In the book Amaze (2014), Ferdinando Buscema and I set the figure of the Warrior against that of the Magician.

The warrior Achilles seeks frontal confrontation and measures himself through displayed force. Ulysses the magician applies lateral thinking, uses displacement and cunning instead of raw power. His stance resists macho posturing and rejects arrogance as a language.

Reporting on the Turin march of January 31 in defense of social spaces, the media spoke only of clashes and violence. In the streets, I mostly encountered Ulysses.

Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

Among the crowd, the absurd mushroom of hyperstition (invoking Mark Fisher) invited people to widen their consciousness to imagine radical alternatives to the system we inhabit.

Intesa San Paolo skyscraper in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

Giant partisan carnations spoke of a form of resistance that does not belong to the past and has returned as urgent and necessary.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

Backpacks filled with water, snacks, and medicines told of a concrete mutual care, practiced quietly in the middle of the street.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

Two bewildered nuns reminded me that it was the feast day of Saint John Bosco, patron saint of illusionists.

The orchestra playing and the choreographies on the asphalt showed bodies answering Law and Order with a shared, contagious Dionysian joy.

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

Corso Vittorio Emanuele II in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

When at Rondo Rivella the tension between police and demonstrators was rising, the unexpected arrival of the Clown Army introduced an element so surreal that it froze any bellicose impulse, while leaving the clarity of the opposition intact.

Stazione di Porta Susa in Turin, Italy (31 January 2026).

The media chose to overlook a multitude of people capable of resisting firmly without reproducing the arrogant grammar of the System, choosing displacement, relation, imagination, and care.

A missed opportunity to report the most uncomfortable news: Achilles has had his time. Against a macho government, it is time to respond with the magic of Ulysses, gentle, cunning, and seductive.

Askatasuna means freedom. Turin is proudly partisan. Against the government, war, and the attack on social spaces. National march. January 31, 2026.