I was about 14 years old when among the thousand red poppies of the
legendary Piero, I too was hit by a man in a different color uniform.
And then, thanks to Fabrizio De André, I met all the other protagonists
of the songwriting of the time. Going from the 45s of Baglioni and the
Cousins of the country to the long-playing of the singer-songwriters was
an authentic revolution in life. Through the lyrics of the songs that
addressed social and political issues I saw the strong feeling of
freedom arise and explode within me. I conquered, in this very...
natural way, my anarchist identity. And then, I cultivated it by
listening more and more to De André and starting to read - with my
heart! - Proudhon, Tolstoy and anarchist magazines. And, of course, I
joined the LOC (League of Conscientious Objectors).
We are in the first half of the 70s, in Caltanissetta. I was still a
teenager who enthusiastically tried to share the ideals for a New
Humanity. Luigi, a friend who was a few years older, invited me to
participate in the "First Gathering of Sicilian Conscientious Objectors"
organized in Trappeto, a small town in the gulf of Castellammare. It was
a journey that sealed the turning point I had undertaken two years
earlier. In the countryside above the municipality of Trappeto I found
the realization of the dream of a righteous man: Danilo Dolci. Already
in the early 1950s he had founded the "Borgo di Dio" and a decade later,
the "International Center for organic planning": a residential structure
capable of hosting around forty people. And we, kids coming from almost
all of Sicily, that day, filled that structure completely. The emotion
of finding myself in front of an exemplary human being who exuded
charisma from every pore, together with many young people united by the
same great ideal, was - as you can read - unforgettable.
On June 28, 2024, Danilo Dolci turns 100. It is with profound gratitude
and great pleasure that I try to paint a portrait of him and update you
on the initiatives planned to commemorate his important anniversary.
Danilo Dolci was born in Sesana (Trieste). His Slovenian mother, a lover
of reading and music, had a profound Christian faith. His father Enrico
was a railway worker, therefore subject to constant transfers. Danilo,
in fact, obtained his surveyor's diploma in Pavia and his artistic high
school diploma in Milan. In the early 1940s, his father's work
experience in Trappeto, 45 km from Palermo, was decisive. Danilo was
shocked by the conditions of poverty in which the population lived: a
trauma that he absolutely did not want to remove and which, on the
contrary, contributed to giving rise to a sea of anger and an
uncontainable desire for justice. At 19 he refused to enlist in the army
of the Italian Social Republic, and was arrested in Genoa by the
Nazi-fascists. He managed to escape and hide in Abruzzo. In 1950, the
turning point! Even though he was close to graduating in architecture,
he abandoned university, his girlfriend and his job as a teacher and
moved to Nomadelfia. Nomadelfia (Law of brotherhood) is a municipality,
founded by Don Zeno Saltini, in the former Fossoli concentration camp.
After a couple of years, this experience of community life will develop
in the young Danilo the desire to live the same values, but in contact
with the real world, outside the "warm nest", as he will define
Nomadelfia. Trappeto: the town where he had seen human misery with his
eyes and heart seemed to him the ideal destination. He arrived in Sicily
in January 1952: he was 28 years old, and he understood that his mission
could become bigger, more important and above all more incisive if he
managed to go beyond the boundaries of religious confession and land on
the shores of so-called secularism. In October of that same year he was
the protagonist of his most famous protest. He decides to fast on the
bed of Benedetto Barretta, a child who died due to malnutrition. And if
he too had died, others would have continued the protest until the State
had taken steps to build the sewerage system and solve the problem of
endemic hunger. On YouTube - by typing "fasting Danilo Dolci" - you can
find a precious 2 minute and 45 second video that shows the provocative
complaint of the new citizen of Trappeto, preceded by impressive images
that testify to the degradation of the town and the social drama in
which he lives the population. After eight days of this spectacular
protest - thanks to the good media success and the solidarity expressed
by illustrious figures of national and international culture - the
Trappeto community obtains the guarantees for a concrete intervention by
the institutions; and Danilo Dolci begins to be called the "Sicilian
Gandhi". But he is not one to let it go to his head. Indeed, he is aware
that his mission is only just beginning. He also understands that it is
important and urgent to shake off the identity of a foreigner, to truly
integrate with his new fellow citizens. And so, the following year, he
married Vincenzina, a young widow of a sailor who had five children.
From their union five more will be born. And Danilo will have two more
children with Elena, his second wife. Instead, from his 44 years of
struggle against the mafia and the corrupt power of the State, new tools
and unprecedented forms of protest will arise, such as "Socratic
maieutics" and the "reverse strike". To delve deeper into the figure of
this Great One of Ours, in addition to the numerous documentaries
offered by YouTube, I recommend The scent of orange blossoms which is on
RaiPlay.
From 26 to 30 June 2024, thanks to our brotherly collaborator Orazio De
Guilmi, events will be held in Palermo and Trappeto for the centenary of
his birth, such as Giovanni Sollima's concert and Moni Ovadia's show.
The detailed program will be published on the website
https://borgodidio.it/.
Salvatore Farina
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
legendary Piero, I too was hit by a man in a different color uniform.
