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Č ammissibile la tortura in uno Stato fondato su una Costituzione democratica che afferma la preminenza della persona umana e l'inviolabilitŕ dei suoi diritti di libertŕ? L'ordinamento costituzionale di quattro grandi democrazie, Francia, Regno Unito, Italia e Stati Uniti, nonché gli impegni assunti da questi Stati in sede internazionale sottoscrivendo la Convenzione delle Nazioni Umite contro la tortura, dovrebbero condurre ad una risposta negativa. Vicende lontane tra loro nel tempo dimostrano, invece, che anche gli agenti di uno Stato democratico possono praticare la tortura. Silenziosamente tollerate durante la guerra d'Algeria, le pratiche di tortura, camuffate da "tecniche" di interrogatorio, sono state progressivamente raffinate in Irlanda del Nord e, infine, ufficializzate dal governo degli Stati Uniti durante la guerra in Iraq. Utilizzate, com'č avvenuto anche in Italia, al di fuori di ogni presunto stato di necessitŕ, l'applicazione delle "tecniche" rivela la loro vera natura: atti di sadismo psicopatico.

Rom and Sinti, Citizens with no Homeland? - The condition of the Rom and Sinti peoples represents very well the contradictions present in European society and the problems that Europe has to tackle if it is to pursue the path of political integration. There are several million people in the Rom and the Sinti population, distributed in small communities all over the continent. Because of their lifestyle and different language and customs, they are in practice denied access to the civil, political and social rights due to other citizens, both in Italy and in the majority of other European countries. This denial of their cultural identity sometimes verges on racial discrimination: as they lie on the margins of civil society, the authorities often treat them in ways that are incompatible with the principles of freedom, equality and solidarity on which today’s modern democracies are founded. What the institutions in the various states ought to do, on the other hand, is work together with the Rom and Sinti organisations and with the international organisations to safeguard a cultural identity that enriches Europe as a whole just as much as its national identities do, while at the same time contributing at making these people fully entitled European citizens. Eligio Resta, God and the Majority Award The history of the principle of majority is still a powerful indicator for interpreting contemporary developments in economic democracy and in political democracy. The work by F. Galgano that led to these notes illustrates a line of commentary about the form and the contents of the rule of the majority that is pursued right up to the decline perceived in the present day. Overwhelmed by the crisis afflicting the concept of representation today, the principle of the majority has come back to question us about the space reserved for deliberative democracy.

How can the potentialities of the Faro Framework Convention be improved if they are put in relation to the paradigm of the ‘commons’ and to its innovative democratic capacity in terms of social justice and inclusive principles and values? After having underlined the main elements of innovation which characterize the Faro Convention, especially with respect to the intangible cultural heritage, the diverse risks which can affect the patrimonialization of cultural heritage are taken into account, paying particular attention to the processes of identitarian instrumentalization; folklorization and museification; urban and social disaggregation. In order to avoid these risks, the ‘commons’ approach is proposed as a different way to recognize, implement and transmit cultural heritage through its ‘commonification’. This process is already at work in many different contexts, fields and sectors, as it will be illustrated by some concrete examples of commonification of cultural heritage throughout Europe

La Turchia per entrare nell?Unione europea ha intrapreso un cammino di riforme che aprono alla protezione minoritaria, pur fra resistenze e lentezze.