Some kind of email from Genova

Hi all

This is an e-mail from a Portland wobbly (IWW) in
Genoa.
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> 
> Friends:
> 
> Thank you for all the love and support you have
> sent me way these past days, I
> have needed it. Not all of you received the
> earlier, frantic emails I sent
> from
> the seige, so others please bear with the
> repetition.
> 
> I'm just going to focus on what I know about
> Genova, because there are a
> lot of
> rumors and bad info floating around, and I
> can't really focus on anything else
> right now. Remind me some other time to tell
> you about the week suporting
> rural
> squatters at their trial and San Fermines and
> the running of the bulls in
> pamplona.
> 
> We came into Genova to find that the police
> state described by friends in
> Torino was as of yet not in effect. It was
> quite easy to enter the city
> without
> dealing with police, and we found one of the
> Genova Social Forum (GSF)
> sanctined campsites right away. Friends old and
> new poured in over the next
> few
> days. The 19th was the march for immigrant
> rights. There were about 50,000
> people marching and it was very successful. The
> police did major muscle
> flexing
> with riot gear, scary looking guns and armored
> personell carriers, but
> everyone
> present (including anarchists and black
> block-not, of course, continguous
> categories) was well aware that the everything
> had to be completely tranquilo
> to protect the interests of the immigrants.
> Fruitless meetings went well into
> the next morning, but of course, things still
> managed to come together
> somehow.
> Various groups and clusters demonstrated on the
> 20th, the Day of Direct
> Action,
> to either disrupt business as usual in Genova,
> or attempt to breach the red
> zone itself. Pacifists, Greens, Anti'Nuke
> people and Catholics formed non-
> violent blockades of streets just outside of
> the red zone. ya Basta/Tutti
> Bianchio (the white overalls) attempted to
> enter through the main street
> leading right to the palace where the summit
> took place. A huge union march
> and
> the Italian black block marched from the
> industrial west; some attempted to
> breah the red zone, but most did not. COBAS (a
> large, militant, independent
> union), the network for global rights, workers'
> autonomy and the international
> balck block marched in from the east and tried
> to attack the red zone.
> Actually, it seems the largest part of this
> march was held up by a
> preventative
> police strike for most of the day and never
> even made it into the yellow zone.
> A Pink Block of creative, "tactially frivoulos"
> clowns, fairies, freaks and a
> samba band also tried to get in. I should also
> mention that two squatted
> social
> centers (Imensa and Penelli) were raided on the
> evening of the 19th and many
> arrests were made. We still have no news on
> these folks, as everything has
> since overshadowed the attack on these usual
> suspect types. No one can really
> say all of what happened, but it appears that
> no one successfully breached the
> red zone. This came as no surprise to me
> personally. We had the opportunity to
> walk through it when we arrived, and these
> fences were no nonsense. Not the
> school yard chain link bullshit they used in
> Quebec. We're talking thick iron
> mesh bolted into concrete freeway barriers,
> which were in turn bolted into the
> ground and the walls. What's more, side streets
> within the red zone itself
> were
> all fenced in this way, so that even a
> successful breach of one fence would
> lead to another corral and certain attack.
> 
> Speaking of the police, there were 15,000 on
> hand. Also some French cops,
> military, and untol numbers of foriegn secret
> service type spooks. The GSF
> convergence center was directly adjacent to the
> kilomters long police
> compound.
> This was only one of the more obvious of the
> serious errors and underhanded
> political manouvers made by the GSF, but now is
> not yet the time to reflect on
> that, I think.
> 
> Anyway, on the 20th street fights and rioting
> happened all around the red
> zone.
> Normal Genovese  seemed by most accounts pretty
> unconcered, except when
> several
> grocery stores were looted, when many of them
> are said to have done some quick
> shopping. As this long, hectic day was drawing
> to a close, Shira and I
> happened
> upon a Plaza that was eerily silent, although
> about 200 people were in it,
> facing off about 50 riot cops. Due to the
> silence, we at first thought it
> was a
> religious or pacifisct blockade. We walked up
> to the front lines and saw the
> medics wrapping the body of Carlo Giuliani in
> plastic. People went nuts.
> Crying, screaming, some throwing stones. The
> riot police looked absolutely
> terrified. It was the only time I've looked
> into the eyes of a cop and seen
> that even in their worldview, they were
> absolutely wrong and the hate and rage
> of the crowd was completely justified. We were
> livid and unable to think
> clearly, so we beat a quick trail back to the
> camp. No one knew what to think
> that night, but we assumed mass anger would be
> the order of the day on the
> 21st, slated to be the largets of the
> demonstrations.
> 
> What actually transpired was that the GSF
> cowardly called off all
> demonstration
> because of the death. Some groups heeded the
> cancellation, but most did not. I
> should mention that the shooting of Giuliani
> happened probably two or three
> kilometers from the red zone, where there was
> nothing that the police had any
> interest or desire in defending. I read an
> account in the local press that the
> 20 year old cop who shot him said he couldn't
> see anything when he fired. Nice
> time to shoot a gun eh? Also pretty good luck
> to hit someone right between the
> eyes when you can't see. Anyway, the pictures
> speak for themselves, and the
> impact of this death will be felt for many many
> years I think.
> 
> The 21st saw the largest mass demonstration in
> Europe in at least 10 years.
> The
> underestimation of numbers seems to be
> strongest in the US press, but teh
> mainstream media here was saying 200,000.
> Factor in the usual underestimation,
> that the official platform actually cancelled
> the demo, that movemnet sources
> estimate a crowd of 500,000, and we can
> estimate probably 350,000 on the
> street, who knows how many silently supporting,
> against the entiure current
> socio-economic order. Two insanely different
> threads developed that day.
