A-Infos (en) Italy, FAS, Sicilia Libertaria #461 - In post-eviction Palermo: Alienation and Invisibility (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In the dazzling Sicilian capital, now perpetually adorned with ribbons 
for out-of-towners to enjoy, the periodic eviction of squatters is one 
of the "necessary" steps to maintain decorum and prevent the gallop 
toward increasingly reckless gentrification. This is what also happened 
in the Kalsa neighborhood, in the historic center, where in 2024, nine 
families were evicted. They had been living for about fifteen years in 
the spaces of the former convent of Santa Maria della Pietà, located 
between Via Alloro and Piazza Kalsa, owned by the FEC (Fondo Edifici di 
Culto).

In the phases preceding the evictions, a great movement of groups and 
citizens had been seen, who had come together to support the squatters: 
an assembly had been formed, convened primarily by the neighborhood's 
educational community, which had acted as a shield, only to later be 
reduced to a hypocritical and double-crossing mediator. The only 
presence, among all the groups involved, capable of taking concrete 
action and which would remain constant and radical even in the 
subsequent phases was the CUB (Confederazione Unitaria di Base), which 
would continue to accompany the squatters in their struggle for the 
right to housing.

Meanwhile, the evictions had taken place on time and as planned, with no 
problems, not even when the women of those families went to Palermo's 
Department of Social Services to express their concerns on March 8, 
2023. The City's operational arm, which took the lead first through 
Councilor Antonella Tirrito and then Fabrizio Ferrandelli, had ignored 
every request, merely stimulated by the moments when, for visibility, 
the involved associations had issued vaguely significant statements, 
statements whose language even suggested a less than militant stance 
(see, among many others, the widespread use of the term "abusive" 
peppering social media posts, meeting reports, and interviews). It all 
ended with people, including minors, being tossed around the city, and 
with the bricking up of the two entrances to the former convent.

Where are these evicted people today? What are those groups that had 
gathered in support of them doing? What has changed in the city?

As the next phase of public housing assignments became harrowing, murky, 
and essentially handled as a favor, families found themselves divided 
and sorted among communities, hosted by distant relatives in tiny homes, 
and suddenly moved to a new neighborhood, far too distant from schools, 
friendships, social connections, and the usual places to meet their 
needs. Frustration grew over the injustice they had suffered and all 
those rights, verbalized but in reality shamelessly denied.

Meanwhile, the educational community calmly returned to other matters, 
while that assembly movement prepared to become a mockery of all this. 
Today it's called APRO, Permanent Assembly of Resistance to Overtourism, 
and its radical, militant face promptly melts away like a wax mask 
whenever it's unashamed to declare its intention to come to terms with 
the municipal institution, reeling off content and slogans centered on 
the fight against bed and breakfasts and short-term rentals. The reasons 
behind this assembly are all explicitly focused on protecting a decent 
standard of living, but in doing so, they completely ignore the fact 
that this standard of living isn't the same for everyone. Instead, they 
primarily respond to the needs of the bourgeois population, often 
foreigners with a medium-high cultural level. These people largely 
embody the brazen and dangerous shift from tourism to the residential 
experience in an exotic and affordable location where one can work 
remotely, get a tan, drink beer, and mimic an elitist and inconsistent 
social participation, provided they can guarantee the European living 
standards that Palermitans of different social backgrounds have never known.
To date, no initiative has been taken to help other social classes, no 
words have been spoken for those who are being denied the right to 
housing in a comprehensive sense, effectively denied the certainty of a 
home.
The only form of organization we have encountered is spontaneous and 
grassroots, rooted in the value of relationships built within the 
neighborhood, where one hand washes the other, organizing with those who 
have a car to ensure children can get to their usual school, to 
undertake exhausting moves, to go shopping as a group, to somehow try to 
give continuity to their lives as a healthy need to be protected.
But above all, the desire to respond through clear action toward those 
who have taken away and given nothing returns. That predictable form of 
reverse reorganization is beginning to shift again, characterized by a 
renewed search for homes to occupy, a timeless anger, and the underlying 
motivation of "let's get by on our own because we're invisible."

While we are certain that Palermo will see new occupations and 
evictions, the nagging question remains unresolved: who, when, and how 
will truly decide to address the right to housing without compromise, 
while also addressing the associated traumas and concretely addressing 
how this way of life affects life in all its aspects.

Désirée Carruba Toscano

https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
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