10/05/2016
bad news: Police is destroying not only our beloved DalVerme Circolo but also all the dreams born with a DIY attitude.
Pls follow up and share the truth and the facts described below.
As many of you probably know by now, police shut down ARCI club DalVerme last Friday. During its seven years of activity many artists - and public as well - from outside of Italy visited the club and contributed to its life, so we've been asked to produce a statement in english for all those who wish to spread the word. We invite you all to share it and to send an email to the addresses below to express your dissent.
HISTORY REPEATS ITSELF...
The Superintendent of Police and the Prefect of Rome, not satisfied with having assigned themselves responsibility for social policies, with the damaging fallout that has brought a forced end to housing and social occupations and the clearing out of spaces used to host refugees, the cancellation of bottom-up policies of integration, stretching as far as the irrational vehemence demonstrated toward various associations, including Il Grande Cocomero, the Palestre Popolari, Viva la Vita Onlus, etc., etc., have today decided to write another absurd act in this comedy by assuming responsibility over cultural policies: a far-fetched tool signed by the Superintendent of Police of Rome has informed us that we have become a problem for law and order, worthy of immediate closure in accordance with article 100 of the TULPS, Italy’s Consolidated Act of Public Safety Laws. This degrading accusation places our association dedicated to the promotion of social issues and all of its members on par with serious illegal acts such as drug trafficking, organised crime, the exploitation of prostitution, subversion and arms trafficking. For the Superintendent of Police of Rome this warrants the immediate suspension of any acts of association, “as part of a duty-bound obligation to protect society (...) and with the objective of dissuading further delinquent gatherings”. It would appear they are taking their idea of law and order, which we fail to recognise, a little bit too far.
As our members know all too well, the association No More T. is dedicated to the promotion of social initiatives and the animator of the ARCI Club “dalVerme”. The association has been actively involved in the diffusion of innovative and local culture and creativity for more than 7 years. During this time the association, in collaboration with other ARCI Clubs active in the same territory has become a recognised centre of cultural dynamics in the city of Rome. Years of fervent musical activity, with over 100 concerts per season by national and international musicians; years during which we have constructed a permanent workshop open to any artistic and creative proposal; countless exhibitions and festivals dedicated to theatre and film and to any other form of expression have all found a home at dal Verme. The association has also organised a host of events in direct collaboration with other cultural realties, receiving innumerable recognitions for the quality of our proposals. Our important events have seen the association praised on the radio and by national and international press dedicated to the diffusion and propagation of Italian and European culture.
The association also boasts numerous collaborations with institutional bodies, including the City of Rome itself and the 5th Municipio, the supporters and funders of both editions of the Pigneto Spazio Aperto Festival of Independent Culture – created and realised by the associazione No More T. In collaboration with the other ARCI clubs in the Pigneto area, as part of the Estate Romana programme, the association was responsible for the requalification and animation of the Parco del Torrione Prenestino and the Handmades Festival held at the Casa della Cultural at Villa de Sanctis. This latter event was broadcast live during the Battiti programme on RAI Radio3, like the four editions of the Italian psychedelic festival Thalassa hosted by the dal Verme club.
Stunned and concerned by the disproportionate measure of this action, as we work to develop a suitable political-cultural and of course legal response, we have a simple question for those responsible for governing the 5th Municipio of Rome: What does its President Palmieri think of this situation? What are the thoughts of the Councillor for Culture Annunziatina Castello? Is this part of the city governed by the Police or does it remain a strategic area for cultural and social research in Rome?
We are asking each of our members, and all those who over these years have participated in the activities offered by our association, all those who have expressed their appreciation for the work performed each day by volunteers with no other aim or economic benefits, all those who have found the ARCI club “dalVerme” to offer a diverse and horizontal proposal, to all of those who care for us, to sign and share this communication to heighten its effectiveness and relevance. In particular we are asking for testimonials against the outrageousness of this action from musicians, artists, journalists and all those who work each day to advance the field of culture. We will continue to offer our activities outside the Club, together with and supported by our members, aware of the needs of a city that, now more than ever, requires a daily offering of cultural and social alternatives to now rampant acts of banal standardisation and repression.
Those who read this text as an obituary are mistaken: it is only the beginning of a new conflict. If we are not permitted to exist legitimately inside the walls of the Club we have constructed, supported by the spaces and realties who recognise the value of our work and those who have made possible this crazy but forward-thinking project, we will be proposing a dense calendar of events and initiatives to keep our actions alive.
To manifest your opposition to the closure of “dalVerme” we invite you to send an email for the “Riapertura immediata del dalVerme / Immediate Reopening of dalVerme” to the following addresses:
Commissioner of the City of Rome: [email protected]
President of the V Municipio: [email protected]
Councillor for Culture Nunzia Castello: [email protected]
We ask you to attach a copy of the present communication or to unleash your creativity (obviously avoiding any form of insult that would only damage our position and prove counter productive to our aims).
For those who wish to offer economic support to our association that, following its immediate closure, finds itself in dire straits, donations can be made via PayPal to [email protected], or via bank draft to the following account: IBAN IT93F0760105138242959042964, stating that donations are for the “free support of the cultural activities of the associazione No More T”.
..to be continued
