24.04.2002
Vittorio Agnoletto
Vittorio Agnoletto of the Genoa Social Forum spoke at the 5th Congress of Rifondazione Comunista. While not a party member, comrade Agnoletto has been drawn into the political orbit of Rifondazione after the mass demonstration against the G8 at Genoa in July 2001. The session in which he spoke was an innovation for the PRC and saw a number of non-party 'personalities' deliver their views on the current situation and the tasks of the broader movement. This is part and parcel of what the Rifondazione majority faction describes as 'contamination' between the mass movement and the party. Comrade Agnoletto is on the left of what is called the No-Global movement in Italy. He has suggested that the movement may need to take a party form at some time in the future. At the Rimini congress, he outlined the programme of the Genoa Social Forum: it is plural, 'non-ideological', in support of Palestine, deals with drugs issues, for workers' rights, for the closure of the immigrant detention centres. In short, it is against war and neoliberalism. "There is no third way," declared comrade Agnoletto. "That died in Afghanistan." As Rifondazione orients to the new social movement, it is promoting figures such as Vittorio Agnoletto as key to the development of an "alternative left". He is likely to play a central role in the European Social Forum in Florence later this year. * Lessons for left * Build the ESF movement * April 16: class against class * 'Contaminated' by the movement
Worker