This translation of Aldo Capitini’s quasi-autobiography is long overdue. It presents an edited series of his writings spanning his lifetime (1899-1968). An Italian philosopher of nonviolence, poet, teacher, political and non-secular religious man of compresence and persuasion, Capitini encouraged his readers to embrace the philosophy of noncooperation, nonviolence, and nonmendacity. Self-taught, later removed from his university position and imprisoned as an anti-fascist, he opted for liberalsocialism and “on-the-ground strategies for social change”. His civil rights movement, somewhere between that of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, insisted on ever-pertinent and frighteningly contemporary concepts. The founder of the first Italian vegetarian association (1952) and the first Perugia Assisi Peace March (1961), Capitini preferred to work from the bottom-up and refused to become an elected political figure, which eventually led to his exclusion from official political participation. His revolutionary voice epitomizes a fundamental part of democratic involvement: if we participate, “today’s utopia can be tomorrow’s reality”.

Aldo Capitini on Opposition and Liberation: A Life in Nonviolence

Jodi L. Sandford
2020

Abstract

This translation of Aldo Capitini’s quasi-autobiography is long overdue. It presents an edited series of his writings spanning his lifetime (1899-1968). An Italian philosopher of nonviolence, poet, teacher, political and non-secular religious man of compresence and persuasion, Capitini encouraged his readers to embrace the philosophy of noncooperation, nonviolence, and nonmendacity. Self-taught, later removed from his university position and imprisoned as an anti-fascist, he opted for liberalsocialism and “on-the-ground strategies for social change”. His civil rights movement, somewhere between that of Martin Luther King and Gandhi, insisted on ever-pertinent and frighteningly contemporary concepts. The founder of the first Italian vegetarian association (1952) and the first Perugia Assisi Peace March (1961), Capitini preferred to work from the bottom-up and refused to become an elected political figure, which eventually led to his exclusion from official political participation. His revolutionary voice epitomizes a fundamental part of democratic involvement: if we participate, “today’s utopia can be tomorrow’s reality”.
2020
9781527548466
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Utilizza questo identificativo per citare o creare un link a questo documento: https://hdl.handle.net/11391/1479081
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