Waves in Cycle: The protests against anti-contagion measures and vaccination in Covid-19 times in Italy


Abstract


Since the beginning of the pandemic, while progressive movements have mainly focused on social inequalities exacerbated by the sanitary emergency, a number of protests emerged and quickly became visible that initially targeted the policies taken to reduce contagion and subsequently focused on the vaccine and vaccination. In the attempt to account for the rapid development of these protests, social scientists have mostly turned to classical approaches used in the analysis of far-right organizations and sects, looking at broad transformations in society or at fear and a sense of insecurity at the individual level. In this article, we build upon a social movement approach to look at the main characteristics of the protests against anti-contagion measures. From a theoretical point of view, we point to the importance of disentangling the specific waves happening within broader protest cycles. Empirically, focusing on the Italian case, we present a novel development in protest event analysis looking at the specific forms of action, the actors involved, and their claims in two waves of contention during the pandemic in Italy, between 2020 and 2021.

DOI Code: 10.1285/i20356609v15i3p720

Keywords: anti-contagion measures; Covid-19; Italy; protest event analysis; vaccination

References


Alteri L., L. Parks, L. Raffini, and T. Vitale (2021), “Covid-19 and the Structural Crisis of Liberal Democracies. Determinants and Consequences of the Governance of Pandemic”, Partecipazione e Conflitto, 14(1): 01-37.

Ansa (2022), “No vax denunciano ricatto vaccinale governo, modulo in chat”, 17 January 2022, accessed 1 March 2022:

Ansa (2021), “Trieste, perché protestano i portuali e chi è Stefano Puzzer”, 18 October 2021, accessed 17 November 2021: https://www.ansa.it/sito/notizie/cronaca/2021/10/18/dopo-la-protesta-al-porto-trieste-e-la-capitale-no-pass-e-puzzer-suo-leader_1217f1ce-54e6-46bd-81bc-a50efcdfa54e.html

Bargain O., U. Aminjonov (2020), “Trust and Compliance to Public Health Policies in Times of COVID-19”, IZA Institute of Labor Economics, Discussion Paper No. 13205

Barros Leal Farias D., G. Casarões, and D. Magalhães (2022), “Radical Right Populism and the Politics of Cruelty: The Case of Covid-19 in Brazil Under President Bolsonaro”, Global Studies Quarterly 2(2), April 2022: ksab048.

Beissinger M. R. (2002), Nationalist Mobilization and the Collapse of the Soviet State. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Bicchieri C., E. Fatas, A. Aldama, A. Casas, I. Deshpande, M. Lauro, C. Parilli, M. Spohn, P. Pereira, and R. Wen (2021), “In science we (should) trust: Expectations and compliance across nine countries during the Covid-19 pandemic”, PLoS ONE 16(6): e0252892.

Brodeur A., I. Grigoryeva, and L. Kattan (2021), “Stay-at-home orders, social distancing, and trust”. Journal of Population Economics 34: 1321–1354.

Brubaker R. (2021), “Paradoxes of populism during the pandemic”, Thesis Eleven 164(1): 73–87.

Charron J., A. Gautier, and C. Jestin (2020), “Influence of information sources on vaccine hesitancy and practices”, Med Mal Infect 50(8): 727–733.

Corriere della Sera (2022), “Milano, prof (no vax) sospeso e senza stipendio in sciopero della fame davanti all’ingresso della scuola”, 7 February 2022, accessed 1 March 2022: https://milano.corriere.it/notizie/cronaca/22_febbraio_07/milano-prof-no-vax-sospeso-senza-stipendio-sciopero-fame-all-ingresso-scuola-af980286-87fa-11ec-8804-7df4f9fb61d8.shtml

Della Porta, D. (2022a), Contentious politics in emergency critical junctures: Progressive social movements during the pandemic, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Della Porta, D. (2022b), “Expanding protest event analysis through videos”, Draft paper.

Della Porta, D., S. Tarrow (1986), “Unwanted children: Political violence and the cycle of protest in Italy, 1966–1973”, European Journal of Political Research 14(5-6): 607–632.

