Tute Bianche

Tute Bianche was a militant Italian social movement, active from 1994 to 2001.

Activists covered their bodies with padding so as to resist the blows of police, to push through police lines, and to march together in large blocks for mutual protection during demonstrations.

Tute Bianche means, "White Overalls". The name stems from an initial demonstration (initiated by a loose association of Italian anti-globalization activists called the Ya Basta Association), involving the group defense of a squatted social center (CSOA), in which demonstrators wore white overalls to evoke the "ghosts" that would haunt the ghost town police proposed to make of the social center. The padding tactic, adopted later, is also referred to as a padded bloc tactic.

"If the struggle aims at achieving visibility, the colour of the fight is white, and the white garment covers the whole body." from The Age of Clandestinity

Center to the tute bianche movement was the Italian Ya Basta Association, a network of groups throughout Italy that was inspired by the Zapatista Army of National Liberation uprising in Chiapas in 1994. Ya Basta primarily originated in the "autonomist" social centers of Milan, particularly Leoncavallo. These social centers grew out of the Italian Autonomia movement of the 1970 and 80s.

The Tute Bianche philosophy was based on a specific reading of Italian political / social history, including the idea that the traditional protest tactic or marching and "bearing witness" to power had outlived its usefulness, and more confrontational, militant forms of non-violent protest were required to not only re-invigorate the anti-globalization movement, but redefine how street resistance is understood.

The tute bianche movement reached its apex during the anti-G8 protests in Genoa, Italy, in July, 2001, with a showing of an estimated 10,000 protesters in a single "padded block", ironically after a collective decision to go without the white overalls. Shortly after Genoa the Ya Basta Association dis-associated and with certain segments reforming into the "Disobbedienti" which literally means, "Desobedients" This philosophy includes the occupation and creation of squatted selfmanaged Social centers, anti-sexist organizing, activism for migration rights and political asylum rights for refugees and migrant laborers, as well as the process of walking together in large blocks during demonstrations to hold the streets, by force if necessary, in case of clashes with police.

The tute bianche has had international variations of one sort or another. For instance, in Britain a group calling itself The WOMBLES adopted the tactics, even though the political orientaton of the WOMBLES differed from the Italian sections. In Spain, "Mono Blanco" was the preferred identifier. The first North American variant of the tute bianche, the NYC Ya Basta Collective (based in NYC) wore yellow overalls, rather than white.

Civil and social disobedience

The Disobbedienti practice civil and social disobedience. The White Overalls principle, inspired by the EZLN and Zapatista-solidarity groups, consisted of covering one's body in padding and wearing helmets to deflect the blows of police, and going on marches or demonstrations while wearing easily-recognizable white or yellow overalls. This practice came to be associated with civil disobedience during the International Monetary Fund and World Bank protests in Prague, Czech Republic, on September 26, 2000, in which those who offered symbolic physical resistance by crossing police lines while covered in padding joined the yellow line, which was associated with civil disobedience. Currently, civil and social disobedience includes the creation of autonomous squatted social centers and political activism for migration rights. See anti-globalization movement.

See also

• WOMBLES
• Ya Basta
• Zapatista Army of National Liberation

External links

• TUTE BIANCHE: THE PRACTICAL SIDE OF MYTH MAKING by Wu Ming 1
• Tute Bianche
• NYC YaBasta Collective
• Disobbedienti
• Tute Bianche
• Network Against Prohibition
• Manifesto against conscription and the military system, on official website
• Manifesto against conscription and the military system, with online signature, official website