Catholics in the Making of the Italian Water Movement: A Moral Economy

Abstract

The commitment of several Catholic groups and individuals within the Italian mobilisation for public water has been interpreted as an original experience of Catholic bottom up presence in social movements in the broader context of a Catholic awakening and renovated activism in public affairs, particularly in the aftermaths of the June 2011 referenda. The article analyses Catholics’ the role and contribution in the making of the Italian water movement, in terms of defining the contents, the identity and the practices of the mobilisation, by revisiting Edward Thompson’s notion of moral economy. The thesis of the article is twofold. On one side the Italian water movement frame of “water as human right and commons” resonates Catholic Social Doctrine, facilitating the mobilisation of Catholic groups and contributing to highlight the moral and symbolic aspects of the contention. On the other side, Catholics’ presence in the mobilisation has been mimetic and little influenced the movement’s identity and repertoires of contention.