And then, thanks to Fabrizio De André, I met all the other protagonists
of the songwriting of the time. Going from the 45s of Baglioni and the
Cousins of the country to the long-playing of the singer-songwriters was
an authentic revolution in life. Through the lyrics of the songs that
addressed social and political issues I saw the strong feeling of
freedom arise and explode within me. I conquered, in this very...
natural way, my anarchist identity. And then, I cultivated it by
listening more and more to De André and starting to read - with my
heart! - Proudhon, Tolstoy and anarchist magazines. And, of course, I
joined the LOC (League of Conscientious Objectors).
We are in the first half of the 70s, in Caltanissetta. I was still a
teenager who enthusiastically tried to share the ideals for a New
Humanity. Luigi, a friend who was a few years older, invited me to
participate in the "First Gathering of Sicilian Conscientious Objectors"
organized in Trappeto, a small town in the gulf of Castellammare. It was
a journey that sealed the turning point I had undertaken two years
earlier. In the countryside above the municipality of Trappeto I found
the realization of the dream of a righteous man: Danilo Dolci. Already
in the early 1950s he had founded the "Borgo di Dio" and a decade later,
the "International Center for organic planning": a residential structure
capable of hosting around forty people. And we, kids coming from almost
all of Sicily, that day, filled that structure completely. The emotion
of finding myself in front of an exemplary human being who exuded
charisma from every pore, together with many young people united by the
same great ideal, was - as you can read - unforgettable.
On June 28, 2024, Danilo Dolci turns 100. It is with profound gratitude
and great pleasure that I try to paint a portrait of him and update you
on the initiatives planned to commemorate his important anniversary.
Danilo Dolci was born in Sesana (Trieste). His Slovenian mother, a lover
of reading and music, had a profound Christian faith. His father Enrico
was a railway worker, therefore subject to constant transfers. Danilo,
in fact, obtained his surveyor's diploma in Pavia and his artistic high
school diploma in Milan. In the early 1940s, his father's work
experience in Trappeto, 45 km from Palermo, was decisive. Danilo was
shocked by the conditions of poverty in which the population lived: a
trauma that he absolutely did not want to remove and which, on the
contrary, contributed to giving rise to a sea of anger and an
uncontainable desire for justice. At 19 he refused to enlist in the army
of the Italian Social Republic, and was arrested in Genoa by the
Nazi-fascists. He managed to escape and hide in Abruzzo. In 1950, the
turning point! Even though he was close to graduating in architecture,
he abandoned university, his girlfriend and his job as a teacher and
moved to Nomadelfia. Nomadelfia (Law of brotherhood) is a municipality,
founded by Don Zeno Saltini, in the former Fossoli concentration camp.
After a couple of years, this experience of community life will develop
in the young Danilo the desire to live the same values, but in contact
with the real world, outside the "warm nest", as he will define
Nomadelfia. Trappeto: the town where he had seen human misery with his
eyes and heart seemed to him the ideal destination. He arrived in Sicily
in January 1952: he was 28 years old, and he understood that his mission
could become bigger, more important and above all more incisive if he
managed to go beyond the boundaries of religious confession and land on
the shores of so-called secularism. In October of that same year he was
the protagonist of his most famous protest. He decides to fast on the
bed of Benedetto Barretta, a child who died due to malnutrition. And if
he too had died, others would have continued the protest until the State
had taken steps to build the sewerage system and solve the problem of
endemic hunger. On YouTube - by typing "fasting Danilo Dolci" - you can
find a precious 2 minute and 45 second video that shows the provocative
complaint of the new citizen of Trappeto, preceded by impressive images
that testify to the degradation of the town and the social drama in
which he lives the population. After eight days of this spectacular
protest - thanks to the good media success and the solidarity expressed
by illustrious figures of national and international culture - the
Trappeto community obtains the guarantees for a concrete intervention by
the institutions; and Danilo Dolci begins to be called the "Sicilian
Gandhi". But he is not one to let it go to his head. Indeed, he is aware
that his mission is only just beginning. He also understands that it is
important and urgent to shake off the identity of a foreigner, to truly
integrate with his new fellow citizens. And so, the following year, he
married Vincenzina, a young widow of a sailor who had five children.
From their union five more will be born. And Danilo will have two more
children with Elena, his second wife. Instead, from his 44 years of
struggle against the mafia and the corrupt power of the State, new tools
and unprecedented forms of protest will arise, such as "Socratic
maieutics" and the "reverse strike". To delve deeper into the figure of
this Great One of Ours, in addition to the numerous documentaries
offered by YouTube, I recommend The scent of orange blossoms which is on
RaiPlay.
From 26 to 30 June 2024, thanks to our brotherly collaborator Orazio De
Guilmi, events will be held in Palermo and Trappeto for the centenary of
his birth, such as Giovanni Sollima's concert and Moni Ovadia's show.
The detailed program will be published on the website
https://borgodidio.it/.
Salvatore Farina
https://www.sicilialibertaria.it/
_________________________________________
A - I N F O S N E W S S E R V I C E
By, For, and About Anarchists
Send news reports to A-infos-en mailing list
A-infos-en@ainfos.ca
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