Happy New Year!

If the new year comes a second later

Are you eager to put 2008 behind you? I mean, are you, for example, a Wall Street analyst, a stockbroker, a financial reporter, or still worse, are you people who lost a fortune trusting the above mentioned “experts?” Well, tonight you have to hold your good-byes for just a moment, one second, to be precise. In fact, the international authorities—the International Earth Rotation and Reference Systems Service (IERS), namely the world’s official timekeepers—will add a single second to our lives to keep our clocks in sync with solar time used by astronomers.

It will be the 24th “leap second” since 1972. That’s because, “sometimes, the Earth’s rotation on its axis can take longer or shorter than 24 hours, depending on factors such as the breaking action of tides, snow or the lack of it at the polar ice caps, solar wind, space dust and magnetic storms.”

So, please hold on, and pray the new year brings a better economy. When economics fails, prayer can step in and do the work …

David Grossman’s proposal to Israel

In two posts about the Israeli assault on Gaza, Norman Geras gives a convincing answer to those who prompted the charge that Israel’s use of force is “disproportionate,” and agrees with what David Grossman has proposed to Israel. In turn, I definitely agree with Norm. “After its severe strike on Gaza,” says Grossman,

Israel would do well to stop, turn to Hamas’ leaders and say: Until Saturday Israel held its fire in the face of thousands of Qassams from the Gaza Strip. Now you know how harsh its response can be. So as not to add to the death and destruction we will now hold our fire unilaterally and completely for the next 48 hours. Even if you fire at Israel, we will not respond with renewed fighting. We will grit our teeth, as we did all through the recent period, and we will not be dragged into replying with force.
Moreover, we invite interested countries, neighbors near and far, to mediate between us and you to bring back the cease-fire. If you hold your fire, we will not renew ours. If you continue firing while we are practicing restraint, we will respond at the end of this 48 hours, but even then we will keep the door open to negotiations to renew the cease-fire, and even on a general and expanded agreement.
That is what Israel should do now. Is it possible, or are we too imprisoned in the familiar ceremony of war?

Il partito degli ex-onesti sulla via di Canossa

Ancora una volta Angelo Panebianco ci risparmia la fatica di trovare un senso a ciò che sta succedendo all’interno del Pd, e nella fattispecie in relazione alle note vicende giudiziarie. Infatti basta leggere l’editoriale di oggi sul Corriere per chiarirsi le idee. Una radiografia precisa e impietosa da cui emergono i travagli e le contraddizioni in materia di «giustizialismo» di quella che fu la sinistra non più comunista e che ora, dopo aver inglobato quella che fu la sinistra catto-comunista della Dc (poi scioltasi nella Margherita), si chiama Partito democratico.

Panebianco spiega anche perché, malgrado le “svolte” violantesche e veltroniane, non ci saranno cambiamenti significativi nell’atteggiamento di fondo di quel partito nei confronti della questione giustizia. Alla base, dice il professore, ci sono “tre dogmi” pressoché insuperabili …

A quanto così efficacemente sintetizzato e spiegato non occorre aggiungere nulla. A margine, tuttavia, si potrebbero dire un mucchio di cose, la maggior parte delle quali, però, sarebbero ovvietà e banalità. Ad esempio questa: qualcuno si era illuso, o aveva fatto finta di credere, o aveva fatto di tutto per convincersi e convincere l’opinione pubblica che ci fosse, oppure che fosse concepibile o plausibile un “partito degli onesti,” alleato di ferro di pubblici ministeri sempre e comunque al di sopra di ogni sospetto, paladini del Bene contro il Male. Panebianco attribuisce questa illusione non solo alla dirigenza, ma anche a buona parte dei militanti e degli elettori del Pd, e credo che abbia ragione. Ebbene, la nemesi è qui, sotto gli occhi di tutti: il teorema è saltato, la favola degli “onesti” è finita, così come quella dei pm senza macchia, giacché ora anche gli “ex-onesti”—se mi si passa la licenza poetica—se la prendono con loro, al pari dei “mascalzoni”—altra licenza poetica—di sempre, le cui sfuriate anti-magistratura-politicizzata erano considerate per definizione troppo “interessate” per essere prese sul serio.

E, attenzione, la favola degli onesti non vale più neppure per il partito di Di Pietro, che sembrava il grande beneficiario dello scempio del Pd. Ora, anche lui deve beccarsi la sua parte di insinuazioni e/o insulti (ci ha pensato quel linguacciuto di Gasparri). Con questo non voglio dire che anche l’ex pm è coinvolto nel malaffare, ci mancherebbe, si è garantisti per qualcosa! No, mi limito ad applicare lo schema dipietrino (implicito o esplicito): se sei sospettato, anche solo di striscio, certamente la tua credibilità è intaccata, ergo devi farti da parte, e comunque non costituisci più “l’alternativa” a un sistema di corruzione e malaffare. Questo devono aspettarsi i seguaci di Antonio Di Pietro e i suoi paladini nel mondo dell’informazione-spettacolo, sempre che facciano (e abbiano fatto)  sul serio e non per finta. Viceversa, anche loro stanno nel mazzo, “come tutti gli altri” (altro schema dipietrino, travagliesco, ecc.).

Tutto questo Panebianco non l’ha detto, e ha fatto bene, perché appunto sono ovvietà, se non banalità, e lui non ci tiene a fare di queste sparate. Mentre qui, su un blog, certe cose si possono anche dire, magari premettendo che, appunto, sono osservazioni scontate, e dunque in qualche misura banali. Il punto, però, è se siamo tutti convinti che questi discorsi siano scontati, che certe cose, al punto a cui siamo arrivati, siano talmente ovvie che non occorra neanche dirle (ma trarne le consuguenze, questo sì, almeno si spera). Qui avrei qualche dubbio: andare a Canossa è uno sport faticoso! Di qui questo post “quasi” banale, di cui chiedo scusa ai lettori più sofisticati ed esigenti.

Don't be afraid of Medusa

If you are in Florence during this period, and if you are not easily frightened people, you may want to meet … Medusa (Greek: Μέδουσα (Médousa), namely the gorgon, the chthonic female and snake-haired monster who in Greek mythology had a singular property: gazing upon her would turn onlookers to stone! But don’t be afraid, in fact, again according to the myth, she was beheaded by the Perseus, who after using her head as a weapon for only three, or mostly four instances in his adventures, gave it as a gift to the goddess Athena to place on her shield.

Still worried? Don’t be, because I’m just talking about an annual exhibition of precious works usually kept in storage ... And this year’s event focuses precisely on Medusa, exploring the portrayal of the gorgon through centuries of art.

The exhibit features 40 artworks, including ceramics, drawings, paintings—among which is that by an unknown Flemish painter, attributed to Leonardo da Vinci for over a century—and jewellery, with a number of gems usually stored in Florence’s Archaeological Museum. As it was not enough the exhibit features several different editions of Dante’s Divine Comedy, with plates of Medusa who appears in Canto IX of the Inferno. On show from December 24 through January 31 in the Uffizi.

Merry Christmas!

And now, folks, as every year since 2000 years,
it’s time to remind ourselves
what the spirit of Christmas is all about.
The following piece of music—a classic Christmas carol,
wonderfully performed by Enya—is just a vague idea,
but you might want to follow the suggestion …


MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!

BUON NATALE A TUTTI!

