“Less
Inequalities, More Differences” is a title that highlights the multiple
richness of people as an expression of personal talents and avoids the
mortification of uniformity which paradoxically increases inequality. I would like to translate the title into an
image: the sphere and the polyhedron (a solid in three dimensions with flat faces and straight edges). The sphere can represent uniformity, as a
sort of globalization: it is smooth, without facets, equal to itself in all its
parts. The polyhedron has a form similar to the sphere, but is made up of many
faces. I like to imagine humanity as a polyhedron, in which the many forms,
expressing themselves, constitute the elements that make up, in plurality, the
one human family. And this is real globalization. The other globalization –
that of the sphere – is a uniformity.
A
second thought is addressed to young people and the elderly: the
acknowledgement of difference accords value to people, unlike uniformity, which
bears the risk of discarding them since it prevents their significance from
being recognised. Noawadays, the young and the elderly are considered
dispensable as they do not correspond to the productive logic of a
functionalist vision of society, they do not respond to any useful criterion of
investment. They are described as 'passive', they do not produce but rather in
the market economy they are subjects of production. We must not forget,
however, that the young and the elderly both bring great richness: they are
both the future of a people.”
