Forum on Inequality and Diversity (ForumDD)

The Forum on Inequality and Diversity is an alliance of active citizens’ organizations and researchers aimed at producing and disseminating research, policy proposals and “methods for decision making” which can enhance social and environmental justice, defined as sustainable substantive freedom. It was launched in February 2018 and now counts more than 110 members and project partners. It relies on financing from some Foundations and it collected 80 thousand euros through a crowd-funding closed in October 2022. The Forum operates through advocacy, alliances with social and labour organizations, a heated and informed dialogue with public institutions and pilot projects at local level.
A video and some slides present our mission and vision.

 

The Italian website (daily updated) contains all the information and our Reports and policy proposals. Some material is available in English in this section. Among others:

 

The highlighted words are linked to a “Wiki-Forum”,
a glossary that provides their explanations that can be read only in Italian.

Italian society is characterised by:

1) High and rising inequalities, mounting fear for the future and growing anger among those who feel left behind.

2) A widespread vitality in civil society, business and the public sector, which also produces a multitude of innovative practices to fight inequality but fails to produce systemic changes.

The FORUM aims to design public policies and collective actions in order to reduce inequalities and enhance everyone’s substantive freedom (diversity). It also aims to build consensus and commitment towards these proposals.

Thanks to the coalition between civil society organizations and researchers, knowledge and sentiments embodied in a multitude of practices can help turn fear and anger into progress towards a fairer society.

Our Project

In the past thirty years Italy, together with all Western countries, has experienced high and increasing inequalities: economic  (income, private wealth, labour market outcomes, poverty), social (access to, quality and trust in essential public services) and recognition (recognition of the role, values, culture and aspirations of individuals and/or groups). These inequalities are still particularly hard on women and threaten the future of younger generations.

Inequalities have a marked territorial dimension and give rise to divides between urban peripheries and town-centres and between rural (or inner) and urban areas. Inequalities and environmental degradation compound one an other and give rise to underdevelopment traps. (These within-country divides also exist and are increasing within non-Western countries, whose income inequality gap with Western countries has decreased in recent years).

1. Facts

In Italy, as in all Western countries, increasing inequalities have generated injustice  and have had a negative impact on development. Fear, resentment and anger  have increased among the lowest, second lowest and vulnerable sections of society – left behind by the top and the resilient sections.  This has given rise to an authoritarian dynamic among disadvantaged individuals and in penalized territories: intolerance for diversity, lack of trust in institutions and “experts”, demands for closed communities and tough authorities.

In Europe, this dynamic threatens the very existence of the European Union, because many of its citizens consider the EU as one of the causes of inequality instead of as a source of justice and a fairer society.

2. Consequences

In Italy, as in all Western countries, rising inequalities are not un unavoidable effect of changes beyond our control: technological change; globalization; migration; climate change. Rather, they are the result of a combination of political, economic and cultural choices that came with these changes: a U-turn in public policies; a loss of negotiating power of labour; and a change in “common sense”  (what society tends to consider normal or appropriate).

All these changes started at the end of the 1970s and have progressively accelerated.

3. Causes

It is therefore possible to reduce inequalities by adopting new public policies, by rebalancing powers and by changing the common sense.

Following Article 3 of the Italian Constitution, the goal should be to “remove the barriers that de facto restrict citizens’ freedom and equality”. The aim is to enhance the “full development of each and every person” (diversity) and the “participation of workers” in order to ensure substantive freedom for all. This is the opposite of restricting freedom and merit, imposing duties and increasing State’s invasiveness, which is how many people nowadays understand the words “equality” or “tackle inequalities”.

Achieving these results calls for a new compromise  among different sections of society. The knowledge and sentiments needed for such compromise can be drawn from the multitude of social, private and public practices existing today in Italian society.

4. What can be done?

Civil society organizations and trade unions  need to work together and with researchers. We need coalitions capable of mixing languages, building a shared interpretation of facts and a shared vision of the desired future, evaluating practices, elaborating proposals, testing deliberative methods, and spreading knowledge. And we need these coalitions to convince people to call for a heated, informed, open, and reasonable debate (conflict) with “the others”, in order to reach agreements and forcefully demand that they be implemented by people democratically endowed with representation and power.

