“Today I know that my voice echoes that of every sensible Sicilian, of every Italian with common sense, of every conscious man in the world when I say: we can’t go on like this.
The old world is over (…). With all respect, affection and gratitude towards those who have toiled and reflected before we did in order to make the world more civilised, to improve life, we cannot see that a new world is necessary.”
(Danilo Dolci, Saturday 11th of March, Piazza Kalsa, Palermo)
With these words, pronounced by Danilo Dolci in 1967, a long procession that had come to be known as the “march of protest and hope for peace and the development of Western Sicily” came to an end. Intellectuals such as Carlo Levi, Bruno Zevi, Lucio Lombardo Radice and Ernesto Treccani had taken part along with peasants, families and workers.
The march of 1967 was the climax of years of grassroots planning that had implicated public administrations, labour unions, workers, men and women in the elaboration of a “shared plan of development for the Valli del Belice, the Carboj and the Jato”.
It was a historical event of participation and mobilisation for rights, one of those Italian stories that must not only be remembered but also resumed and continued.
For the same reasons, in 2011 a group of persons and associations decided along with the “Stalker” lab to retrace the steps of the march in six stages by foot, from Menfi (province of Agrigento) to Palermo, passing through Santa Margherita, Montevago, Poggioreale, Camporeale, Partinico, Borgetto and San Martino delle Scale.
A new walk in order to cross our territory, listen to its needs, create new relations and develop common modes of action.
The themes on which to work, today more than ever, are those of common goods and the defence of people’s rights, as ethical choices that depict the community.
Today as always water is at the centre of preoccupations: in 1967 the issue was the construction of dams, today it is the privatisation of related services. Very actual issues will be dealt with such as refugees, public health and environmental risks, possible solutions for the agricultural crisis and the support of the magistracy in its fight against the mafia.
The arrival in Trappeto, where Danilo Dolci began his non-violent activity in the 50s, will be a starting point, in collaboration with the Centro per lo Sviluppo Creativo Danilo Dolci, to refocus on fundamental themes such as popular mobilisation, participative planning and active citizenship with a project of recuperation of the Borgo di Dio so that it can become a new centre for research and action on participative democracy and fair trade.
It’s an occasion for all those that are involved in various forms of resistance to reflect together on the present and future of the different movements and to participate in a collective event of interaction and research.
Info on: siciliaperiperi.wordpress.com