On the 17th
of December 2012, Roberto Benigni, an Italian actor, director and comedian, performed
on an Italian tv channel in a reading of the twelve fundamental principles of the
Italian Constitution. The title of the show was "La più bella del mondo", which
means "the most beautiful one in the world". Benigni is no scholar,
that is not a secret. But what I like about him is his passion for Italian
history and art; he is actually famous for his interpretations of Dante's
"Divina Commedia". I really enjoyed the whole show and his comments
on the twelve principles, highlighting the beauty of our Constitution and how our
funding fathers were able to safeguard all the basic liberties right after the
experience of Mussolini's Fascism; however, my favourite part was the one in
which he discussed what are the dangers that our Constitution faces: the indifference
of people to politics and low turnout in elections.
I wanted to
translate the whole bit, because it's something that doesn't necessarily apply
only to Italy,
and I find it really beautiful. I also included the video, for those of you who
speak Italian. Enjoy.
"Before
I move on to the reading of these twelve fundamental principles, I will tell
you two enemies that the Constitution has.
The two
enemies are: first, indifference to politics. Now you will tell me:
"Benigni, given the harsh times, how can you tell us to respect
politics?" No, actually I'm not telling you to respect politics. I'm
telling you to LOVE politics. It is the highest creation of the human thought to
built our life together. In order to organise peace, serenity and work there is
only politics, there isn't another science, and who is involved knows this. Not
being interested in politics is like not being interested in life. If someone
says "I just don't care anything at all", it's like they are saying
that they don't care anything not only about their own life, but about their
kids' life: if they go to school, if they get a good education, if they get
treated when they are sick, if they get marry, if they get a good job.
"No, I don't care, you think about it". How can you not care?! Your
kids' life, and your own too, that is what politics is about: organising our
life, building our life. The people who wrote the things we will hear in a
while (the Italian Constitution) were politicians, men of politics, people who
did politics all day long, and they wrote this great, magnificent thing which
always saves us. And this is why we have to care about politics, maybe not all
day long, but that is our life. If you despise politics you despise yourself. What
we need to do is not to mix the institution up with the people who represent it
at a given moment. There are terrible politicians. But if a father beats up his
child all day long, the problem is not fatherhood, fatherhood itself is
wonderful, it is that particular father who is dreadful. There are some politicians
who we do not love, but they are not all the same. It is a terrible thing to
say sentences like "Politicians are all the same". When we say that,
we do a huge favour to the bad, dishonest and stupid: because it is like we did
not recognise them, they think "Aha! Nobody noticed anything, they think
we are all the same". It is awful, we are just encouraging that.
The second
enemy of the Constitution, and of our living together efficiently, is not
voting. Voting is the only mean we have, but to get there it took thousands,
millions of victims, just to allow us to say what we want. Between two evils
there is always a lesser one. Each one of us yields more power than we think in
the world. Each one of us contributes, in an invisible but concrete way, to the
realisation of what is good and what is bad, of what is fair and what is
unfair. A tiny contribution exists: the
worst possible thing is to stand aside, not to vote. Now you tell me:
"Benigni, I can do whatever I want" and it's true, the Constitution was
written exactly to guarantee freedom, but there is an article about voting.
It's like they are telling us: "We are giving you all the possibilities, but
do not stand aside, even if you make a mistake and you vote for something
wrong, at least you are giving me the possibility to fight it, to say that I
disagree, and then we can organise our life; but if you do not take part, it is
terrible, it is like with Pontius Pilate. Everything goes in the hands of the
mob, and the mob always chooses Barabbas. It's like giving up your power. We
should never do it"
(Roberto Benigni, in "La più bella del mondo",
17/12/2012)
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