 The Forum is one of these coalitions. It aims to transform the multitude of practices into systemic changes, by designing public policies and collective actions  to reduce inequalities and building consensus around them.

5. Our Coalition

The Forum will focus on four dimensions of economic, social and recognition inequalities:

Wealth inequalities: ownership, control and access to private and common wealth;

Income and labour inequalities: poverty, income inequality and inequality in the access to the labour market, earnings and quality of jobs;

Inequalities in the access and quality of essential services;

Inequalities in the participation to the democratic process.

These inequalities are at the core of the Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development that aims at social, economic and environmental development for current and future generations (sustainable substantive freedom). This Agenda should animate the European strategy.

6. Four Themes

To start with, the Forum will focus on private and common wealth inequalities. For two reasons. First, it has grown dramatically in the past thirty years. Second, through its impact on all other inequalities, like Penelope’s shroud in the Odysseus, it unravels overnight what welfare policies build during the day:

• It reduces/nullifies the ability to react to unforeseen events.
• It reduces/nullifies the capability to refuse unfair or degrading jobs.
• It reduces the capacity to protect savings and yield a return from them.
• It deters/prevents people from realising their entrepreneurial skills.
• It increases the risk of living in socio-economically neglected environments and of contributing to creating them.

Redistribution is not enough. We need to act on the pre-distribution of wealth, i.e. to fight inequalities where wealth is created, in the market and in primary distribution, by orienting technological change and by reforming institutions.

7. Priority: Wealth Inequality

Rising inequality in ownership, property and control over wealth is also bound to have a negative impact on general welfare and productivity growth.

There is then spacious room for public policies and collective actions that pursue both equality and efficiency goals. The Forum will explore this spacious room thus increasing the opportunity for compromise between different sections of society and favouring the possibility of change. The Forum will also work to design and promote interventions whenever wealth inequalities have socially unacceptable effects.

8. Priority: Wealth Inequality

The Forum’s interpretation of facts and vision of social development will be translated into concrete actions that will take place during 2018, its start-up year:

Launching research-action projects: by looking at existing policies/practices against inequality, their effectiveness will be assessed and innovative proposals for public policies and collective actions will be designed;

Building an “Atkinson program” for Italy;

Spreading the Forum’s vision, data and information;

Experimenting methods to convince and to deliberate;

Running advocacy campaigns to support proposals and actions.

9. Vision and Concreteness

Mission Facts Consequences Causes What can be done? Our Coalition Four Themes Priority: Wealth Inequality Priority: Wealth Inequality Vision andoncreteness
The

The ‘Draghi Plan’ is not good for Europe, does not enhance its strengths, and promotes the kind of growth that neglects social and environmental justice. This assessment emerges from our extensive critical analysis of the ‘Draghi Plan’ strategy. As shown by the Mission Letters to the Commissioners-designate, the Plan has already deeply penetrated in the European agenda. ForumDD proposes instead to use it, before it is implemented, to promote a public, informed and open debate on the future of the Union. The document is the collaborative result of a group of experts from the ForumDD and reflects the ideas and proposals of the volume, ‘Which Europe’, now available in English edited by Elena Granaglia and Gloria Riva, published by Donzelli Editore

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
Building a permanent science-driven public infrastructure that would perform both biomedical research and development, with the mission to deliver affordable medical innovation to everyone: a detailed proposal, originally born within the ForumDD and today supported by a wide range of very high-level scientists and civic organisations all over Europe, was discussed and taken very seriously on 28 September in the European Parliament at the request of the Science and Technology Assessment Panel

Fabrizio Barca, co-coordinator of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity, spoke at the event organized by the FEPS "Recovery Watch. Public Conference on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan". The ForumDD was asked to put forward its vision and proposals of social and environmental justice to Europe

