L38Squat, the social centre Laurentinokkupato, is one of the social centres and squats of Rome and, more exactly, of the south-west outskirts of the city, in a neighbourhood called Laurentino38.

Our history begins in 1991, when was squatted the big compound is still giving us hospitality. In 1991 it was completely abandoned and, even if other people lived there, very demoted. But to tell everything from the beginning we have to start from 1987, when a former experience started with the occupation of a small farmhouse, in the same neighbourhood, by some different bands of teenagers, with different interests and political involvements.

The Casale opened in the autumn of 1987 with a “big” meeting, a photos exhibition about degradation and abandon of the neighbourhood and finally a big concert with punk and hardcore bands. The group of action kept going on with many activities for two years, until 1989, editing also the #0 of a paper on the hot issues of those years, the opposition to nuclear, the pussyfoot laws of the country and mainly an active presence in movements of solidarity with the Palestinians in the first Intifada, started just then, in 1987.

Between the end of 1989 and the beginning of 1990 suddenly broke in the movement called “La Pantera”. The universities were mostly occupied and quickly the movement got to the secondary school students too. Many boys and girls of Laurentino started attending university that was everyday full of people, presidium against fascism, concerts; many people slept there, sharing the university revolt supported also by Radio Onda Rossa, the frequency of the movement. During 1990 summer the attention pointed the football world cup and the big businesses on it.

Finally in 1991, presented again the occasion of squatting during an event organized by one of the associations of the neighbourhood, at the sixth bridge; it was all abandoned and scrapped but with water and easy access to electricity. On February 1991 it was squatted with the name of Laurentinokkupato. Immediately started works of reorganization and maintenance and the transformations to make spaces functional to our use. Laurentinokkupato is on two floors and, at the beginning, the second one, the out and out bridge, was enough for houses. On the same floor there is a big bar, with a kitchen inside, a music rehearsal room, and a cinema room that, during the years, moved to be a gym. On the first floor there has always been a concert hall and sometimes it is used to host big meetings too. In 1991 the #0 of Laurentinokkupato Info came out talking about the Gulf War, demonstrations against USA, solidarity for Intifada. The death of a boy called Auro in Corto Circuito, another social centre, who was set on fire by fascists, got us completely involved.

From 1992 started an intense period for the life of social centres of Rome. The number of foreigners migrating to the city was increasing and sadly also the number of nazis, authors of poltroon aggressions and racist writings. Two guys of Laurentino fell in a trap plotted by the fascists of Meridiano Zero(a fascist group of the nineties). Meanwhile in Los Angeles the Afro-Americans were revolting because of the murdering of Rodney King and the absolution of both the killer policemen. In autumn ‘92 we organized a big exhibit/event on Black Panther Party and the presentation of a booklet on it, titled “By any means necessary”. The organization of a big event for prisoners during the summer, “Fuori da Rebibbia”, made us working with many people from many different places of Rome.

In Laurentino works kept going on, the transformations were turning empty rooms in to a library, ateliers or houses; loud music went with ping pong and table soccer tournaments during every afternoon and evening in the social centre. On the big corridor, that is the bridge on the street, the houses are set up by two big rooms, with personalized and personal kitchens and bathrooms; big balconies, looking on the street below, has been slowly gardened.

Then 1993, Laurentinokkupato becomes the most crowded place in the area. Hundreds people made it full everyday, attending also the general assembly, making the events more regular. Squatters were very busy with the organization, daily cleaning and preparing for the evening. The boom concerned the entire social centres of Italy and Rome where activists decided to create a coordination of CSOA to obtain the assignment of occupied places to the general assemblies. USA was attacking Iraq again, but the interest was mainly pointed on the election for the mayor of Rome. The left proposed Rutelli, while the right Fini, secretary of MSI. Many praesidium and demonstrations were organized to fight Fini and fascists in Rome. The first event organized with an association of the neighbourhood “Strade in festa al Laurentino” was in 1993.

From 1994 Laurentinokkupato started to be daily opened, every week there was a live concert and a different issue to propose. A big anniversary was celebrated on April for the third year of occupation. The new serigraphy was inaugurated, while the others areas of the social centre were improving with no money from anybody, just with the small profits of concerts and events and with the big participation of everybody.

Now, it’s 1995, the bar in the social centre is every night opened and the library, the gym, the music room and the artistic one are working a lot to popularise self productions and antagonistic culture. The main interest is on communication, an Antagonist Documenentation Centre, that now is the Infoshop, was created to gather and distribute self-producted materials on many issues; the use of computers was increasing and Internet was lightning the way for researches and new materials. We also had a radio broadcast, every Sunday, on Radio Onda Rossa, to discuss about multinational corporations as Shell and McDonald’s, for example, and explain the reasons of our hate against them or to show solidarity to Mumia Abu Jamal, political prisoner in the USA. Meanwhile the situation of the network of the CSOA of Rome arrived at a turning point. The attempt to occupy again La Torre, evicted many times in the months before, ended with 85 people denounced. Rome council had approved a resolution, “delibera 26”, trying to normalize the occupations by paying the rents and that was the break between the social centres in Rome and also the end of what is called the first generation of social centres.

Part II in the next issue of the Auckland Anarchist.