Italy: A Movement Becomes Part of a Growing Trend

With Italians increasingly upset over a stagnating economy and rising unemployment, a relatively new protest group has emerged in the national headlines. Since Dec. 9, the Pitchforks Movement has been staging rallies across the country, blocking highways and rail and subway stations and protesting in front of public buildings. The protests are relatively small, comprising a few thousand people in each city, but they are widespread, stretching from Italy's poor south to its wealthy north.

The Pitchforks Movement is part of a growing trend in Europe. As the unemployment crisis lingers, the traditional representative institutions — political parties and trade unions — are proving incapable of channeling social unrest. In turn, groups that originally represented specific sectors are increasingly receiving support from other parts of the population.