> Everyone of course knows about the rioting.
> Truth be told, it seemed to me
> that
> the rioting of the previous day was more
> intense and widespread. But a battle
> raged for close to two hours in front of the
> converegence center, and there
> were reports of strett fighting in other parts
> of the city as well. In the
> end,
> the police charged and attacked many differnt
> parts of the huge (and non-
> rioting) march  when it was clear that the riot
> could not be contained
> quickly.
> Betwen 150 and 200 arrests were made during the
> march and hundred of injuries
> were sustained. Alongside the rage of activists
> and Genovese was the
> complacency of tens of thousands of borgious
> activists, Communists, unionists
> and GSF big wigs. Thousands of peopel treated
> the day as a celebration,
> instead
> of the day following the death of a comrade.
> The GSF speaker at the end of the
> march even spoke of "peace and victory." I
> certainly didnÚt see any of either.
> 
> We had just finished a meeting about jail
> support and contacting Giuliani's
> family when the police raided the Indy Media
> Center. We were barricaded
> inside
> breifly before they forced there way in and
> forced everyone (including the
> injured people in the infirmary) to the floor.
> Where we were it was pretty
> mild. There were plainclothes, masked agents in
> riot helmets and armed with
> clubs on site. Presumably they were trying to
> ID people. AFter about 20
> minutes
> on the floor, they left. We later heard that
> the presence inside the IMC of a
> lawyer and an Italian Senator (communist i
> think) was probably what saved us a
> beating at least. The assualt across the street
> had already begun. There were
> hundreds of riot cops occupying the block,
> preventing entry or exit.
> Activists,
> medics, lawyers and GSF personell (holders of
> city permit to use the school)
> were denied access to the school as the raid
> took place. We heard loud,
> horrible noises of people and objects. It is
> impËossible to say how long it
> was
> before people came out, but in hindsight i
> believ the raid was incredibly
> quick. Stretcher after stretcher after
> stretcher brought out prone and
> bloodied
> bodies. Most were out cold, but the conscious
> ones all raised fists in
> defiance. A horrified scream went up as four
> cops ran out carrying a body bag.
> AT least two more large objects were rushed out
> in sleeping bags or bedding
> material. Every witness instantly thought the
> police had killed again. There
> are as of yet no reports of deaths, but they
> definitely brought people out in
> bags. We hope that they were merely economizing
> with materials, as most people
> were asleep when the beatings began. The police
> eventually left, protected by
> old white men (GSF bigwigs) linking hands
> between the police and the enraged
> crowd. We entered the school with hundreds of
> others. If you can imagine a
> gory
> horror movie happening in real life, that was
> the inside of the school. The
> police made no effort to conceal, but rather
> left the evidence of their
> handiwork as a warning. Pools of fresh blood-a
> half dozen on each of the five
> floors, battered doors and walls, beams and
> chairs drecnehd in blood. Bloody
> handprints streaked acorss walls. Each
> stairwell had blood dribbled and
> streaked all down them-suggesting people were
> dragged down them. You could
> feel
> the fear and desperation, especially in tiny
> closets and bathroom stalls were
> lone individuals had constructed makeshift
> barricades and waited for the doors
> and walls to be torn down around them. Not a
> single inch of the school was
> left
> unchecked for hiding or sleepng people, though
> a t least a dozen made it
> out of
> windows. I spoke with an older man who managed
> to make it out by escorting one
> of the first strechers that was allowed in. He
> said as soon as the police
> entered, every one on the first floor laid on
> the ground with their hands up.
> Without a word from police or protestors, the
> beatings began in earnest. He
> described as many as ten cops pummeling each
> person, and said that not a
> single
> one was spared. He also said that at some point
> there was an argument over
> whether the beatings had pËrogressed far
> enough. The argument was won by the
> more zealous and enthusiastic sadists. The
> media is reporting 93 arrests
> and 61
> hospitalizations from the school. The most
> reliable breakdown we have seen is
> as follows: 41 Germans, 15 Italians, 13
> Spanish, 6 English, 4 Swedes (3
> friends
> opf mine among them), 3 Poles, 3 Swiss, 3 US, 2
> Canadians, 1 Turk and 1 from
> New Zealand.
> 
> I will share with many of you the intense
> effect this has had on me when I am
> able. But know that if my committment to
> complete and total revolution was
> ever
> wavering, the Italian Caribinieri have
> solidfied it forever. We are now
> outside
> of Genova attempting to get news and solidarity
> work spread to other parts of
> Italy. Thanks to everyone who made the demo in
> PDX happen. We've read about
> actions all over the world. The Greeks of
> course are torching everything in
> Greece with an Italian name (the embassy, FIat
> and Alfa Romero car
> dealerships,
> etc).
> 
> I'm sure I am leaving things out, but this must
> do for now. We are doing our
> best to assimilate these experiences and make
> good of them. I will email again
> soon and let you know where I am when that
> seems safe. Most of all, I am
> trying
> to remember that 350,000 people on the streets
> of Genova means that
> millions if
> not billions are ready to bring the whole
> fucking thing down and build
> something better. The first big protest against
> the G8 only happened 5 years
> agao, the first big one against global
> capitalism per se two years ago. We're
> moving fast and learning all the time. ANyway,
> take care of yourselves and
> each
> other. Hopefully the next email you'll get will
> be about something light and
> funny like a rash or another close encounter
> with the clergy.
> 
> SOlid,
> cj
> 
> 
> 
> I - W - W  *  a union for all workers  *
> http://www.iww.org.uk/
> Join the IWW http://www.iww.org.uk/join.html
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