A-Infos (en) Italy, FDCA, Cantiere #46 - Peace First. But What Peace? - Towards the Gravina-Altamura March of October 24, 2026 - Totò Caggese (ca, de, fr, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

On October 24th, we will walk from Gravina to Altamura. A peace march 
born in the heart of the Murgia region, it seeks to unite issues that 
are too often addressed separately: war and rearmament, the 
militarization of territories, environmental devastation, work, 
migration, borders, colonialism, and community self-determination. The 
title chosen by the organizing committee is clear: "Peace First." But 
precisely because the word "peace" has become both necessary and 
overused, perhaps it's worth adding a question: what peace? The question 
isn't meant to divide a march before it even begins. On the contrary. 
Its strength also lies in the plurality of cultures that have chosen to 
support it. As of August 10th, the membership represents a broad 
archipelago comprising pacifist and nonviolent associations, trade 
unions, Catholic and evangelical groups, environmentalists, associations 
committed to solidarity with the Palestinian people, civil society 
groups, municipal administrations, and political forces. Members 
include, among others, ANPI, ARCI, Emergency, Libera, Donne in Nero, Pax 
Christi, the Nonviolent Movement, the Italian Peace and Disarmament 
Network, PeaceLink, CGIL, and COBAS. Libertarian groups are also 
represented, including Venerdì Libertario and the "Torre di Nebbia" 
Study Center, as well as movement groups such as the Casa del Popolo of 
Bari and the MO AVAST! workers' collective.

Not everyone who will walk from Gravina to Altamura on October 24th 
necessarily understands peace in the same way. And perhaps this is one 
of the reasons why that path is worth traveling.

The war also passes through Puglia

The march's appeal has an important merit: it doesn't simply place the 
war far from us. The starting point is the South, and specifically, that 
vast area between Puglia and Basilicata, where the military presence is 
far from marginal. There are the military airports of Amendola, Gioia 
del Colle, Galatina, and Brindisi, the military port of Taranto, the 
military easements scattered across the territory, and the shooting 
ranges in the Alta Murgia National Park.

Before war can be fought, it must be prepared. It requires bases, 
airports, ports, firing ranges, industries, and infrastructure; it 
requires public funding and research, men and women to enlist, and also 
a society in which all this is gradually considered normal.

It is on this last aspect that the dossier prepared for the march offers 
particularly interesting elements. Michele Lucivero, of the Observatory 
against the Militarization of Schools and Universities, reconstructs 
numerous episodes that occurred in Puglia: soldiers called to

schools, training and orientation courses in the ca-

seminars, presentations of military careers to students, visits to Armed 
Forces facilities, and relationships between the university world and 
the military-industrial apparatus.

In Altamura, in January 2026, the "Tommaso Fiore" middle school hosted 
the Italian Navy for an orientation session, significantly titled "The 
Future Is Here," aimed at thirteen-year-olds. In Terlizzi, a military 
career orientation program was organized for high school students; in 
Torre Veneri, approximately five hundred students from various schools 
in Salento were taken to the military base. At the Fiera del Levante in 
Bari, the Observatory notes, the presence of the Army and activities 
aimed at children and young people contribute to familiarizing them with 
the military world.

These are different episodes, and each deserves to be discussed in its 
own context. Taken together, however, they raise a question: when does 
military presence become part of the daily routine of training, where 
does information end and the normalization of military culture begin? 
It's a question a peace march cannot avoid.

Putting back together what power divides

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the Gravina-Altamura appeal is 
that peace is not separated from other social issues. The manifesto 
addresses global capitalism and environmental destruction, colonialism 
and resource appropriation, labor, nuclear power, and territorial 
defense. It speaks of the people forced to abandon their homelands to 
escape war and hunger, and explicitly addresses those fighting "against 
barbed wire on borders."

Peace is thus linked to freedom of movement, the environment, work, and 
territorial self-determination. The appeal's formula is particularly 
fitting: participating in the march means "reuniting what power divides."

Here the march inevitably also encounters a libertarian sensibility, 
because one of the contributions that anarchists and libertarians can 
bring to this pluralistic movement consists precisely in the refusal to 
consider war as a phenomenon separate from the economic, political, and 
social relationships that produce it.

Is being against war enough?

The discussion begins on this point.

Peace can be achieved through very different paths: through Article 11 
of the Constitution, explicitly invoked in the manifesto; through 
nonviolence; or through a religious conception of brotherhood; through 
international law; through solidarity with peoples victimized by war; 
through the need for disarmament; through environmental protection; or 
through internationalism.