Di Miceli J. (2021), “Chi c’è dietro le manifestazioni ‘no Green Pass’ in Italia”, Vice, 12 August 2021, accessed 9 May 2022: https://www.vice.com/it/article/z3xkka/proteste-no-green-pass-italia

Fillieule O., M. Jiménez (2003), “Appendix A: The ethodology of Protest Event Analysis and the media politics of reporting environmental protest events”, in C. Rootes (Ed.), Environmental Protest in Western Europe, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 258–79.

Freeman, D., F. Waite, L. Rosebrock, A. Petit, C. Causier, A. East, L. Jenner, A.L. Teale, L. Carr, S. Mulhall, E. Bold, S. Lambe (2022), “Coronavirus conspiracy beliefs, mistrust, and compliance with government guidelines in England”, Psychological Medicine 52(2): 251¬–263.

Fronte del Dissenso (2021), “Scopi e funzionamento del Fronte del Dissenso”, Marcia della Liberazione, 6 October 2021, accessed 9 May 2022: https://www.marciadellaliberazione.it/post/scopi-e-funzionamento-del-fronte-del-dissenso

Galanopoulos A., and G. Venizelos (2021), “Anti-populism and Populist Hype During the COVID-19 Pandemic”, Representation: Journal of Representative Democracy 58(2): 251–268.

Gerbaudo P. (2020), “The pandemic crowd”, Journal of International Affairs, 73(2): 61–76.

Giannoli V. (2022), “Divise di deportati e volantini sulla Shoah, l’ultimo oltraggio dei No Vax nel giorno della memoria”, La Repubblica, 27 January 2022, accessed 15 March 2022, https://www.repubblica.it/cronaca/2022/01/27/news/divise_di_deportati_e_volantini_sulla_shoah_l_ultimo_oltraggio_dei_no_vax_nel_giorno_della_memoria-335467807/?ref=RHTP-BH-I322793271-P6-S1-T1

Harambam, J., S. Aupers (2015), “Contesting epistemic authority. Conspiracy theories on the boundaries of science”, Public Understanding of Science 24(4): 466–480.

HuffPost (2021), “No Vax in piazza contro il green pass, manifestazioni in 80 città”, 24 July 2021, accessed 17 November 2021: https://www.huffingtonpost.it/entry/no-vax-in-piazza-contro-il-green-pass-manifestazioni-in-80-citta_it_60fbfee4e4b0a807eeb23cf9/

Hutter S. (2014), “Protest Event Analysis and its Offspring”, in D. della Porta (Ed.), Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 335–367.

Il Fatto Quotidiano (2021), “Assalto alla Cgil, eseguite altre sei misure cautelari: anche il leader veronese di Forza Nuova, Luca Castellini”, 30 October 2021, accessed 20 November 2021: https://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2021/10/30/assalto-alla-cgil-eseguite-altre-sei-misure-cautelari-anche-il-leader-veronese-di-forza-nuova/6374015/

Il Gazzettino (2022), “Sciopero della fame contro il green pass: la lotta solitaria del prof no vax”, 16 February 2022, accessed 1 March 2022: https://www.ilgazzettino.it/nordest/treviso/sciopero_della_fame_contro_green_pass_prof_liceo-6507287.html

Il Tempo (2022), “Il prof no-vax Tutino fa lo sciopero della fame e ottiene l’esenzione dal vaccino”, 13 January 2022, accessed 1 March 2022: https://www.iltempo.it/politica/2022/01/13/news/davide-tutino-sciopero-fame-contro-vaccino-green-pass-esenzione-no-vax-obbligo-governo-draghi-covid-30086238/

Koopmans, R. (2004) “Protest in Time and Space: The Evolution of Waves of Contention”, in D.A. Snow, S.A. Soule, H. Kriesi (Eds.), The Blackwell Companion to Social Movements, Oxford: Blackwell, pp. 19–46.

Koopmans R., D. Rucht (2002), “Protest Event Analysis”, in B. Klandermans, S. Staggenborg (Eds.), Methods of Social Movement Research, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press, pp. 231–259.

Katsambekis G., Y. Stavrakis (2020), “Populism and the Pandemic: A Collaborative Report”, Populismus Interventions No. 7 (special edition), Thessolinki, June 2020.

