May 7, 2008

Why Italian Left is unfit to lead Italy

In today’s Il Foglio newspaper, Alfonso Berardinelli, one of Italy's leading literary critics and a contributor to Sole 24 Ore and Corriere della Sera, explains (see English translation here) why, in order to understand the new Italy that is being ushered in after the overwhelming victory of the Centre-Right coalition in the recent Italian elections, and even more so the conquest of the city of Rome, a brief meditation needs to be made on the nature of the “fundamental values of modernity.”

But his argument isn’t merely theoretical: the specific target of his criticism is a Left, whose political leaders—despite many of them being perfectly decent human beings—frequently appear to be “too good for the electorate”, thus snobbish, presumptuous or hypocritical,” whereas political values are only credible “when they are physically interpreted by someone who obviously seems to represent the social strata with which those values are identified.” To tell the truth, this subject was previously and masterfully developed by Ernesto Galli della Loggia in a column published on May 3 in the Corriere della Sera, whose title was “The rebellion of the masses.” Unfortunately no English version has been provided by the Milanese daily newspaper (here is the original Italian text, just in case).

Furthermore, Berardinelli says that

More than a victory of the Right, this was a defeat for the Left, which is unable to understand the physical nature of the city’s problems. Although I consider myself on the Left, I didn’t vote; I couldn’t have voted for Alemanno, but then neither could I vote for Rutelli. But here in Rome the electorate didn’t believe that Rutelli would sort out the city’s problems, whereas they were prepared to give Alemanno the benefit of the doubt.


This is, anyway, an article-interview packed with thoughts and observations, which is difficult to summarize in a few sentences. That’s why a thorough reading is highly recommended.

Birmania, disastro annunciato

Birmania, per gli operatori di "Save the Children" il 40% delle vittime sono bambini. Il ciclone, si dice e si scrive, non poteva essere evitato, d'accordo. Ma che dire dell'impreparazione? Semplicemente che ha avuto un ruolo determinante nel disastro (27.000 morti, 41.000 dispersi e più di un milione di senza tetto). Sul Corriere di oggi. Nella blogosfera si segnala il post di Enzo, di due giorni fa ma attualissimo (anche sul Foglio online).

'My Conversion from Islam to Christianity'


The Corriere della Sera newspaper (English edition) publishes today some excerpts from Magdi Cristiano Allam’s new book Grazie Gesù. La mia conversione dall'islam al cattolicesimo (Thank You Jesus. My Conversion from Islam to Christianity), Mondadori, which will be available in Italian in bookshops on May 9. Allam is a prominent Egyptian-born Italian journalist who distinguished himself for his articles on the relations between Western culture and the Islamic world. His harsh criticism of Islam and his support to Israel—he is also the author of a book titled Viva Israele (Long Live Israel)—made him a possible target of fundamentalist Islamic terrorists. That’s why Italian authorities have arranged for him a permanent police escort. He received baptism during the Vatican's 2008 Easter vigil service presided over by Pope Benedict XVI. (Allam will present his book at the Turin Book Fair on Sunday, May 11, in the Sala dei 500 at 3.30 pm.)

Non per sottovalutare i Massimi Sistemi ...

“Noi dobbiamo cercare di coalizzare, partendo dal livello locale, tutte le forze che si oppongono alla destra,” ha detto Massimo D’Alema, intervistato da Lucia Annunziata. E Christian Rocca ci ha fatto su, a ragione, un commento feroce. Ma io non me la sento di sparare su Max, e non certo perché ritenga che qualche buona ragione politica (nel senso nobile del termine) possa pur avercela. No, semplicemente lui cerca di sopravvivere politicamente, e lo spazio che gli si offre—magari non proprio su un piatto d’argento—è appunto questo, per quanto miserello, a mio modesto parere.

Comunque, sopravvivere, per un politico di professione, è il primo comandamento, come sanno quasi tutti coloro ai quali, certamente, il buon Tennessee Williams non stava pensando quando scrisse questa cosa qui: “The only thing worse than a liar is a liar that's also a hypocrite!”

Ho detto “per un politico di professione,” non parlo di «statisti», che in Italia, come si sa, sono una variazione sul tema piuttosto unica che rara. Per questo lascerei perdere. Malinconica conclusione? Direi di sì. Ma tant’è.

May 5, 2008

Oh Meme!

