public meeting: Drynam Hall

In mid-January, over seven million people in the United States contacted members of the Congress to show their opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Both pieces of legislation proposed to give sweeping powers to the Courts to force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) to immediately block access to particular websites at the behest of big business.  But as a result of the mass opposition shown to SOPA and PIPA, both laws have been temporarily defeated and put on hold.

Ten years ago, on 21 July, 2001, as many as 300,000 workers and young people marched angrily through the streets of Genoa. It was the culmination of a week of protest against the G8 summit held in the city and presided over by George Bush. Their numbers had been swelled by outrage against the killing on the previous day of a young protester – Carlo Giuliano – in Alimonda Square by the forces of the Italian state. This demonstration was also attacked and broken up by police using tear-gas and wielding batons indiscriminately.