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