Hippies and Anarchists

Turin, Italy

After an uncomfortable, unsuccessful hitchhiking attempt from Milan, we take tickets for a city halfway between Milan and Turin and take the train all the way to the latter (ha... shameless). We go there because the mountains begin not too far off, supposedly. We arrive at the Turin train station to outside rain.

Heads protected under the roof of the building, we meet a blue-eyed young man carrying a khoi stick in his bag and strike up a conversation. After a two year long voyage in the Middle East and India, the Florence native returned to Italy and decided to become trained in the arts. Currently studying at one of the two theater schools in Turin, he performs stick tricks on the street and trains in professional pantomime. With his help, he directed us to the city's largest farmer's market and oldest continuing squat.

By the time we arrived to the farmer's market, tractors were already on the sight to clear off the day's waste. But of course, we happily grabbed the best leftover fruits and vegetables on the ground, ones too poor in sight to be sold but edible to anyone with hungry stomachs for eyes. Having witnessed us glean the market floor with wide smiles, one woman at the bus stop gave us each a piece of bread, a gesture she justified ˝because your love is beautiful.˝

{again, the wastebaskets of europe forgotten with no visual image memory of its existence}

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The squat is amazing. 18 years of free water and free electricity, fighting for 'off-the-official-grids' existence in a city still steeped in ancient Roman ruins and winter Olympic Games souvenirs. 

A full gym of found parts, where we slept like royals
(after our experiences in Milan, we bought a mosquito net)

bikes collected furniture toys flags hallways doors, welcome?

The dining hall outside

Living room with foosball table

PLUS a swimming pool, an outdoor shower, a large kitchen, and three (?) stories. The inhabitants know how to squat the world in style. The im/permanent residents are composed of Italians from all boot-part regions, Parisian French, Barcelonan Spanish, Tunisians and Algerian Maghrebs:

THUS a swimming pool of bodies floating to this corner of the world; together, they say, "Fuck this."

At the time, they were all preparing for an action. I forget the details, but I think an earlier confrontation with cops revolved as the center of conversation.

Needless to say, our presence there was little more than functionally useless, 'parasitics' we were to a system of perpetually forgotten waste, now asking the anarchists activists of this local community for a free crash on their gym floor.

In your honor, I offer a whimsical story about anarchists and hippies
"believe in what you want to believe, at least you do something about it"

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[A rough draft of an unspoken dispute not yet published]
In a conversation among a cosmomix of Iberian and Mediterranean anarchists in northern Italy, the topic of hippies come into conversation; much later, another sunny day, in an anarchist shop in Perpignan, France, the same topic arises and stirs up the talk of that other idealist, the hippie, disassociated.

Their objections: this archetype of action is... false...? why escape to nature? the state is what you want to confront (my objections: like a mirror? like Nietzsche says the slave sees himself through the master?)

[far yonder, someone whispers: 'jesus is coming'; later, he scribbles it on the wall]

'the hippie' in defense of itself, who would want to live continuing to perpetuate this packaging garbage this food garbage this eco garbage that you can swim in, float in pools and Pacific oceans in, let's all escape from the reality of dystopia

anarchist: what i do could change the dystopia. but first, you must resist it, resist its co-optation of everyday life by capitalist ideology.

On a windy day, much later, three [Asian-American] women walk together, deciding "I - a hippie-anarchist" cannot yet provoke criticism of those who have:
come to face 'ecology' - asked what is nature? what kind of relationship do i want to have?
come to face 'social economy' asked what is it that i want? how do i want it to manifest?
we have come to ask such questions ourselves, putting on this temporary shield.

for currents actions to come close to revolution, you need to decide already how it is that you want to live, so you may live out its consequences. marx left out an ethical guide to ecological/economic survival. guess he didn't see that women were working for free, supplying all that care labor at the price of inequality. we still have a long story of freedom to learn, so immerse yourself in the field.