Full squares: renewed forms of political participation or flashes in the pan?
In a time characterized by profound change in the economic, social and environmental fields, the need for concreteness in political action seems to be increasingly felt.
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"Full Squares, Empty Polls" (Pietro Nenni) has been the cry of late. But if politics should truly be considered collective action, then the recent protests—the composed, respectful, and orderly ones, animated and motivated by a shared sense of solidarity with the Palestinian cause, demanding respect for international law, and humanitarian law in particular—have represented a moment of significant popular mobilization. And it would probably be incorrect to assume that those very protests are tied to specific political groups, which, in fact, seem more to have followed and exploited them. In reality, those same protests seem to be distancing themselves from them, expressing that subtle mistrust between political action and the needs of the population that has been rampant for years now and which seems to be reflected precisely in the empty ballot boxes, in the abstentionism proper.
Those squares, certainly packed, but still not inclusive of all citizens, perhaps to put it differently, would seem to express and reflect the "distance" existing between a large portion of citizens and the institutions, the latter almost incapable of recognizing their needs for the present and building the future. While forms of political participation are changing rapidly, the parties' ability to interpret them is not as fast. And perhaps (the doubtful formula imposes itself) this is happening precisely because the phenomenon of mobilization seeks to assert itself in stark contrast to current party formations , which, over the years, appear to have progressed towards systemic involution , becoming almost impermeable to the needs and expectations of their electoral bases .
But how can these forms of protest, if they can even be called that, be effectively interpreted? Is there a need for new forms of political progressivism capable of accompanying the ongoing transformation of the social fabric through the formulation of purposeful social and economic policies? Can liberal and democratic socialism still represent a response to conservatism today?
The questions are many, and many more could be asked. The answers are equally numerous and diverse, depending on individual sensibilities. In a time marked by profound economic, social, and environmental change, there seems to be an increasingly pressing need for concrete political action , for a synthesis capable of expressing a vision perceived as lacking in both the governing parties, which would be functionally called upon to devise and implement it, and the opposition, which currently lack effective alternatives. There is an almost universal need to gather in a renewed and useful physical context for citizen-centric political discussion, within which to promote the political action necessary to express a vision for social growth in every aspect of daily life in the medium and long term.
Giuseppina Di Salvatore – Lawyer, Nuoro
