Chapter 1. Local Conflict Between Interest and Identity

In this monograph we shall analyse these two protest campaigns, which social sciences would generally classify as being related to locally unwanted land use (LULU), considering them in light of the principal hypotheses in the sociological literature on local conflict, as well as locating them within the literature on global movements. Protest campaigns against large-scale public works usually take place within a local context. If the aggregation of needs and interests in a given territory is certainly not a new phenomenon, in the 1990s we see growing analytical focus on new forms of protest, which have been portrayed as limited and localised.

It has been observed that those seeking to defend the quality of life in a limited territory tend to oppose public works that are seen as either compromising ecological equilibrium (e.g. refuse incinerators) or compromising public security (e.g. insertion of unwanted social groups in their territory). The presence of localised conflicts has met with great concern, given the multiplication in both these types of LULU protests in recent years (della Porta 2004a).

Chapter 2. Networks and Cross-Fertilisation 

The words of this activist underline a frequently mentioned problem for social movements, namely that the presence of a controversy does not transform automatically into collective action, particularly of a mass nature, as mobilisation of the discontented is required for this to happen. Mobilisation in both our protest campaigns is potentially very difficult, having to address complex technical questions and oppose the discourse of project promoters who promise economic advantages for the communities affected.

In this chapter we shall see how these problems were confronted through a networked organisational structure, which expanded during the protest, adopting instruments of flexible coordination. We underline the wealth of resources that the different actors brought to the protest, as well as the tensions that a "multicolour" mobilisation of a "thousand voices" inevitably brings. In doing so we shall analyse the different advantages and challenges for the network during the distinct phases of a protest campaign.

Chapter 3. Protest and Identity

In this chapter we shall focus on the effect that the enlargement of the protest networks has on the definition of the identity of protesters, their motivation to protest and their definition of what is at stake in the protest. As a No Tav activist observes, "the wealth of the movement is precisely in this, the capacity, not only ours but of people more generally, of finding a new way to stay together, despite being different" (IVS 1).

As we shall see, the growth of the mobilisation is reflected in the tensions (typical of protests against large-scale infrastructural projects) between local identity and global reach, defence of the environment and common goods, demands for administrative decentralisation and participation from below. In the following pages we shall look at the effects of mobilisation on the emergence and evolution of frames relating to the definition of the identity of the actor (section 2), the diagnosis and prognosis of the problem (section 3), and finally the motivation for action (section 4).

Chapter 4. In Movement

Protest is defined in the sociology of social movements as a "resource of the powerless ...[protest forms] depend for success not upon direct utilization of power, but upon activating other groups to enter the political arena" (Lipsky 1965: 1). Protest uses the mass media as indirect channels of participation and allows alliances with more influential actors. In order to obtain a voice, social movements "employ methods of persuasion and coercion which are, more often than not, novel, unorthodox, dramatic and of questionable legitimacy" (Wilson 1973: 227).

The same non-conventionality of protest allows those without power to be heard through the channels of the mass media. Large public demonstrations, disruptive direct actions or even symbolically innovative initiatives are those most capable of attracting the attention of public opinion.

Chapter 5. Voices of the Valley, Voices of the Straits

Studies of earlier conflicts over the construction of high-impact infrastructural projects have tended to consider the interests, values and preferences of actors as being exogenous to the conflict, characterising them either as egotistic Nimby protests or as social conflicts related to the competing conceptions of the territory, as linked to its values of use or values of exchange. Our perspective here has been to focus on how the actors themselves define their interests, values and preferences. These definitions evolve through a symbolic struggle over identity, motivations for action, and a definition of what is at stake.