Occupy as repair for returning: the case of the occupied hospital in Cariati

Within the repertoire of resistance, occupations constitute a form that has been historically articulated in a variety of modalities that differ in duration, space and purpose. From occupations of public spaces like squares and streets to ‘private’ spaces such as buildings, apartments and factories, their purpose depends on the specific kind of struggle at stake. Housing squats, social centres, recuperated factories are possibly the most durable examples of occupations. For our paper, we look at a not so common space for occupation: a hospital. Drawing on a series of semi-structured interviews and group discussions with members of the occupied hospital at Cariati, our intention is to reflect on the question of resistance as (re-)pair and highlight its creative and transformative potential over its oppositional stance. We propose to innovate the concept of resistance by looking at its connections with reparation and returns, looking at the occupation in Cariati as a potential for repairing a broken ecology and fostering reverse migration flows.