Annunciation

Today, Christians throughout the world observe the Fourth Sunday of Advent, in which Western churches light the fourth and last Advent candle in symbolic preparation for the birth of the Lord. In today’s Gospel (Luke 1:26-38) the angel Gabriel appears to Mary and tells her that it is God’s wish that she bear the Messiah. It is such a well-known passage that there would be no need for me to fully quote it, but I don’t want to miss the opportunity to further spread this wonderful Word of God (in the classic King James version):

And in the sixth month the angel Gabriel was sent from God unto a city of Galilee, named Nazareth, To a virgin espoused to a man whose name was Joseph, of the house of David; and the virgin's name was Mary.
And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women.
And when she saw him, she was troubled at his saying, and cast in her mind what manner of salutation this should be.
And the angel said unto her, Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God.
And, behold, thou shalt conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a son, and shalt call his name JESUS.
He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall give unto him the throne of his father David: And he shall reign over the house of Jacob for ever; and of his kingdom there shall be no end.
Then said Mary unto the angel, How shall this be, seeing I know not a man?
And the angel answered and said unto her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God.
And, behold, thy cousin Elisabeth, she hath also conceived a son in her old age: and this is the sixth month with her, who was called barren.
For with God nothing shall be impossible.
And Mary said, Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word. And the angel departed from her.

I have hardly ever read/heard such a marvelous story. I have no adequate words to express my admiration and gratitude to the Lord, nor do I think there are any. Perhaps only music can be equal to the task, and that’s why I’ll call upon music to “speak” …

In the video the splendid and famous “Ave Maria” by Charles Gounod (based from Johann Sebastian Bach’s prelude #1 in C major) performed by Deanna Durbin and the Vienna Boys Choir (Wiener Sängerknaben). This touching performance—from the movie Mad About Music—was filmed in the fall of 1937, when Durbin was 15-year-old. A piece of history in itself.

Gladiators are back!

Gladiators will return to the Colosseum … though only in mock fights. The events will take place to mark the 2,000th anniversary of the birth of Emperor Vespasian, who began the construction of the structure. Originally known as the Amphitheatrum Flavium, the Colosseum is the largest amphitheater ever built in the Roman empire. Its plan is a vast ellipse, with tiers of seating for 50,000 spectators, measuring externally 188 m x 156 m (615 ft x 510 ft). The modern-day gladiators could be drawn from Rome’s “gladiator school,” whose 200 members spend their weekends dressed in sandals and breast plates and learning ancient fighting techniques.

Italy's Terri Schiavo case - 2

When one month ago the Corte di Cassazione, Italy's top appeals court, authorized the father of 37-year-old Eluana Englaro to remove the feeding tube which had kept his comatose daughter alive for nearly seventeen years, the last legal obstacle in a landmark “right-to-die” case—it has been also called ‘Italy’s Terri Schiavo case’—seemed to have been removed once and for all. Not only had a step on the road to legal euthanasia been taken, Eluana would also have died an atrocious death by being deprived of water and nutrition.

Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, described allowing Eluana Englaro to die as an “immense crime” and a “civil and moral defeat.” And he was absolutely right, according to both Catholics and pro-life lay politicians and opinion leaders.

At that point, what remained to be done was to find a hospital or a clinic willing to grant Eluana Englaro its “help.” And that’s what happened a few days ago, when a public-funded Udine clinic offered to help end Eluana’s life. A team of 20-25 professionals from outside the clinic, said Director Claudio Riccobon, were willing to look after Eluana on an unpaid voluntary basis.

But that was not going to be the last word: the transfer was halted at the last minute a couple of days ago, after Health Minister Maurizio Sacconi issued an official guideline stating that the suspension of treatment for patients in a vegetative state in public health institutions is “illegal.” It was actually a courageous move on his part, which was hailed with satisfaction by Catholics and pro-life citizens, but provoked immediate and indignant protests by the counterpart. In turn, the president emeritus of Italy’s Constitutional Court, Antonio Baldassare, told newspaper Corriere della Sera that Sacconi’s guideline ”is valid for everyone except Eluana” because the Cassation Court had issued a specific ruling on Eluana Englaro’s case.

So it seems that we are still facing a controversial juridical issue. But that of Eluana Englaro is not just a purely juridical case. It’s a matter of life or death for Eluana, and, I would add, for civilization itself. That is why I think Maurizio Sacconi is doing a great job.

[Previous posts on Eluana Englaro's case: 'Let Eluana Englaro live!' and Italy's Terri Schiavo case]

An Italian revolution

“A true revolution is taking place, with the population on its side and the conservatives against,” says Renato Brunetta, Italy’s minister for public administration. A “revolution” in which the “conservatives” are not the nobles, as during the French one, but the unions, and whose goal is to restructure the civil service, primarily by cracking down on fannulloni, slackers, and emphasising meritocracy, productivity and transparency. “Why were civil servants twice as ill as the private sector?” he asks. Perhaps because they work too hard, a cynic “conservative” might answer. Don’t listen to him, would say Brunetta, he’s a damn dirty liar …

Time’s Person of the Year: Barack Obama

President-elect Barack Obama is Time’s Person of the Year for 2008. Why? “For having the confidence to sketch that kind of future in this gloomy hour:”

“Two years from now, I want the American people to be able to say, ‘Government’s not perfect; there are some things Obama does that get on my nerves. But you know what? I feel like the government’s working for me. I feel like it’s accountable. I feel like it’s transparent. I feel that I am well informed about what government actions are being taken. I feel that this is a President and an Administration that admits when it makes mistakes and adapts itself to new information.’”

And also “for showing the competence that makes Americans hopeful that he will pull it off.”

“Can he really achieve all that?” asks Time Magazine. “Plenty of voters will be happy if he aces only Item 1 on his list.”

Perhaps this is not what as many people throughout the US (and even more throughout the world) would hope for. This might be not enough. Nor might be the achievement of all of the other above mentioned goals. Unfortunately, it’s not just a matter of “perception,” even though there is no doubt that psychology matters in politics. But good luck all the same.

Journalistic courtesy

I wonder what would the mainstream international newspapers have written had this happened to the ruling Italian center-right coalition. Well, I can’t say it with certainty, but my guess is that they would have written some very different articles … hey, wait a moment, different from what? Actually, now that I think about it, they didn’t write anything at all … Never mind, let’s come back to the point: what would they have written? But, to put things in chronological order, what actually happened?

It happened that Berlusconi's People of Freedom (PDL) party won by large margin regional elections in Abruzzo. But, what is more, at least in my personal opinion, Abruzzo is the central Italian region where the previous center-left Democratic Party (PD) governor had to step down following an alleged public health scam. Furthermore, Abruzzo is where there are 40 suspects in the investigation by the Pescara Public Prosecutor's office, on the alleged bribes for public contracts, which brought about the arrest of Mayor, Luciano D'alfonso, who is also the regional secretary of the PD.

Then again what would the Guardian, the Independent, the New York Times, and other liberal newspapers have written had that (something analogue) happened to the conservative coalition? Obviously I can’t say it with certainty, but I might have an idea of the amount of coverage and of the arguments which might have been advanced. Never mind though—different political views, different standards of journalistic courtesy …

Gaudete Sunday

Advent, the preparation season for Christmas, is basically a penitential period. Yet, in the Latin Church tradition the third Sunday of Advent—that is today—is also called “Gaudete Sunday,” from the Latin word for “rejoice,” thus corresponding with “Laetare” (another Latin word for “rejoice”) or Mid-Lent Sunday. On the third Sunday of Advent, as on Laetare Sunday, the organ and flowers, forbidden during the rest of the season, are permitted to be used, as well as rose-coloured vestments are allowed instead of purple. Which means that, beyond penitence, there is an indescribable joy—we believe that Joy is coming to us from God.

