Tute Bianche, Italian for "White Overalls", was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001. Activists were notable for covering. their bodies with white padding so as to resist the blows of police, pushing through police lines, and marching together in large blocks for mutual protection during demonstrations.
The name stems from an early demonstration (initiated by a loose group of Italian anti-globalization activists called the Ya Basta Association), involving the group defense of a squatted social center (CSOA), in which demonstrators wore white overalls to evoke the "ghosts" that would haunt the ghost town police proposed to make of the social center. The padding tactic, adopted later, is also referred to as a padded bloc tactic. It was first used in September 2000 by other activists during the anti-globalization protests in Prague.
"If the struggle aims at achieving visibility, the colour of the fight is white, and the white garment covers the whole body." [1]
Central to the Tute Bianche movement was the Italian Ya Basta Association, a network of groups throughout Italy that were inspired by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation (EZLN) uprising in Chiapas in 1994. Ya Basta primarily originated in the "autonomist" social centers of Milan, particularly Centro Sociale Leoncavallo. These social centers grew out of the Italian Autonomia movement of the 1970 and 80s.
The Tute Bianche philosophy was based on a specific reading of Italian political / social history, including the idea that the traditional protest tactic of marching and "bearing witness" to power had outlived its usefulness, and a more confrontational, militant form of non-violent protest was required to not only re-invigorate the anti-globalization movement, but redefine how street resistance is understood.
The Tute Bianche movement reached its apex during the anti-G8 protests in Genoa, in July 2001, with a turn-out of an estimated 10,000 protesters in a single "padded block", after a collective decision to go without the white overalls. Shortly after Genoa the Ya Basta Association disbanded, with certain segments reforming into the "Disobbedienti" ("Disobedients"). This philosophy includes the occupation and creation of squatted self-managed social centers, anti-sexist activism, support for immigrant rights and refugees seeking political asylum, as well as the process of walking together in large formations during demonstrations held in the streets, by force if necessary in case of clashes with police.
The Tute Bianche have had international variations of one sort or another. For instance, in Britain a group calling itself the WOMBLES (White Overalls Movement Building Libertarian Effective Struggles) adopted the tactics. [2] In Spain, "Mono Blanco" was the preferred identifier. The first North American variant of the Tute Bianche, the NYC Ya Basta Collective (based in NYC) wore yellow overalls, rather than white.
The WOMBLES were a loosely aligned anarchist and anti-capitalist group based in London. They gained prominence in the early 2000s for wearing white overalls with padding and helmets at May Day protests, mimicking the Italian group Tute Bianche.
A black bloc is a tactic used by protesters who wear black clothing, ski masks, scarves, sunglasses, motorcycle helmets with padding or other face-concealing and face-protecting items. The clothing is used to conceal wearers' identities and hinder criminal prosecution by making it difficult to distinguish between participants. It is also used to protect their faces and eyes from pepper spray, which is used by police during protests or civil unrest. The tactic also allows the group to appear as one large unified mass. Black bloc participants are often associated with anarchism, anarcho-communism, communism, libertarian socialism and the anti-globalization movement. A variant of this type of protest is the Padded bloc, where following the Tute Bianche movement protesters wear padded clothing to protect against the police.
A protest is a public expression of objection, disapproval, or dissent towards an idea or action, typically a political one. Protests can be thought of as acts of cooperation in which numerous people cooperate by attending, and share the potential costs and risks of doing so. Protests can take many different forms, from individual statements to mass political demonstrations. Protesters may organize a protest as a way of publicly making their opinions heard in an attempt to influence public opinion or government policy, or they may undertake direct action in an attempt to enact desired changes themselves. When protests are part of a systematic and peaceful nonviolent campaign to achieve a particular objective, and involve the use of pressure as well as persuasion, they go beyond mere protest and may be better described as civil resistance or nonviolent resistance.
The 27th G8 summit was held in Genoa, Italy, on 20–22 July 2001 and is remembered as a highpoint of the worldwide anti-globalization movement as well as for human rights violations against demonstrators.
Rhythms of Resistance, sometimes abbreviated to RoR, is a network of percussion bands that play at demonstrations and direct actions that fall within the broad definition of 'anti-capitalist'. Since RoR London was formed in 2000, similar groups have arisen around the world; while not all such bands use the Rhythms of Resistance name, they generally share the same ideology, described on the RoR website:
- We are a transnational anti-hierarchical anticapitalist, antisexist and antiracist network fighting for social and ecological justice.
- We are activists using tactical frivolity as a form of political action to confront any system of domination.
- We also directly support everybody experiencing or struggling against exploitation, discrimination and oppression, without compromising our principles.
- Our tactics include drumming and dancing inspired by samba and carnival.
- We reject any false opposition between militancy and creative forms of resistance.
