A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #26-25 - La Spezia: from the march to the camp (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On Saturday, September 27, about 5,000 people took to the streets of La 
Spezia to say no to SeaFuture, a maritime arms fair that opened on 
Monday, September 29, at the city's Military Naval Arsenal. ---- The 
demonstration was jointly organized by Riconvertiamo Seafuture, a group 
that has long opposed the militarist fair, and the Coordinamento 
Restiamo Umani, which had already called the demonstration in La Spezia 
on May 31. ---- It was a diverse protest, during which as many as 25 
different groups spoke on the microphone: among them the Coordinamento 
Antimilitarista di Carrara, the Assemblea Antimilitarista of Turin, the 
Federazione Anarchica Livornese, as well as parties and movements such 
as No Base and the permanent "Flotilla di terra" encampment of Livorno, 
associations like Emergency, and local groups such as Murati Vivi, which 
denounces the militarization and the closure of access to the sea in 
important parts of the city due to military infrastructure.
During the protest there were actions and communicative moments: Non Una 
di Meno Spezia read a text about Palestine; Piazza Chiodo was 
symbolically renamed Piazza Palestina Libera; the access to the arcades 
of the Admiralty - seat of military power in the city - was symbolically 
blocked with construction netting bearing the words "today the walled-in 
ones are you."

The May demonstration may have seen higher turnout, probably because it 
was more focused on the issue of Palestine and was energized by the 
highly attended anti-fascist protest held a few days earlier.
The march on Saturday, September 27, instead focused primarily on the 
arms fair and managed to make opposition to war and arms production loud 
and clear in a military and militarized city like La Spezia.

Significantly, at the end of the demonstration a camp began, with tents 
pitched right in front of the Arsenal entrance. It was by no means 
certain that in a city like La Spezia such a form of struggle could take 
shape, but it worked: several dozen people stayed in the square overnight.
The demonstration and the camp took place in a tense atmosphere: the 
authorities had raised the alert level in the city, there was armed 
surveillance from some buildings, and a large police deployment with 
about ten vans was present. During the night, not only did plainclothes 
police pass near the tents, but also small groups of fascists appeared 
to take photos and show themselves, with a clear intent to provoke. One 
small group even paraded through the city center carrying helmets in 
their hands.
Even more provocative was the act of city councilor Brogi from the Lega, 
who approached the tents filming while the Saturday evening assembly was 
taking place. Those present invited him to leave, making it clear he 
would not find what he was looking for.
Far greater, however, was the solidarity the camp received: on the first 
evening pizzas were brought, many people stopped by to bring food and 
express their support and help, including some workers passing through 
the square. For this reason, the well-attended assembly on Sunday, 
September 28 - with over 150 people, most of them not activists but 
"ordinary" residents of La Spezia - decided to continue the camp in the 
following days; on Monday, September 29, it merged with the student 
strike and school march.

At this moment, it is important that the initiative remains independent 
of any political or trade union structure. This is a particular phase: 
the issue of the Flotilla has certainly stirred emotions in this part of 
the world and overlapped with the September 22 call for a strike by base 
unionism. These dynamics have come together with the issue of arms 
produced in La Spezia and sold within this fair.
Our opposition to the arms trade has joined the broader call to block 
the logistics of arms sold to Israel and, more generally, those used in war.
September 22 was the first day of blockades; now in Italy something new 
seems to be moving, and the demonstration and camp in La Spezia fully 
fit into this context.

Badabing and D.

https://umanitanova.org/la-spezia-dal-corteo-allacampada/
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