Man of Roma tagged me for this meme (as another 'victim' said, “blame him for this!” ).


1. Last movie you saw in a theater?
Apart from the americanism of calling it ‘theater’ rather than ‘cinema,’ which initially wrong footed me a bit, it was ‘300.’ Stunning effects, great fighting, great visual. I liked it.

2. What book are you [re]reading?
Emerson in His Journals. Lots of Ralph Waldo Emerson’s scattered thoughts, a mine of information about his backstage life, emotions, and feelings.

3. Favorite board game?
None really. They're all just a waste of time, in my very personal opinion …

4. Favorite magazine?
Not crazy about magazines. Usually I almost only read the on-line editions of Newsweek, Time, The Spectator, The Economist, and, in Italian, L’Espresso and Panorama.

5. Favorite smells?
The smell of bread baking, which, as I once heard, “like the sound of lightly flowing water, is indescribable in its evocation of innocence and delight.” A reminder of my childhood, and, in my humble opinion, one of the greatest aromas on earth.

6. Favorite sounds?
Sea waves, I have no doubt about that. Furthermore, harpsichord, piano, sitar, flute.

7. Worst feeling in the world?
Feeling gulty for not being productive …, for not being able to keep up with something.

8. What is the first thing you think of when you wake up?
Listening to radio and tv news reports.

9. Favorite fast food place?
McDonald’s and Pizzerias.

10. Future child’s name?
No child foreseen in the future.

11. Finish this statement. “If I had lot of money I’d….?
… spend my time reading (studying) and travelling all over the world.

12. Do you sleep with a stuffed animal?
No never (this is the most crazy question that I have seen so far today …).

13. Storms - cool or scary?
Cool. Unless you are just in the middle of one of them.

14. Favorite drink?
Martini (cocktail).

15. Finish this statement, “If I had the time I would….”?
See answer to question 11.

16. Do you eat the stems on broccoli?
Yes.

17. If you could dye your hair any color, what would be your choice?
Let me copy Man of Roma’s answer: “I cannot think of it. I would never dye my hair.”

18. Name all the different cities/towns you’ve lived in?
Rome, Venice, Treviso, San Francisco, London.

19. Favorite sports to watch?
Soccer, horse-riding.

20. One nice thing about the person who sent this to you?
Man of Roma maintains a great blog covering a wide range of cultural and historical topics. Whenever I am fed up with national and international political issues I get there and find a place where I can finally breathe again, away from the hustle and bustle of today's hectic and restless world.

21. What’s under your bed?
Couldn’t tell. Dust?

22. Would you like to be born as yourself again?
Let me copy Man of Roma again: “Yes, but next time I would not repeat some mistakes made in this lifetime.”

23. Morning person, or night owl?
Night owl.

24. Over easy, or sunny side up?
Sunny side up.

25. Favorite place to relax?
Along the seaside, watching sea-gulls and listening to the sound of waves washing up the shore. But woods and mountains are also very suitable places.

26. Favorite pie?
Sacher-Torte.

27. Favorite ice cream flavor?
Fruits (any).

28. Of all the people you tagged this to, who’s most likely to respond first?
No idea, really.

I tag Wog Blog, Valerie, Nullo, Carlo Felice, Angelo.

May 1, 2008

The warm air of May evenings

This blog isn’t, by no means, “for Catholics only,” but since it’s May, the month which is both named for and dedicated to Mary, the Mother of God, I thought that it would be appropriate to post this literary tribute …

The mood of springtime informs the church's interior; nature's blossoming, the warm air of May evenings, human gladness in a world that is renewing itself—all these things enter in. Veneration of Mary has its place in this very particular atmosphere, for she, the Virgin, shows us faith under its youthful aspect, as God's new beginning in a world that has grown old. In her we see the Christian life set forth as a youth- fulness of the heart, as beauty and a waiting readiness for what is to come.


—Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, Seek That Which is Above

April 30, 2008

Give to Prodi what is Prodi's

Though I have never been too soft with him, I think it’s important to give praise where praise is due, and not just because he is about to leave politics.

Vladimir Putin personally tried to tap the outgoing Italian Prime Minister to become chairman of South Stream, a new pipeline project by Russian gas monopolist Gazprom to link Russia to Europe. Mr. Prodi was "flattered" by the offer, his spokesman said, but won't be available.
[...]
Mr. Prodi leaves politics, for good he says, with his dignity apparently beyond the reach of the Kremlin's wallet.

