gomorra

roberto saviano is brave... very, very brave.

i have been wanting to read his book for a while, but in italian, so i feel that since i'm getting through il nome della rosa fairly decent enough, i would finally start to take a crack at it; plus umberto eco himself has called saviano a 'national hero.' saviano is a born and raised napolitano, who, despite the death threats from the comorra, still resides in napoli though armed with bodygaurds (from the italian ministry of interior affairs). a couple days ago there was another serious threat on his life, this time for december. it takes a lot of courage to reveal the truth and try to stir enough attention to change peoples' thinking or outlooks to what power they can have... awareness and solidarity can be attained. it's speculated whether the comorra is most upset at him for publishing the book, for all the people it has reached, or both. just recently it was released on the big screen and this is even more infuriating to them, making his life that much more difficult... it's tough work trying to help a city, country, and fellow countrymen.

i'll close with the blog from beppe grillo:

"Roberto Saviano has sent me a copy of his book: ‘Gomorra’ with a few words for me inside it. Reading it made me think of Pasolini. I’m thinking that Roberto is a courageous young man to be protected. Roberto has written a book that should be obligatory in the schools. A book that represents Italy today and that should be read in class in place of ‘Cuore’ by Edmondo De Amicis. Young people in Naples work on projects for the Camorra. They are cocopro {on short-term contracts} in the black economy. They are lost generations. They are the starting point to save Naples.

“They are signed up as soon as they are able to be faithful to the clan. Aged from 12 to 17 years old, many are sons and brothers of members, many others come from families of precarious workers. They are the new army of the clans of the Neapolitan Camorra.
They come from the historic centre, from the zones of Sanità, Forcella, Secondigliano, rione San Gaetano, Quartieri Spagnoli, Pallonetto and are recruited by affiliations structured into different clans.
Their number is a real army. There are multiple advantages for the clans. A really young person gets half the salary of an adult member on the lowest grade, and rarely has to support their parents, they don’t have the encumbrance of a family, no hours to keep, no need for a regular salary and above all they are willing to be constantly on the streets.
The roles are diverse and have different responsibilities. They start with the sale of soft drugs, mainly hashish. Almost always the young person is positioned in the most crowded streets. In time they start to sell pills and they almost always get to use a motor cycle.
Finally, cocaine that is taken directly into the universities, outside the bars, in front of the hotels, at the metro stations. The groups of baby-vendors are basically in the flexible sales economy because they are less visible, they sell drugs in between playing football or having a ride on the motor cycle and often they go directly to the home of the client.
Very often the clan doesn’t oblige the youngsters to work in the morning, in fact they continue to go to school, even because if they miss school it’s easier to locate them.
Often the really young members after the first few months of work, go around carrying weapons. A way of defending themselves and to give them status. A field promotion that promises them the possibility to rise in the ranks of the clan. Automatic and semi-automatic pistols that they learn to use on the rubbish tips of the province and in the underground caves of Naples.
When they become trustworthy and they have the total trust of the boss of the zone, then they can take on a role that is well beyond that of pusher. They become ‘pali’ {look-outs}.
In a city street assigned to them, they check that the lorries coming in to unload merchandise to the supermarkets, shops or salumerie, are the ones set up by the clan, or if they are not, they indicate when the distributor to a shop is not one of the “chosen” ones.
Even in the building sites, the presence of the ‘pali’ is fundamental. The contractors often sub-contract to building companies of the Camorra groups. But at times the work is entrusted to companies that are “not advisable”.
From ‘Gomorra’ by Roberto Saviano"

[beppe grillo's blog]