Saviano on "Italia mafia killing video"
I have been invited (by the author of The Global Sociology Blog) to summarize Saviano's words about this shocking video. I tried to keep the terms used by him. The text is not revised.
What is really shocking is the "serenity" of the execution and of the onlookers. The word "serenity" could sounds strange, but when living in the middle of a war, people [can only] look at what happens. It is the first time that a video showing a camorra execution is made public: this will deeply change a collective imaginary that is so influenced by cinematographic representations of the mafia. The murder - in fact - does not resemble a military action: the killer does not raise his arm nor shout. Nobody notices what's happening. The murder is a fast, quiet and ordinary event, like a car accident in everyday life. It is the first time that a video is used by investigators in order to engage a whole community to collaborate: who knows the killer will have the opportunity for denouncing without exposing him/herself individually. Furthermore, the video is important because it demonstrates that there are places in Italy where life is not worth anything.
update 2 novembre 2009: Roberto Saviano's post on Facebook
