San Francisco

In Italy, how one cooperative is trying to counter the Mafia’s influence

The first time Simmaco Perillo arrived in the Italian hamlet of Maiano di Sessa Aurunca, everything around him was abandoned. Today, the social cooperative Al di là dei sogni, or Beyond the Dreams, is making pasta and growing organic vegetables on land that once belonged to the powerful Camorra Mafia. The cooperative, run by Perillo, indeed works with disadvantaged individuals, including those recovering from addiction, former prisoners, and people who were released from public mental hospitals, to provide sustainable livelihoods and combat the influence of the Mafia.

Vote-buying in Turkey? Price is high, satisfaction not guaranteed.

At the end of April, and despite Turkey’s economic malaise, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s ruling Justice and Development Party authorized new twice-yearly payouts of 1,000 liras, about $225, to retirees. The payouts are part of a social benefits package worth more than $5.5 billion, widely regarded in Turkey as a transparent election ploy by the AKP ahead of a hotly contested June 24 vote. Mehmet, a pensioner with gray hair and a goatee, says he’s happy to receive the retiree bonus, but adds the “election bribe” will not erode his support for the opposition.

In immigrant detention, a role for children

Just three years ago, many Americans were in moral outrage over a particular immigration policy of President Barack Obama. Faith leaders decried it. Hillary Clinton, then a presidential contender, considered it inhumane.

Cooperative communities keep Spanish seniors cared for

Like most sons, Nemesio Rasillo Oliver loved his mother. Rasillo began dreaming of a similar setup near his home in northern Spain that would keep him out of a nursing home and free up his family. Dressed in a crisp button-down shirt, he pulls out the development plan of his brainchild, Brisa del Cantabrico, a cooperative senior community set in farmland between a mountain range and the Cantabrian Sea on Spain’s northern coast.