The revolution is done with shopping. That’s what the priests say. But less, but “just”. Don’t waste. If you do that you will feel better. For example, you can use less detergent, drink fresh milk from the distributor, eat non-imported seasonal food. You will save at least 16%. The rules followed by the families in don Gianni Fazzini’s community of 1200 families are pure common sense and as well as producing a saving, they save time as well. They are families who are doing politics with their shopping and every month they are publishing their family budget. In the future, in the secret of the confessional, anyone who is polluting, wasting, is destroying by what they are buying, will receive absolution only if they sign up to don Gianni Fazzini’s “Bilanci di giustizia” {weighing up justice}. O Lord! Give us this day our daily (just) shopping!

”I am don Gianni Fazzini. I am a priest from Venice and for a few years I have been following Beppe Grillo. Today I would like to use the blog to tell you some good news. In Italy, there are 1200 families who for some time now, have been rethinking how they are doing their spending. And they are freeing their own heads from advertising and from special offers and they are asking what is really necessary for them and what is right that they buy.
These families are connected into a network. It’s called “Bilanci di giustizia”. They are very picky. Every month they send us their family budget and they tell us what spending they were able to do by thinking about it.
Just recently, we have finally analysed all their monthly records and we can give you some figures that I feel are very interesting. These families have been able to change the way they consume and to do this with accuracy and awareness, by 31%. That’s 31% of all their spending. And by doing this they have achieved two results that I feel are very important. One is that – they say they have improved the quality of their lives. We went to Germany and we got some help from the Wuppertal Institute. There, they told us that in order to measure the quality of life, the safest way is this: find out how much time a person has to do the things that they feel are the most important. And so we have used this indicator to find out. OK, on a scale of one to seven, the majority of the families found that they were landing up between five and six. We also asked them about their own views on their quality of life. Here too they ended up between five and six.
If we think about what we buy. If we are questioning whether by buying a certain thing we are voting for the one who is working in a correct way, looking after the environment and paying those who work in a just way, then we too are better off.
By putting this mechanism into action, these families have saved 16% on the same statistical social class of the average Italian.
All this makes us say that a step to gain freedom and for a true political action, can really start from our day-to-day spending.
These families will all come together on 27 to 31 August in Oropa in the province of Biella. They have given the event an interesting title: “Taste the beauty and construct the hope”. You can go onto the site www.bilancidigiustizia.it. They you will find all the information and of course you will find the figures that I have given you but in more detail and selected.
Thank you. If you too try doing your shopping with thoughtfulness, you’ll see that you’ll feel better. “