That is why a Christian should be joyful, and this joy should express itself in corresponding forms of behavior. Yet, so many Christians—and unfortunately even priests and bishops—look almost always grim and unhappy. There is no light in their eyes, no joy on their faces, no warmth or enthusiasm in their words. They are just like any other people and one can hardly recognise them as Christians, that is to say those who have been born again in the family of God (John 3:3)! How is it possible? I don’t know the answer. Do you?

To conclude, I would like to give an idea of what, in my humblest opinion, that Christian joy might look like. I mean, I thought that the following video could be somehow connected to the spirit of Gaudete Sunday: Johnny Cash & June Carter performing in Johnny's 1980 Christmas show. June plays the autoharp and banjo and then Johnny and June sing a duet. Again, in my view this is the kind of “joyful Christian” we are all called to be.

Affascinati da Gesù

Antonio Socci è bravissimo, lo sappiamo: scrive e ragiona bene (polemista eccezionale), racconta in modo coinvolgente, insomma ti prende, non è uno che passa inosservato. E tuttavia, a volte, la sua verve polemica e il suo latente “fondamentalismo” (uso il termine con “licenza poetica” …) risultano un po’ indigesti anche a coloro i quali, sui contenuti, non avrebbero nulla da obiettare. Detto questo, credo di far cosa gradita a parecchi lettori di wrh rinviandoli alla lettura di questo scritto, apparso nella più recente uscita della Newsletter del Nostro, che io ricevo regolarmente via email essendo abbonato. L’argomento è “Affascinati da Gesù,” dove la fascinazione riguarda i “laici,” gente come Pansa, che cita don Giussani, e, udite udite, Scalfari …

New Michelangelo's masterpiece on show

Yet another good news for art connoisseurs today! A wooden crucifix recently attributed to the young Michelangelo—the carving has been tentatively dated to 1495, when the artist was 20, by the experts—was on display in Rome yesterday, at the Italian Embassy to the Holy See, after being purchased (3.2 million euros) by the Italian State from a Turin arts dealer. It will also be in exhibition at the Italian Parliament on December 23 before finding a permanent home in one of Florence’s main museums.

“Among the elements that it shows is an almost perfect anatomical knowledge of the human body. Its structure, muscles, tendons, skin compose a harmonious and strong image,” said Cristina Acidini, head of the Polo Museale Fiorentino or Florentine Museums group. And not by chance, since the artist “very often used to flay dead bodies in order to discover the secrets of anatomy,” as the Florentine painter and writer Giorgio Vasari, a contemporary of Michelangelo, once wrote. [UPDATE Dec. 23: see here]

Brunelleschi's Madonna di Fiesole, a discovery

An exceptional discovery, dear readers, one of those which will leave their mark: the early 14th-century Madonna di Fiesole, a polychrome terracotta statue by Filippo Brunelleschi! Discovered by chance by the restorers of the Museo dell’Opificio delle Pietre Dure, Florence, the statue (60 cm width x 88.5 cm height) has been under restoration for two years. Presented today, the masterpiece will be in exhibition at the Museo dell’Opificio delle Pietre Dure from December 13 (tomorrow) through February 28, 2009. Go here and here to learn more about the statue (in Italian).

TocqueVille, per favore ...

Qualche giorno fa c’è stata una discussione interessante (si può far riferimento a questo post) tra bloggers di TocqueVille circa i rapporti tra blogosfera e “casta” (politica e giornalistica, espressamente del centrodestra). Personalmente condivido la pars destruens di entrambi gli interventi.

Ieri Enzo è tornato a parlare di TocqueVille, e non posso che dargli ragione. Il caso in discussione è quello di Rod Blagojevich [... continua a leggere]

Those conservative Italian banks

Management foresight and sharper risk analysis tools, or fatter coverage ratios? No. How a lack of global ambition and substantial conservatism—namely what was previously seen as a major weaknesses—helped Italian banks outperform larger continental rivals:

[D]espite the bleak outlook, one European country has bucked the trend of multibillion-dollar writedowns and government bailouts: It's Italy, Europe's fourth-largest economy, whose banks have outperformed larger continental rivals over the past 18 months.
Don't attribute it to management foresight, sharper risk analysis tools, or fatter coverage ratios, though. Italian banks such as Intesa Sanpaolo (ISP.MI) and UniCredito Italiano (CRDI.MI) have outpaced European heavy hitters such as Barclays (BCS) and BNP Paribas (BNPP.PA) primarily due to their extremely conservative business models. The Italians steered clear of securitized assets and subprime loans, forgoing the windfall profits that boosted rivals' balance sheets in the salad days, but also avoiding the huge losses that later ensued.
Instead, Italian banks have remained squarely focused on traditional retail operations and corporate lending, relying on customer deposits to fund day-to-day operations. Even when the country's banks expanded to other countries, they moved mainly into nearby Eastern European markets that have outperformed Western European economies since the mid-1990s. "They don't make the same level of money as other European banks, but their business model certainly isn't broken," says Credit Suisse (CS) analyst Andrea Vercellone. "Italian banks didn't get into the securities business in a major way because frankly they just didn't understand it."

How to be intellectually (dis)honest about Tibet

David Gosset, director of the Academia Sinica Europaea at China Europe International Business School, Shanghai, in today’s Asia Times:

The expression “cultural genocide”—which has been used by the Dalai Lama himself—is supposed to describe the present conditions in the Tibet Autonomous Region is absurd and carries some baseless accusations which can not be conducive to harmony.

This is probably one of the worst ways to deal with the Tibetan issue, either in logical and in “ethical” sense. Why a struggle for freedom should first and foremost be “conducive to harmony?” In fact, politically speaking, that is apart from religion and philosophy, harmony could be regarded as the outcome of freedom, not as an end in itself—and in his piece David Gosset insists that “as the head of the Tibetan ‘government-in-exile’ in Dharamsala, India, the Dalai Lama is a political figure with a political agenda,” and that “pretending that the Dalai Lama is purely a spiritual leader is deceptive and illusory.”

Tibet is currently changing rapidly but this change does not equate with “cultural genocide”. In fact, the region is going through a process of socio-economic modernization which benefits the majority of the population.

Which “majority of the population” are we talking about? The majority of people of the Han ethnic group—the main ethnic group in China—which has been settled in Tibet making Tibetans themselves a minority in their own land?

This process is far from perfect but does allow the Tibetans within the PRC to reinterpret their tradition and to preserve the best of their culture.

Have Chinese ever asked Tibetans whether and how they want to reinterpret their tradition, and so on?

Siena is over the top

According to a survey by the Italia Oggi daily newspaper Siena is the best Italian city for quality of life. The survey is based on eight factors, which have equal weight:

a) jobs/business life
b) environment / green living
c) crime
d) social problems
e) population
f) services
g) leisure
h) living standards

The Tuscan hill town is known worldwide for its wonderful twelfth-fourteenth century cathedral as well as for its shell-shaped Piazza del Campo, where the Palio is held twice a year.

Unfortunately for the Florentines—Siena has always been a fierce rival of Florence since the days of the Guelphs and Ghibellines and the battle of Montaperti (1260)—the survey held “soccer” in low esteem: Fiorentina has seven points advantage over the rival in the Serie A ranking table, while curiously Siena is seven places ahead of Florence in the quality of life ranking (I suppose this might mean something to someone, somewhere …).

