Rebel for life: the culture of climate movements in Italy

Nowadays, contemporary global society is dealing with diverse experiences of criticality, including an unprecedented climate and ecological crisis. In response to the worsening ecoclimate crisis and the failures of the United Nations COP, several climate movements have emerged around the world. In the Western countries, a new wave of climate movements began in 2018, with the creation of collectives like Fridays For Future (FFF) and Extinction Rebellion (XR), revitalizing "climate activism". In just a few years, there has also been a rapid radicalization of climate activism and its repertoires of action, with the emergence of movements like Ultima Generazione (UG) in Italy, or Just Stop Oil (JSO) in the United Kingdom, implementing increasingly disruptive direct actions such as vandalizing artworks in museums and blocking streets. The research aims to analyse the discourses and practices of climate movements operating in Italy, which is a hotspot of the current ecoclimate crisis. Precisely, this research focuses on how climate movements’ ideas about nature and ecoclimate crisis are implemented through a set of practices of collective action, such as nonviolent civil disobedience and care practices. This research focuses on the climate movements Extinction Rebellion Italy and Ultima Generazione. The research has consisted of participant observation of meetings, workshops and public protests of climate movements in Venice, Padua and Rome, which lasted from November 2023 to December 2024. Moveover, I conducted semi-structured interviews with twenty climate activists, by deepening their biographical path, their ideas about nature and ecoclimate crisis, and the meanings associated with practices of climate activism. The research aims at a cross-analysis of data derived from participant observation and qualitative interviews, by exploring how climate movements implement ideas about nature and ecoclimate crisis through certain practices of collective action.