"Italy is rotting in a sea of wealth, characterised by egoism, stupidity,ignorance, gossip, moralism, coercion and conformism:allowing yourself to be part of this process in any form is to practice and accept fascism.' (Pier Paolo Pasolini, 1962)
We are living in hard times. The current day situation is much worse than the reality described by Pasolini. Now that the economic crisis which has gripped the world is radically diminishing wealth, we are left only with the values of stupidity, ignorance, perbenism, arrogance and the greyness of daily power abuses and violence. The tide of so-called "development" has come to a grinding halt, leaving behind a long trail of debris.
In this context, neofascism has taken on new shapes and forms, some blatant, others more devious and masked – but all aggressive and violent in their nature. Neofascism is attempting to rebuild its social legitimacy through the use of imagery and slogans from the politico-institutional ideology of state 'security', which simplifies, hides, mystifies and propagandises racist myths and instigates social hate.
Across Italy, the rapid rise in violent attacks on political activists,LGBT people, migrants, Roma people and Sints, homeless people,mendicants and all those who have do not conform to what we are told is 'the norm', reflect the pervasive culture of intolerance in Italian society. These incidences find fertile ground in the haywire between politics and society in which egoism, arrogance and abuse emerge as the new cultural values of "modernity".
Society's response to the situation becomes infinitely more complex and harder to articulate. In the new social panorama, many well-known anti-fascist strategies and forms of resistance now seem outdated. Comparing experiences and sharing resources and knowledge with all those who want to oppose one of the most racist, xenophobic and sexist drifts in Italian politics and society, has become a necessity.
We remember and we act in the spirit of the struggle and sacrifice of our partigiani brothers and sisters, whose resistance reflects our values of social justice, freedom and equality. We will use culture and critique as our weapons to respond to the violence that they preach and practice, to respond to their laws, to the gates of their CIEs (Centre for identification and expulsion), to patrol batons and to the ever more frequent attacks carried out by neofascist groups. We refuse to remain silent and accept this general atmosphere which is seeing the demobilization of the values of the Resistance, of men and women's fundamental rights, and the dismantling of the very basis of civil and social life.
We want EVERYONE to have the right to a house, to a decent job, to health, culture and to the environment, regardless of their gender,religion or nationality. We will not leave it up to others to decide the future development of our political social and cultural life.
We believe that self-organisation is the tool through which we can start rebuilding a strong collective consciousness to fight this increasingly hostile,exclusionary and unjust turn of events.
For these reasons, we are now inviting individuals, groups, associations and movements to help out with the creation and building of this social festival; A big moment during which to explore different paths, to share and compare ideas, proposals and resources; to provide an opportunity to experiment with new languages and redesign collective imaginaries; to stimulate the birth of new relations and to build tools we can use to analyse and act towards fascism that is threatening our lives.
The 5-day festival will be will be full of seminars, technical workshops, book presentations, video projections, projects, gigs and theatrical spectacles, comic reviews and photographic galleries, as well as everything else we will build through the contribution of all those who want to play a part in its realisation. We want to experiment a new method already in the creation of the event, decentralised and participated, open to the contribution of those who recognise themselves in Antifascism's culture and values.
At the centre of this event will be the expression of a culture we love to define as Antifascist, in its various contexts, deeply rooted in the concepts of justice, equality and solidarity.
Contacts and info: info[at]fest-antifa[dot]net
http://www.fest-antifa.net/
