The Purple Movement: An Overview of Berlusconi’s Italy through the Lenses of Social Movement Theory
The Purple Movement: An Overview of Berlusconi’s Italy through the Lenses of Social Movement Theory

Summary/Abstract: Rome, 5th December 2009, 250,000 demonstrators took to the streets of the Italian Capital in order to protest against the politics of the then Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi. On the same day, peaceful sit-ins took place in London, Paris, New York, and all the major cities around the world where the most numerous diasporic Italian communities are based. The protest was entirely created and coordinated on the popular Social Network Site Facebook, and gave birth to a Social Movement called ‘Popolo Viola’, ‘Purple People’. The colour purple was chosen because it was not linked to any political party, as demonstrators felt betrayed by both right and left-wing parties in the administration of the res publica. This paper, which methodology is based on indepth interviews and content analysis, will draw upon Social Movement Theory in order not only to explain the rise and decline of the purple movement, but also to provide an overview of the political, social, and economic Italian context in the Berlusconi’s era.

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