we ask an agreement to this document from all the people that
support us. thanks.

mail: medialab@voyanet.org

CENTRO SOCIALE AURO - FREAKNET MEDIALAB - CATANIA

for the latest news, check http://www.freaknet.org

Around thirty city councilmen, guided by Marco Consoli (CCD), want the
communal Committee to commit an investigation: " clarifying the crimes
contested to the occupants of the " Centro Sociale Aurio", to motivate the
break of the convention stipulated between the Last Communal
Administration and the Association "Lorenzo Aiello"(ex Auro) for the
allocation of the spaces in via S.Maria del Rosario (ndt. Catania -
Italy)". With this demand, in short, it seems that the communal council
instead of the judges can place sentences, since we know that no sentence
has been emitted for these crimes (which crimes?) which would motivate the
break of the convention.

The " crime " of occupation, contested however before the stipulation of
the convention, and the consequent other " crimes ", have concurred to
give back to the citizens a good they were deprived, and to create a
useful place for those who think that socialization, art, music and
culture are not synonymous with " business ", but are the needs of all,
not only of those that can afford them.  In the course of the last decade,
in the premises of via S.Maria del Rosario, numerous demonstrations have
been carried out (another " serious crime ") to which thousands of youths
have participated, demonstrations which always organized without any type
of financing from the communal administration and in a nonprofit way.  
The same premises, reduced to garbage in the years of the abandonment and
strongly degraded, have been cleaned up, rendered fit for use and, in
part, restructured from the " occupants " (in the opinion of councilman
Consoli " outlaws ").  The last Communal Administration in July ' 98,
after some months from the last evacuation, recognizing the valour of the
experience of the social center Auro, decided to underwrite a convention
that allowed the activities to keep on, except for the organization of
concerts, for which it would have been engaged to supply other spaces. It
promised also some indispensable jobs of restructure.  These noble intents
on the paper, although were never realized.

Besides this, the association Lorenzo Aiello has respected the agreements,
organizing extensions, presentations of books, activating some services:
one of them the " multiethnic ludoteca ", one of the few succesful
attempts of real racial integration, and various laboratories especially
the Medialab: currently one of the main activities of the Auro, that
carries out courses of " informatic alphabetization " setting up a network
of about fifteen computers connected to the Internet for surfing, giving
free email services and organizing courses promoting the use of Linux and
the opensource philosophy. They are taking advantage of mostly old
computers, donated and recycled (ndt. from the garbage).
All things that never demanded financing.
The social center is also in a " problematic " neighbourhood like "la
Civita ", in which the wave of human relations that got created thru the
years between many various subjects, is a patrimony nobody can even think
to give a price. For sure councilman Consoli, or somebody at his will, has
already come up with this price and that is how much could be earned from
a beautiful speculation on the premises of the center, in order to pack an
agency for the temporary job allocation in its place, proposal pushed from
Alleanza Nazionale (ndt. italian right wing party).
The message of this majority is all in all very clear:  we don't give a
fuck about the needs of thousands of youths that in these nine years have
animated the centro sociale AURO, indeed we put in its place a structure
that will serve to better take advantage of the same youths in the
sign of new flexible Capitalism.  If then with this operation we close
also one of the little voices of dissent in Catania (the Auro always
has been to the flank of the laborers, of the immigrates, of the
homosexuals, of the antiprohibitionists in the their fights) the circle is
closed.

Nobody should be deceived that we will stand by watching all this;  we
care about this experience and we will defend it, also with the help of
those who express solidarity with us, sharing our dream for an open
society in which rights and needs of people are respected. We invite
therefore the Communal Administration not to follow thru with this 
inopportune demand coming from neo-Torquemadas, inquisitioners that to
the dawn of the third millenium still get prepared, in our city, to burn
witches. It would not be of good auspice.