Government of Giorgia Meloni wants to fight new climate activists and restrain their destructive protests. But they are willing to continue: They don’t plan to come back. This is the synthesis of the latest (and new) political fervor engulfing Italian society these days.
“We can’t pay a fine of 1,300 euros, so we don’t care if they fine us 60,000 euros,” said Giulio Giuli. last generation (The Last Generation), the Italian group of radical new environmentalism. “Such measures, in general, they don’t scare us”, discussed in a meeting with foreign media reporters.
“The damage we’ve done is much less than the damage done to monuments by acid rain,” says one activist.
That’s how Giuli intervened when asked about one of his latest draft bills (there were three), supported by the right to stop groups trying to draw attention to the seriousness of the climate situation with strong action. In addition to fines of up to 60,000 euros, prison sentences up to three years. And although it had to be approved by Parliament to take effect, it got the green light from the Council of Ministers beyond the Alps.
force change
Ultima Generazione is one of the environmental groups in Europe that is resorting to increasingly controversial strategies. be aware and force changes. The protests, which were set up in 2021 by some ex-members of Extinction Rebellion (who found the Italian group’s actions too soft) and also made up of former Friday For Future activists, are being articulated with acts of civil disobedience. Mostly, traffic interruptions in crowded areas and attacks with works of art or historical buildings with materials that have hitherto not caused irreparable damage.
The action against a Florence palace went viral with the release of a video of the mayor attacking an activist.
Some examples. In August of last year, they applied glue to the structure. statue of a laocoon in the Vatican Museums. In November, pea soup was thrown over the glass. A painting by Vincent Van Gogh From a temporary exhibition in Rome, again unharmed. In March, they poured washable orange paint on the historic windows. Florence Old Palace. A protest that went viral on the networks after the mayor Dario Nardella posted a video of him screaming and attacked an activist.
Activists from all these actions, respond to justice, what they assume is excessive. “Approximately 80 comrades have been charged with criminal or civil means and we have four legal cases pending,” said Giuli, one of the organization’s directors monitoring the legal repercussions of the protests.
Acid rain
The debate is heating up in Italy. While a part of the population thinks they are vandals and demands an exemplary punishment for them, others think that after the first ‘shock’, the cry of desperation of these new generation activists is legitimate and started to take over people. some agreement, One of the European countries most affected by the climate crisis.
“This should not be surprising. There have already been incidents of peasants in northern Italy. stealing water “Because there isn’t enough for everyone,” says Italian teacher Miriam Falco, who joined the group in September last year. “We’ve gotten to this point because in the last 30 years no other form of protest has worked. Also, the damage we do is much less than the damage it does. acid rain It’s about monuments,” Falco adds.
In this sense, voices from the world of culture began to support the strategies of new ecologists. An example, professor and art critic Tomaso Montanari, who recently argued that the biggest threat to Italian cultural heritage is “not washable paint, but the climate crisis”. “I think these guys hit the mark with great intelligence,” Montanari added.