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
La proposta dell’eredità universale del ForumDD al confronto “Real Utopias for a Social Europe: Universal Benefits” della Commissione Europea

Salvatore Morelli, ricercatore all'Università di Roma Tre e membro del coordinamento del ForumDD, ha presentato la proposta del ForumDD di istituire un’eredità universale, incondizionata e accompagnata durante un seminario organizzato dalla Commissione Europea

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità

In this essay we summarize the strategy for a fairer future put forward by the ForumDD. While some cases are specific to Italy, the commonality of the problems have led us to believe our blueprint to be useful for a wider audience. In what follows, we identify the main inequalities and structural weaknesses brought to the fore by the crisis. Despite the systemic uncertainty still with us, we also attempt to pin down the social, economic, and institutional trends triggered by the crisis. This allows us to identify the many bifurcations ahead of us and to propose seven short-term actions and five strategic objectives supported by concrete proposals.

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità
28th Semptember 2022, STOA Workshop “Creation of a public European medicines infrastructure: Purpose and feasibility”

Building a permanent science-driven public infrastructure that would perform both biomedical research and development, with the mission to deliver affordable medical innovation to everyone: a detailed proposal, originally born within the ForumDD and today supported by a wide range of very high-level scientists and civic organisations all over Europe, was discussed and taken very seriously on 28 September in the European Parliament at the request of the Science and Technology Assessment Panel

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
September 26, 2022. What we can today and then tomorrow and the day after tomorrow

The highest abstention rate ever and the outcome of the vote are the result of a striking gap between the country's vibrancy and its translation into political-organizations. The ForumDD, as many other organizations, will continue to design and advocate for rigorous and radical proposals with even greater vigour, thanks to a strategy of alliances: mission alliances, alliances to strengthen society’s voice, to rise the demand for a "party of social and environmental justice" that does not exist, alliances with those members of Parliament that do search for a continuous link with society.

The Board of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity

Inspired by Anthony Atkinson’s Programme for Action

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità

The David McWilliams Podcast in the episode titled "How Italy became anti-fragile" hosts Fabrizio Barca, co-coordinator of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
Pills of Hope… even from Italy

ForumDD was asked to present its vision and proposals towards social and environmental justice in a EU event organised by FEPS “Recovery Watch. Public Conference on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan”, with the aim of making use of them in a common effort to radically change the current life and labour paradigm

Forum on Inequality and Diversity

Articolo pubblicato sul sito The Progressive Post e discusso alla conferenza internazionale "Reset! Towards digital, climate and regional justice" organizzata da Foundation for European Progressive Studies, S&D - Group Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, PES - Socialist and Democrats, Partij van de Arbeid. 

Fabrizio Barca
The National Recovery and Resilience Plans: assessing to improve

On 15th December, FEPS and partners organise a public event focusing on: “The National Recovery and Resilience Plans: assessing to improve” at the CNEL in Rome. This public seminar offers the opportunity to present to the Italian public the first results of the “Recovery Watch”- promoted by the FEPS (Foundation for European Progressive Studies) in partnership with FES and IEV and with the support of Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità, and to understand how the recovery and resilience plans will shape the transformation of our society

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità

HOW PLACE-SENSITIVE ARE THE NATIONAL RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE PLANS?

Giovanni Carrosio, Gloria Cicerone, Alessandra Faggian, Giulia Urso

12/2022

Download the PDF

POLICY CHALLENGES AND POLICY ACTIONS FOR A JUST CLIMATE TRANSITION

Linnea Nelli, Maria Enrica Virgillito, Andrea Roventini

12/2022

Download the PDF
The

The ‘Draghi Plan’ is not good for Europe, does not enhance its strengths, and promotes the kind of growth that neglects social and environmental justice. This assessment emerges from our extensive critical analysis of the ‘Draghi Plan’ strategy. As shown by the Mission Letters to the Commissioners-designate, the Plan has already deeply penetrated in the European agenda. ForumDD proposes instead to use it, before it is implemented, to promote a public, informed and open debate on the future of the Union. The document is the collaborative result of a group of experts from the ForumDD and reflects the ideas and proposals of the volume, ‘Which Europe’, now available in English edited by Elena Granaglia and Gloria Riva, published by Donzelli Editore

