pollution

A Little Oil Po
Elena Violato interview with Teleimmagini and Insutv

Un Po di petrolio - A little Oil Po is the title of a documentary / complaint made by two groups of media activists. We interviewed them.

Crisis of non-renewable energy sources, environmental disasters, massive overbuilding, pollution, nuclear power, speculation, destruction, resource wars, rapes, the sixth mass extinction of species ... The world is changing, it is often said, for the worse it could be added. The devastation of the environment by the human being becomes more massive and dangerous for the man himself. But few seem to really give weight to the situation. But there is someone with a daily task that relies on the diffusion of information from the bottom up, creating small recesses of consciousness, slowly multiply and expand. From February 18 to 20 this year was presented in three different locations in Milan and the hinterland the video documentary "Un Po di petrolio. " Project, a collaboration between Insutv Naples and Teleimmagini of Bologna, the video tells of the oil spill in the River Lambro in February 2010 and provides valuable information that in the days of the 'incident' has been duly silenced by the mass media. During the three meetings has created an opportunity to address more fully the issues concerning environmental degradation, from historical, reporting various incidents that occurred since the early twentieth century (reflecting the fact that one can not speak of "incidents" but of integral parts of capitalist production system), reaching the present day (for example, the approaching of Expo2015). Following an interview to Teleimmagini and Insutv. E.V.

First of all I would say about you: Teleimmagini and Insutv. Could you describe these two projects?
Insutv was born in Naples in the winter of 2003, with the explosion Anglo-American aggression in Iraq. It starts with simple anti-war dramas like "La famiglia Pace - The Family Peace" continues in the wake of telestreet, first with a barely visible pirate channel on air, then on the roof of Officina99, with a town covering nearly 24 hours on 24; switching from the format Live to documentaries and news, to instant video ... today we no longer have a channel, since the transition to digital so we launched a provincial campaign in Naples for a nonprofit digital channel.
We deal mainly with production and we have a crew bound for Libya and Tunisia and soon in Haiti.
Teleimmagini is a collective of media activists in the field of independent communication. It's born in Bologna in 2000 to practice and socialize communication from below, through the sharing of resources and technological knowledge. It sets up a Telestreet channel that broadcasts from the tower of the social channel UHF71 Autogestito Ex Mercato24 (XM24) for some years.
In the following years several projects have been carried out with various related in the Italian territory ("Fratelli di TAV - Brothers of TAV" with CandidaTV and InsuTv, "Via Padova è meglio di Milano - Via Padova is better than Milan" with InsuTv, etc.). In addition, projects have been launched from to strengthen the bottom of international cooperation the structures of communication with the people in popular resistance in Colombia, Mexico, Cuba.
Among the best known material produced is the documentary "Colpo al Cuore - Shot in the Heart" that speaks of the killing of Umberto I by Gaetano Bresci, the series of shorts entitled "Rotsuma" short "Bolognina Trilogy" on poverty and speculation building or "Schiaccia il razzismo -Smash Racism" to name a few. All available online.

How did the collaboration for the realization of "Un Po di petrolio - A Little Po of Oil"?
This effort has run only possible through the efforts of new players, which were not part of either Insutv or Teleimmagini but acknowledged the value; aggressive machine of Isabel Urru and Viktor Bosnjak, within the space of XM24 Bologna, thanks to volunteer efforts of many others, has developed an idea that came back from the COP15 in Copenhagen. Participation in international counter-summit created a breeding ground and an affinity between people on environmental issues. This group through the organization of dinners was able to fund the costs of shooting in various postings. Got all the material needed to assemble the documentary, under the collective name of the fictional director Nicola Angrisano, has managed to create this mini-investigation.

The documentary ... You can make a summary for those who have not yet had the pleasure of seeing it?
A bit of oil, partly from the banks of the river Po, in the days following the intentional spill of oil into the Lambro, in February 2010. Following the banks we come to Villasanta (Monza-Brianza, Italy) where there is Lombarda Oils, this oil fuel storage site.
This is a sabotage, surely there's more, but also the judges, after a year find it difficult to identify those responsible.
Between eco-estate speculation in Expo2015, 'Ndrangheta and policies of removal of agricultural land, a bit of oil reaches ministerial body that tells what happened during the emergency. Some members of the crisis unit that prefer to remain anonymous, tell us about the role of civil defense and military genius ...
The documentary is fully available online and on more platforms that video on ethical audio and video archiving projects such as arav.ventuordici.org.

You have done many presentations around Italy?
We will arrive at a score of twenty projections in about 3 months after issue, a few thousand views on the Internet, discrete press attention than a year from a disaster that, in our view, was too quickly digested by the media ...

What is the purpose of this type of counter-information?
Almost one year after the spill we made two presentations in Villasanta and Arcore, pushing committees and citizens to keep vigilant on the latest forgotten ecological disaster. We want the environmental associations and citizens become active and they were in the front row, with opposition front to the continuous destruction of the environment. Not only when events like this bring to the attention of the disaster, but every day, every day because sites such as that of TAV, incinerators, landfills, petrochemical, etc.. produce harmful enriched at the expense of human health and contaminating the surrounding environment.

In this society, where every day we are bombarded with information it still makes sense to situations and information projects from the bottom?
It makes no sense to produce information in the era of media manipulation, as it makes no sense agit-prop in the age of immobility, but so much so that after years of active classical militancy, the other side of media came to us after Seattle in 2001 with the globalforum of Naples, Genoa G8 and other international rallies, is an important result itself. This means that it is a strategic location for some of us who would withdraw to private life without this kind of experience. We will be active, we react with our indignation, in the hope that our efforts have an effect.

Specifically, the combination of environmental issues/media-activism you think has brought added value to territorial fights which multiply more and more? Have you noticed that the push to create awareness to give a position and activation of the people?
Often the classical language is not effective to move the common people, here is where the images are of key importance. For example in the case of Naples Terzigno certainly was.
Remember the last mobilization of anti-dumping in autumn 2010? Well there was only one activation of the garrison that he had not seen and had not formed with "Una montagna di balle - A mountain of lies" just on the waste and the incinerator business.
The project on which work is intended to ferry out of the movement inside the society universal slogans such as public goods defense, anti-racism and anti-militarism. The idea that a wider audience can be achieved with our work is already happening through the internet and the many projections that monthly share, organize and ideas often outside the channels of strictly "movement" between the associations, committees, cultural circles, festivals and many public places away from activism.
From time to time, our jobs are finished even on TV, in people's homes. Would be the best time to assess the real impact.
Unfortunately, "the movement" has not yet been provided with real tools of analysis ...