palermo and washing some dishes and
clothes. The objective was to bring attention to the water crisis that
is gripping Sicily at the moment, a symbolic gesture for which we
expected few legal consequences, but instead the Palermo police
headquarters decided that this action made me and the other two people I
was with " individual dangerous to public safety" and therefore I was
issued a one-year ban from the city; a repressive measure and in my case
illegitimate given that I am a student at the University of Palermo. A
disproportionate measure which had the unpredictable effect of bringing
a lot of media attention to my situation, so the last few weeks have
been a succession of interviews by newspapers and TV and conversations
with unknown people who expressed their solidarity with me. In finding
myself catapulted into this environment, the most complex part was
precisely the interaction with others and in particular with those
people who, reluctantly, gave me a label: activist. At the beginning I
didn't give it much importance, for years now the media narrative on
Ultima Generazione has been divided into two opposing opinions: either
dangerous eco-vandals or courageous activists. However, after having had
the same reaction from ordinary people who expressed their solidarity
with me and applauded me for my courage, I began to feel a feeling of
unease for which I could not give a precise explanation. The problem
wasn't the word itself but the responsibility that came with it, the
feeling that they were turning us into heroes, the hope placed in us as
if we could make up for the bad choices made by previous generations. An
enormous weight under which I felt suffocated. At the same time I
understood where this mythical idea that I also had before joining UG
came from when I observed these kids who let themselves be dragged by
the police and went to trial without showing fear and I told myself that
I would never be able to do something such. Then I met them and
discovered that they are not all kids and that fear and anxiety are a
fundamental part of what they do, they are the engine that drives them
to transform anger into struggle and resistance. But I also discovered
that there are no heroes or martyrs, that everyone makes their own
contribution and that everyone has their own limits, and that perhaps we
tell ourselves the story of heroes because it makes it easier not to
feel the responsibility to take matters into our own hands. So I would
like to repudiate the term activist, on the other hand I think that
entering a fountain is something that anyone can do, and I would like to
say to all those who proclaim empty solidarity that unfortunately words
are not enough, we find ourselves in a world one step away from collapse
in which the only response should be to take to the streets and protest.
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
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
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