Aldo Forbice

Aldo Agatino Forbice is a Sicilian journalist, writer and radio host. He was registered in the Roll of Italian Journalists in 1965, and has worked for the Italian Broadcasting Corporation RAI since 1969, as the Director of the news section of Radio 3, Chief Editor of TG1 news, and author and coordinator of broadcasts on RAI Due station, such as Primo Piano. Currently, he is the vice-director of RAI radio news, and for the last 15 years he has been the author and master of ceremonies of a RAI’s daily radio program Zapping. Aldo Forbice wrote over 40 essays on political, historical and social topics, and is an editorialist for several newspapers, including: QN (Il Giorno, Il Resto del Carlino, La Nazione), Il Giornale di Sicilia, Il Gazzettino, La Prealpina, L’Arena di Verona among others, and magazines, such as Panorama. He conceived and currently heads Umanitaria, a humanitarian event dedicated to civil rights, violence against children, torture, death sentence, world famine, arms trafficking, violence against women, genocides, and other issues.
He organized several humanitarian campaigns, including:
• Awareness campaign for saving Joseph O’Dell, who had been sentenced to death in the USA (1997).
• Awareness campaign against capital punishment in China (1998).
• Awareness campaign for ending civil war in Algeria (1997-1998).
• Awareness campaign for saving Dereck Rocco Bernabei, who had been sentenced to death in the USA (1999).
• Awareness campaign against capital punishments in the USA (2000), in Japan (2002), and in the world (1999-2002).
• Awareness campaign for the protection of children, with UNICEF (2002).
• Awareness campaign for saving the child-soldiers (2000).
• Awareness campaign against infibulations (2002-2003).
• Awareness campaign for saving the life of Safiya Hussaini (1998) and Amina Lawal (2002), the two women who had been sentenced to stoning in Nigeria based on the Islamic law, for having delivered a baby outside of wedlock.
• Awareness campaign for abolishing torture worldwide (2003).
• Awareness campaign in support of the presence of women in political life in Italy (2004-2005).
• Support for Mario Luzi as a senator for life (2004-2006).
• Awareness campaign in support of the human rights in China (2004-2006).
• Awareness campaign for saving Kobra, sentenced to death by hanging in Iran (2006-2007), for which over one and a half million signatures were collected.
• Awareness campaign in support of the human rights in China, in view of the Olympic Games in Beijing in 2008.
• Awareness campaign against cigarette smoking, in collaboration with LILT (Italian League for the Fight against Cancer).
Among the many prizes and awards that he received, it is worth mentioning: in 1998, Amnesty International’s plaque for a campaign on the establishment of the International Criminal Court; the Guidarello prize for first-class journalism in the “radio” section; the Journalism Award of the Saint Vincent 34th Edition; the European Union’s Echo Prize. Furthermore, he received the Giogo international award for folk theatre in 2001.
In 2004 he was assigned the Indro Montanelli journalism award, and in 2007 the Ischia international journalism award. On December 9, 2008, his radio program Zapping obtained the Media Award as “the best radio news programme of the year”.
In 2005, the then-President of the Italian Republic, Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, bestowed on him the title of Commendatore della Repubblica for his professional merits and for his commitment in the field of human rights.

Reasons for assigning the Award

The 2009 Edition of the “Vissi d’Arte - Città di Alcamo” International Culture Award has been assigned to Aldo Forbice, for constantly promoting – as a journalist, writer, and master of ceremonies - a sharp reflection on political, historical and social issues, promoting the meditation over the safeguard of human rights, with particular regard to the violence against children and women, the death sentence, world famine, and genocides. He is considered a model, thanks to the many awareness campaigns that he promoted, and for the information that he disseminates, always paying particular attention to the protection of human beings, thus fostering, in the youth and in the society as a whole, a constant desire to fight against all crimes against humanity.

Consegna Premio Internazionale per la Cultura ad Aldo Forbice - Giornalista