In memory of
Sunday 23rd of May
7th Anniversary
of the slaughter
in CAPACI
"One dies generally because one is alone or because
one gets involved in a game which is too big.
One dies often because one does not have the necessary alliances at one’s disposal,
because one is without support.
In Sicily the Mafia targets those who are loyal to the State,
those whom the State has not been able to protect."
GIOVANNI FALCONE
Bequeathed from Judge Falcone
Marcelle Padovani
"Giovanni Falcone would not have liked to become a hero.
For he was convinced that a State which is technically equipped and politically engaged could defeat
Organised crime and avoid so many individual sacrifices.
According to Falcone, the collective responsibility of special offices, local Institutions, national Power of Attorney should have been able to anonymise single personalities, therefore, to defuse the vulnerability of single Antimafia operators:
"When there are substantial collective institutional bodies," he used to say "when the struggle is not built upon or symbolised by only one person, then the Mafia thinks twice before shooting."
Hence, Falcone would not have liked to become a hero.
"is it really worth," I asked him during a TV interview in January 1988 "is it really worth risking
one’s life in the name of this State?"
And he answered, a little puzzled: "As far as I know, there is only this State, or more precisely,
this society, of which the State is the expression."
He was not a hero for vocation, yet he was loyal to the State: this was Judge Falcone."
(Exert from: an introductory note to the 1995 edition of: Things of COSA NOSTRA).
***
A collection of writings and poems, edited by Nadia Scardeoni
Palermo: another farewell, another alarm!
How many times have I been disappointed by man,
how many times while looking for clarity,
has one found death,
Circumlocution, business connections.
How many times roles rather than people.
Power shoots
Power shoots
It shoots to eliminate
It shoots to destroy,
It shoots to maintain,
It shoots to contain,
It shoots for honour.
Power shoots and then it cleans up
And it seems everything is finished.
Tragic day: I will not forget you.
Simona Faiella
***
Stormy and heavy is the rain.
Pelting noise like a watching crowd.
Laden with tensions and queries.
Rain is tedious for those who have smart shoes.
The only protagonist of a tragedy
nonetheless repeated too many times
is the rain, that instead of the sun
in the warmest hour of the day,
in the land of SICILY,
pours to wipe from the list
the names of the dearly lost
mingling with the tears
of a sorrow
that with great difficulty changes into hope and anger
in the eyes of the future.
Rossella Strianese
***
My heart is full of resentment.
My mind is suffocated by thousands of whys.
It is death again,
it is death for the one who defended justice.
They have annihilated him,
like a cut plant,
they have broken him.
And now, we are alone again,
without any support,
without any defence.
Take courage, do not stop,
let’s attack, let’s defeat the one
who wants to gain power from our silence.
Enrica Lapenna
***
Palermo
applause to the dead
insults to the living.
San Domenico Square, sadness,
a profound bitterness,
lives flown away, destroyed,
broken emotions.
Desperate people, resigned,
funerals in progress,
this is Palermo today,
a city whose face is livid and humble.
Sunglasses that hide terror and delinquency.
This is Palermo today.
Alfonsina Picciocchi
***
It is a rainy day,
Palermo calls for justice with a voice suffocated with anger,
the crowd is reunited.
There is consternation, anger against the State,
such a defenceless State.
The guardian angels, protectors of life are there,
with the one they protected,
they have accompanied him even in death.
The crowd applauds the heroes,
the warriors who died in battle,
each clap like a laurel wreath.
Everything ends,
but the will to continue,
but the hope other men
will continue with this struggle.
Achille Giuliani
***
The thoughts of the children from the tree of Falcone
Falcone you should not have died because without you we will never unmask the Mafia that will kill the whole of Sicily.
I hope a man as courageous and strong as you will come again.
Giuseppe
Falcone you were an honest man and fought for us against the Mafia.
You will remain in our hearts.
I hope in the future there is a new judge as good and honest as you.
Gisella
The Mafia this time was too cruel
I hope it repents itself
And the sacrifice of these martyrs proves useful.
Giovanni
To Judge Falcone
The sun goes out
Clouds shade the buds
of small flowers
laid on the coffin
small flowers to say: NO to the Mafia!
Thanks, great man.
Domenico
Falcone you were a good magistrate.
You fought the Mafia.
I truly think Jesus will welcome you with open arms
in that world so beautiful and distant
where you now no longer suffer.
You, up there, become a child again
and happiness reigns in your heart
already full of love and justice
opposed to that pumice-stone that is floating in the water but that
one day
will have to sink.
Alice
Falcone you discovered too much,
you had the courage and the will to bring down the Mafia
and I hope your death
will never be useless
on the contrary, will serve
to light up hope in all of us.
Giorgio
WE, FROM PALERMO
We, who have seen Sicily
mother pregnant with strength and will
slaughtered on the motorway
like minced meat.
We, who with our throats and nostrils gripped
with the stench of burning living flesh
have refrained from vomiting
in front of burning embers and small shapeless pieces
of what, only a while ago, was
feelings, emotions, youth, the will to live.
We, who have seen wild beasts
tear up with sharp teeth and pointed finger nails
words, from the dictionary of the honest ones,
such as justice, freedom and dignity.
We, who have seen hope
committing suicide from the balcony of the Capital city
so distant from us.
We, who have imprinted in our eyes and hearts
Giovanni Falcone’s knowing smile
that keeps scoffing at those who wanted him dead.
We, who have seen Paolo Borsellino
put back in order the just words
in that dictionary so wrenched and torn apart.
We, who walk the streets of our land
with the fear of taking the red colour of wild poppies
for the red of the sacrificed victims’ blood.
We shall not bend
we shall not forget
we shall continue to go further
and with our heads up we shall cry out:
WE ARE FROM PALERMO
by Sara Favaro’