April 29, 2008

Earthquake in Rome

Gianni AlemannoSo they lost Rome to the invaders—“the black tide,” as Democratic Party candidate mayor Francesco Rutelli used to put it in his last, unsuccessful calls to arms to his fellow citizens. And now not only will Silvio Berlusconi's conservatives rule Italy—after their overwhelming victory on April 13-14 national election—but they will also rule the Eternal City. A former Rome mayor—he ran the capital for between 1993 and 2001—Rutelli was also deputy prime minister and culture minister in the outgoing centre-left government led by Romano Prodi. Which makes the defeat all the more painful.

A former youth leader of far-right Italian Social Movement—the now defunct party from which National Alliance was born, which in turn is now part of Berlusconi's People of Freedom party—, Gianni Alemanno, the new mayor of Rome (see profile here), took 53.6 per cent with a remarkable turnaround after an initial ballot in which he had taken 40.7 per cent and his competitor 45.8.

“We have carried out a true political miracle,” said Alemanno when he started his victory speech in the Capitol Square. And there is no doubt that this is so, and that Berlusconi’s “enthusiastic thank you to the voters in Rome” for “this historic victory of Alemanno, for the first time making the People of Freedom leader of the Italian capital” couldn’t be more justified. “This success—he added—completes our victory on April 13-14 and is stimulating for the commitment expected of the government of Italy in a period that is not easy from an economical point of view, and there for even more exciting”. Once more, there is no question about that.

Paradoxically, Berlusconi is hailing the victory of a man who is the exact contrary of the kind of politician of which both Silvio Berlusconi and Walter Veltroni (as well as Rutelli himself) are highly representative—Alemanno is no eloquent and inspiring speaker nor a consummate political performer with the ability to empathise with ordinary people, he does not look like he is that concerned with cultivating his own image. He has also won praise, even on the centre-left, for his low-key, moderate style. Even his education profile—he has a degree in environmental engineering—seems to go against the mainstream, suggesting much more a technocratic rather than a mediatic approach and phenomenon. And that’s why, perhaps, he won, or better still Rutelli and Veltroni, that is the outgoing mayor of Rome, lost.

Veltroni, in fact, has never been one to shy away from the spotlight. So, when in January 2006 the then mayor made his official announcement of first Rome Film Fest, his opponents argued that his devotion to culture had come at the expense of attention to more pressing issues, such as pollution, crushing traffic problems, a sprawling periphery, a large inflow of illegal immigrants—and related public safety issues—as well as the upkeep of the city’s monuments, to name but a few. I guess Romans must have thought that way, too. I think they consequently voted for change.

Alemanno campaigned on the same issues that helped Berlusconi defeat Prodi in national elections pledging to reinforce law and order and crack down on crime and illegal immigrants. Rutelli and his allies tried to deprive these proposals by playing the card of anti-fascism, of the upcoming “black tide,” but this time Romans didn’t trust them.

The day after the earthquake, commenting on the results of the second ballot, Walter Veltroni wrote in a note that

the defeat of Rome will ask for, starting in the coming hours, a serious analysis involving all, thinking about the difference in national and local results. I believe the political climate in the country has had its impact on local elections, particularly regarding security.


Let’s hope the upcoming analysis will actually be serious and all involving. Let’s also hope that Veltroni will successfully face his internal opponents. He may have made some mistakes, but he is still the best choice for the Democratic Party. Which says it all.

April 28, 2008

To be Columbus

“ Though I do not find much attraction in the seaman yet I can discern that the naval hero is a hero. It takes all the thousand thousand European voyages that have been made to stablish our faith in the practicability of this our hodiurnal voyage. But to be Columbus, to steer WEST steadily day after day, week after week, for the first time, and wholly alone in his opinion, shows a mind as solitary & self-subsistent as any that ever lived. ”

—Ralph Waldo Emerson [from his journals, Jan. 7, 1833], in EMERSON IN HIS JOURNALS, selected and edited by Joel Porte, Harvard University Press, Cambridge (Massachsetts) - London (England), 1982.

April 26, 2008

Tibet: a turning point?