The anarchist tradition brings with it a more radical question, which it 
offers to the march as a contribution rather than a verdict: can we 
eliminate war without questioning the structures that continually make 
it possible?

It's not just a matter of asking which government is right and which is 
wrong, which army was the first to cross a border, or which military 
alliance best guarantees our security. For those who come from this 
tradition, the question broadens to include the very existence of armies 
and weapons production, nationalisms and borders, competition between 
states for territory, markets, and resources, colonial relations old and 
new, and an economic system in which even the preparation and conduct of 
war become production, orders, profits, and accumulation.

For this tradition, antimilitarism and pacifism are not necessarily 
synonymous. Antimilitarism doesn't begin the day a war breaks out, nor 
does it end when a ceasefire is signed. It begins much earlier, when a 
society decides how many billions to allocate to weapons rather than 
other needs, builds new military infrastructure, considers opposing 
armies and blocs inevitable, transforms conscription into a normal 
employment opportunity, accustoms children and young people to the 
presence of weapons, and constructs the enemy that, sooner or later, it 
may be necessary to fight.

If we only become pacifists when the bombs fall, we are too late.

One march, many roads

All this doesn't mean to attribute to the Gravina-Altamura march an 
anarchist identity it neither possesses nor claims. Quite the opposite: 
its most interesting characteristic is that it is a pluralistic march. 
Its membership includes Pax Christi and Venerdì Libertario, the 
Nonviolent Movement, trade unions, church associations, left-wing 
groups, environmentalists, and municipal administrations.

We can walk together without having the same ideas about the state, 
religion, violence, property, or revolution. The interesting question is 
understanding what we can do together without renouncing our differences.

Some indications are already coming from the local community. The 
dossier recalls what happened in Gioia del Colle, where the protests 
against the "Run with Joy" footrace within the 36th Wing's base 
contributed to the initiative being moved outside the military facility. 
For Lucivero, this is an example of how civil society action can 
concretely counter the normalization of military culture.

It's a small matter, of course, but it points to a method: organize, 
discuss, and act from the bottom up. And it's significant that the 
Gravina-Altamura appeal also emphasizes this very point, addressing 
those practicing grassroots politics and encouraging them to develop 
concrete projects in their communities. Institutions are called upon to 
join, and some have already done so, but the movement leading to the 
march stems from citizens, associations, committees, and social groups. 
This isn't a minor detail.

On October 24th, and before

The Gravina-Altamura march also fits into a history of mobilizations 
that the manifesto itself calls for: from the previous Gravina-Altamura 
marches to the Scanzano Ionico mobilization, from the battles for the 
Alta Murgia Park to the defense of the coasts, olive trees, and 
landscape, up to the struggles against military bases, pollution, and 
environmental devastation.

October 24th can therefore be more than just a day. It can become an 
opportunity to reconnect experiences that have fought different battles 
over the years and to ask whether there isn't something common behind 
those battles. A military base, a firing range, a border, environmental 
devastation, labor exploitation, and a war are not the same thing: it 
would be simplistic to argue this. But it would be equally simplistic to 
fail to see the connections that can unite them.

Anarchists and libertarians will participate in this discussion with 
their own histories and ideas, not to impart antimilitarism lessons to 
others, but also not to hide their differences behind a generic call for 
peace. Because even among those who reject war, enormous questions 
remain: are there just wars? Can disarmament be entrusted to states that 
are rearming? Is it possible to abolish war while maintaining armies? 
What is the relationship between capitalism and war? Do borders protect 
us from wars or help build the world that makes them possible? And can 
there be authentic peace where domination, exploitation, and oppression 
continue to exist?

You don't need a common answer to get started. Perhaps a march serves 
this purpose too.

On October 24, 2026, from Gravina to Altamura, people from diverse 
backgrounds, cultures, and sensibilities will travel the same path 
together. Even before that day, we can begin to discuss.

First of all, peace. Agreed. But what kind of peace, built by whom and 
founded on what relationships between human beings?

Sources:

"Peace First" appeal for the Gravina-Altamura March on October 24, 2026; 
list of signatures, as of August 10, 2026, the date to which this 
article refers; Michele Lucivero, "The Militarization of Schools, 
Universities, and Civil Society in Puglia," March dossier, still being 
updated at the time of writing: 
https://agorasofia.com/2026/08/06/pace-marcia-gravina-altamura-24-ottobre-2026-dossier-adesione/

https://alternativalibertaria.org/
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