Abstract

This article discusses how the issue of precarity has developed into a new catalyst for activism in Italy and demonstrates how this activism is linked to changes in the employment and capitalist manufacturing environment of the 1980s and 1990s. It links events in Italy to the activism of the global anti-neoliberal movement and discusses how various activist movements (the independent Marxist tradition, creative activism, social activism, Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender (LGBT), radical feminist activism) are mobilizing around the issue of precarity. This article focuses specifically on the activist network ‘Precari su Marte’ (Precarious on Mars) which has been active in Turin since 2005. It demonstrates how the theoretical and practical evolution of this network has led to various outcomes, including experimenting with creative forms of political practice at MayDay demonstrations and questioning the boundaries of gender.