From Umanità Nova
November 19, 2024
Rocco Morra is no longer with us, he went elsewhere, he left us at the age of 70, on the night between October 4th and 5th.
Writing about him means for me recounting the years of my political education, the end of the 70s and the beginning of the fateful 80s.
He was from another generation, that of the assault on heaven and of daily utopia, raised in the Palermo of the Palermo mafia that ruled the world, of the murderous power of the Christian Democracy and of the double standards of the Italian Communist Party.
He, an exuberant and rebellious young boy, at only thirteen years old, was sent to the Malaspina juvenile prison by an infamous traffic policeman.
The militancy in the youth federation of the PCI and in the party itself, lived in the working-class neighborhood of Noce, the neighborhood of one of the most important gangs of the city, the one used for self-financing robberies.
A disturbing and all-encompassing presence, but he is not afraid and in his militant work he meets them without fear and faces them head on.
Memorable will be the posting of a poster inside the concierge's office of the Noce mafia boss.
It won't be the only time he faces mobsters in his neighborhood.
Then comes '77: the Mauro Larghi popular collective is the beginning of libertarian militancy.
The antimilitarist camps in Sardinia, the presence in Comiso on the eve of the torrid July of '83.
I met him in '83 or so between Piazza Meli, then the headquarters of the anarchist group 30 febbraio, and the municipal villa in Piazza Campolo near our houses in the company of Conchita, Puzzolina and Dick who were our dogs.
It was the beginning of a friendship, and an existential journey.
He spoke in a calm and quiet manner and always encouraged moderation. If I didn't get into trouble in certain situations, I owe it to him.
He was a tireless companion, a regular salesman of Umanità Nova, Sicilia Libertaria, A rivista and more.
He was the protagonist of the reactivation of the Italian Trade Union in Palermo, to which he dedicated himself with extreme commitment.
But his militant masterpiece was the creation of the Purple Telephone.
The Solidarity action towards the mad was in my humble opinion the most beautiful initiative he put in place, a marked sensitivity and a strong empathy allowed him to enter into a relationship with human worlds that were mostly impossible and hostile for most people.
Before anyone else, he understood the human desperation and loneliness that already heralded the social disintegration of our times.
Madness is sacred and Rocco defended it and protected it from the pain and arrogance of the total institution.
To Liubba, Luana, Jiuri and Morgan, his daughters and sons, to Pia his first partner and to Sara his present partner, a hug and a big kiss.
To Rocco and I, may the light of the full moon in the Rocca of Cefalù always illuminate us.
Anthony Rampolla
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