If the capital enemy is the Government ...

“ The teaching of politics is that the Government, which was set for protection & comfort of all good citizens, becomes the principal obstruction & nuisance with which we have to contend. Wherever we look, whether to Kansas, to Utah, to the frontier—as Mexico & Cuba, or to laws, & contracts for internal improvement, the capital enemy in the in the way is always this ugly government.

We could manage very well by private enterprise, for carrying the mails, associations for emigration, & emigrant aid, for local police & defence, & for prevention of crime; but the cheat & bully & malefactor we meet everywhere is the Government.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson [from his journals, April-May 1860], in EMERSON IN HIS JOURNALS, selected and edited by Joel Porte, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachsetts) - London (England), 1982.

Dealing firmly with China

The Dalai Lama is in Europe. On Monday, during his visit to Prague—where he met his long-time friend Vaclav Havel, the former Czech President, as well as Prime Minister Mirek Topolanek—, he called on the world to stand firm when dealing with China. “I’m always telling my friends that a good, a close relationship with a huge country like China is very essential, and not only for the economy,” he said. “But in the meantime, there are principles, like freedom of expression, human rights, democracy... for which you have to stand firm. Genuine friendship leaves a space to be firm, and at the end the other does appreciate (that),” he added.

His Holiness will address the European Parliament in Brussels on December 4 and will have a meeting with French President Sarkozy on December 6 in Gdansk, Poland.

Well, what would be an appropriate outcome of this European tour? What about if “the European Union designate as soon as possible a high profile European Emissary to help resolve the issue of Tibet and put an end to tensions between China and Europe around Tibetan issues?” That is what the International Campaign for Tibet (ICT) asks the European Union to do.

It would be a miracle if that were to happen, but, well, who knows?

'O Come, O Come Emmanuel'

Today is the first Sunday of Advent. To live it properly, I thought the listening of the wonderful hymn “O Come, O Come Emmanuel,” sang by Aled Jones with backing vocals of Libera, might be helpful. I wish you a blessed Advent season!

The genius of Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli

Michelangeli was known for his note-perfect performances. “His fingers can no more hit a wrong note or smudge a passage than a bullet can be veered off course once it has been fired,” wrote of him the music critic Harold Schonberg. In this post is explained how his style is classical in the sense of Classicism, and in a way that is more than emblematic.

Why more than emblematic? Because Michelangeli (together with Maurizio Pollini) is further evidence of a sort of anti-romanticism present in the Italian culture and due, not many doubts about it, to the Italian classical heritage and its influence in all fields.

Ave, Caesar

If you are interested in ancient Roman history and you are in Rome during this time (or plan, as I do, to visit there soon), then I think you shouldn’t reasonably miss “Julius Caesar - Man, Feats and Myth” (Giulio Cesare. L'uomo, le imprese, il mito), the first ever exhibition to focus entirely on ancient Rome’s most famous political and military leader.

The exhibition, which is being held at the Chiostro del Bramante, started on Friday, October 24, 2008, through Saturday, May 3, 2009. It examines the historic aspects of Caesar’s rule, as well as the political and cultural atmosphere of his time, his astonishing military campaigns, his magnificent literary works, his climb to power and his brutal murder in the Roman Senate.

The exhibition—in my view the event of the year in the Italian capital—collects archaeological documents of the utmost importance, coming from the most prestigious Italian and foreign museums, and paintings by masters such as Rubens, Guercino, Pietro da Cortona and Guido Reni. Massive canvases of Caesar by Giambattista Tiepolo, sold to the Russian tsar in the early nineteenth century, have also returned to Italy for the occasion (and for the first time in 200 years).

Caesar, as the organizers explain, was “an exceptional character, a man of letters, historian, general and statesman of extraordinary far-sightedness.” It was he himself who “started even during his lifetime, to create his own myth.” In fact,

he presented himself as a descendant of Venus, thus tying himself to the original myth of the city of Rome itself, dating back, according to ancient tradition, to Aeneas himself, son of Venus, who supposedly landed at the Tyrrhenian shores of Latium at the end of his long wanderings, being exiled from Troy, as marvellously narrated in the Virgilian Aeneid.

Hence the exhibition’s guiding philosophy.

The final section looks at the depiction of Caesar in the world of cinema. The palace that houses the exhibit was designed by Donato Bramante in the 15th century and is attached to the church of Santa Maria della Pace along Via Della Pace close to piazza Navona.

P.S. Since it happens that just in these days I’m reading, Idi di Marzo (The Ides of March), the latest book by Valerio Massimo Manfredi (unfortunately for my English-speaking readers the English version is yet to be released), I can’t help confessing that this is one of those moments where I feel sorry that I live so far away from Rome …

Come nevica sul Pd ...

Ma che diavolo hanno da criticare quelli che le misure del governo a favore dei più poveri proprio non le hanno mandate giù? Non lo dico io, anche se potrei benissimo associarmi, ed anzi mi associo senz’altro, non lo dico io, dicevo, ma Lucia Annunziata. Una contestazione da sinistra della contestazione di sinistra di provvedimenti presi dalla destra. Non è un gioco di parole, magari lo fosse, è molto di più, è un altro sintomo che qualcosa si è rotto: diciamo il rapporto, il contatto con la realtà. E quindi, per dirla come la Annunziata, anche “il senso del denaro” se n’è andato in vacanza. Per quelli di sinistra, naturalmente, ché la gente comune il valore e il senso dei soldi li ha molto ben presenti. Su questo non ci piove, anzi, date le condizioni meteo, non ci nevica.

Sex spells trouble, my friends ...

Sexual pressure, sexual desire, actually I think is short period satisfaction and often, that leads to more complication.
[…]
Naturally as a human being ... some kind of desire for sex comes, but then you use human intelligence to make comprehension that those couples always full of trouble. And in some cases there is suicide, murder cases.

Don’t worry, my dear secularist readers, it was not the Pope who said this. It was Tenzin Gyatso, 14th Dalai Lama.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Today is Thanksgiving Day in the United States. As for me, I would like to give thanks to the Lord for many things, one of which is … Columbus, that is for letting him be born, and for letting him think that, after all, it was time to discover a new World!

But now, for the sake of true Country Music connoisseurs, I’ll call upon Johnny Cash to speak. Let’s listen to Man in Black singing a rare song called “Thanksgiving Prayer” (words and music by Johnny himself and Josef Anderson). He sang it on the Dr. Quinn Medicine Woman Show several years ago. Enjoy it, and have a wonderful Thanksgiving!

Once upon a time ... La Dolce Vita

I can’t honestly say that La Dolce Vita is one of my favourite movies, nor that it is my favourite Federico Fellini’s masterpiece (I prefer I Vitelloni, La Strada, and above all Amarcord), but I understand and respect the reasons why millions of people from all over the world tend to consider it as one of the best films ever. In any case, there is no doubt that La Dolce Vita is a cult movie which represents a watershed moment in the history of both cinema and custom.

That is why, since its half-century mark—Fellini conceived the film in November 1958, shot in 1959 and premiered in early 1960—is approaching, Rimini, the director’s hometown, is pulling out the stops to give the movie a two-year-long international birthday bash. The celebrations will eventually extend to Los Angeles in 2009 (the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences will hold an exhibition in Beverly Hills from January 24 to April 19 on Fellini’s “Book of my Dreams”).

