Italy

This article, drawing on material from the online socialist publication Notes from Below, focuses on the increasing reliance of capitalism today, with the growth of internet retail and the 'gig' economy, on transnational supply chains, and migrant workers. It starts by noting the disruptive effects of the French 'Yellow Vests' demonstrations blocking roundabouts on such chains. It also comments on how Italian grass roots unions Si Cobas and ADL have since 2008 used strikes and blockades to target the chain of distribution centres., leading  to the arrest of the national coordinator of Si Cobas in 2017, and how workers in Amazon distribution centres in Italy, Spain and Germany have coordinated strike action. Concludes by noting how Uber drivers, mostly migrants, communicating via mobile phones have coordinated resistance. (See 'The wave of worker resistance in European food platforms 2016-7', Notes from Below, Jan 2018, nin.tl/FoodPlatforms) 

This book introduces key documents presented by the Italian Partito Radicale Nonviolento Transnazionale e Transpartito (Nonviolent Radical Party, Transnational and Transparty (PRNTT)) enunciating the core values from which nonviolence was extrapolated as the guiding principle for the party’s political action. It is also a testament defining the Party’s programme on the abolition of the death penalty; the abolition of prohibitionism, especially with regards to drugs; the abolishment of Genital Female Mutilation; freedom in scientific research, especially in relation to stem cells research; and the enabling of international jurisdiction aimed at ensuring citizens’ access to international legal institutions to advance their political and social goals.

In this critique of both idealism and realism the authors argue that, in the atomic era, the former should incorporate some aspects of realist thinking and the latter should incorporate some idealist concepts if it is to escape the negation of itself. The work focuses on the exploration of pacifism. The authors distinguish ‘humanitarian pacifism’ - centered on the human conscience; ‘democratic pacifism’ - centered on peace as a process resulting from the exercise of popular sovereignty; and ‘socialist pacifism’ - centered on the labour movement and its main characteristic: nonviolence as a tool for achieving change. By arguing on the limits of idealism and realism the authors reach the conclusion that the only way forward is international cooperation, solidarity and the solidification of a culture of peace that focuses on faith in humankind.  

This work, divided in two parts, reprints in the first Danilo Dolci’s writings on his struggle for employment and democracy; the struggles he led for the construction of dams in Sicily, and nonviolent anti-mafia initiatives in the 1950s and 1960s in Sicily. The second part recalls Dolci’s work on development educational programmes, the development of democratic and participatory models and his critique of the mass consumption model.

A year after the eruption of the #MeToo movement, historian Mary Beard traces the roots of misogyny in the West to Athens and Rome and explores the relationships between women and power and how this intersects with issues of rape and consent.

Assessment of why Italian media have hounded individual women who went public about sexual assault, and why the Italian MeToo hashtag, #quellavoltache, only attracted a few hundred mentions on social media.  The author cites conclusion of a panel of journalists that a major reason is the mafia culture of silence and protecting one's own.  The emphasis on personal ties (clientalism) in the workplace, and the ethos of cronyism encouraged under former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi  (1990s-2000s) are also cited as reasons for Italy's misogyny. 

This wide-ranging collection analyzes the status and progress of women both in a national context and collectively on a global scale, as a powerful social force in a rapidly evolving world. The countries studied―China, India, Indonesia, Iran, Egypt, Cameroon, South Africa, Italy, France, Brazil, Belize, Mexico, and the United States―represent a cross-section of economic conditions, cultural and religious traditions, political realities, and social contexts that shape women’s lives, challenges, and opportunities. Psychological and human rights perspectives highlight worldwide goals for equality and empowerment, with implications for today’s girls as they become the next generation of women. Women’s lived experience is compared and contrasted in such critical areas as: home and work; physical, medical, and psychological issues; safety and violence; sexual and reproductive concerns; political participation and status under the law; impact of technology and globalism; country-specific topics.

This works elucidates fundamental principles of nonviolence, and proposes a toolkit of nonviolent practices and techniques with reference to some of Capitini’s lived experiences in Italy and worldwide. To develop his argument, Capitini draws connections between ethics and politics, ends and means of both politics and social action, and between the rule of law and civil disobedience.

In this work, Cavadi argues that the anti-mafia movement should be as organised as mafia organisations are. He proposes that alongside the repressive forces of police and policing institutions, a predominant and pedagogical role should be fulfilled by schools, churches and social organisations and should aim at counterposing a moral and intellectual form of resistance to the mafia phenomenon.

A collection of essays – including by Johan Galtung - on the life and work of Danilo Dolci, aimed at exploring his contribution to the practice of nonviolent civil resistance, to the project of building a resilient civil society and being an agent of change.

These stories, which Dolci collected in Sicily, are the medium through which he elucidates the local dimension of the mafia – its action and influence in Sicily – and its wider impact in Italy and beyond. This is a record of how ordinary people coped with their suffering of violence, and it aims to transmit their vision of social justice. The work has an educational value.

Deals with the anti-nuclear power movements and government responses to them and their demands in eight West European states – Austria, Britain, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden and West Germany.

In this study Galtung provides four major theoretical approaches to peace, including peace education and peace action. This work is divided into four parts: Peace Theory, where he elucidates the epistemological foundations of peace studies and the nature of violence; Conflict Theory, where he focuses on explaining the culture of conflict and moves onto discussing nonviolence as a tool for conflict resolution; Development Theory, where he illustrates the dynamics of structural violence (economic in particular); and Civilisation Theory, where he discusses cultural violence, cosmology, and what he terms ‘codes’ and ‘programmes’.

