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Cosmos

The Centre on Social Movement Studies

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2026-02-09

Genova 2001 in historical perspective, a conference and a call for papers

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The Italian-German Historical Institute of the Fondazione Bruno Kessler (FBK) is organising a conference on 19-20 November 2026 entitled Europe in Movement(s). Genoa 2001 and Transnational Mobilisations in Historical Perspective. Proposals are invited.

The G8 summit in Genoa (19-22 July 2001) is often described as the high point of the international mobilisation against neoliberal globalisation and, at the same time, as a watershed in the history of social movements in Europe. The protests, the death of Carlo Giuliani, the violence and torture later recognised by the European Court of Human Rights, as well as the long legal proceedings, have made Genoa a crucial laboratory for understanding relations between movements, states, and supranational bodies at the dawn of the twenty-first century. At the same time, scholarship on the Global Justice Movement and the alter-globalisation movement has highlighted the transnational and strongly European character of this cycle of protest: networks such as the Association for the Taxation of Financial Transactions and for Citizens’ Action (Attac), the Genoa Social Forum, the Indymedia networks, and the World and European Social Forums redefined democratic practices, organisational forms, and political imaginaries that continued to circulate well beyond 2001 and fuelled subsequent mobilisations against war, against austerity, for the climate, and for the rights of migrants.

Keynote speakers
Donatella Della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore)
Ilaria Favretto (Institute of Languages, Cultures and Societies, School of Advanced Study, University of London/Kingston University)

Submission guidelines
Interested scholars are invited to submit:
a) An abstract (maximum 400-500 words, in English or Italian) including:
• title of the paper;
• research question and theoretical framework;
• sources and methodology;
• main expected results.
b) A short CV (max. 2 pages) including institutional affiliation, main relevant publications, and email address.

The application, complete with all required documentation, must be sent in pdf format by email to the following address: europeinmovements@fbk.eu by 12:00 (noon) CET on 2 March 2026.

Conference grants
A total of 9 conference grants will be awarded.
Each grant will be paid in a single instalment, up to a maximum of €300, as reimbursement to cover documented travel and accommodation expenses. Meals (the conference dinner on 19 November 2026) will be covered by the institute hosting the conference.
Where possible, the Foundation reserves the right to increase the number of grants during the same period and for the same purpose, with the aim of supporting and recognising a greater number of deserving proposals.

Selection and publication
Proposals will be evaluated by the scientific committee on the basis of:
• Relevance and scholarly quality of the proposal, taking into account the originality of the contribution and its potential impact on the academic community.
• Academic and professional background, with particular reference to research experience, publications, and institutional affiliations.

The outcome of the selection will be communicated by mid-March 2026.
Those whose proposals are accepted must confirm their acceptance or withdrawal within 7 working days of receiving the acceptance notification.

Scientific committee
Donatella Della Porta (Scuola Normale Superiore); Cecilia Nubola (FBK – Italian-German Historical Institute); Giulio Taccetti (University of Turin).

For any further information, please write to: europeinmovements@fbk.eu

News

Publications

Edited Volume - 2026

Conspiracism and Political Conflict

Manuela Caiani, Marco Solinas, Hans-Jorg Trenz

Monograph - 2025

Free download for "Contentious Politics of Global Health Movements"

Donatella Della Porta, Stella Christou

Journal Article - 2025

Communication creates partial organization: A comparative analysis of the organizing practices of two climate action movements, Youth for Climate and Fridays for Future Italy

Marco Deseriis, Lorenzo Zamponi, Diego Ceccobelli
This article focuses on a neglected aspect of the climate action movement Fridays for Future, namely, the relationship between its mediated communication practices and its early organizational processes. Drawing from a strand of organizational communication that underscores the constitutive dimension of communication to organizing processes, we analyze the significance of mediatized leadership and networked communication for the foundation and early development of two national chapters of Fridays for Future: Youth for Climate (YFC) Belgium and Fridays for Future Italy (FFFI).

Journal Article - 2025

Power resources, territory and labour conflicts in the logistic sector

Donatella Della Porta, Marco Antonelli