“I will be drastic. The southern question no longer exists as a political question. The South has become a geographical area that weighs on the Mediterranean. Why isn't there anymore? Because there is no more Italian dualism. Which produced an enormous culture from the XNUMXth century onwards. It was born from the national state and from how it was born. Yes, it is said that the conditions are still different and it is true, but there is no longer a culture that reflects on Italian dualism”.
Biagio De Giovanni, philosopher and politician, talks to FIRSTonline about his city, Naples, after the cry of pain from the new mayor Manfredi, who called on the Government to keep the rebirth of the former capital of the Kingdom and of the South at the center of its action general because only in this way is Italy also reborn.
Did I get it right? You say that the southern question has been erased by time if not by political actions?
“I'm talking about political culture without which no vision of the future can be produced. As far as the South is concerned, it was there, but now it's gone. In part it was also bankruptcy, mind you, in the sense that sometimes it produced the Cassa del Mezzogiorno, sometimes absolute silence, sometimes even the northern question. But there was this dilemma, and this dilemma as such no longer exists. The Mezzogiorno is no longer a question from a cultural point of view. We talk about lower income, we try to patch things up by announcing some infrastructure, but the historical problem of the South is over. For me this is sensationally evident, I don't know why it is not said clearly".
Why isn't it said?
"I repeat. An issue like southern Italy has created over 150 years of culture, which is not something that concerns academies, book writers, etc. It was a way in which the ruling classes positioned themselves. Is there a Southern ruling class anymore? You can also have some ministers, policies. But is there a ruling class anymore in the cities, in the regions capable of posing this type of problem? In my opinion this is no longer there. The consequences of all this can be various. But the starting point must be this. Of course there is a South, but it is a mere geographical area. This situation, I won't hide it, is also due to another element. Today the problem of supranationality prevails over the problem of nationality. In other words, Northern Italy, Lombardy is more related to Bavaria than to Calabria because the borders have broken down. I'm not saying this in a negative sense, I'm a convinced pro-European, but I'm making an observation of a fact. All the more therefore it would be necessary to rebuild a southern ruling class. But the difficulty in doing so is that it no longer exists."
So the question of Naples doesn't exist either?
"Certain. Because Naples was the capital of that Mezzogiorno we were talking about. Naples was one of the great hearts of national culture. And so the cultural end of the South has been greatly affected. No longer having an engine role, if one thinks of the weight of the great philosophers, from the Hegelians to Croce, and I don't make it a question of the history of philosophy but of civil history, it closed in on itself. And she became very impoverished. Because it is a city – I can put it this way – without an identity. We need to resort to perverse and worn-out categories like that of the Neapolitan spirit that I avoid like eternal fire. Because they are full of clichés, of things said, repeated and trivial; Naples in this moment having lost that identity of which it was said must find itself again. The question is whether he will succeed and how”.
So how do you read the concerns of the new mayor Manfredi?
“They are normal when it comes to questions of debt, of the budget. But it must go further. He must try to put his energy, his culture, his abilities into play. He is not a professional politician, but he was a great rector, minister, he is a character, he must take charge of this city. Where do I see some positive elements? Lights and shadows. I see the lights in some very positive characters in the junta, the shadows lie in the fact that the mayor has to answer to numerous corporations; but it's inevitable and I want to trust him. And in any case we cannot forget that the Municipality of Naples is on the verge of bankruptcy. What's the new point? It is that finally it seems that the money will come to get out of it. The question is the same as always: will they be able to spend it? It's a huge number. With the pandemic, Europe has changed shape, it has done something that had never been thought of before, the common debt. Now we need to see if there is a ruling class here capable of thinking about the city on the basis of the funds that arrive. That they are not free, let's remember that. You spend it if you have projects, you spend it if these projects are realistic, you spend it if these realistic projects are timed. I have European experience and I know what the very strong supervision of state spending is. Which is right, otherwise the structure won't hold up. And this is an open question. We'll see".
Mayor Manfredi asked himself a strong question: how much does Italy care about the fate of Naples? I turn it to her.
“Basically it's the same story. I don't want to exaggerate, but Italy too has lost its identity. It may seem a paradox, but Italian identity was strongly linked to the contradiction between North and South, to the productive contradiction of culture. Now that this contradiction as such has disappeared, because Milan doesn't care about Naples, let's face it, we need to hope for a central government that sets in motion those energies that produce culture. We had a stroke of luck having Draghi in charge, but it's still a huge task and I don't know if he's capable of doing it. As for Naples, it needs to find energy within itself, and hence the enormous responsibility of the mayor. And it is important that there be a person of culture in that position, even if without political experience, because today there is a cultural dynamic that goes beyond – I dare say – the immediacy of political action. In other words, he must be able to restore an identity to Naples such as to place it as a national problem. If it remains a local problem, we spend a little money here and a little there, it doesn't work. It's a priority issue. The priorities of Naples are its daily livability which has reached a monstrously ugly level, its excellences which are in decline its universities, the Cnr. We need to start again from these high places, not just from the potholes of the city as they say. Because Naples is coming out of a terrible decade, the worst in his life ”.
So if Naples rediscovers its identity, will it also return it to the country?
“One cannot but hope. His ruling class must be widespread. In Naples we have a semi-dissolved bourgeoisie, the suburbs are left to themselves. It happens everywhere it's true. But Naples is Naples: a huge city, an equally large metropolitan area, a very difficult suburb. Unfortunately it has to be said. Here are I don't know how many Camorra deaths a month, very young. It is something profound because the Camorra's struggle is a neighborhood struggle while the economy is penetrated by crime. Those are gigantic problems. Who are to name them are scary. But you have to name them and see where to start again to put something in motion".
I feel very pessimistic about it…
“I think the categories of optimism and pessimism are wrong categories. The world exists and we have to deal with it. In the specific case you have to try to take it a little further. The Neapolitans are a strange ethnic group which, however, no longer has internal references. We have to find them."
