M5S and Pd find the courage to take a shared step – Corriere.it

We publish an open letter to the secretary of the Democratic Party Elly Schlein and to the president of the M5S, Giuseppe Conte: the first signatories are the writer Maurizio de Giovanni, the sociologist Domenico De Masi and the historian Aldo Schiavone.

gkind secretary of the Pd, honorable Elly Schlein, g
Dear political leader of the 5 Star Movement, Honorable Giuseppe Conte, we believe the time has come to open a new page in the history of the Italian Left. A page that is also a joint effort guided by realism and common sense. And we believe it is your task above all to make the start of this new season possible. We are also convinced that there is not a moment to lose, for the good of the country, its democracy and the common European home.

The authors of this letter have intellectual backgrounds very different behind them, and they have interpreted in different ways belonging to the field of the left. On many issues their opinions are not entirely convergent, but they are convinced that the exceptional nature of the moment requires solutions that have never been tested, and the effort of all those who recognize themselves in the desire for a more balanced, clean and integrated planet, and for a human being more united, fluid and with identity that are not barriers, but richness and plurality. These women and men must be offered a policy worthy of the name — and the left can only do so if it opens up a shared laboratory of ideas and strategies.

Italy is a country that has lost its future, but which is still capable of building it, in the myriad of subsystems and formations in which its civil fabric is articulated. From this contrast arises the plot of decline and momentum with which we deal every day, which sometimes exalts, but too often brings down the darkness around us. There is a need to rebuild a horizon for the country and to rediscover the sense of its unity, when instead there are those who would like to break us apart in the name of a short-sighted and wrong conception of the autonomy of our regions. This must be done in particular for the younger generations for whom happiness cannot be reduced to individual success. It is a challenge that only the left in its entirety can take up. Because it is only by using his language that we are able to focus on the crucial issues to be addressed which require, in order to be resolved, more equality, more rights, more democracy, more ties, even if different from the national and class affiliations of the past.

We have to develop a new model of society. A proposal in which the critique of the current techno-capitalistic structure of the world – and its distorted distribution of knowledge, jobs, powers, wealth, opportunities and protections – is accompanied by the consideration of the opportunities opened up by the technological revolution that has just begun.

It is not an easy goal but within reach of the political planning of Europe, which remains a teacher of civilization. In this sense, it would be desirable for the deadline of the next European elections to coincide with a relaunch of the process of unification of the Continent. And it would be nice if it were the Italian left itself that became the bearer of this need, starting with joint working groups to elaborate the contents of the turning point.

We know well how impervious the road we indicate is. But we know no less well that the current leaders of the two major parties are today able to make bold and innovative choices, which look ahead, without selfishness of sides or party interests.

Dear friends, have courage and trust, before the game of vetoes and currents clip your wings! It is not a question of canceling what exists today; and on the other hand the plural composition of the left is an Italian tradition which has its advantages. It is a question of starting a coordinated journey. The alternative, in the long run, is the common ruin of the contenders. The right is waiting for nothing else. But we, and those with us who want to sign this letter, have not stopped having hope.

To subscribe: web change.org/Left together