The common good must be at the centre of everyone’s thoughts and actions, especially when, despite our best intentions, we are forced to live through challenging periods in history
by Francesco Michienzi
As we have stated numerous times before, our magazine aims to offer a safe refuge for the mind for those who have to deal with multiple problems daily. Big or small, solving problems is part of what makes us human.
We intentionally did not discuss the pandemic and its effects on Italy not because we did not believe the topic to be of enormous importance, but because we thought it was better not to add inadequate words to the discussion. The same should apply to this brutal, inhumane, and unreasonable war. We will not add unnecessary words to those of our many heroic colleagues, who deserve our most sincere admiration and gratitude. Like Fausto Biloslavo, for example, who has displayed incredible intelligence, tenacity, self-sacrifice, and professionalism. That said, I would like to touch on a few issues.
Firstly, if successive Italian governments had devised a proper plan for energy and industrial policy, perhaps we would now have more to say at the international table. No to nuclear, no to wind farms, no to regasification plants, and no to searching for oil and gas within Italy: saying no to clever ideas has been a constant feature of a broken political system that has failed to confront the real problems facing working people. Corruption and judicial malpractice are two sides of the same coin. Not to mention the tendency to celebrate incompetence.
«SURE I AM THAT THIS DAY, NOW, WE ARE THE MASTERS OF OUR FATE; THAT THE TASK WHICH HAS BEEN SET US IS NOT ABOVE OUR STRENGTH; THAT ITS PANGS AND TOILS ARE NOT BEYOND OUR ENDURANCE. AS LONG AS
WE HAVE FAITH IN OUR CAUSE AND AN UNCONQUERABLE WILLPOWER, SALVATION WILL NOT
BE DENIED US».
WINSTON CHURCHILL
Our ruling classes are so far detached from reality that they are unaware of what is happening to normal people or owners of small and medium-sized businesses, both in the world of Italian boating and beyond. People like us have no safety net, and when a new crisis emerges, whatever its origins, we feel defenceless. On the other hand, we are also strong and resourceful, meaning we can react in the best possible way, even in the face of clear injustice.
We were sent a document showing how the funds due to creditors from a bankrupt shipyard were divided up. It is a ridiculous list, with as little as €0.85 paid out in some cases, going up to a maximum of a few thousand euros. Dozens of companies were awarded €2,694 for the hundreds of thousands of euros they were owed. One could object that those were the resources available and that it is only fair to share them out proportionally amongst all creditors. This is true, but why does the law allow the administrator and all the professionals to keep the majority of these resources for themselves? Isn’t it time we did something about procedures like this, which surely belong in the Middle Ages? The country’s bureaucracy and political patronage would never allow it.
The explosive mix of public companies, state-owned businesses, politicians working in healthcare, positions awarded to the prime minister’s officials, and roles in government-appointed boards of directors in Italy make it practically impossible for the parliamentarians we elect to focus on the common good. They are so interested in their private affairs that all we can do is take matters into our own hands. With the strength of invisible people, forced to remain in the corner in silence while everyone else says their bit, even with no knowledge of the facts, on TV talk shows. We are the people who roll up their sleeves and save the world when it is needed. Although we know that loading up a truck full of medicines, first-aid kits, blankets, and formula milk is not enough to prevent an enormous tragedy, we must do everything we can to avoid catastrophe.
(Something needs to change – Barchemagazine.com – April 2022)