Forum on Inequality and Diversity

The David McWilliams Podcast in the episode titled "How Italy became anti-fragile" hosts Fabrizio Barca, co-coordinator of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
Download the PDF

THE ROLE OF THE RECOVERY AND RESILIENCE FACILITY IN STRENGTHENING CHILDCARE POLICIES

Francesco Corti – Christian Morabito – Tomas Ruiz – Patrizia Luongo

07/2022

Download the PDF
Building a permanent science-driven public infrastructure that would perform both biomedical research and development, with the mission to deliver affordable medical innovation to everyone: a detailed proposal, originally born within the ForumDD and today supported by a wide range of very high-level scientists and civic organisations all over Europe, was discussed and taken very seriously on 28 September in the European Parliament at the request of the Science and Technology Assessment Panel

Fabrizio Barca, co-coordinator of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity, spoke at the event organized by the FEPS "Recovery Watch. Public Conference on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan". The ForumDD was asked to put forward its vision and proposals of social and environmental justice to Europe

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
28th Semptember 2022, STOA Workshop “Creation of a public European medicines infrastructure: Purpose and feasibility”

Building a permanent science-driven public infrastructure that would perform both biomedical research and development, with the mission to deliver affordable medical innovation to everyone: a detailed proposal, originally born within the ForumDD and today supported by a wide range of very high-level scientists and civic organisations all over Europe, was discussed and taken very seriously on 28 September in the European Parliament at the request of the Science and Technology Assessment Panel

Forum on Inequality and Diversity
Download the PDF
Download the PDF
Pills of Hope… even from Italy

ForumDD was asked to present its vision and proposals towards social and environmental justice in a EU event organised by FEPS “Recovery Watch. Public Conference on the National Recovery and Resilience Plan”, with the aim of making use of them in a common effort to radically change the current life and labour paradigm

Forum on Inequality and Diversity

In this essay we summarize the strategy for a fairer future put forward by the ForumDD. While some cases are specific to Italy, the commonality of the problems have led us to believe our blueprint to be useful for a wider audience. In what follows, we identify the main inequalities and structural weaknesses brought to the fore by the crisis. Despite the systemic uncertainty still with us, we also attempt to pin down the social, economic, and institutional trends triggered by the crisis. This allows us to identify the many bifurcations ahead of us and to propose seven short-term actions and five strategic objectives supported by concrete proposals.

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità
La proposta dell’eredità universale del ForumDD al confronto “Real Utopias for a Social Europe: Universal Benefits” della Commissione Europea

Salvatore Morelli, ricercatore all'Università di Roma Tre e membro del coordinamento del ForumDD, ha presentato la proposta del ForumDD di istituire un’eredità universale, incondizionata e accompagnata durante un seminario organizzato dalla Commissione Europea

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità

Inspired by Anthony Atkinson’s Programme for Action

Forum Disuguaglianze e Diversità
September 26, 2022. What we can today and then tomorrow and the day after tomorrow

The highest abstention rate ever and the outcome of the vote are the result of a striking gap between the country's vibrancy and its translation into political-organizations. The ForumDD, as many other organizations, will continue to design and advocate for rigorous and radical proposals with even greater vigour, thanks to a strategy of alliances: mission alliances, alliances to strengthen society’s voice, to rise the demand for a "party of social and environmental justice" that does not exist, alliances with those members of Parliament that do search for a continuous link with society.

The Board of the Forum on Inequality and Diversity

Articolo pubblicato sul sito The Progressive Post e discusso alla conferenza internazionale "Reset! Towards digital, climate and regional justice" organizzata da Foundation for European Progressive Studies, S&D - Group Socialists and Democrats in the European Parliament, PES - Socialist and Democrats, Partij van de Arbeid. 

Fabrizio Barca

Time is over. Let's act now.
A radical agenda to give power back to people.