Mattarella: 'Let us not allow a regression to Caesarist tyranny'
The President of the Republic, receiving an Honorary Degree in 'Politics, Institutions and the Market' in Florence, said: "Contemporaneity is imposing revolutionary challenges in the international order and in the economic order, with obvious repercussions on the institutional spheres"
The President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, receiving an Honorary Degree in 'Politics, Institutions and the Market' in Florence, recalled Silvano Tosi, "first a pupil and then an authoritative teacher at the 'Cesare Alfieri'. "In 1957," the Head of State continued, "he concluded the preface to his translation of Tocqueville's 'Democracy in America' with these words, still relevant today and cause for reflection: 'Of Tocqueville's many prophetic insights, the most disturbing for our time is perhaps that which foresees a future oscillating between democratic liberty and Caesarist tyranny, to which the modern science of despotism suggests that philanthropic aspect, those fraudulently representative forms, that fearful guardianship office of the individual, which Tocqueville masterfully defined, capturing its intimate spirit, in concluding that it tended to perpetuate the infancy of man'." "Let us not let this happen, let such a regression take place," he concluded.
Revolutionary challenges in the world impact institutional settings
"The founder of Cesare Alfieri urged teachers to give young people 'good provisions' and to equip them with 'good weapons for the whole campaign of militant life'. This purpose seems more essential than ever today because contemporaneity is imposing revolutionary challenges in the international order and in the economic order, with obvious repercussions on the institutional spheres," Mattarella explained.
There is a claim to act outside supranational bodies
"The protagonists of global scenarios, with great and growing influence on the daily lives of individuals and communities, are technological and financial players. Often the two aspects merge. These are not entirely new phenomena. New is the claim to break down the commitments made after the Second World War to put international relations on an equal footing between states. The claim is to act outside the rules of states and supranational bodies, eroding the sovereignty of the former and the growing positive role of the latter,' the Head of State argued again.
Political parties were the engine of democratic rebirth
"Political parties have represented the engine of Italia's democratic rebirth, ensuring popular involvement as never before in the history of the unitary State. They play a role indicated by the Constitution: this is also why criticism and solicitations coming from the electorate, first and foremost, and from the world of culture are, more than useful, necessary," Mattarella added.