The story, narrated by his brother, of one of the most iconic figure of the anti-mafia struggle, Peppino Impastato, who revolted against the patriarchal structure of his family, went against his father who belonged to the Sicilian mafia organisation and ignited an anti-mafia culture and actions at the cost of his own life.

Includes material on the second wave of Italian feminism in 1960s and 1970s and developments on divorce, family law and employment law in the 1970s and 1980s, Ends with some discussion of lesbian and queer struggles for recognition.

Designed as a textbook, it covers history, theoretical developments and debates about the results of nonviolent movements. It categorizes nine types of nonviolent action, which are illustrated by case studies.  A separate chapter explores key issues of why and when sections of the armed services defect from a regime challenged by a nonviolent movement. 

In this short interview, Pinna recounts his reasons for becoming a conscientious objector and the impact this decision had within the political Italian context. Additionally, he elucidates the elements of nonviolent actions.   

Available on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=emniqr2trk4&t=609s 

In this book, Polito analyses the philosophical conceptualisation of ‘conscience’, central to the elaboration of the ethical and moral tenets of the practice of objection to military service. Polito pays tribute to the most famous conscientious objectors who shaped the history of the Italian Republic and promoted nonviolent theory and techniques, such as Aldo Capitini – anti-fascist Italian political philosopher; Ada Gobetti – anti-fascist jourbalist; Norberto Bobbio – Italian philosopher, Sereno Regis – peace activist; Danilo Dolci – peace activist; Lorenzo Milani – priest and educator; Rodolfo Venditti – Italian judge and conscientious objection supporter; Goffredo Fofi- Italian author, and literature, drama and movie critic; and Pietro Pinna – Italian nonviolent activist. The book provides a refutation of the belief in the necessity of violence embedded in politics - even where it may seem justified as in preventive wars and humanitarian intervention.  Polito also argues that violence is at the root of the economic and financial global system that is becoming profoundly detrimental to the environment.

An analysis of the role that women had from the period of the ‘Fasci Siciliani’ (Sicilian Workers Leagues’ revolts) until now in changing the mafia culture and mafia organisations in Sicily.

The initative of 14 women of capturing the feminist struggles through artistic production within the #VivaNosQueremos campaign. Many cities throughout the world joined the campaign and printmaking appeared in cities like Ciudad Juárez, Oaxaca, Mexico State, Puebla, New York, Chicago, Montreal and Barcelona as well as other countries like Costa Rica, Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Italy.

In this work, Sanfilippo provides a definition of nonviolence and elaborates on the Gandhian vision of the world. He also elaborates on the origin and root causes of the mafia system, according to which, he argues, a theory of systems is the necessary methodological and epistemological tool for the analysis of this phenomena and for building a nonviolent reaction against it. His perspective encompasses the cultural, economic, political, institutional, and social dimensions of the system where mafia organisations exist and where nonviolent antimafia movements need to be organised.

This article briefly narrates the life of Giuseppe (aka, Peppino) Impastato, who initiated a cultural and political change that then gave rise to the anti-mafia movement from the 60s onwards. Impastato’s life is highly symbolic because of his political and civil anti-mafia struggle stemmed from his personal experience. In fact, he belonged to a family where his father was affiliated to the Mafia criminal organisation, and had his uncle murdered by them. Impastato’s revolt against some core members of his family, including his father, led to his murder in 1978, but he is still considered in Italy as one of the most iconic figures of the nonviolent anti-mafia struggle today.

Retrievable also at: http://www.centroimpastato.com/umberto-santino-peppino-impastato-alle-radici-dellantimafia-difficile/

This long article touches on the development of the anti-mafia movement and distinguishes within it civic anti-mafia and social anti-mafia. It delineates the developments that took place in three different periods of time in Italy: 1950s, that saw the birth of the nonviolent anti-mafia movement; the 1960s and 1970s, when socio-political-cultural aspects of the anti-mafia movement started to develop organically; up to the 1980s-1990s, a period that saw the development of the pacifist movement rising against the US militarisation of the Italian island of Sicily that paralleled the reinforcement of the anti-mafia movement and a stronger participation of organisations within it alongside individuals. It touches also on the growth of the anti-mafia movement outside the confines of Sicily, and its extension to the entire Italian peninsula, mainly because of the activity of teachers and students that facilitated the adoption of the first set of anti-mafia legislation and led to the removal from public offices of staff involved with the mafia organisation.  It also establishes a conceptual distinction between the anti-mafia movement and social movements as traditionally considered, and stresses the peculiar nature of the first as being pro-system and anti-system, simultaneously. Finally, it highlights the weak points that undermine the continuity and cohesiveness of the anti-mafia movements.

Retrievable also at: http://www.centroimpastato.com/voci-per-il-dizionario-di-mafia-e-di-antimafia-di-narcomafie-2/

This work narrates the anti-mafia movement that started in Sicily at the end of the 19th century and extended to the entire Italian peninsula in more recent years. Santino recounts the origin of the Sicilian mafia organisation, the reactions to it by Italian institutions, and the socio-cultural context by drawing from different authors and first-hand interviews.

Case studies from most of Europe (excluding eastern Europe and Greece) covering direct action to create social housing and other community services over 30 year period.

Account of transnational direct action against nuclear missile base in Sicily.

Examines the impact of anti-base movements on politics, and the role of bilateral military alliances influencing results of protest. Findings drawn from interviews with activists, politicians and US base officials in the Philippines, Japan (Okinawa), Ecudaor, Italy and South Korea. See also: Yeo, Andrew , Anti-Base Movements in South Korea: Comparative Perspective on the Asia-Pacific The Asia Pacific Journal, 2010, pp. 39-73