Genoa 2001—when cops rioted but we shook the rich

Protesters in Genoa, Italy, at the G8 forum 25 years ago (Photo: Jess Hurd)

Twenty five years ago the world’s most ­powerful leaders gathered for a G8 summit in the ornate Doge’s Palace in Genoa, northern Italy.

Before the event was finished, a young man called Carlo Giuliani would be shot dead by police. Many more would suffer life-changing injuries.

But hundreds of thousands of ­international ­protesters braved extraordinary levels of police violence to rage against the system. Genoa became a defining moment for the global anti-capitalist movement.

Representatives of the richest countries in the world were ostensibly there to discuss the end of poverty in the Global South. In reality they were continuing their carve up of the world’s resources.

Two years earlier, tens of thousands of anti-capitalist protesters had marched on Seattle, in the US, against economic globalisation. One month earlier, in June 2001, tens of thousands of ­protesters had shaken the European Union council meeting in Gothenburg, Sweden.

Fearing a repeat, the Italian state prepared an immense crackdown.

They suspended free movement across borders, stopping thousands of protesters from entering the country. No‑fly zones were implemented over Genoa. Military hardware, including anti‑aircraft missiles, were set up and hundreds of body bags were prepared.

Photographer Jess Hurd was in Genoa to cover the protests. She spoke to Socialist Worker ahead of the anniversary. She said, “We knew we were going into a tense situation. Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was definitely ­ramping up the narrative around repression.

“I remember talking to another photographer about what protective gear we’d need—which was everything from shin pads to gas masks. The presence of the Italian riot police—the Carabinieri—was immense,” Jess said.

“The whole city was full of protesters from all across the world. It was very vibrant and civilised—we were given pasta for lunch. There were huge groups of ordinary people alongside environmentalists, organised socialists, anarchists.”

Sam Ashman reported for Socialist Worker that, “The police fired repeated volleys of teargas and drove two armoured cars straight at protesters. Pensioners were beaten. A young woman had the bottom of her face smashed open and was dripping with blood.

“A young man lay spread eagle on the floor, with blood rushing out of both his ears. Groups of demonstrators ­cowered at the side of the road, their arms raised in surrender, choking from the teargas, pleading with the police not to beat them.”

Despite this brutality, 200,000 people came to the protest on the first day of the summit on 19 July 2001. A protest in solidarity with refugees drew another 50,000. British prime minister Tony Blair dismissed protesters as an “anarchists’ travelling circus”—but the G8 still had to call off their lavish dinner in fear.

On 20 July, the brutality of the police ramped up. Jess had been photographing a “very fluffy” ­protest. Too hot in her gas mask after being “drenched in tear gas and water cannoned,” she took a breather.

Police shot and killed 23 year old Carlo Giuliani (Photo: Jess Hurd)

“I realised there was a helicopter above and started to follow it in the wake of destruction. The city was full of burning cars, burning buildings. There was some sort of riot ahead of me. There was smoke throughout the whole city.

“I got to the Piazza Alimonda and there was a whole bunch of Carabinieri police surrounding a person on the floor,” she remembered.

“I was the only photographer there at this point and they tried to stop me taking photos through their legs.”

In the plaza, a police officer shot 23 year old Carlo Giuliani in the head. A police van then desecrated his body—running over him twice.

“I saw the Carabinieri were armed but I didn’t realise they’d shot Carlo at this point,” Jess said. “He was just lying there. They sent in a medical person, but he was clearly dead. Eventually they took his bandana and covered his face, like a shroud.”

That night, police conducted a night time raid on the Diaz school, where peaceful protesters were sleeping, just after midnight. The police shouted “We’re going to kill you” and attacked people in their sleeping bags.

Richard Moth, who spoke to Socialist Worker about that night, said “The school was a place of terror. We saw dozens of robocops coming in with batons and helmets. They systematically beat people.

“I tried to protect my partner Nicola by lying on top of her, but her wrist was still fractured by a blow. They beat me on the head and back. They made us stand up and cut people’s hair, including Nicola’s. The sound of the knife stays with me.”

The protesters were then moved to police stations and the Bolzaneto detention centre, here “there was physical and mental torture,” Richard said.

