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Umberto Santino

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Year of Publication: 2015

Santino, Umberto, Mafia e Antimafia. A Brief History, London and New York, I.B. Tauris, London , 2015, pp. 224

As an expert on mafia organisations, Umberto Santino elucidates the nature and structure of the Sicilian mafia phenomenon as well as the building of the anti-mafia movement and related campaigning by civil society representatives and social organisations in Sicily.

Year of Publication: 2009

Santino, Umberto, Storia Del Movimento Antimafia. Dalla Lotta Di Classe All’Impegno Civile, Roma, Editori Riuniti , 2009, pp. 488

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.

Year of Publication: 2005

Santino, Umberto, Nonviolenza, mafia e anti-mafia, Palermo, Centro Impastato, 2005

Santino analyses the Mafia organisation and social consensus. He sees in the latter a supportive element to mafia organisations as well as the ground on which it is possible to build forms of nonviolent education and practices that could lead to a change within the current system. He adopts a ‘paradigm of complexity’ at the foundation of the epistemological and methodological approach to the mafia phenomenon and identifies the limit of the military and repressive reaction against it. In so doing, he discusses what action civil society can undertake to sustain nonviolent forms of resistance against mafia.  
 

Year of Publication: 2003

Santino, Umberto, Antimafia civile e sociale, [October 2003], Narcomafie, no. 10, 2003

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/

Year of Publication: 2000

Santino, Umberto, Movimenti sociali e movimento antimafia, [May 2000], Città d'Utopia, no. 29, 2000, pp. 11-21

This long article highlights the three different periods of time that defined the anti-mafia movement, namely from 1891-1894 until 1950s; 1960s and 1970s; and from 1980s up to now. The analysis provides an initial understanding of the typology and tools of the anti-mafia struggle in each of these phases, alongside the ethical and cultural factors that supported it. The article also elucidates the social, economic and cultural composition of the mafia organisation as well as the anti-mafia movement and touches upon its development as a national movement, rather than configuring it as an issue concerning solely the island of Sicily. Finally, it depicts the peculiar characteristics of the anti-mafia movement and what differentiates it from social movements as traditionally considered, by contextualising the analysis within power relationships in Italy.

Year of Publication: 1998

Santino, Umberto, Peppino Impastato: alle radici dell'”antimafia difficile", [1998], Liberazione, 1998

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/