On the regional election results

Every time the right is defeated even anarchists can raise a smile, we who have always doggedly opposed any form of regime.

But certainly, we can be justified in not rejoicing too, since it was an electoral defeat for the right, a defeat obtained through a vote (a form of delegation which we by no means are in love with and one which is responsible for drawing attention away from mass direct, grassroots and collective action) and not through a grassroots, self-managed social opposition movement. Nonetheless we cannot avoid making several considerations, incurable materialists that we are.

The level of abstention was within the range foreseen in 1993 by the fathers of the majority system in Italy (15-25%) and is therefore compatible with the expectations of the bourgeois political system.

It is patently obvious to everyone how the obsession with government stability, guaranteed by the majority system, has made it all the more improbable to witness spectacular falls of governments or majorities as a result of people's actions on the streets (general strikes, demonstrations, and so on), thereby forcing citizens to have recourse to voting in order to seek political change.

In these past four years of centre-right government there has in fact been growing hostility expressed by the public towards the "House of Freedoms" [1] seen in various political, labour and cultural initiatives (endless general strikes, anti-war demonstrations, "girotondi" protests [2], various struggles led by grassroots committees against the education reforms, environmental damage, immigrant detention centres, and so on). While these initiatives may have produced few concrete results, thanks mainly to the rock of the majority system, they have been responsible for large swathes of the population feeling more and more left out as a result of Berlusconi's policies.

While from our anarchist point of view it may seem that a mountain has given birth to an electoral mouse, it needs to be pointed out that is has been (and still is) a period in which, apart from the all-pervading anti-Berlusconi feeling, we are seeing the development of a growing awareness that we are faced with an enemy who cannot be defeated through elections, majorities, regional wins or the right candidates. It is an awareness which has its origin in the worsening living conditions imposed as a result of neo-liberalist policies being pushed through by the centre-right government at national as well as local level. These policies demand that the world of labour be totally deregulated and that economic-juridical areas be created whereby there can be a differentiation in status of workers and citizens on a territorial basis, keeping migrants on the edges. It also requires that there be a qualified military presence abroad in war zones.

These neo-liberal policies are currently far from being defeated. Though one of their most enthusiastic promoters may just have been whipped at the polls, we can under no circumstances delude ourselves that they will be abandoned by the Olive Tree [3], Montezemolo [4] and the trade unions who have accepted the application of Law 30 in its contracts [5].

Our contribution to the struggles of the various social, labour and specific movements against the Berlusconi government has been, and remains so (especially in light of the right's electoral defeat), must be to promote the idea that the economic choices and policies which are made in order to support capitalism, competitiveness and the destruction of the social and collective solidarity of workers are the enemy and must be fought and defeated.

We have seen in the past how the winners of these regional elections, once they (perhaps) become the winners of the general election in 2006, are highly unlikely to make any radical change in the direction of the policies currently being enacted. Their spell in government between 1996 and 2001 should be enough to suggest that they are likely to ask the people once again for a "spontaneous" contribution of blood and tears, unless of course the anti-Berlusconi wave and the growing anti-liberalism reach such an extent that they demand a new agenda. An agenda where the central focus will be wages, pensions, stable employment, civil, social, economic and political rights for everyone, be they Italian or not.

In this case the contribution of anarchist communists will not be lacking, based as usual on support for and the promotion of grassroots, autonomous, self-managed and mass struggles.

Federazione dei Comunisti Anarchici

5 April 2005

Notes:
(1) The name of the centre-right coalition which includes Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, the (ex-)fascist National Alliance, the Northern League and a Christian Democrat splinter party.
(2) "Ring-a-ring-a-roses". Nickname given to protests led by centre-leftist cultural figures, teachers, etc. where public buildings were surrounded by human chains to demonstrate the attacks on institutions by the rightist government.
(3) The centre-left coalition including Left Democrats (ex-CP), the centrist Margherita party, Italian Communists' Party and some smaller groups.
(4) Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, head of the Italian industrial employers' federation.
(5) Law 30 is the latest in a long series of anti-union, anti-worker legislation.