As you probably already know, Italy is currently ruled by a far-right government. True to form and among a raft of other controversial measures, it is bent on seeing bill 1660 turn into law. With the excuse of improving security on the streets and public order (the snake oil of the right that seems to justify everything and anything), this bill introduces a huge number of reforms to existing laws.
Overall, it will criminalize peaceful protest and increase the powers of the police, to the point of making it virtually immune. Class unions, labour rights activists, NGOs, climate defenders…will be targeted by new and harsher penalties. Surely what is required to make our everyday lives safer! There’s no hiding the ideological motivation of the bill.
However, citizens are fighting back. Many organisations are calling for a general nationwide strike on the 29th of November and our USI comrades have joined this call. You can read their statement and a longer explanation of the bill and the reasons to oppose it in their homepage (in Italian):
USI-CIT – Unione Sindacale Italiana – Confederación Internacional del Trabajo
It is not lost to us that this is not an isolated initiative. Fron an international point of view, similar proposals are being implemented or put forward in other countries too, among a general climate of repression of dissent. This certainly includes union members. It seems that defending your labour, environmental and human rights is making bosses nervous. Well, give them something to worry about! Join the fight to stop bill 1660, send USI your solidarity or join your local anarcho-syndicalist union (links below). Best of lucks to our Italian comrades with the general strike.