Volunteer Emergency Brigades - Milan

= "Brigate Volontarie Per L’Emergenza".

URL = https://communemag.com/its-time-to-build-the-brigades/?

Contextual Quote

"The most important thing, he tells us, is to act with ethics, to meet the situation, and to show that autonomous groups are better providers than the government, better carers than the employers, better able to meet the needs that exist. You do that by showing that you are organized and serious. Once that trust and credibility has been established, partisans can show that those who died from the virus were victims of capitalism not casualties of an accident of fate. A pandemic is a unique occasion, it spreads everywhere among the people and in that creates a situation common to many, all across the world. It’s time to build the brigades."

- "Valerio" [1]

Description

"At the time Valerio spoke to Commune from the apartment in Milan where he coordinates operations for the Volunteer Emergency Brigades (Brigate Volontarie Per L’Emergenza), they had over 180 trained volunteers working in teams across the city, and many more waiting for training. This was on March 23, and the situation in Northern Italy had deteriorated rapidly, he told me, largely due to the terrible decisions of the people in power. Even as the epidemic was exploding, the national union of restaurateurs distributed a video, with the hashtag #wewontstop, encouraging people to go out, to eat in restaurants and drink in bars. Confindustria, the association of industrialists, has repeatedly lobbied the government to keep factories and workshops open even as the armies patrol the streets and the death toll rises. On March 21, the Italian government took the unprecedented step of closing the factories, but even then Confindustria managed to lobby to keep them open for a few more days.

The work the partisan brigades do is largely non-medical. All over Milan hundreds of people are trapped in their houses, without food, without hygienic supplies like sanitizers and masks, and without adequate medical care. They are sometimes stuck in abusive or dangerous situations, or struggling psychologically. As in numerous cities around the world, Milan’s hospitals now take only the sickest people, telling most confirmed and presumptive positive cases to isolate at home, and many vulnerable people cannot risk venturing out. This is where the brigades come in. They’ve divided the city into nine zones, each one named for a famous partisan. Their call centers receive requests from all over and dispatch teams to deliver supplies, or they put people in touch with counselors. Right now, the challenge is finding more food. They need pallets of food, tons. They also hope to get a big shipment of personal protective equipment, which they will distribute in neighborhoods. They can now refer people to psychologists in their homes. The thing they really want to be able to do is help all the children trapped at home, and all the parents without childcare, but that is very complicated."

Discussion

Public Health vs Private Interests

Commune:

"the situation in Northern Italy had deteriorated rapidly, he told me, largely due to the terrible decisions of the people in power. Even as the epidemic was exploding, the national union of restaurateurs distributed a video, with the hashtag #wewontstop, encouraging people to go out, to eat in restaurants and drink in bars. Confindustria, the association of industrialists, has repeatedly lobbied the government to keep factories and workshops open even as the armies patrol the streets and the death toll rises. On March 21, the Italian government took the unprecedented step of closing the factories, but even then Confindustria managed to lobby to keep them open for a few more days."