After the battle of Genoa

he anti-G8 protest in Genoa was the biggest summit protest yet. Between 150,000-200,000 participated on the final day (J21). This included large numbers of trade unionists from all the major Italian union confederations and masses of supporters of Rifondazione Comunista. It was also the most violent yet - with the police, carabinieri and anti-terrorist squads conducting a campaign of terror not seen since the days of Mussolini. Unarmed protester Carlo Giuliani was shot dead. Mass, peaceful marches were deliberately attacked with batons and teargas. During the post-demonstration "sweep" by police, systematic use of extreme violence and even torture took place.

Against this premeditated brutalisation, protesters have every right to fight back. Those in the movement who have focused condemnation on the "black bloc" are wrong: the police raid on the Genoa Solcial Fourm (GSF), the deliberate police tactic of pushing of the black bloc into the non-violent demo, the appearance of police agents dressed as block blockers...all these show that terror on a mass scale is targeted at the non-violent protesters too. It is aimed at breaking up the movement precisely at the point where it threatens to sink roots into the population.

50,000 marched to defend immigrant rights on J19, 70,000 marched to besiege the "red zone" on J20 and 200,000 people marched in Genoa on J21 - all in defiance of incredible harassment and violation of their democratic rights. These huge numbers are what Blair, Chirac and Berlusconi are really frightened of. They are terrified that the slum dwellers of the cities and the bullied and regimented workers will unite with our "travelling circus" of anticapitalists. That is why they pressed the "start" button for a repression that, reportedly, even shocked hardened murderers like Bush and Putin.

For all these reasons Genoa represents a crossroads for the movement. It can become - as the radical movements of the late 1960s did - a detonator for mass working class resistance. Or it can suffer the fate of the US Black Panthers, who were systematically hunted down...

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