All this, the Guardian writes today,

is a world away from the furore when the film was finally released in 1960 - when Fellini was spat on "in the name of the fatherland" at the Milan premiere, challenged to a duel by an outraged Roman, accused of inciting vice and immorality by the Vatican newspaper and saw fights break out in the audience after showings.

But the film was not even universally admired by liberal critics:

An early Guardian review observed that the film lasts three hours, "of which two are superfluous", before offering the withering judgment that "even the best sequences rise no higher than the level of good journalism".

Light years away, actually. Another major British newspaper, the Independent, tells the story of how it all started, namely when an American billionaire decided to cheer up a penniless young Venetian countess by bankrolling a birthday party for her in a trattoria in Trastevere. It was then that on the dance floor the then almost-unknown Anita Ekberg started pulling down her suspenders …

A 'Machiavellian' perspective on the Tibetan issue?

“We are in a democratic system, but the opinion of the majority may not be the right one,” said Lhadon Thethorg, a delegate (and New York president of Students for a Free Tibet) on the final day of the meeting between the Tibetan exile leaders which took place last week in Dharamshala. In fact nearly 600 delegates voted to continue to follow the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” strategy. However, Lhadon Thethorg added, “whether for the ‘Middle Way’ or independence for Tibet, people are calling for more vigorous action.”

Dolma Gyari, deputy speaker of the Tibetan parliament-in-exile, in turn, said that “if China does not respond positively to our initiative, there is no other options left for us than to go for independence.” Yet, the Dalai Lama doesn’t seem too hopeful about the “positivity” of the Chinese approach towards the Tibetan issue: “My trust in Chinese officials has become thinner and thinner,” he said Sunday, addressing the delegates after they wrapped up the gathering. So what? Is he in doubt about his own “Middle Way” path itself, which seeks genuine autonomy through negotiations with the Chinese leadership? Yes and no, I’d say. No, because the alternative approach (to seek the path of negotiation over the way of violence) would lead nowhere. Yes, because of the undoubted failure of the negotiations which have been held so far. Is this contradictory? Yes, if we mean this in a logical sense, no, if we consider the true nature of the issue, or, to say it with Machiavelli’s words, if we go directly to “the effectual truth of the thing than to the imagination of it.”

But there is a different way to approach the issue: instead of wondering, as many people do, whether or not the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” is the best path, we might wonder whether or not Chinese views and policies on Tibet are actually wise and thoughtful. As a matter of fact, the Chinese are assisting the calls for Tibetan independence, and, as this leading article in yesterday’s Independent says, they are “encouraging radicalism as a way of splitting the Dalai Lama from his adherents and then waiting for him to reach an isolated death.”

But …

[t]his is a dangerous policy. Marginalising moderation, as we know from the Islamic world, only plays into the hands of the extremists, of which there are an increasing number amongst young Tibetans. The call for independence, as opposed to autonomy, will grow louder. Beijing should heed the Dalai Lama’s call for the “middle way” before it finds that events have moved beyond its control.

I find this perspective to be a good starting point for further discussions.

Tibet exiles back Dalai Lama's 'Middle Way'

At last the nearly 600 Tibetan exile leaders who have been meeting in the Northern India hill town of Dharamsala this week to debate a potential new approach to Tibet’s struggle for freedom have voted to continue to follow the Dalai Lama’s “Middle Way” strategy.

This was generally considered the most likely—and reasonable, in my opinion—outcome of the gathering, but there has been a small minority who called for Tibetan independence instead of the “genuine autonomy” which His Holiness has been seeking for decades. “The majority of the people have spoken and have requested his holiness the Dalai Lama to continue with his Middle Way approach,” said spokesman Tenzin Taklha, according to whom “the Tibetans demonstrated that the Dalai Lama was their undisputed leader.” The Tibetan parliament, which convenes in March, must approve the agreements reached in the meeting, said former prime minister of Tibet’s government-in-exile Tenzin Tethong.

Yet, in the face of that “moderate” outcome Chinese authorities and government will likely remain deaf. “The Dalai Lama’s so-called ‘middle way’ is a naked expression of ‘Tibet independence’ aimed at nakedly spreading the despicable plot of opposing the tide of history,” said last Friday an editorial in the official Tibet Daily newspaper. That is why the delegates also recommended that Tibetan leaders stop sending delegates to meet with Chinese officials “until we are convinced China is serious about negotiating and so far China is not serious,” as a participant at the meeting refers.

Which means, to speak the way the ancient Romans used to, it will take place the day of the Greek calendae—and let's keep in mind the Greek calendar did not have calendae!

Fuga dal Pd (updated)

C’è chi dice no. E se ne va (dalla Direzione nazionale del Partito democratico), non senza aver prima esposto dettagliatamente, in una lettera aperta a Walter Veltroni pubblicata oggi in prima pagina dal Riformista, le motivazioni che hanno “suggerito” questa decisione. E’ Irene Tinagli, che insegna alla Carnegie Mellon University di Pittsburgh ed è esperta di politiche pubbliche per l'innovazione, la creatività e lo sviluppo economico. Inoltre lavora come consulente per il Dipartimento Affari Economici e Sociali dell'Onu e per la Commissione europea. Il suo ultimo libro—informa Il Riformista—è Talento da svendere, uscito quest’anno per i tipi di Einaudi.

[Continua qui, come al solito. Attenzione, c'è un aggiornamento: da leggere assolutamente, su Wittgenstein.]

Dharamsala notebook

The BBC's Chris Morris reports on the atmosphere at the “special meeting” that is taking place this week in Dharamsala to discuss the future of Tibet (see my previous post).

Rethinking freedom struggle

Nearly 600 Tibetan exiles began a week-long meeting Monday in Dharamsala—the Northern India hill town which is home of the 73-year-old Dalai Lama and Tibet’s government in exile—for a very special and unprecedented meeting to discuss Tibet’s future.

His Holiness called for this gathering two months ago, when he began to realize that his attempts to secure greater autonomy for his country through negotiation with the Chinese government were fated to fail. Which actually happened, and in fact he publicly admitted earlier this month in Japan, that his “middle path” approach of seeking dialogue with the Chinese leadership in search of a “genuine” autonomy (not “independence”) for Tibet had been exhausted and that there was now “no other alternative than to ask people” about how to proceed.

Though the meeting will have no policy-making power, since any recommendations would require the approval of the exiled Tibetan parliament, according to many exiles and observers this is definitely a moment of historic importance: time are ripe for change, they say, but, apart from the most radical Tibetan activist groups, nobody knows which alternative approach could produce better results at not-too-great a cost. And maybe that is also why the Dalai Lama himself has decided not to attend the meeting. “His Holiness wants to give Tibetan people the opportunity to express their views. He is neutral,” said Lodi Gyari, special envoy of the Dalai Lama, at a press conference on Sunday in Dharamsala.

Neutral? Who could have imagined that the Tibetan spiritual leader would have thrown in the sponge? But is this what he really wants? I am neither very convinced about that, nor am I persuaded that, as my friend Enzo writes in today’s Il Foglio newspaper and in his blog (in Italian), “the era and the epic of the Dalai Lama as a political leader have come to their terminus.”

Yet, I agree with Enzo when he recalls and stresses what Thupten Samphel, spokesman for the Tibetan government-in-exile, said in response to Qin Gang's—China's Foreign Ministry spokesman—warning ( “any attempt to separate Tibet from Chinese territory will be doomed”): “This meeting is not about taking Tibet away from China,” he said, “it’s about restoring the human rights of Tibetan people living in Tibet.”

