Italy: Potere al Popolo Charts Resistance to Militarisation, Cuts

“Why organize the future? Because the present we face is repulsive.” With these words, Marta Collot began her speech at Potere al Popolo’s national assembly in Rome on March 15, marking the culmination of months of organizing and political discussion. The assembly launched a new program, developed through a bottom-up process rooted in labor and territorial struggles, outlined to serve as a framework for truly organizing the future.

According to Maurizio Coppola, a member of Potere al Popolo’s national coordination, the process was launched for multiple reasons. Among them is the need to build a strong opposition to the far-right ahead of Italy’s 2027 general elections and to organize resistance against the race to (re)arm Europe led by EU and national leaders. One of the key objectives, Coppola told Peoples Dispatch, is to “develop a political force rooted in the territories, rooted in struggles, in the work of mutualism – but not limited to the small scale.”

The assembly brought together around 600 people from across Italy, as members of Potere al Popolo took the stage to elaborate the key political challenges that the organization must confront. Salvatore Prinzi emphasized that the program was designed with the intention to avoid the pitfalls faced by mainstream political parties, where programs and platforms are detached from people’s needs and realities. Instead, he proposed, the program must be lived and enacted in daily struggles, a statement that was met with strong applause.

Workers’ struggles and workplace homicides

Echoing Prinzi’s observations, the assembly’s discussions were grounded in real-life experiences, including the worsening conditions for workers in Italy. Years of austerity and budget cuts have made stable, adequately paid jobs increasingly rare. This crisis has expanded so much that even fixed-term contracts are no longer the norm but a luxury, and deteriorating working conditions have given rise to an epidemic of workplace deaths – or, as Potere al Popolo more accurately terms them, workplace homicides.

In 2024 alone, there have been over 1,000 preventable worker deaths, from youth in training programs to migrant laborers in agriculture, all victims of a system that puts employers’ profits over workers’ safety and lives. During the assembly, Potere al Popolo pledged to continue fighting against labor exploitation and to amplify workers’ struggles for fair wages and protections.

Far-right attacks on social protection and dissent

The Meloni government’s approach to immigration, wealth distribution, and public services was another major theme of the meeting. Speakers drew direct connections between the exploitation and scapegoating of migrants and the dismantling of Italy’s social security system, arguing that both serve the same economic interests.

Instead of channeling billions of euros to companies like arms-manufacturer Leonardo, Potere al Popolo insists that the redistribution of wealth is the only viable path to secure a better life for everyone in Italy. As a result, the new program calls for investments in schools, universities, housing, infrastructure, especially in the south of the country, all identified as key priorities during the drafting process.

Another concern is the criminalization of activism, as the far-right government intensifies repression against social movements. Through a new so-called security bill, the Meloni administration seeks to criminalize protest tactics such as railway and highway blockades, a move that directly threatens grassroots trade unions as much as environmental activists. Given the urgency of organizing both in workplaces and for climate justice, members of Potere al Popolo warned that such legislation will have catastrophic consequences – but vowed to continue resisting.

Building an internationalist left

The assembly’s messages were reinforced by the presence of guests from Brazil, France, Spain, and Palestine, highlighting the internationalist character of the people’s struggles. Leila Khaled, a historic figure in the Palestinian liberation movement, addressed the assembly via video statement, acknowledging Potere al Popolo’s solidarity mobilizations: “We have seen you in the streets, calling for a stop to the war in Gaza, for a stop to the genocide, and demanding the arrest of those responsible for the crimes in Gaza.”

“Now you are the ones to change the world by confronting the atrocities that imperialists commit – not just against us, but against the entire world,” Khaled said, calling upon the assembly to fully support the boycott of Israel.

Khaled’s call for a convergence of anti-colonialist and anti-imperialist struggles resonated with the considerations of other international guests. Rodrigo Suñe from Brazil’s Landless Rural Workers Movement (MST) stressed that left movements must lead with their anti-racist, anti-colonial, and anti-patriarchal values. The real question, he argued, is not whether the left should organize the future, but how this should be done – and the answer lies in international solidarity, mass mobilization, and a radically different vision of the world from that of the political elite.

Jérôme Legavre from France Unbowed (La France Insoumise) framed this necessity in contrast to the hypocrisy of European leaders, who claim to defend “European values” while promoting colonial violence and war. “But what are their values?” Legavre asked. “They allowed a genocide to happen. They allowed ethnic cleansing in Palestine to continue for decades, with thousands of deaths.”

Similarly, Víctor Valdés of Podemos Madrid warned that mainstream European media will attempt to whitewash the militarization of Europe by portraying Ursula von der Leyen’s ReArm Europe strategy as harmless to social protections. “Is there anyone who actually believes that?” he asked, insisting that war is not Europe’s only path and that the left must be the one to build alternatives.

Building resistance to Europe’s war path

The necessity of resisting Europe’s militarization will remain a top priority for Potere al Popolo in the months ahead. On the same day as the assembly, the organization led an anti-militarist demonstration opposing vague liberal calls for “European unity” and underscoring its commitment to building a strong movement against war. According to Coppola, this mobilization will culminate in a mass demonstration in May, sending a clear message that Italy and Europe must change course before it is too late.

Courtesy: Peoples dispatch