A-Infos (en) Italy, FAS Sicilia Libertaria: Anarchy and the right of Resistance - Gabriele Cammarata (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

What is resistance? Explaining this concept can be complex and could 
lead to long conversations and interesting disagreements. It is a 
concept that does not only belong to the political sphere, but also to 
chemistry, psychology, medicine, physics, engineering and even ecology. 
The Italian dictionary describes resistance as "action that strives to 
resist someone or something, that tries to counter them. Synonym: 
opposition" (Italian Diz. Sabatini Coletti). The Cambridge English 
dictionary definition instead speaks of "the act of fighting against 
something that is attacking you, or the act of refusing to accept 
something".

I believe that resistance, the socio-political one, is the conscious act 
of a person and a community of knowing how to first recognize oppression 
on themselves and to give themselves the right to protect themselves 
with various acts of opposition, often creative and non-violent. 
Resisting means giving yourself the right to say NO to further abuse, an 
individual NO which then becomes collective, empathetic and often even 
organised. Becoming aware of oneself and of the oppressions that 
surround us is what I believe constitutes the essence of resistance, it 
is the first act that the psychologist Martin Baró in his work 
Liberation Psychology considered central in the process of individual 
and social liberation when analyzed the historical and political 
oppression of Salvadoran campesinos in the 1970s under a dictatorial and 
corrupt government.

Camus in his book "The Man in Revolt" explains to us:

«What is a man in revolt? A man who says no. But if he refuses, he still 
doesn't give up: he is also a man who says yes, right from his first 
move. A slave who has received orders all his life suddenly finds a new 
command unacceptable."

But while the revolt is often armed, the resistance is not necessarily. 
In fact, I believe that most resistance movements are first and foremost 
nonviolent and above all creative. The example of Radio Out by Peppino 
Impastato and his companions is creative resistance to the Mafia. 
Capoeira dance is the creative resistance of South American slaves 
against Portuguese colonization. The education processes in clandestine 
schools in Afghanistan created by the women of the Revolutionary 
Association of the Women of Afghanistan (RAWA) is resistance.

From a socio-psychological point of view, allowing oneself to be able 
to resist a form of oppression is an internal movement, a voice from 
deep within, a bodily feeling of passion, an individual, personal and 
then also social need that moves a lot along empathic paths and feelings 
of equality and justice. Resisting is a complex attitude mixed between 
hope, desperation, pain and passion also driven by an awareness. And as 
it becomes more articulated in its forms it combines with feelings of 
sisterhood and brotherhood, of empathy, until it becomes a social 
resistance.

The right of resistance is a fundamental natural right of individuals, 
according to which they can oppose the activity of the State or the 
prescriptions of positive law that threaten fundamental human rights. 
This right has a very long history, John Locke in his work which 
constitutes a classic of democratic and liberal thought, "Two Treatises 
on Government" (1790), justifies resistance to a government which, by 
violating the natural rights of man, violates the pact social on which 
the subjects' duty of obedience is based.

The right of resistance is present in international law and in the 
constitution of around 42 states, many of which are emblematic in that 
this right was included in their constitutions following events of 
dictatorships, Nazism (Germany) and genocides (Rwanda), it is also 
present in the United States Constitution from 1776 and in the early 
French constitutions. It was not introduced, however, into the Italian 
constitution, although in Italy it was discussed for a long time until 
it was eliminated on 5 December 1947. One of the first drafts of the 
Constitution subjected to analysis by the Constituent Assembly, in 
article 50 (which then would become the current article 54) reported, in 
the 2nd paragraph[10]:

«When public powers violate fundamental freedoms and rights guaranteed 
by the Constitution, resistance to oppression is the citizen's right and 
duty». This formulation is similar to that of the French revolutionary 
Constitution of 1793, but replacing the word "insurrection" with 
"resistance".

However, the art. 2 of our constitution protects the "inviolable rights" 
of man also in relation to acts carried out by the State, sanctioning 
their unconstitutionality and illegitimacy.

In this historical moment, sparking discussions on multiple fronts on 
the right of resistance, both strictly legal/constitutional and social 
and psychological, could be of profound value for the anarchist cause, 
which is also the cause of the freedom of individuals and of 
communities. This right is of great relevance for anarchists and has a 
privileged place in their actions because it refers to the particular 
relationship of anarchists with obedience to authorities and their 
legitimacy. Anarchists are not against any authority but have a 
skeptical attitude towards them and resist them from the beginning, 
returning to the authorities the burden of proof of justifying their 
action towards others.

The point is that often over time we also forget that we have this 
right, the right to say NO to all oppression, which often coincides with 
the right and duty to say YES to ourselves, to our nature and to our 
human needs. . It is thought that resistance is made up of heroic acts 
of armed revolt against a clear enemy but in reality it is made up above 
all of small daily gestures, of a constant attitude of defense of one's 
own and other people's rights. I believe that only a widespread culture 
of resistance, from schools to families, from workplaces to squares, can 
secure people's inalienable rights and make them increasingly active in 
their defense of their acquired rights and freedoms, now increasingly 
risk or for emergency reasons, or for economic reasons, or for other 
misfortunes, even invented, by the public authorities on duty.

What is happening in Palestine has undoubtedly awakened the souls of 
millions of people, a sign that the feeling of resistance and its right 
to oppression always dwells in the human soul, although poisoned daily 
by the capitalist morality of individualism, accumulation and abuse. The 
squares and streets have been flooded in these four months by 
populations from all over the world who, although they shout Free 
Palestine and Stop the genocide... in the air they also make the beating 
of what is hidden in their hearts heard... the silent cry of "all free!!!"

Gabriele Cammarata

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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