How much time to occupy or how many schools to occupy? Milan once again finds itself in the whirlwind of student occupations. First, three days of protest at the Severi-Correnti high school ended with 70 thousand euros of damage, followed by the personally felt intervention of the Minister of Education and Merit Giuseppe Valditara. Then the two nights in Virgilio, with the principal who slept at the school, followed by 24 hours of occupation in Beccaria then three additional days in Bottoni. And so, like wildfire, other institutes too. A sequence which marked the start of a real season of occupations in Milan, as announced by the students themselves. The latest took place this morning, March 4, in one of the city's historic institutes, the Giuseppe Parini Classical High School, described by its director – who is currently inside the school – as “anti-democratic approach”.
Quick jobs
One after the other. What distinguishes these occupations is their lightning nature: short and concentrated actions which follow one another quickly, almost as if to challenge the traditional conception of occupation, characterized by longer durations and greater incisiveness. The idea that seems to guide students, however, is to maintain high attention by increasing the number of occupied schools over time, rather than focusing on the occupancy time of each particular school. “We want to occupy for a long time. The schools are busy one after the other. If they don't last long, it's because of the type of program put in place and the strength of the students,” comments one Open Sara from the Lombardy Student Union. A method which was not thought of from the start by the students, but which seems to prove effective because it is less susceptible to possible damage within the school and to government repression with which, for example, the minister Valditara responded by proposing the 5 in the conduct and resulting failure for those who occupy and devastate a school.
Mental health, war, love: the common thread that links the protests
But what are the reasons that motivate this new wave of occupations? A lot. Students are no longer limited to demanding improvements in infrastructure or educational policies, but are placing more emphasis on psychological well-being, attention to current affairs and national and international politics, especially the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. The children of Parini want to emphasize that “the occupation of the spaces in which we live daily is an act of transversal protest: what happens in the world concerns us and we cannot pretend not to see it because they are covered by the walls of the school. . Filippo Spinelli, 18 years old, highlights a Open: “We occupy out of love. A love for students, for their mental health and for the freedom to protest freely. But also – he adds – to shout our disagreement against the “Merit” of Valditara, against the idea of a school in which we must perform. This is not the school we are in and this is the school we are trying to fight and, at the same time, rebuild on new foundations. »
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