“Officers made people shout ‘Viva il Duce’—a reference to former fascist dictator Mussolini. They made people line up against the wall and kept people awake. When people had to go to the toilet, they were dragged out by their hair. Police lined up and batoned us,” Richard said. There were clearly fascist supporters among them. They shouted about Auschwitz and swastikas and sang fascist songs”

Nicola told Socialist Worker, “I started to hallucinate from lack of food and water.”

At least 70 of the 93 people staying at the school required hospitalisation. A doctor told Socialist Worker that one man was attacked so brutally, he was paralysed down one side of his body.

“This was the level of violence,” Jess said. “Anyone could’ve been killed.”

“Anyone could’ve been killed” (Photo: Jess Hurd)

But this didn’t demoralise the protesters. Richard said afterwards, “The raid on the school was a revenge attack. They were trying to terrorise the movement and the Italian working class.

“But Genoa showed this is a growing movement. I feel strengthened by what has happened. We won this round.”

There were huge and heated debates among the anti-capitalists. Some wanted to limit the movement to peaceful ­non-violence. Others wanted to hurl themselves at the police in fury with whatever limited forces they could gather.

But many understood the need to win huge numbers to show their defiance against the G8 and against state violence.

“There was a call the next day to mobilise in the wake of the assassination of Carlo. It was absolutely massive,” Jess said. “I didn’t even see the end of it. There were huge banners with ‘assassino’ that had been made over night condemning the state for Carlo’s murder.

“It was very powerful and it kick started a whole movement in Italy.”

Hundreds of thousands more came out onto the streets. 500,000 people were out on 21 July and protests were held across Italy outside some 50 police stations, with 50,000 marching in Milan, for Giuliani. Solidarity protests were held in Germany, Greece and Switzerland.

Anti-capitalism was our riposte to their neoliberalism

The protests in Genoa came after decades of unrestrained neoliberalism. Nurtured by Margaret Thatcher and Ronald Reagan in the 1980s, free market ideology was consolidated under Bill Clinton, Barack Obama and Tony Blair.

Drawing its strength from workers’ defeats—particularly the 1984-85 miners’ strike in Britain—the ruling class ruthlessly put the market above all else. While they raked in millions, working class people across the world suffered after slashes to services and rising unemployment and costs of living.

Britain’s representative at the Genoa G8 summit, Tony Blair, pushed through privatisation of schools and hospitals. Just months after being elected prime minister in May 1997, Blair’s “welfare reforms” stripped benefits from single parents. In July 1999, Blair openly declared in an article “I’ve declared war on welfare”. He then slashed disability benefits.

Through privatisation schemes, corporations built public buildings and charged extortionate rents and maintenance costs. Wages fell and jobs were slashed. Blair’s Labour built fewer houses in his entire time in office than Thatcher did in one year.

In the same year as the Genoa protests, Blair collaborated with the US in air strikes on Iraq’s capital Baghdad. At home he announced massive privatisation, threatening the “most fundamental reform of public services for many years”.

In Italy, Giuliani’s father spoke of the same suffering saying, “Here in Genoa you do not need to go far to see the victims of their policies.

“Come back after G8 have gone and you will see the desperation of those who are left in hunger, those who are forced to survive without any dignity in the alleyways that surround the harbour.”

Genoa was a turning point in the growth of the anti-capitalist movement, taking it beyond criticising neoliberalism. It was also a movement schooled in the capacity of the state to use extreme violence to protect the wealthy and their system.

Fausto Bertinotti, then the secretary of the Italian Communist Refoundation Party, said “This is the rise of a new generation, and this generation will not be broken. It will not stop challenging repression, the G8, globalisation, the government. This movement can provide the force for an alternative left”

Nicki, a socialist in Bologna, told Socialist Worker that “Genoa has completely changed the face of Italian politics. There is no time for cynicism anymore. Any time anybody wants to fight, Genoa will be an inspiration.”

We need to remember Carlo Giuliani and the anti-capitalist movement today as governments ramp up authoritarianism and criminalise protest.

The capitalist state presents itself as a neutral force there to protect us. Genoa shows it exists to protect the rule of the minority over the majority. But we can defy its repressive power.

Looking back, Jess remembered, “It did unify people. They started to see who the bigger enemy is. It’s not your neighbours, it’s these corporations and the ruling powers.

“Look at the state and the level of repression there is in Britain now, it’s all still there. The only way to challenge it is to come together.”