Alter-globalization in Southern Europe: Anatomy of a Social Movement

172 Pages·2017·2.5 MB·English

by  Eduardo Zachary Albrecht (auth.)

EDUARDO ZACHARY ALBRECHT
ALTER-GLOBALIZATION
IN SOUTHERN EUROPE
Anatomy of a Social Movement
Alter-globalization in Southern Europe
Eduardo Zachary Albrecht
Alter-globalization
in Southern Europe
Anatomy of a Social Movement
Eduardo Zachary Albrecht
Mercy College
New York, USA
ISBN 978-1-137-59904-9 ISBN 978-1-137-59758-8 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59758-8
Library of Congress Control Number: 2016956424
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s) 2017
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in
this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher
nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, express or implied, with respect to the material
contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
Printed on acid-free paper
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by Springer Nature
The registered company is Nature America Inc.
The registered company address is: 1 New York Plaza, New York, NY 10004, U.S.A.
This book is dedicated to my parents, and to their parents.
A
cknowledgments
I would like to thank Fabiana, Zoe, and Zachary Albrecht for their patience;
Nicholas Albrecht for photographs and cover image; Alessandro Bellantoni
and Anna Portisch for valuable comments on earlier versions; Apna
Balgobin for editing assistance with the manuscript; Nicole Ryan for cover
design ideas; my dissertation examiners Andrew Irving and Paolo Favero;
Johan Pottier, Parvathi Raman, and Harry West at SOAS; Sara Crowley-
Vigneau and Rachel Krause Daniel at Palgrave; Aurora Arenare, Dimitra
Siaili, Roberto David García Suárez, Colin Dear, and Amalia Sonriendo
for insights into the field; all of the partners and staff at Rising South,
Mutiny Republic, and Rising Love throughout the years; San Gennaro
and San Sebastiano; Mercy College’s faculty development grant, Pukyong
National University’s National Research Foundation grant; the Journal of
Mediterranean Studies and East Asian Science, Technology and Society: An
International Journal, where arguments dealt with here also appear; and
finally, the hundreds of unnamed activists and musicians whose comments
and vision have made this book possible.
vii
c
ontents
1 Protest and Power 1
1.1 Protest and Power 1
1.2 Book Summary 7
1.3 Methodology 11
1.4 Embodiment 14
1.5 Liminality 18
1.6 Stereotypes 22
Works Cited 27
2 Alter-globalization in Southern Europe 33
2.1 Wolves in Sheep’s Clothing 33
2.2 I Choose Poverty 39
2.3 The Multiple Me 44
2.4 A Polychronic Purgatory 48
2.5 The Dual City 56
Works Cited 61
3 Lifestyle Stereotypes 65
3.1 Pestoni, Chiattilli, Cafoni 65
3.2 Perroflautas, Pijos, Chonis 69
3.3 Apliti, Yiappides, Kagoures 73
ix
x CONTENTS
3.4 The Personal Is Political 76
3.5 Liminal Is the Night 82
3.6 From Violent to Silent 87
Works Cited 92
4 Music and Politics, a Utopian Narrative 95
4.1 Music and Politics 95
4.2 Ephemeral Islands 102
4.3 What Sounds Political 107
4.4 Synesthetic and Anesthetic 112
4.5 No Eden 118
Works Cited 124
5 A Ternary Model of Political Resistance: Subject,
Action, and Object 127
5.1 Alternativity 127
5.2 Authenticity 134
5.3 Alterity 137
5.4 A Traveling Incarceration 142
5.5 Subject, Action, and Object 145
Works Cited 149
Works Cited 151
Index 163
l f
ist of igures
Fig. 2.1 A building in downtown Naples destroyed in
WWII. Photograph by Nicholas Albrecht 49
Fig. 2.2 Side streets and alleys in Naples will often have a small
niche cut out of one of the walls with a scene from
purgatory. Photograph by Nicholas Albrecht 53
Fig. 2.3 Detail of a niche. Photograph by Nicholas Albrecht 54
Fig. 4.1 A social center in Naples. Photograph by Nicholas Albrecht 96
Fig. 4.2 Entrance to the anti-authoritarian space “Nosotros”
in Exarcheia, Athens. Photograph by author 97
Fig. 4.3 A social center in Barcelona. Photograph by author 98
Fig. 5.1 Occupied building in Exarcheia. Photograph by author 133
xi
CHAPTER 1
Protest and Power
1.1 Protest and Power
It was dawn, and on the railway platform a grey light was sleepily giving
color to things. I was waiting at the Rome Tiburtina station for the train
headed for Genoa. Hundreds of thousands were gathering to protest the G8
meeting being held in that city. My travel companions were a group of alter-
globalization activists from different parts of Southern Italy. We had come to
Rome the night before in order to board the free train sponsored by a local
workers’ union. There were a good deal of retirees that morning at the train
station, all members of the union. They were carrying great red flags with
yellow hammer and sickle symbols printed on them and sharing flasks of hot
coffee. I looked around, others at the station were university and high school
students, many wearing keffiyeh’s around their neck in solidarity with the
people of Palestine. The entire scene was suspended in a silent haze.
Around midday the train arrived at Genoa. It was a sunny day and the
streets sung with countless voices. There were Greek communist students,
Spanish Catholic boy scouts, German environmentalists, South American
indigenous rights groups, Dutch anarchists, and many more. There were
others yet without a label but dressed in black. They would weave in and
out of the crowd destroying bank machines, gas stations, random stores,
and parked cars.
That evening with a handheld digital camera I collected footage of
smoking cars and broken windows, pushing further and further into
deserted streets away from the clashes. A gutted electronics store had its
© The Author(s) 2017 1
E.Z. Albrecht, Alter-globalization in Southern Europe,
DOI 10.1057/978-1-137-59758-8_1