The day after Chinese state media announced Beijing's promise to renew dialogue on the Tibet issue, namely that government officials would meet soon with an envoy of the Tibetan spiritual leader, His Holiness the Dalai Lama welcomed the news. “Basically talk is good,” he said. Yet he felt the necessity of adding one second later that anything other than “serious discussions”—aimed to find out “what is the cause of this problem and how to solve it”—would be fruitless and “meaningless.”

Does he suspect that Beijing is planning the meeting solely to appease international concern ahead of the Olympics? Well, actually the suspect would be justified, given that even today China's state media was accusing the Dalai Lama of conspiring to turn world opinion against China. This after the Dalai Lama denied some hundreds times the Chinese claim that he supports separation of Tibet by saying every time he-only-wanted-autonomy, though obviously a genuine and complete one—as provided for in the Chinese constitution itself, but remained “on paper” only—to preserve Tibetan unique culture and traditions. “We really need an arrangement of full protection of Tibetan language and culture,” the Dalai Lama said at Colgate University in Hamilton, New York, some days ago.

Yet, perhaps this time China is taking the matter seriously. Why? Because Beijing is afraid—more afraid than ever before. And this, as Sandro Magister puts it, because of one of the new phenomena of this era, namely “the passage to militant politics—and even to armed action—of a religion like Buddhism, traditionally defined as contemplative and identified with pacifism.”

It is a passage that is situated within today's general evolution of all the religions toward a stronger impact on the public stage. For Christianity and Islam, this evolution is before the eyes of all. The events of recent months show that Buddhism is no exception. First Burma, and then Tibet, have been the most evident theatres of the passage of Buddhism from quietist positions and support for the status quo to an action of critique and transformation of society, even confronting heavy repression.
But if in Burma the methods selected were nonviolent, in Tibet something different is happening. The rebellion is being expressed sometimes with a devastating force that takes aim not only at the hated Chinese, but also at those Tibetans who seem to be favored by the modernization promoted by the government of Beijing.


In addition, since not all of the Buddhist organizations supporting abroad the cause of Tibet embrace solely nonviolent methods (the so called “Middle Way” theorized by His Holiness himself) as proved by the difficulties facing the Dalai Lama in securing observance for his pacifist instructions (see also the Statement to All Tibetans, issued on April 5), Beijing might be worried about losing a moderate, “gandhian” interlocutor, whose endless patience is well-known.

That is why we might have come to a turning point in the history of Tibet.

April 25, 2008

Tibet, the orphaned Country

Is Tibetan independence autonomy a lost cause? If not, what should its supporters do to win it?
Here is an interesting point of view.

April 23, 2008

Pope Benedict's revenge



I am convinced that the question of justice constitutes the essential argument, or in any case the strongest argument, in favour of faith in eternal life.

Pope Benedict XVI meets with a first responder after praying and lighting a candle at Ground Zero in New York, 20 Apr 2008So wrote Pope Benedict XVI in his Encyclical Letter Spe Salvi (Saved by Hope). Well, as Vaticanist Luigi Accattoli noted on his blog (in Italian) the day after the Encyclical was issued, it is always striking a pope who says “I am convinced.”

My first thought was: how can such a disarmingly gentle, kind and sensitive man be perceived as “just” a chilly intellectual, the fierce intendant, if not the aggressive guardian of Catholic orthodoxy, a kind of cross between Torquemada and Dr Strangelove? And sometimes—by Muslim extremists as well as by many within the ultra-secularist European establishment itself—as a sort of instigator of religious hatred!

But three years after his elevation to the papacy, thanks his most visible excursion into the limelight since then, namely the first papal trip to America, that perception of him has turned out to be false or, as Gerald Baker noted in last Friday’s Times, “as far from the reality as it is possible to be.” “What was missing—he writes—was an understanding of Benedict’s remarkable capacity to use words to speak to the emotional part of the human brain.” Yet,



[s]hortly before he became Pope, Benedict told a congregation: “Christianity is not an intellectual system, a collection of dogmas, or a moralism. Christianity is instead an encounter, a love story, an event.”

This idea of faith as a love story — God’s love for his people, and our love for Christ, the human face of God — is what Benedict seems to want us to understand as the defining theme of his papacy. His first encyclical was not on birth control or gay marriage, but on what many considered the somewhat surprising subject of the simple divinity of human love, including the sanctity of erotic love. This emphasis on the centrality of love to the human condition is so at odds with the caricature of the doctrinal vigilante, endlessly lecturing on the perils of sexual intemperance, that it requires us to think hard about the very nature of religion’s role in modern life. It is a useful counterweight to the popular secular view that religion is the root of all human discord.

