In Gallura, the meeting with top journalists continues with Sergio Rizzo, expected on Wednesday at 7:30 pm in the main square of Porto Cervo.
A regular contributor to Corriere della Sera, Repubblica, MF-MilanoFinanza, and L'Espresso, Rizzo will present "2027 Escape from Democracy" during the evening, along with La Ragione editor Fulvio Giuliani, who collaborated on the event. Admission is free and the event is part of the Porto Cervo Libri literary festival.
Known to the general public as the author of the essay "La Casta," co-written with Gian Antonio Stella—who also co-wrote "La deriva"—and other successful works, most recently "02.02.2020. The Night We Left the Euro," "The Hamster's Memory," "Absolute Power. The Hundred Magistrates Who Rule Italy," "The Pension Titanic. Why the Welfare State Is Sinking," and "Io So' Io. How Politicians Have Become Untouchable Again," as well as a regular guest on Giovanni Floris and Di Martedì, in his latest literary work, Rizzo attempts to paint a futuristic (but plausible) Italy, devastated by climate change, where almost no one shows up to vote.
The book explains that political fantasy is not as far off as it seems. Indeed, near-total abstentionism triggers a series of emergencies that translate into a crisis of democracy, seemingly irreversible when the popularly elected prime minister—the decisive leader of a right-wing coalition—seems to vanish into thin air. While the judiciary investigates a mysterious series of attacks, the economy collapses, and the European Union looks upon Italy with horrified concern: the peninsula is the victim of an escalation that is turning it into a backward-looking and xenophobic democracy, and rumors of international conspiracies are gaining traction. The heroic act of a coast guard captain, an Albanian immigrant who became a naturalized Italian, could reverse the situation: a man of order with a crisis of conscience.
The result is an ironic portrait of Italian politics, a distorting mirror of its deepest impulses, and a lucid warning about what we could become. Not to be missed.
