Italian COUNTERINFO #12 (September 1995)

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CONTENTS

* Instead of an editorial

* A summary of the recent debate within the ECN

* ECN bologna E-zine n.0 agosto 95

* ECN Padova - News upgrade, 18 agosto 95

* ECN bologna E-zine n.01 agosto 95

* ECN bologna E-zine n.02 agosto 95

* Corsera - by Leoncavallo (E-Zine ECN)

* Milano, 29 agosto 1995 - Comunicato stampa del centro sociale 
  Leoncavallo

* ECN bologna E-zine n.03 settembre 95

* leaflet on FIAT by CSOA el paso (Torino)

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Italian COUNTERINFO, a summary of recent postings from the Cybernet 
and European Counter Network in Italy, is a cooperative venture 
between the xchange BBS (Melbourne, Australia) and the Padova node of 
the ECN. You can contact us at pmargin@xchange.apana.org.au or 
hobo@freenet.hut.fi
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Check out the ECN's new home page at http://www.xs4all.nl/~tank/ecn/

Zero! BBS, which is part of both the ECN and Cybernet, has a home page 
at http://linux1.cisi.unito.it/zero!/bbs.html
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<Instead of an editorial>

It's been a few months since our last issue - a situation which can be 
explained partly by a trip to Italy during the northern summer, partly by 
too much work upon our return, and partly by sheer *pigrizia*.

The Bologna and Padova ECN collectives, however, has been working 
hard, producing no less than 4 issues of an e-zine in the last month, as 
well as a number of news releases. These are summarised below.

In the past we have aimed - not always successfully - to mail the 
original ECN news files to interested subscribers. We are very pleased 
to announce that these files are now directly available by FTP, at the 
following site: ftp://pcdigi.unibs.it/pub/ecn/ 

Finally, readers may be interested to know that there are plans afoot 
for an electronic mailing list devoted specifically to the political 
assessment of class composition and class struggle throughout the 
global work-machine. We hope to make this a bi-lingual list accessible 
to comrades who have some knowledge of either English or Italian. 
Never having done anything like this before, we are more than open to 
suggestions, offers of help etc. The organisers can be contacted care of 
pmargin@xchange.apana.org.au
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<A summary of the recent debate within the ECN> - Profit Margin

	August 1995 saw an important debate within the Italian ECN 
concerning the politics of computer networking. Much of the discussion 
was actually between Marta Mackenzie of Torino and Sandrone of 
Milano, although others did chime in now and then. I got to meet Marta 
along with Luc Pac at the Radio Sherwood festa in Padova two months 
ago, when I was staying there with Hobo. Luc and Marta have recently 
produced a fine Italian language 'alternative guide' to computer 
networking called *Digital Guerrilla* - inspired in part by the book 
written by xchange BBS's own Will Kemp,(*Messagesticks in 
Cyberspace*). Luc and Marta are also both involved in Italy's other 
libertarian computer network, Cybernet. Sandrone is well known within 
the Italian movement because of his association with the social centre 
Leoncavallo, which has been very much in the Italian news these past 
few years.

	One of the most important points of contention concerned the 
purpose of the ECN. In an article he had written for the left daily *il 
manifesto*, and then reproduced as part of the debate, Sandrone had 
made two central points about the ECN. The first of these was that it 
expressed 'the desire to create a forum [piazza] open to all', unlike the 
regulated atmosphere which pervades Fidonet and similar systems. 
Much more than this, however, the role that he and others had sought to 
develop in Milano was that of 'a human interface' between various 
social subjects - he cited a range of examples, from AIDS activists to 
militant workers - who themselves showed little interest in using the 
network. This notion of the network as 'a crossroads between subjects' 
that 'first of all, connects realities outside' itself, was one that he 
would return to again and again over the course of the month.

	Marta's position was rather different. More than a simple 
interface between humans in the 'real' world, she stressed that 
computer networks represent 'a new medium' fast becoming an 
important place of 'struggle and resistance' in its own right. As a 
consequence, attention had to be paid to 'the features peculiar to 
[computer] networks - anonymity, the loss/construction of ascribed 
relations and identity, socialisation, the possibilities of 
experimentation', to see whether these might generate new ways of 
destabilising power. In other words, it's not a matter of simply seeking 
to use computer networks as a means to connect the struggles of social 
subjects in the so-called real world, but rather of exploring the 
subjects that are forming *within* the networks themselves.

	For his part, Sandrone's assessment of such subjects was less 
than flattering. Taking as one example the level of discussion within 
cyberspace, he told Marta: 'What you call debate I generally would call 
chitchat. There is hardly ever a decent debate in either Cybernet or ECN. 
There is almost always chitchat - some of it even interesting - 
between those who play with computers'. Talk of the net culture's 
potential for destabilisation was better suited for science fiction 
novels; so far he had seen nothing to confirm such a view. 'The 
networks are one field of struggle - but only one, however'.