Three years ago, as John Paul II was laid to rest under St Peter’s, his extraordinary and epoch-changing ministry at an end, a reporter turned to one of his colleagues and said, with evident feeling: “There goes one heck of a story.” But the story, as it happens, lives on, Benedict has opened a new chapter and if people would only listen they might find it has a surprising ending.


For a full account of the papal journey to the U.S. check the following links (to Sandro Magister’s website):

> The Pope's First Day in the U.S. - Against Sexual Abuse, and for America as a "Model of Positive Secularism"

> The Pope's Second Day in the U.S. – Benedict XVI Lays Down the Guidelines for the Bishops

> The Pope to U.N.: "The human person is the high-point of God's creative design for the world and for history"

> The Pope's Third Day in the U.S. - With Catholic Educators, Other Religions, Jews

> The Pope's Fourth Day in the U.S. – Benedict XVI Explains Why Christians Are So Divided

> The Pope's Fifth Day in the United States. - The Homily in the Heart of Manhattan, and the Meeting with Young People

> The Pope's Sixth Day in the U.S. - The Prayer at Ground Zero, and the Last Homily "in this land of freedom"

April 21, 2008

Law and order?

“If you look at the figures, Rome is one of the safest cities in Europe, ” said center-left candidate mayor of Rome Francesco Rutelli, at a campaign rally on Sunday. But soon after he felt the need to add that “unfortunately this is not enough and doesn't satisfy anyone. That's why we're here and we want more security.” Why?

First of all, personal security isn’t just a Rome issue, as shown by the two rape cases—both involving foreign victims—which happened over the weekend, namely that of an American student near a Milan nightclub and that of a student from Lesotho on the outskirts of Rome. In both cases foreigners—an Egyptian and a Romanian—are being held, and one of them was caught in the act.

In the second place, fears over crime and illegal immigration boosted the Northern League’s vote at last week's general election, doubling and tripling its haul, above all in front-line towns where local prosperity is undermined by thefts and burglaries. “We’re the only ones who talk unashamedly about law and order,” said Roberto Mura, the Northern League’s secretary for the province of Pavia, in Lombardy.

In the third place, center-right candidate for mayor of Rome Gianni Alemanno is campaigning that the weekend rape cases were evidence Italy has been too soft on immigrants. “For too long illegal immigrants and nomads have been considered untouchable in Rome,” he said.

So, crime and immigration have been pushed to the top Italy's political agenda. Which is perhaps the best way to escape from becoming victims of our own fears. Paraphrasing a well-known quote, the best way to try to escape from a problem is to face it.

April 18, 2008

Salvate il soldato Luca ...

Ma no, ma dai che lo sai che non è vero ... (e sperando di essere ancora in tempo!)

Traducete quei due!

la mitica sede del Corriere, in via Solferino, a Milano
Che il Corriere possa avvalersi di columnists come Ernesto Galli della Loggia e Angelo Panebianco, non è evidentemente una circostanza di scarso rilievo: significa stare un buon palmo al di sopra degli altri quotidiani. Di questo bisogna dare atto al giornale di Via Solferino—per dirla come si usa nei migliori clubs, non certo nella blogosfera, che è fatta di gente semplice e alla mano. Insomma, Mieli o non Mieli (di cui alla gente semplice, appunto, non frega assolutamente nulla), come il Corriere nessuno. Ieri l’altro Galli della Loggia ha scritto sulla sinistra una cosa da incorniciare, una specie di epitaffio (come suggerisce il titolo: “Una storia finita”). Datemi retta, leggetelo, ammesso che non lo abbiate già fatto. Stesso discorso per l’analisi dedicata ieri alla Lega da Angelo Panebianco, ma qui evidentemente non si tratta di epitaffi. Ne riporto due passaggi, così, tanto per citare qualcosa, ma va letto tutto, compresa la conclusione: la previsione che il federalismo fiscale potrebbe porre qualche problema al governo Berlusconi.

