The other infiltration. It is not just the streets; universities are also a cause for concern for the government. The Udu campaign

It is not only the alleged infiltration of organised crime into the lorry drivers’ protests in the south that is worrying the government. Or at least, this is what is prompting a heightened state of vigilance. This is because even in cities where the demonstrations take the form of smashed shop windows and clashes with the police, there are fears of an overlap between more ‘peaceful’ movements and those who join the protests with the explicit aim of causing unrest. Among those who immediately threw their full weight behind the clashes in Milan is the Palestinian Youth Movement, which has been highly visible since 7 October 2023 after organising pro-Palestine demonstrations on an almost weekly basis (and which have often verged on the glorification of terrorism, given that 7 October itself has repeatedly been portrayed not as an anti-Jewish pogrom but as a ‘day of resistance for the Palestinian people’). The fact is that now, given the events of recent autumns, there are fears that these protests may spill over into a setting already accustomed to tensions: university lecture theatres. But not only there; in secondary schools and sixth-form colleges as well. We have had a taste of this in recent days with the occupation of the Federico II University in Naples, as well as some lecture theatres at the Orientale University, also in the Campania capital. So much so that the vice-chancellor of the latter has decided to reintroduce distance learning for a few days, as was the case during the Covid pandemic. Meanwhile, other vice-chancellors are considering distance learning as a possible response to high fuel prices.

Among secondary schools, the Morgagni and Rossellini high schools in Rome were occupied, as were a dozen in Florence (including the Galileo-Michelangiolo, as well as the Leonardo Da Vinci Technical Institute, where firecrackers were set off), along with schools in Milan, Palermo and Turin – in short, all over the country. However, the major wave—the one witnessed last year when the first flotilla set sail for Gaza—could recur this year at the end of the month, particularly around 30 October, when a general strike called by the Unione Sindacale di Base (USB) is scheduled; particularly radical groups such as OSA-Potere al Popolo (which, incidentally, yesterday claimed to have blocked several stretches of road in Tuscany) have already stated their intention to join the strike.

Then there is the other side of the university protests, the one concerning ‘high rents’. And which, in some way, seeks to tap into the street protests seen, for example, in Spain or France. Last week saw the launch of the campaign by the University Students’ Union (Udu), the main student organisation affiliated with the CGIL (though the PD, led by Elly Schlein, has also drawn much closer to it in recent times), which has visited various universities across Italy, from north to south, but which, above all, organised a mobilisation in Rome, with students pitching tents outside Montecitorio, receiving significant media coverage. This was also down to new leadership, that of 24-year-old Sabrina Brizzola, elected coordinator as recently as 20 September, following a congress which Schlein also attended. During the protest outside Parliament, she managed to rally not only Landini but also the main leaders of the broad coalition, from Giuseppe Conte to Nicola Fratoianni and Angelo Bonelli (as well as the secretary of the Young Democrats, Virginia Libero). Moreover, Brizzola is increasingly becoming a regular presence on television talk shows (a recent appearance on Porta a Porta garnered a great many views). Even university vice-chancellors are noting that whilst the so-called ‘tent protest’ a couple of years ago was spontaneous, with no major organisational structure behind it, in this instance the Udu has acted with a more ‘political’ strategy behind it. In short, the situation remains under close scrutiny, including by the Ministry of the Interior. However, efforts are being made to allow individual universities a wide degree of autonomy.