Blackwell Reference Online

Extract

From the 1980s to the 1990s, the squatter movement flourished in Italy as activists engaged in a policy of occupying empty buildings in the country in what became known as Occupied Social Centers (OSCs), or Centri Sociali. Although the category of OSC varies in space and time, occupation of empty buildings and squatting and managing the affairs of the buildings were common features of the movement. OSCs represented a radical criticism of representative democracy , the rejection of bureaucratic hierarchy, and the adoption of political autonomy and participative forms of decision-making processes in society. The occupied buildings were the avatar of social and decommodified spaces where activists self-organized political initiatives, cultural events, and community services in opposition to the gentrification and decline in housing for workers and the poor. The informal and putatively illegal nature of OSCs created liberated but precarious places for those who squatted in the buildings for political purposes and as representations of the commodification of housing and the failure of capitalist society to provide for basic social needs. Most members of Centri Sociali participated in loose multifaceted networks. In the 1980s, Centri Sociali emerged in several locations, expanding dramatically to about 120 by the 1990s. By the 2000s, the number of OSCs has grown further to approximately ... log in or subscribe to read full text