Una annotazione: perché mai l’edizione in inglese del giornale non utilizza questa roba? Poi ci si lamenta che all’estero non capiscono un accidente di quel che succede dalle nostre parti: per forza … Traducete quei due, per favore!

Ed ecco i due passaggi dell'articolo di Panebianco:

Non funziona accostare la Lega, partito territoriale insediato in alcune delle zone più ricche del Paese e che gode del consenso di ceti produttivi, ai movimenti classici di tipo ideologico, vuoi di estrema destra (come il lepenismo in Francia) vuoi di estrema sinistra (come la sinistra massimalista in Italia). Al di là di certe somiglianze superficiali con i movimenti estremisti (e senza negare che le spinte anti-politiche possano oggi avere avuto un qualche ruolo nel successo elettorale della Lega), un partito regionale come la Lega Nord vive e prospera in virtù di un rapporto «contrattuale», di scambio, su temi concretissimi, che toccano direttamente le loro vite e i loro interessi, con i propri rappresentati. A dare forza alla sua azione, a spiegare il suo radicamento e i suoi successi, sono due circostanze. In primo luogo, il fatto che un partito regionale non deve preoccuparsi, a differenza dei grandi partiti nazionali, delle «compatibilità» (se non quando non preoccuparsene danneggerebbe i territori rappresentati) e degli interessi nazionali. Ciò lo rende meno impacciato dei partiti nazionali che devono mediare fra tanti interessi, territorialmente diffusi, e fra loro contrastanti. In secondo luogo, il fatto che il comunitarismo territoriale che lo ispira gli permette di muoversi «come se» le popolazioni rappresentate fossero internamente omogenee. Per l'interclassismo comunitario, «se ci guadagna» il territorio, ci guadagnano tutti i suoi abitanti.
[…]
Per capire meglio le specificità della Lega si pensi alle differenze fra il suo ruolo nel precedente governo Berlusconi e quello svolto dalla sinistra massimalista nel governo Prodi. La sinistra massimalista tenne il governo Prodi in scacco su tutti i temi possibili, dalla politica estera al welfare, fu fonte di continua instabilità. La Lega Nord, nel passato esecutivo di Berlusconi, invece, sostenne sistematicamente le politiche governative nel loro complesso, tenendo ferma la barra sui pochi ma cruciali temi che le interessavano: l'immigrazione, la devolution. Né si può ignorare, a conferma del carattere assai pragmatico dell'azione leghista, che il governo Berlusconi fu debitore nei confronti della Lega di un ministro del Lavoro (Roberto Maroni) cui si dovette, fra l'altro, uno dei provvedimenti più significativi di quel governo: la legge Biagi.

April 17, 2008

Eravamo un Paese di conservatori

Eravamo un Paese di conservatori: ogni cambiamento guardato con sospetto, se non con ostilità, o quanto meno con l’atteggiamento mentale di chi, a parole, si lamenta di come vanno le cose, ma all’atto pratico preferisce “andare sul sicuro.” Eravamo. Ora non più. L’esito delle elezioni, reso possibile anche dall’innegabile coraggio dei due maggiori competitors, ha fatto piazza pulita. Voto pragmatico, semplificazione, scompaginamento delle vecchie logiche di appartenenza, clamorosa rottura con le abitudini consolidate in materia di voto, e chissà quante altre micro e macro “rivoluzioni copernicane.” E’ bastato che un segnale forte e inequivocabile, uno solo, venisse da Veltroni e Berlusconi, e gli elettori, immediatamente, hanno fatto il resto, cioè la loro parte.

Tra le tante “rivoluzioni” cui abbiamo assistito (e preso parte) quella della scomparsa dell’estrema sinistra è forse la più inaspettata e sorprendente. Ecco, vorrei dirlo nella maniera più equilibrata e, se così posso esprimermi, “educata” …, il fatto è che ne sono particolarmente soddisfatto. Non si tratta di maramaldeggiare (cosa ovviamente odiosissima), è un giudizio politico. Ovunque ci sono comunisti (veri), trotzkisti, e cose del genere, ma non dappertutto sono rappresentati nei parlamenti nazionali, anzi. Dov’è lo scandalo se in Italia una rappresentanza parlamentare non l’hanno più? Non c’è, appunto. Dove sta scritto che una Camera e un Senato orbati di questa presenza ne debbano soffrire? Che il Paese stesso, anzi, ne debba soffrire? Da nessuna parte, che io sappia.

