A-Infos (en) Italy, FAI, Umanita Nova #20-25 - Agripunk: an island to be saved (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Agripunk is "uncomfortably" in the Tuscan landscape: made up of six 
industrial warehouses nestled in the hills a short distance from the 
town, it was a farm, the headquarters of German troops during the Second 
World War and an intensive turkey farm. Today it is a one-of-a-kind 
place, where anti-speciesism, trans-feminism, militant anti-fascism and 
hardcore punk meet in practice and daily struggle. ---- When David (who 
already lived in the area) and Desirée (arriving from Veneto) began to 
approach the place, it was an intensive turkey farm, where thousands of 
individuals passed through for large-scale distribution through the 
Amadori brand, which also supplies MacDonalds. The smell of stale guano 
and rotting bodies left to rot was unbreathable and flooded the entire 
valley and the nearby town of Ambra, making life impossible for * 
residents. Dez and David launched a pressure campaign by making videos 
about the conditions inside the farm, stalls and other activities that 
led to the closure of the business, closing a story of animal 
exploitation that had lasted for decades and opening a new chapter that 
continues today.

Agripunk "takes" the farm: to guarantee the safety of the non-human 
people who are in the shelter, they must satisfy the state bureaucracy, 
which does not recognize the concept of "shelter", but only that of 
agri-business. Agripunk managed to obtain a "stable code" just as if it 
were a "normal" farm. The legal status of non-human people in Italy is 
characterized by speciesist hypocrisy and a system that divides animals 
into DPA and non-DPA (i.e. Intended for Food Production or not). With 
various difficulties, Agripunk managed to obtain that the individuals 
who come to live there have "non-DPA" status, so even for the 
bureaucracy they definitively exit the food supply chain. A good 
precedent, which has also been useful to other shelters and which 
anticipated the decree that from March 2023 partially recognized the 
legal status of shelters. And so, with DYI attitude and a lot of 
patience, Dez and David learned to do all the necessary jobs in the 
countryside, continuing the practices that make Agripunk different from 
many other shelters. For example, Agripunk does not define itself as a 
"sanctuary", a word used in more spiritual contexts, preferring the word 
"refuge" precisely because in harmony with the history of the place it 
recalls the political idea of refugees, who escape, go out, break free, 
rebel and find for all or part of their lives somewhere else to live. 
The anti-speciesist struggle and the constant care of non-human people 
constitute a good part of the activity at Agripunk, but it is not the 
only one: the space is physically divided into various indoor areas 
where the initiatives take place (concerts, workshops, debates, screen 
printing...) and then the pastures, the sheds, the areas dedicated to 
non-human people. They are divided but continuous spaces, which form "an 
ecological corridor" that also physically unites the various struggles. 
The initiatives are "separated" but in the presence of the animals. The 
struggle against oppression holds everything together in a very 
spontaneous and natural way, oppressions not thought individually, but 
linked to each other, because they can hit and be acted out by anyone. 
The submission of living beings is functional to profit, so 
anti-capitalism without opposition to livestock farming is incomplete. 
At Agripunk the intersection of struggles comes out by itself: events on 
Rojava, or on transfeminist themes and concerts of independent bands 
coexist alongside free subjectivities. Over the years Agripunk has 
received solidarity from dozens of people, organizations, 
anti-speciesist bands, but one of the basic concepts - valid for both 
the bands and the volunteers - is that Agripunk is not only open to 
anti-speciesist realities or individuals, because we all started 
somewhere, and because, says Dez «if you are not[anti-speciesist 
vegan]it is because you are not yet».

The liberation of intensive farming has also improved the conditions of 
the local population, who appreciated being freed from the terrible 
stench that ruined their lives. By now they could not even find buyers 
for their homes, if they wanted to go and live elsewhere. Other outdoor 
activities in the village, which were previously scarce, have also 
restarted. Every now and then some more radical thought can be viewed 
with suspicion, but all in all it is welcomed. The culture of meat in 
Tuscany is very strong, and unfortunately, the mythology of the 
"excellence of meat" also brings with it the illusion of "animal 
welfare", according to which non-human people exploited to create the 
most luxurious products, such as "Chianina", live in privileged 
conditions from which cruelty is perfectly absent. And in fact, although 
most humans condemn intensive farming, it is the only way to have meat 
at a good price (and participate in what has historically been a 
privilege for the rich). Instead of becoming vegan, they delude 
themselves by looking for "happy meat". The strength of tradition is 
enormous: just think of the Palio di Siena, against which it seems 
impossible to say anything, or other similar events elsewhere.

Where we are now: the project immediately had as its objective not only 
the closure of the farm, but the creation of a sustainable and lasting 
reality. Among a thousand legal vicissitudes, the fight has been going 
on for 10 years thanks to the solidarity of many volunteers and 
supporters, thanks to self-management and self-financing, with a very 
clear idea of a different world. Now Agripunk is a refuge for more than 
100 non-human individuals (cows, goats, chickens, pigs, dogs, cats, 
various birds, etc.). The situation is evolving and complex, however we 
urgently need a sum of money that will allow us to pay off the back rent 
and purchase the farm, making it permanently and definitively available 
to Agripunk, preventing it from being distorted by setting up other 
commercial and certainly speciesist activities. The Agripunk comrades, 
together with the dozens of supporters who have crossed paths with them 
over the years, have created a free zone where something of what many of 
us would like to see in a future society is already practiced today. A 
project like this provides the greatest nourishment for change: the 
concrete example, a push to create other "islands of freedom", in the 
hope that the latter will be able to join together and form ever larger 
pockets, giving refuge and a new future to animals - human and otherwise 
- of all types, to their desires and their needs. But not only that: 
Agripunk is also a permanent garrison that monitors livestock activities 
in the area and "annoys" local agribusiness: in fact, there is currently 
a project, supported by several residents, to push for the closure of 
another farm that discharges harmful wastewater in the area.

On the island of Agripunk, the war between humans, the war on nature, 
agribusiness technologies, but also the violence of property and capital 
are intertwined in a way that is anything but casual, and encounter 
forms of resistance that despite everything are always renewed. From 
Giorgina and Lisetta, (the first turkeys to be freed) to Scilla (the cow 
saved from the sea), to all the non-human people who live free and happy 
in Agripunk now and all the other people who have passed through the 
shelter, have left something, and taken something else, mutually 
enriching each other. What we do for spaces like Agripunk, we also do 
for all of us.

TO DONATE

? www.agripunk.com/donazioni

? 5×1000 TO AGRIPUNK ONLUS_ CF: 90032580517

? IBAN: IT11P0501802800000012165098

in the name of Agripunk onlus - Località L'isola, Ambra (AR)

reason: liberal donation

Link to report:

www.agripunk.com/

bioviolenza.blogspot.com/

www.elettrisonanti.net/2020/01/20/agripunk-volume-01-compilation-della-stalla/

totalliberationrecords.bandcamp.com/album/benefit-compilation-for-agripunk

Julissa

https://umanitanova.org/32541-2/
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