DOLCI, Danilo

Local community based activist who challenged the interests of Sicily’s established authorities – financial, ecclesiastical and political. Arriving from northern Italy in the early 1950s to engage in sociological study,  he was shocked by the extent of poverty and unemployment: he devised ways of drawing it to the attention of local and national government, and an international audience. These included protest marches, collective fasts and ‘reverse strikes’ – they resulted from the educational strategy of small groups listening to what each member had to say and working out how best to respond. The exposed ‘Mafia’ features of the dominant culture were largely dismissed and his stance belittled, but he persisted in Gandhi-style manner. Of the common human condition he said “We are all mendicants of truth”. He was widely mocked and dismissed.

Life

• Very brief illustrated biography of Dolci
• An account of Dolci's life and work by Dorothy Day
• Biography of Dolci
• An account of one of Dolci's campaigns