“Mother country”, in the new book by Vittorio Emanuele Parsi a new idea for a nation of orphans

Homeland is a word that is little used and quite unknown today. Of course, you can go to the dictionary and discover its etymology and meaning. The first tells us that it derives from the Latin expression patria terra, that is, "land of the fathers". The second is that the term indicates "the territory inhabited by a people and to which each of its members feels they belong by birth, language, culture, history and traditions".

After reading them, however, we realize that these lexical and linguistic tools do not help us fully understand what is meant by homeland. Above all, they do not help us understand what the homeland can be today, in an era of increasingly multicultural and multi-ethnic societies, in a world which, like it or not, is that of globalisation. There is no point in hiding, in fact, that dictionary explanations worked perfectly in times when homeland meant precise boundaries of territory, language, identity and traditions. Eras in which the homeland was also a nation, sacred and inviolable, to be defended even at the cost of extreme sacrifice from everything that came from outside. It was an exclusive homeland, for which every stranger was an alien to be feared and fought. An ancient and static vision of a concept that however needs to be found in the present because we continue to need a homeland, in the sense of belonging to a common home.

It is this renewed declination that helps us find the political scientist Vittorio Emanuele Parsi in his pamphlet " Mother country " (Bompiani, 2023, pp. 192, also e-book) starting from a simple question: «Why is a new reflection on the Homeland?”.

For Parsi, we have the answer before our eyes in the Italian political debate, in which the term Patria often ends up being used in the opposite sense to its original meaning: not to unite, but to divide. But even more so in the international scenario, where we see how the idea of homeland - far from being a dusty and ambiguous concept - can represent a formidable multiplier of energy, self-sacrifice and spirit of sacrifice , capable of creating that sense of identity which is the only possible starting point for opening up to others without fear of being invaded and distorted by them. Whether we are talking about nationalism, migratory flows or other issues that change the global geopolitical situation, we cannot therefore avoid the reflection on patriotic sentiment. Just as we cannot avoid the questions we asked ourselves at the beginning about how to propose a concept of renewed love of patriotism.

Parsi delves into our past, from the Risorgimento to the "death of the fascist homeland" up to Tangentopoli and the present, in which the words of the national anthem become the name of one of the parties represented in Parliament. And it proposes a Copernican revolution in our way of conceiving the homeland or, better, the "Mother Country", to start again from its inclusive, loving and protective nature . A nature that we need because globalization and our European belonging ask us to take part in a decisive process with awareness of our roots and identity. And because the frayed bond between us and our institutions needs new life to overcome the economic, cultural and political challenges of the 21st century .

We must therefore unmask all rhetoric and overcome our prejudices to substantiate our love of country in the most intelligent, open and constructive way. From this perspective, the homeland is alive if understood as a bond of affection and gratitude towards one's roots, felt not as a geographical place but mainly from a cultural and spiritual point of view. A homeland, therefore, which coincides with the values in which people recognize themselves: rights, democracy, respect and above all freedom. A homeland that is the ideal and vital expression of what is most human in us and is not the dusty revival of memories and certainties linked to the past. Defending a homeland like the one just defined is therefore "a sacred duty", as stated in Article 52 of the Constitution, because the values that constitute it are fundamental to our way of living and being and are therefore neither negotiable nor expendable.

In short, the homeland can belong to everyone, but it cannot contemplate and accept everything. It is therefore a concrete entity very close to how Carlo Rosselli, intellectual and founder of the anti-fascist Justice and Freedom movement in the 1920s, described it when he stated: «Our homeland is not measured by borders and cannons but coincides with our world moral".