No doubt that any attempt to take Tibet away from China would lead nowhere, while focusing on the issue of “human rights of Tibetan people living in Tibet” sounds much more realistic (and “noble”).

One more thing: Thubten Samphel also noted that the Dalai Lama had said last month that his “trust in the Chinese government was diminishing. But he never said he had given up on talks.” That’s quite another matter.

Veltroni? Niente da aggiungere

Ne farei volentieri a meno, sono sincero, ma avere un blog politico comporta anche il dovere di occuparsi di questioni e situazioni politicamente sgradevoli, persino tediose, e dei personaggi che ne sono protagonisti (ai quali, pur con tutta la buona volontà, non ci si può riferire in termini più benevoli di quelli impiegati un momento fa). E dunque parliamo delle recenti vicende del Pd e del suo capo. O meglio dell’editoriale di Ernesto Galli della Loggia sul Corriere di ieri e della risposta di Walter Veltroni su quello di oggi.
[continua qui]

'Let Eluana Englaro live!'

After the ruling by Italy's top appeals court allowing Eluana Englaro’s family to halt the treatment that is keeping her alive, the nuns of the Misericordine Order, under whose care Eluana has been surviving for 14 years, have launched a moving appeal to save her life. In a letter published in yesterday’s Avvenire, the daily newspaper of the Italian Bishops Conference, they said:

Our hope, and that of many like us, is that the death by hunger and thirst of Eluana, and others in her condition, will not be carried out. That is why, once again, we maintain our availability, today and into the future, to continue to serve Eluana. If there are those who consider her dead, let Eluana remain with us who feel she is alive. We don’t ask anything but the silence and the liberty to love and to devote ourselves to those who are weak, poor and little in return.

A crystal clear example, in my view, of what Catholic faith and, I dare to say, Catholic moral theology are all about. [See also here]

As for the Catholic hierarchy, Archbishop Salvatore Fisichella, head of the Vatican’s Pontifical Academy for Life, described allowing Eluana Englaro to die as an “immense crime” and a “civil and moral defeat.” Eluana, he said, would die an “atrocious death” by being deprived of water and nutrition. A step on the road to legal euthanasia, in his view. But he added that he had “profound respect” for Eluana’s father (“I pray for him”), and that “no one who has not had a similar experience can possibly judge her family, or indeed other families dealing with similar cases.”

Another example, but this time of a comprehensive, well-balanced approach to this kind of case. Both the nuns and Archbishop Fisichella, in my own humble opinion, have been equal to their task.

Italy's Terri Schiavo case

The Corte di Cassazione, Italy's top appeals court, removed today the last legal obstacle in a landmark “right-to-die” case which has fiercely divided opinion in Italy, by authorizing the father of 37-year-old Eluana Englaro to remove the feeding tube which has kept his comatose daughter alive for nearly seventeen years.

The Englaro case has been compared to that of Terri Schiavo, the American woman who spent 15 years in a vegetative state and was allowed to die in March 2006 against the wishes of her parents after a long court battle.

In fact, Terri Schiavo’s brother, Bobby Schindler, told LifeNews.com he strongly disagrees with the court. “Today’s ruling,” he said, “will clear the way for Eluana to experience a barbaric and inhumane death by starvation and dehydration.” He is also worried that the kind of “bioethics” that prompted courts in the United States to allow his sister’s former husband to kill her is making its way across the globe. “This court’s ruling seems to indicate that American ‘medical ethics’ are spreading like a virus among the international community, threatening countless numbers of elderly, ailing and disabled persons in an increasing and alarming way,” Schindler noted.

Perhaps Schindler undervalues the high “progressive” standards achieved in some European countries. Nevertheless I think he is basically right.

Free Nay Phone Latt !

As it is well known Burma’s military government exercises strict control over all public media. That’s why dissidents often use the Internet—where controls are, at least up to a certain point, less stringent—to circulate information. But this time there was no escape for Nay Phone Latt, a 28-year-old blogger, whom a court in military-ruled Myanmar sentenced to more than 20 years in jail last Monday for his Internet activities.

Nay Phone Latt, who is also a former member of detained democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition party, used his blog, written in the Burma language, as a forum to discuss the difficulties of daily life, such as the regular power outages and the rising cost of living. The blog was banned by Burma's military regime, and Nay Phone Latt was arrested in January this year during a round-up of activists linked to the massive anti-junta protests in September 2007.

The sentence, say Reporters Without Borders, consisted of two years for violating article 505 (b) of the Criminal Code (which punishes defamation of the state), three years and six months for violating article 32 (b) of the Video Act and 15 years for violating article 33 (a) of the Electronic Act.

Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association say that this shocking sentence “is meant to terrify those who go online in an attempt to elude the dictatorship’s ubiquitous control of news and information.” The two organizations called for bloggers around the world to post a photo of Nay Phone Latt on their webpages and write to Burma’s embassies to press for the young man’s immediate release. Hence this post, with which I willingly accept the call and ask my few but loyal readers to spread the word … [Hat tip: Nora]

The American Dream makes converts ...

“And now we may let Obama let us down. When was the last time someone deceived us?” wrote prominent Italian columnist Adriano Sofri a couple of days ago in la Repubblica newspaper (in Italian, via Luca).

That is likely the way many European leftists look at Barack Obama.
“There is a lesson,” says the Italian intellectual,

in the fact that the three contemporary personalities who more confidently dealt with the dream had African ancestors: Martin Luther King, Nelson Mandela, and now Barack Obama.

Well, isn’t Obama King’s dream realized? Perhaps more pragmatically, as Sofri puts it, he is the man who

describes America as the ‘Dream’ Corporation in which every American must hold a stock of shares. In his best speeches, the redistribution of the American Dream went along with the redistribution of the wealth.

And hence his huge margin victory. I would just ask Sofri and the other European leftists one question: should Obama be successful in achieving his aims, do you think you will be ready to be converted to the American Dream? [Italian version]

Anch'io ci credo, direttore, però ...

“Io ci credo” (all’Italia), scrive il direttore del Giornale a quelli che fanno parte della community de ilGiornale.it—come lo scrivente, che per informarsi via Web sottoscrive tutto ciò che di decente e serio, in Italia e soprattutto fuori, si renda disponibile a titolo gratuito …—, invitando tutti a fare altrettanto e a testimoniarlo qui.

E allora eccomi: anch’io ci credo, credo che gli italiani siano migliori di quanto non pensino e non appaiano alla luce di quel che si legge sui giornali o si sente e si vede nei telegiornali, e che dunque possiamo farcela, e che probabilmente ce la faremo. Ma questa fiducia, come suggerisce il “probabilmente,” non è incondizionata ... [continua qui]

Once upon a time in San Ginesio ...

Every two years a fabulous battle re-enactment takes place in a lovely hilltop town called San Ginesio, in the Le Marche region, Central Italy. The event is known as “La Festa della Fornarina” (“The Little Baker’s Festival”).

Please follow this link if you are interested in knowing what the Festa is all about, and what else is to be found in that picturesque Italian town.