	Part of the difference between these two positions seems to lie 
with the legitimacy or otherwise bestowed upon communication 
between individual as opposed to collective subjects. Again, in an 
exchange with Ampex from ECN Brescia, Sandrone insisted 
that discussing the politics of computer networks was something 
separate from using the net as a means 'to feel good (a positive thing), 
or to exchange ideas with friends (even more positive)... [or] to send 
letters to a lover in Boston (better again)'. Marta's response to this 
consisted of three parts. The first was that, by its nature, the network 
had so far generated personal rather than collective users - 'so much so 
that our brawling [scazziamo] is between you/sandrino/me/luc/ampex 
rather than between groups of people...' Secondly, that while the level 
of on-line discussion could be improved, it was better than that in 
face-to-face meetings, such as those she remembered from the Murazzi 
social centre in Torino, 'where the recognised "leader" spoke first and 
last, a series of other people felt legimitated to intervene, and the 
majority of the collective just sat and listened, or got bored, or else 
rolled joints'. At least on the net, everyone could say their bit and 
have 
time to reflect when responding to others. Finally, in noting the failure 
to date of periodic attempts to use computer networks as archives for 
movement documents, she argued that the net concerns 'principally 
communication' in the here and now.

	Another question which kept popping up was the perennial 
technical battle just to keep the system functioning. It may hearten 
fellow members of the xchange BBS to hear that we are not the only 
ones whose bulletin board malfunctions on a regular basis - this seems 
equally to be a problem in Milano. How to tackle this, someone asked? 
Surely there must be some computer nerds involved in the Leoncavallo 
social centre who would enjoy tinkering with machinery and code? Well 
yes, perhaps there are, but according to Sandrino, who is also part of 
the Milano ECN, such comrades like to spend 'their' free time doing 
things at the social centre itself. Perhaps if the BBS was housed there...

Two more themes that arose along the way. The first concerns who 
actually uses these Italian BBS, and how. According to Marta, maybe 
15-30 people call up the Torino board each day - 'not much traffic' by 
her reckoning. They scan this and that, usually following their own 
particular interest - software, spunk, news - but 'the majority don't 
even look at the new files'. According to the Milanese comrades, a 
certain amount of energy on any given day goes into clearing out 
abusive messages from people hostile to the very project of the social 
centres. Even when there was a radio program or station loosely 
connected to the local ECN, there didn't seem to be much interplay 
between the two. Finally, there was the question of sectarianism and 
the network's 'purity'. Here Marta raised a couple of Turinese anecdotes 
concerning certain intolerant autonomists and anarchists, who had 
asked, amongst other things: how dare the ECN 'allow' people from the 
'refoundation communist party' social centre to use their network? 
[When I would have thought (Profit Margin concludes, editorialising 
outrageously) that 'we' would be wanting to engage with, and even 
contaminate people like that, rather than worry about protecting our 
'pure' politics from them].
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<ECN bologna E-zine n.0 agosto 95>

1) International Anarchist Demonstration - Sunday 6 August

A brief notice publicising a Hiroshima Day demo at the border town of 
Ventimiglia.

2) Proposal for a National Mobilisation Against the Use of Tornado 
Bombers and other Italian and NATO forces in the Balkan War - 
Piacenza, luglio 1995

Today, as in the Gulf War, Italian jets are being used in a military 
conflict. The Belfagor social centre calls both for debate and 
organisational work within the social centres and the broader 'self-
organised' left, with the aim of a national mobilisation this September 
or October. In particular, it calls for an opening to green and pacifist 
circles as well as the traditional left, along with the development of 
arguments to counter the growing interventionist mood within the 
latter.

3) RADIO ONDA D'URTO Festa at Brescia (20 August - 3 September)

Food, drink, debates, film and plenty of 'antagonistic' information are 
all promised at this year's festa.

4) Statement of the Roman social centres following the 85 charges 
made against some of their representatives.

'The 85 charges for "delinquent association", stemming from incidents 
provoked by the police opposing the occupation of the La Torre social 
centre, represent the apex of an offensive - by the right, the fascists 
of Alleanza Nazionale, sections of the courts and police - which aims 
to isolate and criminalise Rome's social realities..."
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<ECN Padova - News upgrade, 18 agosto 95>

Debate on the upcoming conference of Social Centres at Arezzo

One of the most important polemics within Italy's self-managed social 
centres at present concerns their place within the evolving social 
landscape. According to a number of comrades - for example, those 
associated with the journal *Derive Approdi* - the social centres 
represent a new form of productive organisation based upon 
'immaterial', post-fordist labour. Thus Benedetto Vecchi has 
characterised the CSOA as 'high points of capitalist development' based 
upon 'knowledge, science and communicative action,... the most 
contradictory phenomenon of a possible exodus of labour power from 
capitalist society, through the constitution of a public sphere that 
contemplates the synthesis between developed social cooperation and 
political initiative' [B. Vecchi (1994) 'Frammenti di una diversa sfera 
pubblica', in F. Adinolfi et al., *Comunit virtuali: I centri sociali in 
Italia*. Manifestolibri, Rome, p.14]. Similar sentiments were recently 
voiced in *il manifesto* by those promoting a conference on the social 
centres to be held at Arezzo. The two postings summarised below beg 
to differ.

