A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #26-25 - Milan: Right to Housing and Social Spaces. Diary of a Summer of Struggle (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

After the mobilizations against the Security Decree - which, among other 
things, heavily penalizes those who occupy out of necessity - there was 
a strong resurgence of initiatives to reclaim this right. The summer 
period in Milan was particularly intense with mobilizations that we 
believe are significant to recount. ---- July 3 ---- The demonstration 
held on July 3 was among the most important, organized jointly by 
tenants' unions and the most committed antagonistic social areas engaged 
on this issue. The march, which started from Piazzale Lodi with around 
2,000 participants, crossed the entire working-class district with 
banners, placards, and slogans, managing to communicate effectively 
through spontaneous speeches and during the stops along the route. A 
demonstration whose success and turnout surprised even the organizers 
themselves, marking a turning point in the shared path of initiatives 
and common content.

July 19
Near the Gola neighborhood, where many families and groups occupy vacant 
public housing, on July 19 an initiative was organized in continuity 
with the previous efforts: occupying a swimming pool abandoned by the 
Municipality, like many others scattered across the city, taken away 
from popular use in view of an already ongoing privatization process, 
resulting in speculative price hikes. During the event, a debate was 
also organized about privatization policies and real estate speculation, 
which are worsening social relations in Milanese neighborhoods. On this 
occasion, I shared the experience of both the Spazio Sociale Micene and 
the committee San Siro città pubblica, aiming to maintain the 
territorial character of the working-class district to counter 
speculative interventions and the ongoing privatization process 
throughout the city. This trend is also currently evident with the 
sell-off of the municipal San Siro Stadium to Inter and Milan's clubs, 
aiming to demolish and rebuild it just a few steps away - all at the 
expense of the greenery of the Parco dei due Capitani, surrounding the 
area with shopping centers. We highlighted how our work is resisting a 
municipal policy that results in the eviction of the popular classes 
from the neighborhood, building luxury apartments for the wealthy, and 
we concluded by reaffirming that "housing is an inalienable right that 
cannot be denied to anyone. We are committed to fighting by all possible 
means, legal and not, until every single person is guaranteed this 
sacred right."

August 21 and September 6
In this summer full of initiatives, on August 21 the right-wing 
government carried out the eviction of the Leoncavallo social center. 
From this came the protest march on September 6.

The eviction of Leoncavallo sparked considerable mobilization and debate 
in Milan and beyond. The decision by the right-wing government was 
certainly not driven by any real threat posed by this social center but 
rather by its notoriety. It was essentially a move to send a strong 
repressive message to the entire antagonistic movement. The 
reivindicative aim of the mobilization promoted by Leoncavallo was to 
reach an agreement with the municipal administration for the granting of 
a legalized space - a perspective shared and supported by the broader 
political field.

At the same time, a critical debate developed especially within the 
different currents of the social centers. While acknowledging the need 
to give a strong response to the serious repressive act of the 
right-wing government and respecting the choices of Leoncavallo's path, 
it argued that the September 6 protest could not exclude the demands of 
the antagonistic paths for the reappropriation of self-managed social 
spaces and for the right to housing. This meant openly opposing the 
privatization and real estate speculation policies of the local 
administration, which is transforming Milan into a city of the rich and 
luxury, expelling the poorest and working-class populations. As a result 
of this orientation, the antagonistic social areas decided to meet for 
the September 6 demonstration in the square in front of the Central 
Station, from where a march with thousands of demonstrators departed 
with banners, slogans, and speeches demanding the right to housing and 
the reappropriation of spaces. Along the route, the march stopped to 
protest in front of illegally developed buildings and the 
under-construction "Pirellino," where banners of denunciation were hung. 
Then, as agreed, the march rejoined the general demonstration, gathering 
at the Bastioni di Porta Venezia and continuing through the entire city 
center. Upon reaching Piazza Fontana, where the end of the march had 
been agreed upon, the pressure from the demonstrators was so strong that 
the police were forced to let the march pass into Piazza del Duomo. For 
those who completed the entire route of both marches, it was six hours 
of protest; 20,000 participants according to official estimates, but the 
length of the march and the crowd at the final square were estimated at 
at least 50,000.

September 15
On the afternoon of Monday, September 15, a protest sit-in was organized 
in Piazza della Scala, in front of the town hall, by tenants' unions and 
neighborhood struggle committees. It demanded the right to housing, 
opposed evictions and the expulsion of popular and working-class strata, 
called for the assignment of vacant homes, the regularization of 
occupied houses, and opposed the privatization and real estate 
speculation policies of the municipal administration, which is also 
under investigation for illegal building practices.

My speech, together with the committee San Siro città pubblica, was 
essentially based on three points:

Housing is a right that must be guaranteed to everyone; therefore, laws 
that do not respect this should not be obeyed, because they are inhumane 
and uncivilized.

Judges who order evictions without any alternative, leaving entire 
families on the street, and the public forces that enforce them commit 
acts of social criminality.

It must be denounced that public housing is being sold to private 
interests; particularly in Milan there are about 15,000 vacant public 
housing units (600 just in the San Siro neighborhood), while people have 
been waiting for years for assignments: this is theft and expropriation 
of public assets.

A member of the San Siro città pubblica committee also highlighted a 
recent ruling by a judge of the Turin Court of Appeal, who acquitted 13 
activists accused of occupying the casa cantoniera of Oulix, used to 
host migrants in transit, because the "crime is justified by a state of 
necessity." A significant ruling, showing how grassroots mobilizations 
and struggles can also influence the interpretation of the law itself.

End of September
And so we arrive at this beginning of autumn. Just a few days ago, 
another serious and concerning piece of news emerged. After the eviction 
of Leoncavallo, the eviction of the social center "La Fornace" in Rho, a 
town in the Milan metropolitan area, was announced. It is an ENI-owned 
building that had been abandoned, occupied for years, and transformed 
into a place of sociability, culture, solidarity, and social engagement. 
Mobilizations in defense of this space have already begun. We will 
continue to provide updates on the situation.

Enrico Moroni

https://umanitanova.org/milano-diritto-alla-casa-e-agli-spazi-sociali-diario-di-unestate-di-lotta/
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