“No to the Demagogues: The Parties Must Renew Themselves”

In the face of the crisis that overtook Italy and Europe, in the midst of a deep global change, we need to draw from a lesson on national unity that the Resistance taught us, and we need politics to become a binding commitment, like the one that many came to know during the Resistance, and then start putting into practice, day in and day, out. Let us stop to remember and reflect, before we hurl ourselves against politics. I have already cited in the past, and do not hesitate to cite again, the words of the letter of the 19 year-old-student from Parma, Giacomo Ulivi, condemned to death [for being a partisan] and executed by a firing squad in Piazza Grande in Modena on November 10, 1944.

“Dear friends, moving as far away as possible from any political manifestation was the worse outcome of a 20-year process of miseducation, which was able to nail many of us down on prejudices, fundamentally the one of the ‘dirtiness’ of politics. Every day they told us that politics is the business of ‘specialists’: leave it to those who can and must. But instead we are the public ‘thing’: we must attend to it directly, personally, as our most delicate and important work.”

So how much had this young man understood while fighting to rid Italy of Fascism and its 20 years of intoxication of consciences. And the message of that young man, of that very young hero, did not remain isolated or vain. The rebirth of Italy was made possible because very many—carried by the Liberation—came closer to politics, not seeing it as something dirty, but seeing the public thing as the common concern of all individuals.

And instead, today sees controversy and even anger grow towardsolitics. And the sights are set on the parties, as if they were the polluting factors.... Nothing has been able to, or can, substitute the role of the parties in the interactions with democratic institutions. Hence, we need to take up work to exact those sections that have festered and become corrupted, so that the parties can once again find their ideal impetus, their moral tension and the renewed capacity to propose [ideas] and to govern. This is what we need: without giving in to a blind distrust for the parties as if none of them could turn around and without giving the next demagogue a chance to run his mouth....

I have found it dutiful, not only in recent times but in all my years, to urge institutional and political reforms, sometimes with the use of critical accents. It therefore saddens me that the current legislative body, as did its predecessor, has given up all hope of Parliament mutually agreeing on any reforms. Today, however, the conditions are present to facilitate reaching a meeting point and to defines norms and regulations to ensure the transparency and democracy within the parties, including new criteria, limits and controls over their financing and to adopt a new electoral system that allows voters to choose their candidates instead of having to vote for the candidates chosen by party leaders. In fact, it is not only the old ideological contradictions that have crumbled but also the inability of opposing political sides to communicate. It is therefore possible, today, for Parliament to come to an agreement on issues that have become urgent or, rather, need immediate consideration. The parties should not hesitate or wait to take concrete steps in this direction. But everyone should pay close attention to the steps that have been taken and will be taken by the parties toward reforms without opposing them with an aggressive and preconceived lack of confidence.

Let there instead be a serious commitment to the institutional-political renewal, and let the citizens greet it with a more constructive and trusting spirit. Renewal, trust and unity are the conditions [necessary] to gain a positive perspective on all the economic and social problems afflicting us; the problems that present dramatic outlooks to the families enduring the toughest hardships, for those who see their job security at risk and for those—especially the young adults—who are without any concrete possibilities for employment. And this is our greatest affliction: opening better and more dignified avenues to employment and to the future for our younger generations. Politics, the parties, must—while completely renewing themselves—do their part in finding and enacting solutions to our more acute problems, concretely debating with the government until the natural conclusion of the legislative term. The institutions must also do their part, from the Parliament and the Cabinet to the nunicipalities--which are, moreover, conditioned by serious restrictions.