"Bless... the peasant who is born, eats, and dies without anyone bothering about his affairs." So wrote that some-time Italian journalist best known for his musical compositions, Giuseppe Verdi. What Verdi believed was possible in the 19 th century and the thousand years that preceded it, but is no longer. Indeed, the opposite is more likely. In Poland, for example, peasants not only want to shout news of their affairs to the world, but they want to shape Poland in their own image.
"Bless... the peasant who is born, eats, and dies without anyone bothering about his affairs." So wrote that some-time Italian journalist best known for his musical compositions, Giuseppe Verdi. What Verdi believed was possible in the 19 th century and the thousand years that preceded it, but is no longer. Indeed, the opposite is more likely. In Poland, for example, peasants not only want to shout news of their affairs to the world, but they want to shape Poland in their own image.