7/27/2019 duties of a man

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The Duties of Man

By Giuseppe Mazzini

(Italian patriot and statesman, 18051872; the deliverer of his country here urges the deliverance of mankind)

WE improve with the improvement of Humanity; nor without the improvement of the whole can you hope that your ownmoral and material conditions will improve. Generally speaking, you cannot, even if you would, separate your life from thaof Humanity; you live in it, by it, for it. Your souls, with the exception of the very few men of exceptional power, cannot freethemselves from the influence of the elements amid which they exist, just as the body, however robust its constitutioncannot escape from the effects of corrupt air around it. How many of you have the strength of mind to bring up your sonsto be wholly truthful, knowing that you are sending them forth to persecution in a country where tyrants and spies bid themconceal or deny two-thirds of their real opinions? How many of you resolve to educate them to despise wealth in a societywhere gold is the only power which obtains honors, influence, and respect, where indeed it is the only protection from thetyranny and insults of the powerful and their agents? Who is there among you who in pure love and with the besintentions in the world has not murmured to his dear ones in Italy, Do not trust men; the honest man should retire intohimself and fly from public life; charity begins at home,and such-like maxims, plainly immoral, but prompted by thegeneral state of society? What mother is there among you who, although she belongs to a faith which adores the cross ofChrist, the voluntary martyr for humanity, has not flung her arms around her sons neck and striven t o dissuade him from

perilous attempts to benefit his brothers? And even if you had strength to teach the contrary, would not the whole ofsociety, with its thousand voices, its thousand evil examples, destroy the effect of your words? Can you purify, elevateyour own souls in an atmosphere of contamination and degradation?

And, to descend to your material conditions, do you think they can be lastingly ameliorated by anything but theamelioration of all? Millions of pounds are spent annually here in England, where I write, by private charity, for the relief ofindividuals who have fallen into want; yet want increases here every year, and charity to individuals has proved powerlessto heal the evilthe necessity of collective organic remedies is more and more universally felt.

There is no hope for you except in universal reform and in the brotherhood of all the peoples of Europe, and throughEurope of all humanity. I charge you then, O my brothers, by your duty and by your own interest, not to forget that yourfirst dutiesduties without fulfilling which you cannot hope to fulfil those owed to family and countryare to Humanity. Le

your words and your actions be for all, since God is for all, in His Love and in His Law. In whatever land you may bewherever a man is fighting for right, for justice, for truth, there is your brother; wherever a man suffers through theoppression of error, of injustice, of tyranny, there is your brother. Free men and slaves, YOU ARE ALL BROTHERS.

EXPLANATION

Despite its moving images and inspiring ideas, Giuseppe Mazzinis The Duties of Man is little more than a misguidedattempt of a nave and idealistic man to promote the idea of nationalism. The work centers around the idea that the firsduties of man are to embrace the whole human family in [his] affections and that national unification is the divinelydesigned means to achieving this end. While Mazzinis goal is certainly a valid and commendable one, his proposedmethod toward achieving this goal is completely unrealistic and illogical. When Mazzini writes that the rise of thecountries of the people, countries born of the nationalistic efforts of their citizens will lead to harmony and fraternity

[between all countries], he fails to realize that nationalism also serves as a powerful exclusionary force. The creation of anation has never failed to leave certain people feeling displaced and unrepresented the rise of Hungary left Croatian andSerbian minorities feeling excluded, the nationalistic efforts of Russia crushed the Polish people, and German nationalismcame at the expense of the Danish. These frustrated minorities would not have felt inspired to begin efforts aimed atbenefiting all Humanity after nationalism took its toll; instead, they would likely feel compelled to express their angerthrough protests and violence. Nationalism is generally not the precursor to unity and peace, as predicted by Mazzini, butinstead to war. The evil governments Mazzini demands be overthrown in place o f countries defined by naturaboundaries are themselves a source of nationalism for many of their citizens their overthrow would only lead thosedisplaced to demand the restoration of their nation (be it an evil government), sparking a violent and int erminable cycleWouldnt one be better off working to directly help those most in need in their community, be it local or international, toimprove Humanity instead of dividing up Humanity into isolated groups based on exclusion? Nationalism, though apowerful tool for uniting certain peoples and generating support for a government, is not the key to humanitysimprovement.