Relational Nonviolence and the Contrapuntal Archive: Tracing Prefigurative Resistance in the Mediterranean (1970–2025)

How does the choice of nonviolence persist in spaces defined by systemic state violence and colonial modernity? This paper addresses the polysemy of nonviolence not merely as a tactical repertoire within "contentious politics," but as a form of relational agency—a prefigurative "way of being" that constructs radical alternatives to structural violence. Drawing on Edward Said’s "contrapuntal analysis," I propose a methodological shift to analyze resistance not only in its contextual dimensions but in its relational entanglements across the Mediterranean. I move beyond the "clash" with the state to explore how nonviolence is negotiated and lived by individuals across diverse historical moments: from the 1977 hunger strikes of conscientious objectors in Italy, Spain, and Greece to the contemporary Global Sumud Flotilla. Central to this investigation is an "archaeology of the fragment" within the archives of the 2001 Genoa G8 protests. By recovering queer and feminist fragments rendered invisible by the dominant narrative of repression, I argue that these "absences" are actually dense analytical spaces. They reveal a "blood-spared history" (Bravo) and a persistent "hidden trace" of transnational solidarity that maintains nonviolence during periods of apparent movement latency. Ultimately, this research seeks to decolonize the canon of Social Movement Studies towards the Resistance Studies by centering the relational choice of activists. By viewing nonviolence through the lens of Aldo Capitini’s "continuous liberation," I offer a framework for understanding how movements in the Mediterranean do not merely protest power, but actively prefigure a positive peace through the labor of relatedness.