Kriesi H., R. Koopmans, J.W. Duyvendak, and M. Giugni (1995), New Social Movements in Western Europe: A Comparative Analysis, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press.

Lindekilde L. (2014), “Discourse and Frame Analysis: In-Depth Analysis of Qualitative Data in Social Movement Research”, in D. della Porta (Ed.), Methodological Practices in Social Movement Research, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 195–227.

McCarthy J.D., C. McPhail, and J. Smith (1996a), “Images of Protest: Dimensions of Selection Bias in Media Coverage of Washington Demonstrations, 1982 and 1991”, American Sociological Review, 61(3): 478–99.

Open (2021), “La caccia ai virologi e le minacce di impiccare i politici: tra indirizzi e numeri di telefono, i lunghi mesi dell’odio No Green Pass”, 13 December, accessed 2 March 2022: https://www.open.online/2021/12/13/covid-19-no-green-pass-caccia-virologi-politici/

Rafael S. (2021), “Conspiracy ideologies during the Pandemic: the rise of QAnon in Europe. Online: https://www.hopenothate.org.uk/europeanstateofhate-the-rise-of-qanon/

Rucht D., P. Hocke, and T. Ohlemacher (1992), “Dokumentation und Analyse von Protestreignissen in der Bundesrepublik Deutschland (Prodat)”, Discussion Paper III 92–103, Social Scence Research Center Berlin WZB.

Schließler C., O. Decker and N. Hellweg (2020), Aberglaube, Esoterik und Verschwörungsmentalität in Zeiten der Pandemie. In E. Brähler & O. Decker (Hrsg.), Autoritäre Dynamiken: Alte Ressentiments - neue Radikalität: Leipziger Autoritarismus Studie 2020 (S. 283–308). Gießen: Psychosozial-Verlag

Sky (2020), “Napoli, proteste e scontri in piazza dopo le chiusire notturne e l’ipotesi lockdown”, 24 October 2020, accessed 25 October 2021: https://tg24.sky.it/cronaca/2020/10/24/proteste-napoli-chiusure-covid#00

Sky (2020), “Firenze, scontri al corteo non autorizzato contro il Dpcm. Quattro arresti e venti denunce”, 31 October 2020, accessed 25 Ocotber 2021: https://tg24.sky.it/cronaca/2020/10/30/firenze-manifestazione-anti-dpcm-cariche

Snow D., C. Bernatzky (2022), “Anti-vaccine Movement (United States)”, in D. Snow, D. della Porta, D. Mcadam, and B. Klandermans (eds.), the Wiley Blackwell Encyclopedia of Political and Social Movements. Second Edition, London: Blackwell.

Teune S. (2021a), “Protest in Stuttgart 2010 und 2020. Zwei Herausforderungen der Demokratie”, Bundeszentrale für politische Bildung, available at: https://m.bpb.de/apuz/stuttgart-2021/326245/protest-in-stuttgart-2010-und-2020-zwei-herausforderungen-der-demokratie

Teune S. (2021b). Querdenken und die Bewegungsforschung – Neue Herausforderung oder déjàvu? Forschungsjournal Soziale Bewegungen: Analysen zu Demokratie und Zivilgesellschaft, 34(2), 326–334. https://doi.org/10.1515/fjsb-2021-0029

Tarrow S. (1974), Power in Movement. Social Movements, Collective Action and Politics, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Vieten U.M. (2020), “The “New Normal” and “Pandemic Populism”: The COVID-19 Crisis and AntiHygienic Mobilisation of the Far-Right”, Social Sciences, 9(9): 165.

Wodak R. (2020), “Normalization to the right: Analyzing the micro-politics of the far-right”, in S.D. Ashe, J. Busher, G. Macklin, A. Winter (Eds.), Researching the Far Right: Theory, Method and Practice. London: Routledge.

Wondreys J., C. Mudde (2022), “Victims of the Pandemic? European Far-right Parties and COVID-19”, Nationalities Papers 50(1): 86–103.


Full Text: PDF

Refbacks

  • There are currently no refbacks.
Bookmark and Share


Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribuzione - Non commerciale - Non opere derivate 3.0 Italia License.