Tullio De Mauro and the Democratic Challenge. The conference at the Senate of the Republic
We are pleased to share the full recording of the national seminar Tullio De Mauro and the Democratic Challenge. The School of Equality, organised by the Centre for Democratic Initiative of Teachers (Cidi) and hosted in the Zuccari Room of Palazzo Giustiniani, at the Senate of the Republic, with the participation of Mirta Michilli, Director General of the Fondazione Mondo Digitale.
The meeting highlighted the relevance of De Mauro’s thinking as a linguist, civil intellectual and champion of a vision of education grounded in Article 3 of the Constitution: a school capable of removing barriers, giving a voice to everyone, and making equality a reality.
In her talk, “De Mauro, education and the digital divide”, Mirta Michilli linked this legacy to the contemporary challenge of digital skills and artificial intelligence. Today, indeed, citizenship also depends on the ability to understand new technological languages, interpret them critically and use them to participate fully in social, cultural and democratic life.
For the Fondazione Mondo Digitale, which had Tullio De Mauro as its first president, this legacy continues to guide its commitment to tackling educational and digital divides. Below we present the recording of the event and a summary of the main speeches, to convey the richness of a collective reflection on constitutional schooling, democratic language education, technology and social justice.
Opening and political context
- Emma Colonna (Cidi): clarified that the initiative is not intended to celebrate the academic scholar, but "to remember the politician, the man who made Article 3 and the school according to the constitution... the school of removing barriers and a school open to all". She denounced the current attacks that define De Mauro’s approach as an “easy school”, reiterating instead the need for a “democratic linguistics that allows everyone… to access knowledge that makes them aware and responsible”.
- Cecilia D'Elia (Senator): emphasised how De Mauro had ‘overturned the conception of grammar and language learning, valuing linguistic diversity’. Quoting the interview La cultura degli italiani, she recalled that the aim is ‘to give everyone, without exception, full autonomy of movement within society and within the whole of today’s culture’.
- Valentina Chinnici (President of CIDI): retraced the historical link between De Mauro and CIDI, citing the definition of the ‘school party’ as a ‘smilso party that stands apart from political forces... and which has sought and continues to seek to give voice to our country’s need for education’. She concluded by reaffirming the commitment to a ‘school of effective parity, of substantial equality’.
The scientific legacy and language education
- Silvana Ferreri (linguist): in her talk ‘The Future and Memory’, she illustrated De Mauro’s ability to be ahead of his time, citing his work on vocabulary as a mirror of democracy:
- ‘A good vocabulary is just like a good constitution... it is about knowing how to listen, gather and make the most of the voices of an entire people’. She reiterated that language education must necessarily be democratic, since ‘language education programmes without a commitment to democracy do not have the school of equality at heart’.
- Mario Ambel (Cidi): He looked back on the years of the Ten Theses, emphasising that ‘the formation and development of linguistic skills are of great educational and political significance’. He challenged the vision of the new national guidelines, advocating the idea of ‘equipping young people with all the uses of language... as a tool for liberation rather than subjugation’.
Historical, social and technological perspectives
- Vanessa Roghi (historian): reconstructed the link between school and democracy, stating that ‘democracy is not taught, it is not preached; democracy is practised in the life of the classroom’. She pointed out how the present tense in Article 3 (‘the obstacles that prevent’) indicates that such impediments are a real fact that the Republic must remove.
- Albertina Soliani (former undersecretary): defined the “party of education” as the “party of the Constitution”. She highlighted the gravity of the current challenge, urging us to “take seriously the task of shaping the consciences that change history” and to keep “the light on” even in times of “deep darkness”.
- Mirta Michilli (Fondazione Mondo Digitale): spoke of the digital divide not merely as a technical issue but as a social one: ‘Those who do not understand digital languages today risk a new form of social exclusion’. She echoed De Mauro’s lesson on ‘demanding trust in schools’ as the only institution capable of offering equity.
- Gianni Cuperlo (PD): analysed the deterioration of public discourse, quoting Moro’s prophecy: “Those who simplify consciously remove what is superfluous; those who trivialise unconsciously remove what is essential”. He urged us “not to trivialise language, not to simplify the complexity of memory within schools”.
Representatives and the younger generation
- Irene Manzi (PD): She reiterated that the act of commemorating De Mauro in the Senate is a ‘deeply political act’. She observed that a democratic school must ‘truly provide and promote a linguistic education in line with those two paragraphs of Article 3 of the Constitution’.
- Francesca Gallina (Giscel): She emphasised the importance of education: ‘Without quality teaching, there can be no learning and there can be no democracy’.
- Federica Corcione (Unione degli Studenti): She spoke on behalf of the students, stating: "We students are not citizens of the future. We are the citizens of today‘. She denounced the school system being subjected to market forces, calling for it to return to being a ’bulwark of democracy‘.
- Antonio Masini (Rete Studenti Medi): He emphasised that ’equality is a condition of freedom‘ and that the school system must return to being a ’social ladder".Peppino Bondonno (Italian Left): He reflected on the danger of the simplification of cognitive processes, where the masses “must be content with a bamboo flute in their use of language” compared to a symphonic elite.Graziella Conte (MCE): She focused her speech on ‘educating through speech’, understood as listening and dialogue. She highlighted the need to ‘pay close attention to words, to the effects they can cause, and to use them with awareness’, distinguishing between words that hurt and words that heal.
