Italy: Eviction of Cox18 in Milan
At 7am on january the 22nd around 100 policemen entered the squat COX18, which include in its premises the social center created more than 33 years ago, the Calusca City Light bookstore, founded in
1971, and the Primo Moroni Archive. The importance of this archive is stunning: it is, without any doubt, the most important treasure of memory, books, videos, registrations and a considerable portion of counterculture in Milan and in Italy. At the present moment the squat is sealed and under seizure with all the materials inside, the books and the magazines of the bookstore and the archive included. The damage is unbelievable!!!.
Received by Redazione Digicult <redazione at digicult.it>, Jan 29 2009.
COX18 was a place where one could encounter people and ideas, where prices were accessible for all and where discrimination never took place. A place for concerts, workshops, screenings, presentations,
meetings, art installations, crossing from different art-forms, many of those related to electronic and digital culture. The Milan town municipality is trying to turn the city into a huge commercial centre, destroying all forms of cultural alternatives and closing down all those spaces where cultural elaboration is not subject to a purely market-oriented vision. It’s a processes that is still ging on from the last 15 years. We are not in for this. We won’t abandon this city. We are going to stay here and fight for the right to have free social
and cultural spaces destined to free forms of expression.
The morning of 22nd, a lot of people arrived in via Conchetta (the street in which COX18 lives) to defend the social center against the eviction, then from 4.00 pm in a spontaneous demonstration and call to everybody and to everything to converge at Palazzo Marino, Milano town hall, for a participated and determined demonstration for Cox18 and against the evictions. After this demonstration, many other initiatives were organized in the days after, both on the Internet and on the Streets. There was a big response from intellectuals, people of culture, normal people from all ages. A big concert was organized in a big square in Ticinese disctrict (the same of COX18) and a big mobilitation was a great success on Saturday, January the 24th, against the eviction of the Cox18 At the moment there is a civil case to define the right of ownership
of bulding and of the Archive: of course, many other cultural initiatives will be organized in the next days, many words will be written, many concerts will be organized in public spaces of the town, a big national mobilitation will be organized and the Internet will be our friend to spread the word of what is happening against Free Culture in Milan/Italy in this historical moment
best and thanks to all
Marco Mancuso / Digicult
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Videos:
http://www.streamit.it/index.htm?v=1f5401a85672f89663ccc9801811eed2
http://new.c6.tv/component/library/?task=view&id=2772
http://milano.repubblica.it/multimedia/home/4476258
http://www.youreporter.it/view_video.php?viewkey=99d28729e0473f7a54e16e2ea4ee0178
http://www.youreporter.it/view_video.php?viewkey=53efdba22c4fc43bad923ceb27a1614f
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LET’S TAKE BACK COX18, CALUSCA AND THE PRIMO MORONI ARCHIVE
At 7am on january the 22nd around 100 policemen entered the squatt COX18, which include in its premises the social center created more than 33 years ago, the Calusca City Light bookstore, founded in 1971, and the Primo Moroni Archive. In a matter of a few hours, the answer of the city was explicit, a number of comrades, friends and neighbourhoods, gathered in front of the squatt and the armoured police units to confront the unwelcomed guests.
It’s clearly an illegal eviction which doesn’t consider a legal action already going on since july 2008 between the city administration and the squatt COX18 with the sole purpose of taking legal possession of the building. Vice Mayor De Corato, one the main heads trying to suffocate whatever isn’t uniformed, gives the responsibility of the action to head of the police and the regional administration. The DA affirm he wasn’t informed of anything until the eviction was on. Not a real problem, cause all the protagonists agree on the fact that the economic value of the building shouldn’t loose value. They’re
talking about money and economic interest as if this was a reasonable explanation for what is going on.
At the present moment. the squatt is sealed and under seizure with all the materials inside, the books and the magazines of the bookstore and the archive included. The COX18 squatt, the Calusca Bookstore and
the Primo Moroni Archive represent an important piece of radical and workers’ history; they testify the possibility to elude the principle of commercialization of things and thoughts. We’re not alone, we got
the company of others squats, places of free expression and exchange of ideas. Our survival is the survival of freedom of expression, thought and action; of the chance to master our own destiny and future, of any chance not to be judged and considered for what we can/want to spend.
It’s pretty clear we don’t consider this ‘game’ close, we recognize the ones refusing the homogeneity of monolithic thought guaranteed by the market and this pseudo democracy: they want us compatible, buyers and buyable, ordered and uniformed, we’ll remain what we know we are: original, always ready to spread knowledge, not homogenous and critical to whatever is imposed as truth.
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FACTS AND CONSIDERATION ABOUT THE EVICTION
It’s not correct to read at warm the eviction of the Cox 18, historical social center of street Conchetta in Milan, besides center of the bookshop Calusca and the Primo Moroni’s archives. Mobilization
against the eviction is in progress, and the Cox eviction is not a closed fact. The eviction occures on January 22 after a question in Parliament against Milan social centers adressed, on January 21, to the Home Affair Minister Mr Maroni the notorious vice-mayor, and public safety alderman and parliamentary, Mr Riccardo De Corato.
Certainly this eviction as well as a value in practice, has a great symbolic value in order to state power of abuse over the city by certain administrators sheriffs in double- breast jacket protagonists of politics based upon evictions of social center in order to support private interest of meddlers and ndrangheta members who see Milan at the center of a vhirl of business for the future Expo. A moltitude of people mobilized this morning since dawn after the first news about Cox18 eviction . After some hours from the garrison of street
Conchetta was born a blockage directed toward the mainstreet of the city, stopping traffic of one of the most important metropolis arteries. This morning police intervened under disposition that town hall has emanated anadministrative act (act that has not been proved) in which was signalled the unauthorized occupation of the bulding.
The eviction occured and after a long negotiation the real estate was returned by the police to town hall, without clearing away the documents, books, furniture. At the moment there is a civil case to define the right of ownership of bulding and we all demand reinstate of ownership to the occupantes, who after 33 years and a deliberation, made in 1989, that granted the real estate to them.
Posted on January 29th, 2009 under Italy, evictions & demolitions, squats • 
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