- Even if we are different bands operating in a decentralized fashion, we aim to maximise participation in our collective process.
- We are an open network to any people who share our principles.
- Come with us! We have everything to play for!
¡Ya basta! is a phrase in Spanish roughly approximate to "Enough is enough!" in British English or "Enough already!" in US English. It has been adopted by several Latin American insurgent groups as an expression of affront towards issues that sparked the original dissent. Its adoption by the EZLN in Mexico as the movement's motto is exemplary of its popularity and ability to rally diverse ideologies under a common goal.
A fare strike is a direct action in which people in a city with a public transit system carry out mass fare evasion as a method of protest. Jumping turnstiles, boarding buses through the back or very quickly through the front, and leaving doors open in subway stations are some tactics used. In some cases, transit operators obstruct the fare box to prevent anyone from paying. Often, fare strikes are used to protest against fare hikes and service cuts, but they can also organize solidarity between riders and drivers.
Stop the City demonstrations of 1983 and 1984 were described as a 'Carnival Against War, Oppression and Destruction', in other words protests against the military-financial complex. These demonstrations can be seen as the forerunner of the anti-globalisation protests of the 1990s, especially those in London, England, on May Day and the Carnival against Capitalism on 18 June 1999. They were partially inspired by the actions of the Greenham Common Women's Peace Camp.
Anti-capitalist Protests in Prague took place during the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank summit on September 27, 2000, in Prague, capital of the Czech Republic.
On September 24, 2005, many protests against the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the Iraq War took place.
The NYC Ya Basta Collective was a group of anti-globalization activists, based primarily in NYC, active from roughly October, 2000 through October, 2001, inspired by the Ya Basta Association.
The Ya Basta Association is a network of Italian anti-capitalist and pro-immigrants rights organizations and groups, fueled by the Italian social center movement, formed in 1994, and known for the "authorship" of the Tute Bianche, and later disobbedienti phenomena.
Luca Casarini is an Italian activist and former proponent of the Tute Bianche movement. Born in Venice, Casarini was influential in the development of the Tute Bianche movement that practiced social and civil disobedience while dressed in white overalls and padding.
Autonomism, also known as Autonomist Marxism, is an anti-capitalist social movement and Marxist-based theoretical current that first emerged in Italy in the 1960s from workerism. Later, post-Marxist and anarchist tendencies became significant after influence from the Situationists, the failure of Italian far-left movements in the 1970s, and the emergence of a number of important theorists including Antonio Negri, who had contributed to the 1969 founding of Potere Operaio as well as Mario Tronti, Paolo Virno and Franco "Bifo" Berardi.
¡Basta Ya! was a Spanish grassroots organization uniting individuals of various political positions against terrorism and violence, notably ETA, and against the proposal for a new Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country released by the government of President Juan José Ibarretxe. Its principal activities were anti-terror demonstrations and protests. The ¡Basta Ya! movement was a civic initiative made up of people of differing ideologies, and welcomes any citizens willing to play an active part provided they adhere to three basic principles: defend against terrorism of any sort, regardless of origin or intensity, support all victims of terrorism or of political violence and defend the rule of law, the Spanish Constitution and the Statute of Autonomy of the Basque Country. ¡Basta Ya! was created to promote social mobilization against the perpetrators of specific kinds of violence, to support those who are suffering from them, and to demand that authorities fulfill the requirements of current legislation, respecting the rule of law. The organization believes that criticism of terrorism on moral grounds is important but not enough. Criticism on political grounds is also important, and the initiative understands such criticism to be based on certain values – such as human rights - which are common to all democrats regardless of their party affiliations or their political leanings.
Warcry is an Indian-American environmentalist and anarchist activist, filmmaker, writer and political organizer.
Self-managed social centres in Italy exist in many cities. They are part of different left-wing political networks including anarchist, communist, socialist, and autonomist. The centres tend to be squatted and provide self-organised, self-financing spaces for alternative and noncommercial activities such as concerts, exhibitions, farmers' markets, infoshops, and migrant initiatives. Over time, some but not all projects have opted to legalize their status.
The anti-globalization movement, or counter-globalization movement, is a social movement critical of economic globalization. The movement is also commonly referred to as the global justice movement, alter-globalization movement, anti-globalist movement, anti-corporate globalization movement, or movement against neoliberal globalization. There are many definitions of anti-globalization.
Self-managed social centers, also known as autonomous social centers, are self-organized community centers in which anti-authoritarians put on voluntary activities. These autonomous spaces, often in multi-purpose venues affiliated with anarchism, can include bicycle workshops, infoshops, libraries, free schools, meeting spaces, free stores and concert venues. They often become political actors in their own right.
Power to the People! is a political party in Italy. It was launched in December 2017 as a left-wing joint electoral list of anti-capitalist parties and movements which ran in the 2018 general election.