Centri Sociali: Incubating Social Rights in Italy

The following article is an excerpt from our latest printed Ecosprinter titled Reclaim Your Rights! – The Social Issue. We decided to bring you the articles from this edition in a digital form as well.

by Laura Schubert

Is was 2014, and I had been living in Italy for only a month. One evening, some university classmates invited me to join them for a party at the nearby social centre—a centro sociale. I was unfamiliar with the concept, and imagined something like the YMCA, where children played basketball and elderly people did water aerobics. Were we going to a pool party?

That idea was immediately abandoned when I learned that we were going to a concert, ata space that was once a butchershop, but now occupied bysquatters. Squatters? Oh no. I imagined windows with the glass smashedout, no heating, and an eveningruled by dangerous leaders of anarchy.

This ridiculous dystopian vision is proofenough that I grew up in NorthAmerica, where squatting isillegal (unless visibly occupied for twenty years, so basically impossible) and on the samelevel of societal taboo asjoining a cult.

So, that evening when we rolled up on ourbikes I was taken aback by whatI saw, and felt stupid for myprevious assumptions and total naiveté.

It was a small space in a residential neighbourhood, just outside the centre of Padua. Entering the room, because it really was just one room, we found people dancing and chatting on sofas. In the corner there was a bar about the size of a card table. The people were entirely normal and welcoming, and there was obviously a feeling of collective existence in this sweaty space.

That night my education in centri sociali,or as Wikipedia calls them‘self-managed social centres in Italy’ began. As I visited more of thesespaces, the things I saw andheard made me want to propagatethe concept elsewhere, particularly acrossthe ocean to North America–which is why Ifeel inspired to write about what I have learned.

I soon realized that diving into this topicwas like opening an endlesslydeep can of worms, and no shortarticle will ever do justice to the impact of thesespaces on local social rights and representation. Let this be then, anoutsider’s brief and generalized deconstruction of these created spaces,where citizens are given aplatform and support system toadvocate for their own place and rights withinsociety.

The universal law of cause and effectargues that for every effectthere is a definite cause – and for everycause, there is likewise a definite effect. Centrisociali develop as a response to a disproportionate social system, inwhich favored groups areequipped with the possibilities to experience a life free of barriers, andunfavored groups are left withthe challenge of navigating lifein that same society with fewer resources, andas stigmatized and marginalized individuals. Indicatorsof identity - like wealth, race, sexuality, gender orientation, countryof origin, and migration status - singularly pigeonhole individuals into this ‘unfavorable’ societal group.

United by feelings of frustration, a lack ofbelonging, and a hope for a fairer future, these individuals bindtogether, and a centro sociale is born.

It is best to think of these spaces asliving entities, in constantevolution thanks to a multitude of in-puts,including culture, geography, and politics at alllevels. The individuals participating are also boundto impact its narrative. In general, however, thesespaces aim to reclaim their cities from capitalism and its side effects.Consider this example.

Some months after my first visit to the former butcher shop, a well-established home for migrants in a predominantly ethnic neighbourhood in Padua was closed on short notice. Many saw this act as a further step towards gentrification and a direct message to the entire community - “young, black men, you are not welcome here”. The centri sociali in the city rallied around the black, migrant community; collectively protesting against xenophobia and advocating for their right to housing. It was like a type of collective protectionism – various identity groupings within an ‘unfavourable’ societal group advocating for each other (e.g. transgendered students advocating for black migrants).

I watched those protests pass by under mybalcony, struck by the impact that a group of cognizant and engaged individuals can have on thesocietal fabric of a city.Disrupting the seemingly permanent stamp of capitalism - and thusoverturning a system that ispredicated on the idea of taking space,resources, and social rights away from marginalizedgroups—remains an unending pursuit.

The construction of any societal space - particularly one that is dedicated to the values, aspirations, and grievances of the ‘other’ - is bound to experience a stream of successes and setbacks. That, however, is not what is important. It is the tenacity to endure and reach further, that will define our days ahead.

Laura is a Canadian/German climate and local food activist, with a love of hiking, farmers markets and endless Sunday lunches. Spreading her studies across Italy, Germany, and Canada, Laura completed degrees in Human Rights and Multi-level Governance as well as in Environment. Laura currently lives in Italy and is on the look-out for her next project. You can reach her in LinkedIn.