SEASON'S GREETINGS

LE FIGURE RETORICHE

Quali sono le più comuni figure retoriche? Ti proponiamo qui un breve elenco di alcune tra le figure retoriche più usate e conosciute, ma ricordiamo che sono tante e spesso tra loro si differenziano poco e sono facilmente confondibili.

REFLECTING ON EQUALITY AND FREEDOM ...

The satellite event “Equality and Freedom”, organised by the Italian association “Sulleregole” and in which my class participated on 30 November, was extraordinarily inspiring. Gherardo Colombo has been taking part in such meetings with high school students for years. He is a former Italian magistrate who had a crucial role in some of the most remarkable trials in the country, such as “Mani Pulite”, a judicial investigation into political corruption in the 1990s, and the murder of Giorgio Ambrosoli, a court-appointed lawyer who was liquidating Sindona's crumbling banking empire. The event was presented by the famous actor Pif, and Gherardo Colombo was flanked by the journalist Sergio Rizzo. They both dealt with very serious topics, which are generally underestimated by most people: not only freedom and equality, which are doubtlessly the core values of every democratic society, but also the correlation between the Internet and these two concepts. Thanks to his friendly and even joking attitude, the magistrate managed to involve the students in an active discussion about the profound meaning of the word “equality”, which is, I think, more and more misunderstood. Each of us is unique, but the Constitution (and more specifically Article 3) guarantees the respect of the differences and defines the conditions which allow people to have fair opportunities. However, what Colombo helped us understand is that a society based on equality is not necessarily characterized by freedom, too. So, the two values must coexist in order to create a better society, in which everyone is different, and equal: sex, race, personal and social conditions can’t be turned into pretexts for discrimination and violence.

Besides, Sergio Rizzo, Vice Director of  “La Repubblica”, discussed the problems of the Internet related to the world of work and “artificial intelligence”. It was probably quite tedious for some students, but I found it extremely interesting, mainly because of the influence of technology on our lives, as it is becoming increasingly significant. Just think of Amazon or Google which have an incredible decision-making power over international politics and economy.

What we can do is to strive to keep the democratic values alive, even in front of such a changeable world.

Matteo Masi,  5^C Liceo Linguistico

NELSON MANDELA

Il 5 dicembre 2013 Nelson Mandela moriva a Houghton, Johannesburg, Sudafrica.
Nelson Mandela è stato un politico sudafricano, primo presidente ad essere eletto dopo la fine dell'apartheid nel suo paese e Premio Nobel per la Pace nel 1993 insieme al suo predecessore Frederik Willem de Klerk. Leggi qui.

DÉCEMBRE