Nadia Urbinati speaks. How to re-found the Democratic Party starting from a new manifesto

What direction should the Democratic Party take? Starting from which key points should it be refounded? He asked the political scientist Nadia Urbinatiprofessor of Political Science at Columbia, and like her the other 86 colleagues – politicians and intellectuals – who, within the so-called “committee of wise men”, are currently working on the drafting of the new manifesto of the values ​​of the Democratic Party, who came out wounded from the polls. In recent days Urbinati’s words, which emerged unofficially from the first meeting of the committee, have provoked a debate around the underestimation of the word “equality”but also around the previous manifesto of values, that of the Pd baptized by Walter Veltroni at the Lingotto in 2007.

“I start by saying that it would be desirable that what we say during the work remained between us”, sighs Urbinati, when asked by Foglio. And he recalls explaining last Friday, in Domani, the reason why he defined the 2007 manifesto of values ​​as “ugly, dull, illegible, made up of buzzwords, bureaucracy”: “I should have said ‘unusable’ ”, wrote Urbinati: “Being the identity card of a political party, that vagueness is the worst that can be had, unless it was designed with the intention of allowing conflicting projects, therefore a party suitable for all seasons”. In short, the political scientist says in the meantime “that she does not want to be dragged into controversies on issues that we should have the freedom to be able to discuss freely”; “and, from the point of view of democratic functioning, within the committee you cannot have two things together: re-elaborate a draft document of values ​​and fall victim to vetoes from outside”.

The harsh words on the 2007 manifesto, he explains, “were above all a stimulus for discussion. Indeed, it is clear that that manifesto is dated, written among other things before the economic crisis of 2008. But, beyond this temporality, it is not that a manifesto of values ​​should be written every ten to fifteen years. A job, a study would be necessary, and Enrico Letta did well to invite us to read other manifestos of values, starting with those of the PSE and the Labor party, to get useful suggestions for our work. And well, the comparison shows that ours, that of 2007, is more like an electoral program than a manifesto of values. Not only: in all the founding documents of the socialist parties there are words that are absent in our manifesto. If you want to stay in the liberal fold, that’s fine, utmost respect, but then say so”. There are those, like Andrea Orlando, who have not by chance defined the 2007 manifesto as “ordoliberal”.

Urbinati, however, focuses on the fact that, “if you want to be a socialist-inspired party, you must first of all understand what socialism has been since the French Revolution, and then ask yourself ‘what is socialism today?’, ‘what kind of socialism do we want or can we think of?’. I think we need to move towards a sort of liberal socialism or democracy capable of being more inclusive. This is why I put the accent on the word equality”.

Meanwhile, the Democratic Party is called to oppose. “The Democratic Party must immediately place itself at the antipodes of those who pose as a ‘coachman fly’ (an expression of Filippo Turati) of a right-wing government. And it also has to think in terms of the future: Who are we targeting? Who do you want to attract? Let us bear in mind that 50% of the active electorate abstained two months ago. Perhaps some have not felt represented and have retreated to the Aventine. People who would have voted, if they had found a proposal to identify with. So much so that, in reverse, those who voted for the right must have felt well represented. Here you are, the Pd should reverse the marchand intercept the citizens of this subdued secession”.

• Marianna Rizzini

• Marianna Rizzini was born and raised in Rome, between the Visconti high school and the La Sapienza University, perhaps absorbing the tics of both environments, but more of the Visconti than of the Sapienza. Luckily they sent it to Milan in time, even if she then went back. He has been working at Il Foglio since the early years of the Millennium and mostly writes portraits of political figures or articles on left-wing disasters, Five Stars and web populists, but the page you don’t expect can happen (strange individuals, perfect strangers, improbable stories, robots , movies, cartoons). She was born into a crazy family, but in hindsight not even that much. She lives in Trastevere, she is Tea’s mother, she likes to go out, she is not an ace chef.