Tag: Italy

Italian Dockers Refuse To Load Arms Shipment To Israel

This Friday the Asiatic Island arrived in the port of Livorno, Italy. Thanks to the report of the Autonomous Collective of Port Workers of Genoa and the WeaponWatch association, the port workers, organized in L’Unione Sindacale di Base, learned that the ship was filled with weapons and explosives bound for the Israeli dock of Ashdod. These weapons and explosives would be used to kill Palestinians, who have already been hit by a brutal Israeli military offensive that has murdered hundreds of victims, including many children. The union announced shortly after that it would not allow this or any other maritime shipments of armaments to set sail for Israel.

The dockworkers’ unions in Italy are trying to gather more information about the shipments coming to their ports in order to prevent military supplies from arriving in Israel.

Amazon General Strike In Italy

It can be said with certainty that the strike was successful, especially among the drivers where participation was around 75%, with peaks of up to 90%. This probably delayed a substantial chunk of deliveries on March 22, but of course it is impossible to know how many customers were unable to receive packages from Amazon. There are around 19,000 Amazon drivers in all of Italy. For the 9000 direct employees in the warehouses (fulfillment centers) and the delivery stations participation was around 70-75% on average nationally, with peaks in the northern sites, and a little lower in the south of Italy. Among the 9000 temporary agency warehouse workers, participation in the strike was 25-30%, but that level was considered a positive by the trade unions given the total blackmail of these workers…

Amazon Italy Labor Unions Strike

Amazon Workers In Italy To Go On First Strike

Amazon’s workforce in Italy will go on its first collective strike later this month, trade unions have confirmed.

All 8,500 employees in the country are expected to hold a 24-hour walkout on 22 March after negotiations between their representatives and the online retailer broke down.

The three national unions supporting them accused Amazon of showing an “unwillingness to positively address” issues including working hours and results-based bonuses.

They also claimed that the online giant was “chronically unavailable” for meetings and was opposed to “a system of fairness”.

A spokesperson for the company called the allegations “false”, adding that Amazon had met unions twice in January.

The trade unions’ announcement of industrial action comes two months after the US retailer said it would open two more logistics centres in Italy at the cost of 230 million euros (£197m).

Amazon Italy Strike Worker Rights

Black Women In Italy Weren’t Being Heard, That’s Changed

Ariam Tekle had just begun co-hosting a podcast about black identities in Italy when, in late May, George Floyd was killed in police custody and a series of Black Lives Matter protests erupted across the United States.

That outcry for social change resonated across the Atlantic, hitting many cities in Europe with unprecedented force, including her hometown of Milan. And for local black communities, the protests became an opportunity to speak out about issues of endemic racism beyond the U.S. experience.

“We stand in solidarity with what is happening in the U.S., but we also want this to be a starting point to openly confront racism at home that is no less alarming than police brutality in America,” Tekle, a 31-year-old documentary filmmaker, says.

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Italian Town Prints Own ‘Currency’ To Help Locals And Businesses

Castellino del Biferno is a small town in south Italy’s Molise region with only 550 residents.

Minting money is something town mayor Enrico Fratangelo has been studying for over twelve years. The Covid-19 pandemic gave him the opportunity to test his skills.

“We decided to mint money to make sure the local economy could withstand the impact of the situation. However small this economy may be, there are three or four businesses still open, without considering bars or pubs,” Fratangelo explained.

“Ducati” Banknotes are distributed to the residents in accordance with their economic needs.

They have already spent thousands of “Ducati” at their local shops.

Every two weeks, the shops return the “Ducati” to the town council and get the corresponding amount in euros.

Italy Local Currency New Economy Recession

Hard-Hit Italian City Is Trailblazing The Way Towards A Better Post-Coronavirus World

Italy has been particularly badly hit by the coronavirus (Covid-19) pandemic. Although the country has recently seen declines in new cases, it remains one of the top for infections and deaths worldwide. And the northern region of Lombardy has, by far, had the largest number of confirmed infections in the country.

Now, as the cases wane, Milan – the region’s capital city – is looking to rebuild. It’s not, however, planning to get back to business as usual. It’s re-imagining the city and trailblazing its way towards a better post-coronavirus world. Like most other countries, Italy has been in lockdown. As the Guardian reported, during that cessation of the daily grind, Milan experienced a reduction in motor traffic congestion of between 30% and 75%. In turn, that drop in congestion brought a big dip in pollution levels.

climate crisis Italy New Economy Pandemic

Cuban Medical Aid In Italy Shows Positive Results

According to Dr. Carlos Pérez Díaz, head of the Cuban medical brigade in Italian territory, 12 of the 36 affected by the virus in Lombardy have already recovered.

Perez Diaz explained that the Cuban medical team received 16 cases on the first day of work. These patients came from the Intensive Care Unit of the Crema Hospital in the Lombardy region.

