LIBRI DI GABRIELE TURI

Iqbal Masih. New forms of slavery examines how the concept of slavery evolved through the 19th and 20th centuries - The definition of slavery used by the international organizations - League of Nations, International Labour Organization, United Nations - has acquired an ever broader significance: in place of chattel slavery, it has come to include the different forms of the violent subjection of men, women and children in order to exploit them. The "new forms of slavery" of the contemporary period differ from the traditional ones (which still exist in some countries, such as Mauritania), while still maintaining various elements of continuity with them. The comparison between old and new forms of slavery can deepen our understanding of both at the historiographic level.

Key words: Slavery, Contemporary Slavery, Human Trafficking, Human rights.

Parole chiave: schiavitù, nuove schiavitù, tratta, diritti umani.

The First World War, according to the Ministry of Defence - Examines the official celebrations of the 90th anniversary of the end of the first world war, organized in Italy primarily by the Ministry of Defence of the Berlusconi government. Inevitably national patriotism became the dominant rhetorical tone, and a total absence of a calm reflection of the causes, character and consequences of the conflict that marked the celebrations and monuments in other countries. Key words: First world war, Italy, Celebrations, History. Parole chiave: Prima guerra mondiale, Italia, Celebrazioni, Storia.

Oblio e memorie della schiavitù ABSTRACT: Gabriele Turi analyzes the prolonged silence regarding both victims and persecutors of the Atlantic slave trade, and the recent initiatives of Unesco and some of the countries involved. The picture that emerges is highly varied, ranging from the restoration of fortresses and castles in Ghana, Senegal and Benin to monuments, school programmes and commemorations. The investigation indicates that memories are extremely fragmented, stronger among Afro-Americans and the Caribbean countries than in African countries. But it also shows the difficulties on the part of the states responsible for the slave trade in formulating expressions of regret, lest the descendants of the victims demand economic compensation.

In the Editorial Gabriele Turi analyzes the celebrations in Great Britain of the bicentenary of the 1807 law that abolished the slave trade. He discusses the different positions taken by the government, local authorities and the church. The official position of the British government has been to express its displeasure over English colonial policy based on the slave trade, but not to go so far as to proffer explicit apologies, in order to avoid possible claims for compensation; nor has it contributed to clarify the confusion that continues to exist between the abolition of the slave trade and of slavery. In this sense, British policy appears less courageous than that adopted recently by other former colonial powers, in particular France.

In the Uses and Abuses of History section Gabriele Turi examines the merits and above all the defects (resulting essentially from some highly dubious editorial decisions) of the Enciclopedia biografica universale, a weekly supplement sold with «la Repubblica» and «l’Espresso» from 27 December 2006 to 8 May 2007. The Istituto della Enciclopedia Italiana, founded by Giovanni Treccani, was responsible for the volumes. What characteristics must a life have to become an autobiography in nineteenth century Italy? What sorts of relationships emerge from an analysis of Italian autobiographies in this period? What is the sociological, cultural and psychological portrait of the author? Luisa Tasca endeavours to reply to such questions, offering the first results of her research on Italian nineteenth century autobiographies. Through a discussion of the numerous and significant research contributions that have appeared in the past two decades on right-wing opposition in France to the Popular Front governments, Gilles Richard offers an overall synthesis and points to the main questions that they raise.

Nel dicembre 2002 i rappresentanti delle forze di governo hanno proposto che nelle scuole italiane l’insegnamento della storia obbedisse a criteri oggettivi. In Usi e abusi della storia Gabriele Turi prende spunto da tale proposta, che utilizza in modo strumentale una raccomandazione del Consiglio d’Europa dell’ottobre 2001, per ricordare altri aspetti della battaglia del centro-destra contro la memoria del passato ispirata ai valori antifascisti della Costituzione.

Nell’Editoriale, prendendo lo spunto dalla mostra Utopie. La quête de la société idéale en Occident tenutasi a Parigi e a New York, Gabriele Turi riflette sul concetto di "utopia". Questo ha perso, nel corso dell’ultimo mezzo secolo, il suo significato più tradizionale - aspirazione a una profonda trasformazione della società accompagnata dal trionfo della ragione (e del sentimento) - ma soprattutto è diventato oggetto, nell’ultimo decennio, di un dibattito di chiara portata ideologica e politica, alla luce delle profonde trasformazioni avvenute nell’Est europeo. Seguendo le linee interpretative proposte dai curatori della mostra, Turi trova numerose conferme all’attualità del tema "utopia": un termine adottato, ad esempio, in modo fortemente polemico in occasione del crollo del comunismo sovietico.

Casa editrice di grandi firme e numeri, la Bemporad fu attiva a Firenze dal 1889 al 1938, diretta da Enrico Bemporad, uomo di cultura ambizioso e moderno, attivo anche sul versante della promozione e della diffusione del libro. Le 5500 edizioni descritte nel catalogo, tra libri di varia e testi scolastici, sono un puntuale specchio delle grandi aspirazioni della casa editrice. Tra i titoli: Le avventure di Pinocchio, Gian Burrasca, le avventure di Salgari, opere di Verga e Pirandello…