Protests in schools, with demonstrations also taking place in Italia

The student protest currently sweeping through Paris could spark a wave of protests even beyond the border. Italian secondary school and university students are taking action in “solidarity with French students” and launching a series of initiatives in various cities, which will culminate in the international student strike scheduled for 20 November:

“We will be out on the streets alongside youth and student groups from across Europe in a massive mobilisation against war, militarism and repression!” they assure us. Attention is at its peak ahead of an autumn that looks set to be ‘heated’ in terms of public order. Just last Thursday, the National Committee for Public Order and Security, chaired by the Minister of the Interior, Matteo Piantedosi, decided to further strengthen security measures for events scheduled to mark the third anniversary of the Hamas attack on 7 October – both to commemorate the Israeli victims and various pro-Palestinian initiatives – as well as for the demonstrations announced over rising fuel prices. Student protests, which are rallying young people from north to south, are now also under scrutiny.

We’ve had a first taste of this in Genoa, with a ‘national and international action’ rally that will see them standing shoulder to shoulder with the dockworkers. ‘Solidarity with the French students in struggle!’, chant the members of Cambiare rotta. “What is happening,” they emphasise, “reaffirms that the alliance between students, young people and workers is a concrete and successful necessity in the face of a model that shifts the cost of rearmament onto young people, the working class and the working classes, whilst cutting essential resources for education and welfare”. Today, 3 October, people are also taking to the streets in Rome, at the Bocca della Verità, to protest against the electoral law. And whilst tents are returning to the courtyard of the Federico II University in Naples, and in Turin where high school pupils are taking action to shine a spotlight on the issue of high rents. The Lazio Secondary School Students’ Network, which in recent days had protested against the education decree and taken part on Thursday in the sit-in organised by Mediterranea Saving Humans and Spin Time in Piazza Montecitorio, has confirmed that the protests will continue in schools and on the streets on 17 October and 20 November.