"A Garibaldi who is always current, indeed very current," says Raffaella Ponte, national councilor of the National Association of Garibaldi Veterans, former director of the Mazzinian Institute-Museums of the Risorgimento in Genoa. Raffaella Ponte was the speaker, on June 2 in Caprera, under Clelia's pine tree, on the anniversary of his death (143 years ago), of a conference entitled "A general for peace. The ideal and political path of Giuseppe Garibaldi, of Young Europe at the Geneva congress".
And what he emphasized throughout his speech, contrary to what one might think, is that he, a warrior, leader, strategist, general, did not like war "but believed that, on certain occasions, to have peace, it was necessary to use war ; war to fight injustice and therefore justified by the conquest of freedom and to, as he said, "drive thieves out of the house"; for Garibaldi, thieves were tyrants. Freedom and independence were closely linked, one could not exist without the other and both were a prerequisite for progress".
His vision of the world actually presupposed "social justice, the need for education, administrative reform that put the municipalities at the center as the closest citizens; he was against duties (he had a very current economic vision) and then he was against the hateful taxes that he called immoral, those on salt and ground grain. He also wanted a fair and progressive tax system. Principles that were contained in the Constitution of the Roman Republic for which he fought and that we find in our Constitution". Garibaldi believed that social problems could be solved by achieving peace between peoples, a peace that would allow less funds to be used for armies and instead for education, for industrial and economic development, through which the social question could be resolved. Raffaella Ponte's speech was detailed and interesting, and was followed with interest by the audience present at the conference; which was introduced by Gianluca Moro, coordinator of the Garibaldini Museums of Caprera with greetings from the director of the Museums, Sergio Cappai, and that of the councilor for culture of La Maddalena, Gianvincenzo Belli. The conclusions were by the professor Paolo Lisca.
