Giovedì Bianco
Giovedì Bianco (English: "White Thursday") is an Italian protest initiative that campaigns against rearmament and Italian involvement in wars and advocates support for Palestine, a boycott of Israel, civil liberties, increased spending on healthcare and education, and adherence to the Italian Constitution.
Background and objectives
Giovedì Bianco began in May 2026, with supporters beginning to sign up on 11 May. The initiative describes itself as a strumento ("tool") rather than a network and brings together individuals and organizations around five stated objectives: ending rearmament and Italian involvement in current wars and not reinstating compulsory military service; ending all relations with Israel; redirecting resources from rearmament toward healthcare and education; guaranteeing freedom of speech, expression, strikes, demonstrations and the press, including in schools and workplaces; and respecting the Italian Constitution and its fundamental principles. It says that it will dissolve once these objectives have been achieved.
Organizations listed by Giovedì Bianco as participating include the Unione degli Studenti, Link – Coordinamento universitario, Rete della Conoscenza, Almamediterranea, Presidio Palestina Cagliari and Comitato contro la guerra – Treviso. The initiative also lists individual participants, including actor and writer Moni Ovadia, Catholic missionary and peace activist Alex Zanotelli, and jurist and academic Ugo Mattei.
The first actions of the initiative took place on 14 May 2026 in Cagliari, Milan, Naples, Turin, Bologna and other Italian cities. According to Pressenza, participants included teachers, workers, artists and activists. Activities included discussions about war and the Italian Constitution in schools, a slow-moving street action in Cagliari, workplace slowdowns and public artistic performances.
The initiative advocates nonviolent forms of protest. Its website encourages participants to organize individually or collectively through demonstrations, interruptions and slowdowns, while rejecting violence against people.
Activities
Un Muro di Coscienza
In 23 July 2026, Giovedì Bianco and the Comitato sardo di solidarietà con la Palestina (Sardinian Committee of Solidarity with Palestine) held a Muro di Coscienza (English: "Wall of Conscience") demonstration at Cagliari Elmas Airport. Between 20 and 30 activists took part, standing in the departure area of a flight to Tel Aviv with Palestinian flags and gave leaflets to passengers, accompanied by pro-Palestinian slogans. According to the organizers, the demonstration meant to draw attention to the Cagliari/Tel Aviv route and call for its suspension.
On 20 August 2026, Giovedì Bianco organized simultaneous demonstrations at Verona Villafranca, Cagliari Elmas, Milan Linate, Rome Fiumicino and Venice Marco Polo airports. The action, also called Un Muro di Coscienza, involved demonstrators forming a line through which members of the public could pass and stop to receive information or speak with participants. Organizers said that the demonstrations would not obstruct airport traffic. At Milan Linate, participants described the action as part of a broader campaign for disarmament and against the militarization of schools and Italy, while calling for resources allocated to armaments to be redirected toward hospitals and schools. At Cagliari Elmas Airport, about 30 people took part in the demonstration. The protesters called for an end to direct air connections between Italy and Israel and criticized Italy's relations with Israel. According to ANSA, the organizers said that their protest was directed at government policy rather than individual passengers.
Reception
The initiative has received coverage from Italian local and regional media. Reports on its early activities focused on its opposition to rearmament and its involvement of teachers, workers, artists and activists in different forms of protest.
The August airport demonstrations generated criticism in Sardinia. In Cagliari, the pro-Israel association Chenàbura Sardos Pro Israele criticized the demonstration as discriminatory toward passengers travelling to Tel Aviv. The criticism was also expressed by Michele Pais, a former president of the Regional Council of Sardinia. At Verona Airport, ANSA reported that some activists were subjected to insults and offensive gestures, but that there was no reported tension with passengers arriving from Tel Aviv or with authorities.
Against the backdrop of the anti-Israel airport campaign, Israeli news website Mako described Giovedì Bianco (Hebrew: "יום חמישי הלבן") as a decentralized activist platform connecting groups, organizations and individuals with a clear anti-Israel view, calling for a total boycott of flights to and from Israel and for prevention Israel Defense Forces soldiers from visiting Italy as tourists. In a 20 August 2026 opinion column in the Jewish News Syndicate, Fiamma Nirenstein characterized the campaign as an antisemitic boycott of Israel and accused Giovedì Bianco of antisemitism.