It all began when, back in the late Middle ages (on November 30, 1377), while the people of San Ginesio were soundly sleeping, their enemies from the near town of Fermo, sneaked up in the dead of night and attacked San Ginesio …

All life is an experiment

“ Do not be too timid & squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more you make, the better. What if they are a little coarse, & you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, & get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice? Up again, you shall never more be so afraid of a tumble. This matter of the lectures, for instance. The engagement drives your thoughts & studies to a head, & enables you to do somewhat not otherwise practicable; that is the action. Then there is the reaction; for when you bring your discourse to your auditory, it shows differently. You have more power than you had thought of, or less. The thing fits, or does not fit; is good or detestable.”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson [from his journals, Nov. 1842], in EMERSON IN HIS JOURNALS, selected and edited by Joel Porte, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachsetts) - London (England), 1982.

Stop underwriting the Burmese military junta

I've just heard—thanks to my Swedish friend Eva—about a campaign to pressure Lloyd’s of London to stop insuring the military dictators of Burma. I thought that it was more than well worth a post, so here we go again with the issue of Burma.

First of all, let’s summarize the situation. Burma's military junta has been hanging on to power for years using repressive tactics, such as jailing monks and opposition leaders such as Aung San Suu Kyi. Recently the military junta has also been denying their citizens relief after last year’s devastating cyclone. Up till now Burma’s military dictators remain entrenched, propped up by dealings with Western companies. Well, one way the Burmese democracy movement has found to push for change is to cut off the businesses that prop them up by shaming those companies themselves—exposing them one by one, and forcing big companies to pull out—especially the insurers who underwrite the generals’ economic stranglehold.

Lloyd’s of London, the worlds foremost insurance market, is precisely one of the generals’ lifelines—Lloyd’s chairman Lord Levene also sits on the board of the junta-linked Total, which pays Rangoon $2m a day for oil. That is why the campaigners—Burma Campaign-UK and the Avaaz group—are urging to join them now by mass emailing the huge company, while the media furore is growing, to push Lloyd’s to terminate its Burmese contracts to save face.

“The Burmese people’s struggle is long and tough,” say the campaigners, “but as in South Africa, international pressure on the regime’s exploitative ventures could tip the balance. Because it’s hard or impossible for them to continue without insurance, this is an effective and wide-reaching approach for citizens everywhere to have a real impact.”

So far, as a result, the British government has begun to ask Lloyd's to cease its business with the Burmese military junta. Meanwhile, tens of thousands of emails and telephone calls have been bombarding key staff at Lloyd’s of London.

I think it's a very worthwhile cause. Please follow this link to take action.

What went wrong with the ‘old soldier’

With his “campaign autopsy,” in yesterday’s Washington Post, Charles Krauthammer pointed out, in my view correctly, John McCain’s merits and mistakes, and above all how difficult and impossible his mission was:

Considering the carnage to both capital and labor (which covers just about everybody), even a Ronald Reagan could not have survived. The fact that John McCain got 46 percent of the electorate when 75 percent said the country was going in the wrong direction is quite remarkable.

However crushing the external events, McCain did make two significant unforced errors. His suspension of the campaign during the economic meltdown was a long shot that not only failed, it created the McCain-the-erratic meme that deeply undermined his huge advantage over Obama in perception of leadership.

The choice of Sarah Palin was also a mistake. I'm talking here about its political effects, not the sideshow psychodrama of feminist rage and elite loathing that had little to do with politics and everything to do with cultural prejudices, resentments and affectations.

Palin was a mistake (" near suicidal," I wrote on the day of her selection) because she completely undercut McCain's principal case against Obama: his inexperience and unreadiness to lead. And her nomination not only intellectually undermined the readiness argument. It also changed the election dynamic by shifting attention, for days on end, to Palin's preparedness, fitness and experience -- and away from Obama's.

McCain thought he could steal from Obama the "change" issue by running a Two Mavericks campaign. A fool's errand from the very beginning. It defied logic for the incumbent-party candidate to try to take "change" away from the opposition. Election Day exit polls bore that out with a vengeance. Voters seeking the "change candidate" went 89 to 9 for Obama.

Last but not least, what is worth acknowledging, according to Krauthammer, is that

McCain ran a valiant race against impossible odds. He will be -- he should be -- remembered as the most worthy presidential nominee ever to be denied the prize.

Più che lo sdegno poté il disgusto

Christian replica, ed anche stavolta a buon diritto, Luca invece no, almeno finora, ancorché chiamato in causa, lui stesso, dal Travaglio Quotidiano, che non ha esattamente una predilezione per chi lo contesta, soprattutto in ragione di semplici fatti, ai quali risulta ogni giorno un po’ più allergico—verso quali agognati traguardi il refrattario sia diretto, di questo passo, questo non è dato sapere, benché mi sentirei senz’altro di escludere quelli letterari, anche del genere fantastico (che è una cosa serissima). Ma l’astensione, in questo caso, sarebbe d’obbligo, almeno secondo ciò che mi detta il mio (personalissimo, per carità) senso della decenza. Se avete voglia di approfondire seguite il link riportato dal post di cui sopra: io non lo metto, questo è certo. Più che lo sdegno poté il disgusto.

A ciascuno il suo (Travaglio quotidiano)

Certo, Christian si difende da sé—dal Travaglio (Marco) Quotidiano—e restituisce con gli interessi, come si conviene. Ma se Luca gli dà una mano, in punta di penna e col bello stile che gli fa onore, la cosa non guasta, benché il parlar sia indarno (a determinate latitudini etico-deontologiche, ove il desso alberga e donde lancia malamente i suoi strali avvelenati). E qui, per certo, si approva e sottoscrive in toto. Amen.

God Bless America

I am amazed. During the U.S. presidential campaign I haven’t been a European Obama supporter, nor am I one now, though I have always appreciated his ever-present composure, and above all the fact that, in a way, his unwavering “belief in change” is all about the American Dream being once again every American's dream. That belief and that composure are probably the core of his victory speech itself (see my previous post), in a triumph of sobriety and restrained emotion.

What amazes me are two—very interrelated—things. The first is what the Americans have done and demonstrated yesterday, namely what the new president of the United States has plainly summarized at the beginning of his victory speech:

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where any things are possible, who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive ... who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.
[…]
And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

Perhaps never truer words were spoken by a politician. America is still the Land of the Free and the Home of the Brave. The U.S. is still the country of the second chance, of opportunity for all, included millions of people around the world who hope for a better future for them and their children.

I am also amazed by the words the defeated candidate pronounced in his concession speech (see my other previous post):

This is an historic election, and I recognize the special significance it has for African-Americans and for the special pride that must be theirs tonight.
I've always believed that America offers opportunities to all who have the industry and will to seize it. Senator Obama believes that, too.

But we both recognize that, though we have come a long way from the old injustices that once stained our nation's reputation and denied some Americans the full blessings of American citizenship, the memory of them still had the power to wound.
A century ago, President Theodore Roosevelt's invitation of Booker T. Washington to dine at the White House was taken as an outrage in many quarters.

America today is a world away from the cruel and frightful bigotry of that time. There is no better evidence of this than the election of an African-American to the presidency of the United States.

Let there be no reason now for any American to fail to cherish their citizenship in this, the greatest nation on Earth.
[…]
I urge all Americans who supported me to join me in not just congratulating him, but offering our next president our good will and earnest effort to find ways to come together to find the necessary compromises to bridge our differences and help restore our prosperity, defend our security in a dangerous world, and leave our children and grandchildren a stronger, better country than we inherited.

Whatever our differences, we are fellow Americans. And please believe me when I say no association has ever meant more to me than that.

