Genoa isn’t over…new support campaign for activists risking 100 years of jail

I’m not usually one for signing petitions, but a recent initiative has started up which I feel very strongly about. While the top table directly involved in organising and carrying out the butchery of the G8 in Genoa 11 years ago have happily got away with it, 10 activists are risking a total of about 100 years in jail for crimes of “devastation and looting”.

As the official site of the campaign “10 x 100” likes to point out, the crime of “devastation and looting” was first introduced in 1930, that is, while Italy was still under a Fascist regime. Funny how it’s still there. It was first applied to modern Italy as a repressive measure against football fans, but, interestingly, it has been more recently used against migrants revolting in detention centres and activist protests. Here’s the official call out:

Ongoing solidarity with the NO TAV arrestees

Accomplices of any Resistance. Participants in any Conflict. (Solidarity materials from Tunisia)

Over the last few weeks solidarity actions and initiatives with the NO TAV arrestees have kept multiplying: dozens of pickets and demonstrations in various parts of Italy, messages of support from all over Italy and other countries (such as the Basque Country, where people have been fighting the same battle for years, and Tunisia), fundraising and benefit gigs. A few days after the arrests a big benefit gig was held outside Turin’s main prison where most of the local NO TAV activists were being held.

You can’t arrest the whole Valley – support the NO TAV arrestees

You can't arrest the whole Valley! Freedom for all NO TAV activists!

If you’ve read my previous article, you’ll know more than twenty NO TAV activists were arrested a few days ago all over Italy; if you haven’t, read it before you carry on here! To keep up-to-date with the NO TAV defendants’ solidarity campaign, you can either follow the Facebook page or the NO TAV’s main website if you understand Italian. Or keep reading my blog otherwise 😉

Also, if one of your New Year resolutions was to be more active, then grab a pen and paper and write to the NO TAV activists in prison (if you’ve never done it before and don’t know how to start, have a read here beforehand). Have a look at the end of this article for some general greeting and phrases in Italian. Everything is better with friends, so why not start a NO TAV letter writing night? Email me if you want me to publicise it on my blog.

Wave of arrests among the NO TAV movement

NO TAV: it's impossible to stop us!

With charges such as violence, property damage and injuries to police officers, more than 40 activists of the NO TAV movement have been put under investigation: 25 are under arrest, while the remaining ones are under house arrest and similar banning orders. The operation started at dawn on January 26, saw more than 150 officers involved, and took place all over Italy (and even parts of France, where some local activists were prohibited to travel to Italy). The majority of arrests were made in Turin, but many other towns and cities were also targeted by the raids: Milan, Palermo, Rome, Padua, Genoa, and many more. The operation is specifically linked to the clashes that took place between NO TAV activists and police officers in the two big action days of summer 2011, June 27 and July 3.

NO TAV / Genoa / Naples / Other News

NO TAV
The 4 activists arrested on 3 July following the NO TAV protests in Chiomonte were all released a few days ago – the Tribunal decided the preventative arrests were an excessive measure and replaced it with home arrests for Gianluca, Salvatore, Roberto, and Marta. Support for their case doesn’t stop here though – the final goal is to see them completely free of all allegations and restrictions.