The economic crisis is an opportunity to rethink the role of the State

MIBAC,
23 April 2009, Italy

Sandro Bondi: ‘Following the presentation by Marcello Venziani on culture and the crisis, inspired by the convention, organized by MiBAC with the French Academy, attended by another 40 Italian and French intellectuals, allow me to add some brief thoughts.’

We are living in an economic crisis that many scholars are defining as ‘epochal’, and, in the face of this change, we are dismayed and anxious. But the word ‘crisis’, etymologically from the Greek ‘judge’ evokes much more than a simple change: it indicates the need of a ‘judgement’ and then of a choice. And it encourages not only thought of a total upheaval of our mentality, but also a total upheaval of a material, economic, social, anthropological and cultural nature. The word ‘crisis’ to use the word of Michel Foucault, catapults the collective imagination into a new area of discussion. This is why, on the one hand, the crisis ‘squeezes’ and causes ‘hurt’, but on the other hand, these things are necessary, they help people to rethink the world in which they live and to progress.

The full article is available in Italian at the link below.

http://www.beniculturali.it/mibac/multimedia/MiBAC/documents/1240471709783_libero_230408.pdf