Introduction to Political Theory

(Marvins-Underground-K-12) #1

Death in Genoa


O


n a sunny Italian morning, a group of
young politics students landed in Genoa
to protest against the G8 summit. Before
travelling they had been leafleted by anarchist
groups and emailed regarding the details of the
demonstrations, where they should stay, where
preliminary meetings were being held locally to
them, and what they should do once in Italy.
They met their rendezvous outside the airport
and hitched a lift to the Carlini Stadium, just east
of the city centre, where the other protestors
were gathering.
Inside the stadium they first noticed a group
of men and women dressed head to foot in white
overalls. They were, a friend explained, the
Italian Ya Basta group, also called ‘tutti bianci’
(‘all white’). They were busy making shields out
of perspex for themselves, as well as makeshift
body armour using thick rubber. Some of them
were wearing gas masks.
There is a definite uneasy atmosphere in the
stadium – the Ya Basta group want only to stage

an act of civil disobedience such as a peaceful
march and protest – whereas the anarchists are
aiming to dismantle the ‘Red Zone’ fence that
separates the delegates from the protestors,
and employ tactics of maximum disruption and
visibility to the assembled world media.
Although they tell the group that they support
the demonstrations against capitalism in
principle, they also remind everyone of their own
specific demands they want made, maintaining
that a revolution against capital must be linked
to a revolution against the state and government.
Over the forthcoming days, the group attend
many meetings, some lasting up to nine hours,
during which various factions negotiate for
larger allocations of space along the Red Zone
fence. At last, once the details have been
amicably agreed upon, they march to the fence.
Almost immediately the protestors are
drenched by the Italian police with water
cannons. When the increasingly angry crowd try
to pull down the fence the police use tear gas

The death of Carlo Giuliani during the G8 Summit in Genoa, 2001
© Antoine Serra/Sygma/Corbis
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