Italian
Growing abstention and distance between citizens and politics call into question the meaning of democracy
ITALY – Are we living in a better or worse world? Progress and technological advancements have changed our habits. The speed of the existential paths we must navigate pushes us to accelerate our decisions and reactions on one hand, and on the other, to the inevitable fear of falling behind.
The old speak of pains and small children, and in this repeated dullness they are overwhelmed by everything that lies in between, which is life in its dynamic interaction. It is easier to give up than to keep resisting.
To what extent is it justified to defend one’s opinions, even if they cannot lead to changes? We are astonished by the fact that voter turnout is increasingly declining. We have reached less than 50% of those eligible to vote, and we are in regional elections, which should concern us much more closely in the issues we face every day.
Presumably, this percentage will drop even further. The most common justification we hear is that the same phenomenon occurs in other countries as well. And this decline is evident, despite the heated debates and talk shows presented by the media, where the opposition is expressed with vehemence, sometimes even with verbal and physical violence.
This indifference of the majority of the population to political choices has a dual meaning. First, a demand for stability and no change; second, a deep awareness of not counting for anything in determining processes of change.
Where has the square of Athens gone, a universal example of democracy? Everyone is at home. Because tomorrow is not another day, but a day similar to the previous one.
Another explanation can also be glimpsed. The fracture between those who govern and those who are governed has become deeper and more radical. Politics, which is supposed to provide real solutions to complex individual and social problems, is drifting away from the pursuit of the common good, and seems to exist in a parallel universe to that in which people live, who choose to resign themselves to impossibility.
I can’t help but think of a kind of social narcissism. Like Narcissus and Echo, in ancient mythology. Narcissus condemned to see only himself, and Echo also a victim, condemned to hear only herself.
There is a serious danger in this indifferent trend. It is what one might think, given that voting is not useful for solving individual and daily problems, it is better to have a single decision-maker, even if represented by multiple individuals, to whom we can fully delegate the choices that concern us.
What concerns us is not only our particular interest, but also the active participation in the problems faced by our fellow humans and those who have expectations different from our own. Politics means participation in the polis, in the city.
Aristotle defines human beings as political animals. What makes us human, and is specific to our species, is precisely being political subjects, who actively participate in the lives of all individuals who are part of the city. Nothing is indifferent to us; the problems of others are also our problems.
Renouncing the vote, where it is not an expression of anarchic dissent, exposes us to fragility and omnipotence. The fragility of all of us who believe we count for nothing, and the omnipotence of those who think they can decide for everyone regardless of consent.
These are the limits and the paradox of a renouncing and delegated freedom. The serious risk lies in the loss of subjectivity as an essential value to be claimed and defended.
