On the last weekend of July, a comrade and I got a very impressive glimpse of what a long lasting and combative mass movement looks like. We were visiting comrades in Torino and the Val di Susa in northern Italy, home to a three-decades long struggle against the Turin-Lyon TAV (high-speed train) construction, a hugely destructive capitalist mega-project. No TAV is a grassroots movement involving tens of thousands of people, with a proud history of direct action and diversity of tactics.

The valley communities at the forefront of the struggle against TELT, the corporation in charge of the project, and the Italian state, have gained support from far and wide to resist the devastation of their lands and communities. They are still going strong after 30 years of the hard fought campaign to defend their valley, despite intense and sustained police attacks and state repression. As the banner usually at the front of their demonstrations says, “We were, we are and we will be, always. No TAV.”

The flags and graffiti are everywhere in the region, with the surrounding mountains providing an ever-present reminder of the motivation to carry on the struggle. These are the mountains from which the antifascist partisans waged guerilla war against the Nazi occupiers, and the movement has a strong sense of itself as continuing this history.

Lotta e festa

The festival dell’alta felicita (highest happiness festival) celebrated its 10th iteration this year, in the heart of the Val di Susa. Three days of music, culture, and resistance, it is a self organised, radical free festival raising funds for the NO TAV movement via the numerous collectively run bars, eateries, and donations.

This year was evidently the biggest so far, with around 20,000 people. The mix of festa e lotta, party and struggle, is at the core of the festival, and very much in evidence. With talks between acts, discussions and assemblies throughout the days, banners and graff everywhere and chants between bands and DJs tunes, the sense of communities in resistance is strong.

Even with very basic Italian, you quickly get an understanding that this is a convergence of struggles and a movement of movements. Anarchists, anti-state communists, abolitionists, feminists, animal liberationists, ecological activists, community organisations, squatters, social centre crews… all in the tent, discussing, making links, supporting each others’ struggles and fighting on common ground.

“Different branches of the same tree”, as one organiser put it. From the little time we spent there, we could clearly see so many of the components and vital signs of strong movements. They are there in the speeches and meetings and also in the practice and actions. You see young and old working together in the kitchens and meetings, and on the stalls and stages.

The No TAV movement is intergenerational, diverse and very aware of history. It is cultural and political, determined and uncompromising. An understanding and enacting of genuine solidarity and a diversity of tactics is also a huge part of the movement’s strength, and a very good example for other movements to learn from.

The demo

On Saturday 25th July, thousands joined the demonstration leaving the festival. The mood was carnivalesque, with a total absence of police presence and surveillance cameras. At some point the demo split, to go to 3 different TAV worksites. The march we went with wound steadily upwards through beautiful mountain roads, villages and finally wooded paths, for over 7km!

The NO TAV chants and songs faded out to an expectant, nervous silence as we neared the site. Crews were preparing along the way, using umbrellas for shielding comrades from view, making last-minute sensible anti surveillance precautions (socks over shoes, tape over logos etc) and checking in with each other. We didn’t see anyone drinking on the way in and the vibe was focused and purposeful. It would shortly become clear just how much preparation had been going on. The security fences came down in minutes and it wasn’t long before explosions were echoing through the valley as the battle of Chiomonte began.

The Maddalena site was invaded by a well-equipped black block of 100-150 comrades. For over two  hours they exchanged rocks, fireworks and molotovs with the tear gas canisters of the assembled riot cops on the site. Police were repeatedly forced back by determined and sustained resistance and a lot of fireworks. Some were seen hobbling away or rolling around on fire after a few direct hits.

The police water cannon didn’t seem very effective on either the comrades or the various fires in the compound. The fire brigade didn’t seem to want to know, hastily exiting after a quick look at the very fiery scene. Likewise the relentless barrage of tear gas rounds didn’t seem to have much of a preventative effect on the action. The comrades had control over a large area of the compound, and a very significant amount of site and police property was wrecked.

Fences were trashed, cables cut, the control centre burned alongside various other buildings, a car and two police riot vans. According to the media, over a million euros worth of damage was done. Throughout, there were cheers and chants of solidarity and encouragement from hundreds of fellow demonstrators on the hillside and the blocked and barricaded motorway above. Finally the block left altogether, back into the woods, closing the fence behind them to impede any police pursuit.

From our hillside bella vista, it looked like some medieval battle that this time the rebels had won. A beautiful view not spoiled by the clouds of tear gas passing us by. Earlier, a metal bar had been bent around a gate by quick-thinking comrades, to block possible cop access from the road to attack us. The larger group of us stayed on the hillside, waiting for their return. “Si parte insieme, so torna insieme” – “We go out together, we come back together”.

As police advanced on the demonstration with vengeful intent, calls for calm and reminders of our collective strength by clearly experienced, older women with megaphones had the desired effect. This was a good example of how women are at the heart of the No TAV movement, holding our ground and allowing comrades to return into the bigger crowd safely.

Volleys of rocks, and a brave crowd staying solid together, prevented the police from coming too close or snatching comrades away. A truckload of water parked a way back on the path was reserved for the returning comrades, one of many nice touches we saw over the weekend. We left all together, back along the stunningly beautiful mountain paths, no police in sight, singing all the way back to the camp. One slogan, a movement favourite, really summed up the day:

Grida forte la Val Susa, che paura non ne ha / Dalle barricate sventola la bandiera dei no TAV

The Val Susa shouts out loud, she has no fear / From the barricades flies the flag of the no TAV

It sounds better in Italian, with hundreds singing it!

The very real possibility of police revenge attacks didn’t materialise on the return journey or at the festival. You can probably imagine how good the victory party was that night, somehow with enough energy left to dance to Asian Dub Foundation, Italian rap, Euro trash DJs and a whole lot of chants and songs into the early hours throughout the valley.

Repression and resistance

The predictable state response kicked in quickly, with stop and search checkpoints throughout the region, and promises from fascist prime minister Meloni, who visited the site two days later, to exact maximum punishment and revenge against the “guerillas”. Italian mass media has been whinging hard about the attacks on “public officials” (known locally and more commonly as “sbirri di merda”, or “fucking cops”), and on “democracy itself”.

All this reminded us of the UK legal re-framing of cops as “emergency workers”, accompanied by harsher sentences for anyone fighting back against them. As usual, mass media get it twisted, presenting the agents of the state as the victims. Much circulated photos of equipment seized by the cops, including bolt croppers, slingshots, spray paint, safety goggles and balaclavas are accompanied with articles about a sinister international conspiracy. And of course the age old “outside agitators” line.

Yawn. A big media fuss, but to us it’s just good preparation and organisation. It’s entirely understandable that people who are used to being attacked by the police are going to make shields and take things to level the playing field and protect themselves and others. They only call it violence when we fight back.

As we left, comrades were bracing themselves for a wave of arrests and repression, but also celebrating the win of the weekend and an incredibly significant and effective bit of collective direct action.

The movement is well used to the attacks of the authorities and will withstand them together. In the face of the state and media shitstorm, a No TAV movement statement released very quickly after the demo made it clear that they will not be divided and that everyone shares the responsibility for the property damage. A spokesperson went as far as to assert “We are all black block”. Now if that doesn’t make you wanna raise your fist, then I don’t know what will.