According to his statement to the Cuban press, the medical brigade, as of April 3, had served 428 people. Of those infected with COVID-19, 5 were transferred to intensive care at the hospital. Only one of those infected died. Among other information, Perez Diaz explained the order of work of the doctors and the establishment of shifts that the team carries out. Rendering to his statements, the Cuban medical mission intends to fulfill the task of saving lives, a mission that the Cuban doctors demonstrated to “the high degree of morale, firm, and willing.”

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Italy Calls General Strike: ‘Our Lives Are Worth More Than Your Profits’

Italy is the global epicenter of the pandemic, with more than 64,000 cases of infection and almost 7,000 deaths, half of which occurred in the last week. This is the result of both neoliberal austerity measures that defunded healthcare in Italy and the criminal negligence of the EU.

In the context of the pandemic, a quarantine was imposed throughout the country. Not only have nearly all shops been closed, but people are not allowed to stray too far from their homes. Just this week, videos of mayors yelling at their constituents to go home went viral.

Yet, non-essential production has still not been shut down in Italy. Millions of workers continue to go to work every day, exposing themselves to infection in public transport, in factories, workshops, and offices.

At the same time, the workers’ rebellion is growing.

Class Struggle COVID-19 Italy Strikes Workers

Dispatch From Italy: Class Struggle In The Time Of Coronavirus

Italy is the Western European country where the coronavirus pandemic spread first and where its tragic effects are being felt the most. As of March 17, the official data say 26,062 have tested positive in Italy for COVID-19, 12,894 have been hospitalized—including 2,060 in intensive care—and 2,503 have died.

Coronavirus COVID-19 Italy

Wildcat Strikes Erupt Across Italy To Demand Idling Of Plants During Coronavirus Pandemic

As the death toll in Italy from the global coronavirus pandemic surged on Thursday and Friday, wildcat strikes erupted across the peninsula, fighting to halt the spread of the deadly disease. As Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte’s government calls on white collar workers to avoid going out and work from home, factory workers are demanding to limit the contagion by shutting down industrial plants whose operations are not essential to fighting the virus.

Class Struggle Coronavirus COVID-19 Italy Strikes Workers Rights and Jobs

Italy’s Sardines Movement Is A Wakeup Call For The Left

The Sardine movement resembles no other: it was born “underground” (and is for this reason highly vulnerable), and gave a healthy shock to the country, all thanks to the proverbial four friends talking at a bar who acted as the spark that set it off. And to those who are asking what the actual “content” of their politics is, we should reply that these protests are themselves politics: a new kind of politics, one lead by kids following Greta’s call or of the women’s marches, all acting in a peaceful harmony of purpose—from the very young protesting against climate inaction to the feminists marching against violence, all the way to the “sardines” that are bringing all generations, from grandparents to grandchildren, out into the streets together.

Italy

U.S. Out Of Italy

In the late 1980s when I was a teenager and an exchange student in Bassano del Grappa I loved Italy for the same reasons I’ve loved it ever since, reasons that include natural and human-created and human beauty. I found Italians on average to be friendly, kind, generous, loving, fun-loving, humble, self-critical, and intelligent. It may have also helped a little that when I told other young people that I was from the U.S. they typically thought that was super cool. Older people told me that the United States had saved Italy from Nazism.

Italy US Imperialism

‘Sea Rescues Have Been Criminalized’ As German Boat Captain Faces 20 Years In Prison For Saving Refugees

A German boat captain faces a long and costly trial in Italy for charges targeting her humanitarian efforts on behalf of refugees. “Italy’s fascists are using this case as a showcase to deter others from aiding migrants. They would prefer to let people drown in the Mediterranean.” —Rula Jebreal. Captain Pia Klemp, 35, told Basler Zeitung on June 7 that her upcoming trial in Italy for years of efforts with the civilian lifeboat “Iuventa” that saved at least 1,000 lives will take years and hundreds of thousands of dollars. Klemp faces up to 20 years in prison, but, she said, whether or not she ends up in jail—she would challenge any conviction in the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, France if necessary…

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‘We Will Not Be Complicit’: Protesting Assault On Yemen, Italian Dock Workers Refuse To Load Saudi Weapons Vessel

“No EU state should be making the deadly decision to authorize the transfer or transit of arms to a conflict where there is a clear risk they will be used in war crimes.” In an act of defiance against Saudi Arabia’s brutal assault on Yemen—which is being carried out with the support of the United States and European nations—Italian union workers on Monday refused to load a Saudi vessel reportedly filled with weapons that could be used to fuel the world’s worst humanitarian crisis.

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Operation Gladio: The Unholy Alliance

On the hot summer morning of Aug. 2, 1980 a massive explosion ripped apart the main waiting room of the Bologna railway station. Eighty-five people were killed and hundreds more injured. Though at first blamed on Italy’s legendary urban guerrillas, The Red Brigades, it soon emerged that the attack had, in fact, originated from within the ‘deep state’ of the Italian government itself. The full nature of this secret parallel state would only come to light a decade later when the Italian premier, Giulio Andreotti, under questioning from a special commission of inquiry…

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