Un altro discorso è quello se una sinistra radicale non solo abbia il diritto di esserci (cosa ovvia), ma che sia un bene che ci sia. Io credo di sì. Alcuni “estremisti” sono riusciti, nel tempo, a far intravedere cose di cui nessuno sospettava l’esistenza. Nelle aule universitarie, nella saggistica, nella produzione letteraria, cinematografica, teatrale, il loro contributo è stato notevole. Ma in un parlamento quale può essere la loro funzione? Quale contributo alla soluzione efficace di problemi specifici e concreti può dare chi, in maniera più o meno dichiarata e contro ciò che pensa e vuole tutto il resto della società, è convinto che le fondamenta stesse su cui il sistema si poggia debbano essere messe radicalmente in discussione? Ecco che un’ipotesi affascinante sul piano intellettuale—perché “folle,” utopistica, geniale perfino, nella sua capacità di essere “contraddizione radicale”—per quanto ovviamente opinabile, diventa il suo opposto, e questo nel momento stesso in cui le si offre l’opportunità di calarsi nel concreto, di diventare “vita quotidiana,” cioè metodologia e prassi della decisione politica: da brillante esercizio intellettuale a sordo ostruzionismo e sistematico boicottaggio delle politiche (riformistiche) altrui. Da sogno (per loro) a incubo (per tutti gli altri, e forse anche per loro stessi).

Ebbene, eravamo un Paese di conservatori, si diceva, ed anche la sinistra radicale rientrava tra “i beni” da conservare. Oggi quel tabù è caduto. A non volerne prendere atto sono oramai in pochi. Tra questi Francesco Cossiga, che paventa ritorni di fiamma eversivi. La stima e l’affetto che si può provare per lui, stavolta non può far velo a un dissenso profondo. La presenza di un robusto partito comunista nel Parlamento italiano non ha risparmiato all’Italia il brigatismo, purtroppo. Personalmente sarei tentato persino di sostenere una tesi diametralmente opposta, sia pure con molti se e qualche ma.

Un altro che non molla è il famoso opinionista Francesco Merlo, che su Repubblica di oggi rivolge un accorato appello a Walter Veltroni affinché faccia sua “la gentilezza di sinistra” dei Niki Vendola, per “maritarla con la cultura di impresa.” Non una riflessione banale, ci mancherebbe, anzi (giustissimi i rilievi ai Pecoraio Scanio), epperò, a me pare, un estenuante esercizio di conservatorismo politico e intellettuale. Il punto non è che Veltroni deve andare da Vendola, ma semmai che Vendola vada da Veltroni, dopo aver realizzato che forse lui (Vendola), con le sue idee e il suo “pragmatismo” (lo garantisce Merlo), starebbe meglio dall’altra parte. Insomma, il percorso effettuato dallo stesso Veltroni e dai D’Alema, le Turci e i Bersani. Non mi sembra di chiedere troppo.

A proposito di conservatorismo da buttare a mare, un altro opinionista, Gian Enrico Rusconi,
ripropone su La Stampa di oggi il vecchio vezzo nazionale di dare molto peso a ciò che scrivono all’estero, in questo caso la Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung. Ora, sia chiaro, bisogna avere il massimo rispetto di tutti—compreso l’Economist che con il Berlusca deve avere qualcosa di personale—e ascoltare tutti, però, magari, se prendessimo atto del fatto che spesso, quando parlano dell’Italia, certi forestieri dimostrano di non essere, ehm, molto preparati, e del resto se le loro fonti di informazione sono i giornali italiani …, ecco, forse sarebbe meglio. L’Italia è un Paese troppo complesso, lo è per noi, figuriamoci per gli altri (poveretti).

April 16, 2008

Veltrusconi? Here is an example ...

Here is an example of what I mean when I talk about “Veltrusconi” (in today’s online edition of Il Foglio newspaper):

The day after the electoral apotheosis – while in Friuli and Rome other landslides were being realised – the Cav. (Berlusconi) was already once again the worker Prime Minister, but with a more mature touch which was welcome to the Opposition. The exchange of courtesies with the Party co-ordinator of the Democratic Party, Goffredo Bettini, followed by Berlusconi’s invitation to a meeting via his own Master of Ceremonies Gianni Letta, signalled a desire for coherence with what had been decided before the election. To take, among others, one of the Cav’s phrases: “It would be I myself who would be the happiest with a continuing debate and dialogue with the Opposition”.

