IL PAESE CHE VORREI

THE COUNTRY I WISH FOR

The country I wish for

It is a country based on people. And on people’s rights.

All kind of rights. Those enacted by International conventions.

In the country I wish for,

no one would be left alone.

There would not be fathers or mothers that commit suicide

Because their son is autistic or schizophrenic

And they do not know where to look for help,

Having being abandoned.

There would not be poor people dying

Because their heating stove

Goes on fire along with their house,

Which is not a house really.

In the country I wish for

Room would be given to the environment, to the trees, to the future.

Countryside would not be disappearing

To leave space to useless shopping centres

And we would not be forced to buy goods,

being otherwise responsible for our unemployment. 

In the country I wish for

There would not be weapons factories

And nuclear power stations. Neither fuel would be bought

From countries that do not respect human rights.

The rights of all people. 

The country I wish for does not support dictatorships and dictators.

It does not sell weapons, nor bombs or panzers,

Nor mines, or small guns.

The country I wish for,

Would provide everyone with a house, without expecting people

To strive to pay-off 30 year loans for a roof over their heads.

The country I wish for would fight against people who do not give their contribution

To sustain public goods.

Tax evasion would not be tolerated.

Every one willing to evade will have to do in person:

They would be free to leave the country. And not to come back.

In this country no offender would be left unpunished. No one.

Not the corruptor, or the corrupted; nor the father killer or the husband who rapes his wife. None.

There would not be a place left for illegality.

Any form of illegality. From the smallest to the biggest.

From the falsification of construction materials,

To the evasion of train travel fares.

They are all rooted in the same arrogance, and lack of respect for all others and for the rules.

In the country I wish for,

Community comes first, then individuals.       

In the country I wish for

There would be schools for everyone. Good schools, equipped with all that is needed.

But free school. Where students are not forced to attend until they are 18 or 16 years old.

Schools in which the disadvantaged are helped and students’ talents are nurtured.

In that country, houses would be built according to eco-friendly systems.

And renewable energies would be used to their full potential. 

Polluting energies would be banned.

Transport in all it’s form would be eco-friendly, and efficient.

Rather than polluting, and killing the world, people would be able to stop.

In the country I would like,

Culture is at the centre of everything.

Culture creates knowledge, and sustains thought, reflection and wisdom.

There would not be superficial TV programs aiming at making people stupid.

There would not be tits and arses on the screens and on the posters around town.

Nor  would there be quiz games, to gain easy money.

But there would be money for the museums. Those big as well as those small.

Museums for material and immaterial goods.

Like music, oral memory, traditions.

There would not be loads of waste.

And an effort would be made to reduce waste.

Through a life style which is less demential and less consumeristic. Less demential

Than the one we got used to.

In that country we would always remember, all of us,

That the world does not belong to us. Nothing of it, not even a blade of grass.

In every moment we should think, in making our choices,

to the rights of all people. To our right as well as the rights of people living in the desert,  

and who need the desert not to grow further.

To the rights of the people living in the forests, who need forest not to be reduced.

To the rights of people who wish to travel and who do need to face walls.

Because the world was given to us without walls.  

Silvia Montevecchi. March, 2011