We spent the day of Saturday the 20th in Piazza Alimonda not in a mood of festivity but of rage; we decided to move towards the city, seeing as we hadn't signed up to any of the initiatives (which isn't to say that we don't have a position). Thus we arrived in Piazza Verdi where we found lots of people dancing to the music blasted out of scores of trucks, smiley people, happy, in short a party, and so we asked one another "What the hell have they to celebrate?" Then a voice from a microphone shouted about victory, recalling last july and Carlo Giuliani, at which point our disgust reached a new dimension. We tried to understand what victory they were talking about and the answer given was:"......but can't you see how many we are, all together, all united, look around you"... so we took the advice and looked around us but what we saw transforemd our disgust into vomit: flags of the Italian Communists, Communist Refoundation, CGIL, Greens and Deomcratic Left.

Fucking hell they were shouting about victory and marching with Salvi and Violante (1), yep, those of the camps for immigrants, of the war in Kosovo, of the Global Forum in Naples, friends of the Americans, those that organised the G8 and then oppose it, those that wanted to take Article 18 from others first, those of the short term labour contracts, those who make agreements with Fini and Berlusconi, those who are accomplices in the murder of Carlo. We cannot march with these people because they are our enemies, they are the ones that we oppose, they're the ones that take away the air we breathe. So why shout about victory, perhaps because these individuals are a minority amongst the 100,000? Fine then, we want to know where are these 100,000 when comrades are arrested and tortured, where are these 100,000 when the social centres are evicted or burnt by fascists (2) , where are these 100,000 when immigrants are beaten up, discriminated against, locked up i camps, where were the 100,000 when the neo-nazis of Forza Nuova turned up to annul the 30 June 1960 (3) or when they make meetings all over Italy, we could go on forever...? At a certain point arrived news (which later turned out to be false) that the cops were charging the demo under the jail, yes that of "horrible and nasty" to be isolated and kept far away from the festivities, so we spoke with a few people to get together a group and go there but the answer was:"that's their problem as they were looking for it." No, this we really can't accept, we can never legitimate the fascist and repressive actions of the state by the hand of the police. So we moved on our own, but before reaching the demo we met some lads at Brignole who weren't able to get through to join the demo by the Disobeddienti, the cops and carabinieri had created an imaginary line, a red zone around the demo of 100,000 and they didn't let anyone through, not even the genovese who had to go home, how disgusting, last year the red zone was used to defend eight pieces of shit and this year it defended the demo of the social forum, of the disobeddienti, of the political parties and all their lot while they danced, protecting them from infiltration by the 'violent', for fear that some mayhem might break out, the same logic that was used to legitimise the red zone of last July. Meanwhile the multicoloured dancing demo of 100,000 consented to this shit. We stopped to help people who needed to get through, we began to insult the military who were impeding us from walking, who illegally deprived us of our rights, but they continued to repeat no one not from here can pass, a girl from Pinelli then showed her identity card and demonstrated that to go home she necessarily had to go by here - 'not home, go there later' (maybe this year you ned a pass to access the red zone where the 100,000 are happily parading), a girl sick with aids wasn't allowed through to get home, so she took a syringe from her purse and went to stick it in her veins, quickly the carabinieri moved their asses and let her through. The cops were afraid of the sick. The verbal conflict went on another while and as demonstrators continued to arrive who needed to get through, the tension grew, that was what they wanted. A woman from Pinelli took a cellphone and made as if to call the lawyer, there you have the magic word, as soon as they heard lawyer the cordon opened and they let us pass and all while the 100,000 were dancing protected by hundreds of cops in riot uniform. At last we could go towards the demo (at Marassi), it was all calm at the prison where the detainees were demonstrating with the demonstrators. The demo turned back to go towrds the station at Brignole for the comrades who needed to take the train to return home, but in Piazza Gusti they were stopped by the cops again, 'you can't get by here', same logic as before, negotiations began which unfolded in great calm, after a while they let us through, surrounded naturally on every side, but in front of the station something absurd happened, a police cordon posted on one side of the demo began to run towards twenty demonstrators who in turn escaped by taking Via San Vicenzo, police and cc began an absurd pursuit, charging the void, marking someone who had done nothing, absolutely nothing, and who is today identified in the newspapers as one of the 'violent ones', merely becasue they escaped from the madeness of Cops & Co., two lads were stoppped and identified and no-one knows why, and while all this was happening these 100,000 danced happily at Porto Antico. The headlines in the newspapers today descibed a lovely day, a peaceful demo defended by the police to prevent its being ruined by the 'violent ones.' The police chief of Genboa Oscar Fiorolli praises the stewards of the demo because, in his words, it was perfect and helped them to isolate the violent, what crap. Fiorelli is practically described as a mythical figure, but no-one says that in order to accomplish this he stripped the right to walk freely, to live freely, to hundreds of Genovese and others. Our observation is on alone, we cannot accept all this, thus so long as the movement remains like this, we will walk alone, as we did on saturday. Because we do not want a world that is better than this, but rather one which is totally different. We do not want to fall into the distinction between violence and non-violence, for us the only vilolence is that of the murderous and exploitative state, and its servants be they in uniform or double breasted suits.

The lads and lasses of CSOA Pinelli, Genova.