Squatted Social Centres in England and Italy in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century

Squatted Social Centres in England and Italy in the Last Decades of the Twentieth Century

Squatted social centres in England and Italy in the last decades of the twentieth century. Giulio D’Errico Thesis submitted for the degree of PhD Department of History and Welsh History Aberystwyth University 2019 Abstract This work examines the parallel developments of squatted social centres in Bristol, London, Milan and Rome in depth, covering the last two decades of the twentieth century. They are considered here as a by-product of the emergence of neo-liberalism. Too often studied in the present tense, social centres are analysed here from a diachronic point of view as context- dependent responses to evolving global stimuli. Their ‗journey through time‘ is inscribed within the different English and Italian traditions of radical politics and oppositional cultures. Social centres are thus a particularly interesting site for the development of interdependency relationships – however conflictual – between these traditions. The innovations brought forward by post-modernism and neo-liberalism are reflected in the centres‘ activities and modalities of ‗social‘ mobilisation. However, centres also voice a radical attitude towards such innovation, embodied in the concepts of autogestione and Do-it-Yourself ethics, but also through the reinstatement of a classist approach within youth politics. Comparing the structured and ambitious Italian centres to the more informal and rarefied English scene allows for commonalities and differences to stand out and enlighten each other. The individuation of common trends and reciprocal exchanges helps to smooth out the initial stark contrast between local scenes. In turn, it also allows for the identification of context- based specificities in the interpretation of local and global phenomena. 1 Contents Abstract .................................................................................................................................................1 Contents ................................................................................................................................................2 List of abbreviations .............................................................................................................................4 Archives ................................................................................................................................................................... 4 Others ....................................................................................................................................................................... 5 INTRODUCTION ................................................................................................................................7 1. Literature Review ................................................................................................................................................ 8 2. Research aims ................................................................................................................................................... 20 3. Reading the map: methodological notes ........................................................................................................... 23 3.1 Activism and the academy ..................................................................................................................... 24 3.2 Access to primary sources: Radical archives .......................................................................................... 28 3.3 The role of the Internet in accessing sources: Newspapers ..................................................................... 36 3.4 The role of the Internet in accessing sources: Websites ......................................................................... 38 4. Research design ................................................................................................................................................ 44 Chapter 1. SETTING THE SCENE ..................................................................................................46 1.1 The Global picture ........................................................................................................................................... 46 1.2 Between history and folklore: the dark side of housing ................................................................................... 48 1.3 Who are the ‗squatters‘? Language and law .................................................................................................... 50 Chapter 2. ITALY IN THE ‗LONG-1968‘ .......................................................................................56 2.1 The garden of earthly delights ......................................................................................................................... 57 2.2 ‗The end of the world as we know it‘: from the nineteen seventies to the nineteen eighties .......................... 79 Chapter 3. ENGLAND IN THE NINETEEN SEVENTIES. DECLINE AND ‗DECLINISM‘. ......84 3.1 Unlawful but not illegal: squatting in England ................................................................................................ 87 3.2 Countercultures .............................................................................................................................................. 105 3.3 Which turning point? ..................................................................................................................................... 112 Chapter 4. SOCIAL CENTRES. A TRANSNATIONAL PHENOMENON? ................................ 116 4.1 Breaking with the past? The first social centres in Italy and England. .......................................................... 117 4.2 Growth and consolidation: The nineteen nineties .......................................................................................... 153 2 Chapter 5. CAMPAIGNS AND POLITICS ....................................................................................182 5.1 Politics and legitimacy in the nineteen eighties ............................................................................................. 183 5.2 Diverging paths: the nineteen nineties in England and Italy .......................................................................... 200 Chapter 6. INVADING ENEMIES‘ TERRITORIES. CULTURAL ACTIVISM AND COMMUNITY .................................................................................................................................234 6.1 Otherness ....................................................................................................................................................... 235 6.2 Hybridisation ................................................................................................................................................. 247 6.3 Experimentation ............................................................................................................................................. 258 Conclusions ......................................................................................................................................269 A Journey Through Time ..................................................................................................................................... 271 Uneven Comparison ............................................................................................................................................ 273 Politics vs. Culture? ............................................................................................................................................. 276 Bibliography .....................................................................................................................................282 Primary Sources ................................................................................................................................................... 282 1. Documents .......................................................................................................................................... 282 2. Institutional sources ............................................................................................................................ 285 3. Newspaper and magazine articles ....................................................................................................... 287 4. Radical media ..................................................................................................................................... 290 5. Zines ................................................................................................................................................... 293 6. Websites and online resources ............................................................................................................ 294 7. Video ................................................................................................................................................... 299 8. Podcasts .............................................................................................................................................. 300 9. Records – Songs .................................................................................................................................. 300 10. Artworks ........................................................................................................................................... 301 Secondary Sources ..............................................................................................................................................

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