Italian activists hold actions for Afrin

Bologna, Rome, Florence, Bolzano, Naples…18 city of Italy has occupied streets and squares in solidarity with Afrin and to ask the international community not to turn a blind eye on the massacres and violations of international law by Turkey.

Direct actions, performances, rallies and demonstrations were held by initiatives throughout Italy as an answer to the #GlobalActionDayforAfrin and to the appeal made by the Italian Rete Kurdistan.

In Bologna for weeks now people have been mobilizing with a variety of events and actions: one of the issues at the heart of the Bologna collectives, groups, organizations and citizens, is the opposition to diplomatic relations between Italy and Turkey.

Hundreds of activists have responded to the call made by self-organized realities in the city of Bologna and filled the streets, “armed” with litres of red sauce and paint.

To underline that innocent civilians have been murdered in Afrin, as well as the popular militias of the YPJ and YPG, citizens who took up arms to defend their cities and people, the streets of Bologna have been spread with “blood”… red sauce has been thrown all over the place, from Neptune Square to remind all of us that death is closer than we thought…

FLORENCE’S ARCHITECTURE FACULTY OCCUPIED BY ACTIVISTS

Students and activists in the city of Florence have occupied the Architecture Faculty in solidarity with Afrin.

The students have appealed to the population to support the action and call for the immediate ending of the Turkish aggression against Afrin, Kurds, and the Northern Syria Federation.

Professors at the University Center for International Cooperation of the University of Parma have published an appeal for Afrin.

The document read:

“In Afrin, the Turkish army is not only killing hundreds of civilians and destroying an entire city, but it is destroying an experience of the most advanced of participatory, confederal, multiethnic and multi-faith democracy.

The Afrin Autonomous Administration has launched an appeal calling for "international organizations to condemn these barbaric attacks" and to help the tens of thousands of refugees who leave the city. Among these "there are children, old people, injured without food or water".

The embarrassing silence of our institutions on the responsibilities of Turkey, our NATO ally, fills us with indignation. - the appeal continues - The situation in Rojava poses serious moral problems and not just diplomats and politicians. The indifference towards these atrocities, in fact, seriously endangers the democratic foundations of our collective life. It is not possible to wait any longer”.