Italian elections: Viva Veltrusconi!

Top political analysts will soon tell us what the numbers of Berlusconi’s huge victory in Italy’s general elections exactly (“scientifically”) mean. But I think that no one who has any ounce of common sense would ever ask them why he won.

Well, I can’t guess what The Economist’s editors would actually ask themselves and/or Italians—but the second choice appears highly unlikely—, because I’m not that imaginative (alas! nobody is perfect).

Perhaps it would make more sense to just ask how could it ever have been possible to expect a different result. Have you ever heard, for instance, of Naples garbage crisis (thousands of tonnes on the streets …)? Isn’t Naples an Italian city? And guess who have been ruling Naples and its beautiful region since a decade and more, and who has been leading the country so successfully since May 2006.

Furthermore, try to establish whether there is a link between the story of Clementina Forleo—a brave magistrate who is being massacred by “the caste” because of her charges against very influential members of the Democratic Party—and the fact that the Center-Left coalition includes the Italy of Values party, led by Antonio Di Pietro, that is the former magistrate who spear-headed in Milan the so-called Clean Hands anticorruption drive launched in 1992 that brought down Italy's old regime.

Add to this the heavy tax burden and the public safety issue. But those are only a small selection of issues, though very representative of the country’s mood. Italians must have realized that Italy needs more effectiveness and “Lombard pragmatism” and less “Roman wishful thinking” (“yes we can” in a tomato sauce …). And perhaps Berlusconi, in turn, must have realized what was wrong with his country when he announced on Tuesday his future government's first task: clearing piles of rubbish from the streets of Naples. “I imagine I'll spend at least three days a week in Naples, at least until the refuse problem has been resolved,” he said in an interview, adding that the first cabinet meeting of his government will be held in Naples and that “the months and years ahead will be difficult.”

“For Berlusconi it's a double success,” wrote Corriere della Sera columnist Massimo Franco. “Not only will he be returning to the prime minister's office, but the novelty is that the mandate comes after an election campaign in which he did not promise miracles or hint at painless solutions for the economy.”

Nevertheless I am bound to say that I think Veltrroni is the best of his bunch. He has been trying to provide Italy with a modern and responsible left and a more effective and stable political system. His announcement that the PD would have run on its own, without the squabbling Catholic-to-communist coalition allies that brought Prodi down, was like a new beginning, a big break from the choice of bickering coalitions Italians are usually faced with. As a result, in turn, Silvio Berlusconi had called on centre-right parties to run under the slogan “People of Liberty”—not only a single banner for the election, but also the embryo of a new single centre-right party that will include the right-wing National Alliance, in a bid to avoid the shaky coalition that weakened his own previous government.

Now Italy has only five parties represented in Parliament, instead of about twenty, and what is more, in my view, no far right and radical left parties. That’s why I personally congratulate … both the winner and the loser: perhaps Italy is becoming a normal country. Viva Veltrusconi!

April 15, 2008

Italian elections: quick update 2

Silvio Berlusconi has won absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies as well as it happened in the Senate. And as in the Senate the Northern League will be decisive. The Italian regions have assigned 340 seats to the majority: People of Liberty 272; Northern League 60; Mpa 8, 12 deputies must still be assigned by foreign constituencies. Regarding the opposition: the Democratic Party has 211 deputies; Italy of Values 28; Udc 36; Svp 2; Aut-Lib-Democratie 1.

Here is the lists of new Members of Parliament:

> Camera dei Deputati (Chamber of Deputies)
> Senato della Repubblica (Senate of the Republic)

Italian elections: quick update

Silvio Berlusconi's center-right coalition (People of Liberty and Northern League) has the absolute majority in the Senate. The Italian regions have assigned 171 seats: 144 to the People of Liberty; 25 to the Northern League; 2 to the Mpa (sort of Southern League). So the Northern League will be decisive. Six others senators will be assigned by foreign voters. As for the opposition, the Democratic Party has 116 seats; the Italia dei Valori Party 14; the Udc (Christian democrats) 3; the Svp (Sud-Tiroler Volkspartei ) 2; the 'Lista Svp-Insieme per le autonomie' 2; the List Vallee d'Aoste 1.