1) Centro Sociale Autogestito ex Emerson di Firenze: "Non siamo 
un'impresa"

In criticising the reading of the social centres as 'enterprises', this 
piece rejects the assumption that market criteria are the most 
appropriate terms through which to interpret the CSOA. Its authors also 
reject a logic of social pacification which seeks to divide the 'good' 
sections of the movement from those which the state deems to be 
beyond the pale. Opposing all frameworks blind to power relations 
within modern society, they point out that 'We have been within all 
moments of class conflict... seeking to act [towards] its social 
recomposition. This is our horizon. We are not prepared to accept, at 
Arezzo or elsewhere, what sociologists, entrepreneurs or council 
officials tell us we are and must become'.

2) Impresa centro sociale? No grazie! (C.S.A. Garibaldi di Milano)

A detailed critique of the premises informing the Arezzo conference, 
the title of which is 'Metropolitan Social Space: Between the Risk of 
Ghettoisation and a New Enterprise Horizon' [progettista imprenditore]. 
Setting these premises within a discussion of Italy's changing place 
within the global economy, the crisis of welfare and the emergence of 
new forms of production, the author emphasises the thematic of social 
and political mediation which permeates the conference proposal.
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<ECN bologna E-zine n.01 agosto 95>

1) Leoncavallo - Press release on the *Corriere della Sera* article

A response to a scurrilous article in a Milano newspaper of 25 August 
suggesting that the Leoncavallo social centre is a site for drug 
trafficking.

2) Leoncavallo - Press release on Riccione

A statement of support for those in Riccione who physically defended 
themselves from the police when threatened with arrest. Today, the social 
centre notes, around 40% of people detained in Italian prisons are there on 
so-called 'drug-related' charges.

3) Brescia: Program of the Radio Onda d'Urto Festa

A detailed account of the music, debates, films and food available at 
the festival of this 'self-managed and self-financed' radio station.

4) Parma: Solidaritay with the Taranto comrades

The social centre XXII APRILE condemns the eviction of the CSOA Citta' 
Vekkia in the Southern city of Taranto, and calls for a demonstration on 
10 September.
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<ECN bologna E-zine n.02 agosto 95>

1) Leoncavallo - fax to Giorgio Bocca and the editors of *La 
   Repubblica*

A sarcastic response to a piece that Bocca had written concerning 'A 
ghetto called Leoncavallo'.

2) Milano 27 August - BRILLIANT POLICE OPERATION AGAINST 
   LEONCAVALLO

On the carabinieri raid which netted some 'extra-comunitari' activists 
and tiny quantities of dope. 'Once again social questions become 
problems of public order...'

3) GABRIELLA IS FREE! The struggle continues!!

After 18 months detention the charge of 'terrorism' against Gabriella 
Guarino has fallen apart, and she has been released from a Peruvian 
prison.
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<Corsera - by Leoncavallo (E-Zine ECN)>

A number of satirical articles sending up the Milanese daily *Corriere 
della Sera*, following its campaign against the Leoncavallo social 
centre and the latter's opposition to drug laws.
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<Milano, 29 agosto 1995 - Comunicato stampa del centro sociale 
Leoncavallo>

In response to the authorities' decision to forbid Leoncavallo from 
demonstrating in front of the *Corriere della Sera*'s offices, this 
press release 'reconfirms' the social centre's original schedule, and 
invites all and sundry to three days of mobilisation against the existing 
legislation on drugs - 8-10 September at their Via Watteau premises. 
It also condemns the 'Chilean-style' police raids which have hit the 
local neighbourhood in recent times.
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<ECN bologna E-zine n.03 settembre 95>

1) TO ALL TELECOM WORKERS AND TO ALL UNION STRUCTURES

The telecommunications section of the alternative union FLMU invites 
all those who oppose the 'shameful deal' just signed by the official 
unions to meet and organise a campaign of opposition.

2) TORINO BRAVO E BRAVA : THE CITY OF COLOURS

In the face of the glitzy razzamatazz 'celebrating' the launch of FIAT's 
two new product lines, the CSOA Murazzi calls for a demonstration on 
10 September by 'all those: the unemployed, young workers, part-timers 
and casuals' opposed to Agnelli's 'City of Colours'.

3) TOTALLY CONFUSED - OR JUST OUT-AND-OUT LIARS?

More from the FLMU on the role of the official Telecom unions.

4) ROSANDRA CROSSING:  5 days of self-financing for Radio Onda Libera

Program details for the festa organised by this Trieste free radio 
station.

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Leaflet from the CSOA el paso (Torino)

A flyer - rather different in tone to that issued by the CSOA Murazzi - 
expressing opposition to FIAT's media hype. Calling for self-management and 
the 'free association of individuals', it reminds us that there can be 
'NO BOSSES WITHOUT SERVANTS'.

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Italian COUNTERINFO, a summary of recent postings from the Cybernet 
and European Counter Network in Italy, is a cooperative venture 
between the xchange BBS (Melbourne, Australia) and the Padova node of 
the ECN. You can contact us at pmargin@xchange.apana.org.au or 
hobo@freenet.hut.fi
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