I must say that, as a European and a true friend of the United States of America as well, I share with president Obama one more firm belief, that this victory is not so much his victory as that of the American people: “I will never forget—he said tonight—who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.”

Good luck, Mr. President, and may God bless your Great Country.

A Place in History - 2

Obama victory speech (Chicago, Illinois, Wednesday, November 5, 2008):

If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.

Its the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference.

Its the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Latino, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, disabled and not disabled - Americans who sent a message to the world that we have never been a collection of Red States and Blue States: we are, and always will be, the United States of America.

Its the answer that led those who have been told for so long by so many to be cynical, and fearful, and doubtful of what we can achieve to put their hands on the arc of history and bend it once more toward the hope of a better day.

Its been a long time coming, but tonight, because of what we did on this day, in this election, at this defining moment, change has come to America.

I just received a very gracious call from Senator McCain. He fought long and hard in this campaign, and hes fought even longer and harder for the country he loves. He has endured sacrifices for America that most of us cannot begin to imagine, and we are better off for the service rendered by this brave and selfless leader. I congratulate him and Governor Palin for all they have achieved, and I look forward to working with them to renew this nations promise in the months ahead.

I want to thank my partner in this journey, a man who campaigned from his heart and spoke for the men and women he grew up with on the streets of Scranton and rode with on that train home to Delaware, the Vice President-elect of the United States, Joe Biden.

I would not be standing here tonight without the unyielding support of my best friend for the last sixteen years, the rock of our family and the love of my life, our nations next First Lady, Michelle Obama. Sasha and Malia, I love you both so much, and you have earned the new puppy thats coming with us to the White House. And while shes no longer with us, I know my grandmother is watching, along with the family that made me who I am. I miss them tonight, and know that my debt to them is beyond measure.

To my campaign manager David Plouffe, my chief strategist David Axelrod, and the best campaign team ever assembled in the history of politics - you made this happen, and I am forever grateful for what youve sacrificed to get it done.

But above all, I will never forget who this victory truly belongs to - it belongs to you.

I was never the likeliest candidate for this office. We didnt start with much money or many endorsements. Our campaign was not hatched in the halls of Washington - it began in the backyards of Des Moines and the living rooms of Concord and the front porches of Charleston.

It was built by working men and women who dug into what little savings they had to give five dollars and ten dollars and twenty dollars to this cause. It grew strength from the young people who rejected the myth of their generations apathy; who left their homes and their families for jobs that offered little pay and less sleep; from the not-so-young people who braved the bitter cold and scorching heat to knock on the doors of perfect strangers; from the millions of Americans who volunteered, and organized, and proved that more than two centuries later, a government of the people, by the people and for the people has not perished from this Earth. This is your victory.

I know you didnt do this just to win an election and I know you didnt do it for me. You did it because you understand the enormity of the task that lies ahead. For even as we celebrate tonight, we know the challenges that tomorrow will bring are the greatest of our lifetime - two wars, a planet in peril, the worst financial crisis in a century. Even as we stand here tonight, we know there are brave Americans waking up in the deserts of Iraq and the mountains of Afghanistan to risk their lives for us. There are mothers and fathers who will lie awake after their children fall asleep and wonder how theyll make the mortgage, or pay their doctors bills, or save enough for college. There is new energy to harness and new jobs to be created; new schools to build and threats to meet and alliances to repair.

The road ahead will be long. Our climb will be steep. We may not get there in one year or even one term, but America - I have never been more hopeful than I am tonight that we will get there. I promise you - we as a people will get there.

There will be setbacks and false starts. There are many who wont agree with every decision or policy I make as President, and we know that government cant solve every problem. But I will always be honest with you about the challenges we face. I will listen to you, especially when we disagree. And above all, I will ask you join in the work of remaking this nation the only way its been done in America for two-hundred and twenty-one years - block by block, brick by brick, calloused hand by calloused hand.

What began twenty-one months ago in the depths of winter must not end on this autumn night. This victory alone is not the change we seek - it is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were. It cannot happen without you.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism; of service and responsibility where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves, but each other. Let us remember that if this financial crisis taught us anything, its that we cannot have a thriving Wall Street while Main Street suffers - in this country, we rise or fall as one nation; as one people.

Let us resist the temptation to fall back on the same partisanship and pettiness and immaturity that has poisoned our politics for so long. Let us remember that it was a man from this state who first carried the banner of the Republican Party to the White House - a party founded on the values of self-reliance, individual liberty, and national unity. Those are values we all share, and while the Democratic Party has won a great victory tonight, we do so with a measure of humility and determination to heal the divides that have held back our progress. As Lincoln said to a nation far more divided than ours, We are not enemies, but friends…though passion may have strained it must not break our bonds of affection. And to those Americans whose support I have yet to earn - I may not have won your vote, but I hear your voices, I need your help, and I will be your President too.

And to all those watching tonight from beyond our shores, from parliaments and palaces to those who are huddled around radios in the forgotten corners of our world - our stories are singular, but our destiny is shared, and a new dawn of American leadership is at hand. To those who would tear this world down - we will defeat you. To those who seek peace and security - we support you. And to all those who have wondered if Americas beacon still burns as bright - tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from our the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity, and unyielding hope.

For that is the true genius of America - that America can change. Our union can be perfected. And what we have already achieved gives us hope for what we can and must achieve tomorrow.

This election had many firsts and many stories that will be told for generations. But one thats on my mind tonight is about a woman who cast her ballot in Atlanta. Shes a lot like the millions of others who stood in line to make their voice heard in this election except for one thing - Ann Nixon Cooper is 106 years old.

She was born just a generation past slavery; a time when there were no cars on the road or planes in the sky; when someone like her couldnt vote for two reasons - because she was a woman and because of the color of her skin.

And tonight, I think about all that shes seen throughout her century in America - the heartache and the hope; the struggle and the progress; the times we were told that we cant, and the people who pressed on with that American creed: Yes we can.

At a time when womens voices were silenced and their hopes dismissed, she lived to see them stand up and speak out and reach for the ballot. Yes we can.

When there was despair in the dust bowl and depression across the land, she saw a nation conquer fear itself with a New Deal, new jobs and a new sense of common purpose. Yes we can.

When the bombs fell on our harbor and tyranny threatened the world, she was there to witness a generation rise to greatness and a democracy was saved. Yes we can.

She was there for the buses in Montgomery, the hoses in Birmingham, a bridge in Selma, and a preacher from Atlanta who told a people that We Shall Overcome. Yes we can.

A man touched down on the moon, a wall came down in Berlin, a world was connected by our own science and imagination. And this year, in this election, she touched her finger to a screen, and cast her vote, because after 106 years in America, through the best of times and the darkest of hours, she knows how America can change. Yes we can.

America, we have come so far. We have seen so much. But there is so much more to do. So tonight, let us ask ourselves - if our children should live to see the next century; if my daughters should be so lucky to live as long as Ann Nixon Cooper, what change will they see? What progress will we have made?

This is our chance to answer that call. This is our moment. This is our time - to put our people back to work and open doors of opportunity for our kids; to restore prosperity and promote the cause of peace; to reclaim the American Dream and reaffirm that fundamental truth - that out of many, we are one; that while we breathe, we hope, and where we are met with cynicism, and doubt, and those who tell us that we cant, we will respond with that timeless creed that sums up the spirit of a people:

Yes We Can. Thank you, God bless you, and may God Bless the United States of America.