The View from Bologna

It's all in the name - from G.A.D to gaffe. The Italian left look for a new name.

Silvio Berlusconi on Monday gave a barely concealed ultimatum to his coalition partners. After days of meetings, over proposed tax cuts, where he has met opposition from Alleanza Nazionale and UDC, Berlusconi, with as much rhetoric as he could muster (which of course was plenty), sent a letter, or as he put it a manifesto, to Il Foglio one of Italy's national newspapers. "Either the programme [for government] is carried out to its full extent or the mission is finished and the choice goes back to the country"[1], said Berlusconi, apparently without arrogance or indeed a sense of giving up.

Now you would imagine that the threat of an early election would be joy to the ears of the left-wing opposition, and you'd be right. Indeed, they've been daring Berlusca to go to the polls, issuing a statement:"Either Silvo Berlusconi manages to govern or admits that he can't and goes to a vote"[2].

The ruling government has been plagued by internal conflicts for a number of months now, and both European elections and recent by-elections have shown the left-wing oppostion to be in a strong position to defeat Berlusconi's majority in any upcoming election, but, and it's a big but, there's still much evidence that the proposed coalition of the left has a lot of work to do before being able to present a credible alternative to the electorate.

And so we come on to the naming issue. It's hard to describe the proposed coalition, because they're still arguing over a name! For scarcely more than a month they've been referred to in the media as GAD or Grande Alleanza Democratica , after a meeting in October that set some of the ground rules for the alliance.

This week, debate has been ongoing about GAD as a name. Francesco Rutelli, leader of the Margherita party, dislikes it because it's "indigestible. It sounds like it could be the name of the next Disney film"[3]. One could add that, appropriately enough, in english GAD stands for General Anxiety Disorder. It's also the first name of one of Italy's popular political analysts - Gad Lerner (incidentally one of Romano Prodi's advisors), and finally it's also the name of wholesale clothing producer from Naples.

Rutelli's dislike for it has been mirrored by most of the other parties and significant members of the alliance, including both Prodi and Fassino. Well and good, so a decision was made to change the name to, first L'Alleanza, and then the marginally more snappy Alleanza.

Not such a bad name. It has a nice ring to it. Solid and robust even. That is until you consider that one of the ruling right-wing government parties is called Alleanza Nazionale. Cue sensible supporters of a left-wing coalition to cry out in unison, with a Humphrey Bogart inflection, "Of all the names in all of the world you had to walk into this one"!

It brings to mind the widespread practice in Vietnam of naming your restaurant identically to that of your neighbours, in the hope of stealing some customers based on their reputation. It's hardly likely though that the newly named Alleanza have it in mind to confuse votes out of the 'post-fascist' Alleanza Nazionale support. Instead it's a simple lack of vision or a compromise between bickering leaders. After all, there was a coalition, led by Prodi before, which won the election under the title Uniti nell'Ulivo, but perhaps that brings back bitter memories for all involved.

It seems that the leadership of the left are well aware that there needs to be a unified message and presentation to the public - let's not call it spin-doctoring just yet - but that message remains weak. At a time when they could be scoring points left, right, and centre from the Government, instead Ignazio La Russa, effectively second in command of Alleanza Nazionale is seen laughing on TV, saying of the name change "we won them over".

Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio of the Verdi (green) party, a part of this grand coalition, hardly hid his irritation with the naming issue: "We never looked upon the label GAD enthusiastically - he admits - but today the priority isn't the name as such, but the program and the rules of the democratic alliance of the centre-left"[4].

At the end of the day the election, when it comes, will not be won with a name (though, as Forza Italia showed, if you have a good one, it helps). It will be won with a strong electoral message. Is that something that 'Alleanza' can come up with? Time will tell.

We'll leave you with the comment from a forum for the left, where, on the topic of the name change, someone wrote "Piu' che il nome andrebbero cambiati gli uomini..." or "Rather than changing the name, the leaders should be changed..."

[1] "E’ per questo che ho detto e confermo, senza arroganza, ma anche senza cedere a quello spirito rinunciatario che e’ il male oscuro della politica italiana: o si attua il programma fino in fondo oppure la missione e’ finita e la parola torna al paese." - Il Foglio, 23/11/2004
[2] "O Silvio Berlusconi riesce a governare o prende atto che non ce la fa e si a votare" -La Republicca 24/11/2004
[3]"perché Gad e Fed sono proprio indigeribili, sembrano quasi il nome del prossimo cartone di Disney" - Rutelli speaking about GAD, the name of the proposed coalition, and FED which refers to a proposed Federation - seperate issues but causing the same problems. - L'Ulivo Site 23/11/2004
[4]"L'abbreviazione Gad non ci ha mai visti entusiasti - ammette - ma oggi prioritario non è il nome bensì il programma e le regole dell'alleanza democratica di centrosinistra" - La Repubblica 23/11/2004

Celtic Karma. Totò Schillaci and the tale of the churlish monkey.

Let's be clear: it was out of wounded national pride, the most motivating of human/simian emotions, that I watched the final of Italy's terrible 'reality' show L'isola dei famosi* (that's not to suggest that it's any more terrible than similar anglophone versions)last Friday night.

It was less out of a desire to see who would win, out of the remaining collection of B-list (if even!) celebrities competing in this 'reality' show, than out of a churlish desire to see one person lose.

While hailed in Italy as the hero of the 1990 world cup, Salvatore 'Totò' Schillaci, the Sicilian striker has always remained a bogeyman for the Irish, after he sent Jack Charlton's team packing from their very first world cup finals appearance with a, frankly speaking, lucky goal in the 39th minute of the June 30th Quarter finals in Rome.

So, when Schillaci appeared as one of the three remaining finalists in L'isola dei famosi, I admit to spitefully hoping that anyone out of the mediocrities on display would win over and above the footballing legend.

Such base nationalism seems to have been admirably absent from the Italian public's mind, as they voted Schillaci out, leaving the competition between two stranieri (foreigners), Sergio Muniz from Spain, and Kabir Bedi from India.

To some it was a heartening indication of Italy's multiculturalism, and indeed the editor of Gente, a Hello style tabloid, Umberto Brindani said as much during the live broadcast.

Let's not get ahead of ourselves though. While far from widespread, there does remain a strong racist nationalism alive and well in the heart of Italian public life. As if to remind us of this, La Padania, the paper connected with Umberto Bossi's Lega Nord (one of the governing parties in Berlusconi's coalition), published an article entitled "The real racism affecting Padania" [Padania being the name given to the Northern part of Italy where La Lega derives most of its support].

The 'real racism' of which the paper speaks, in an inversion worthy of Rocco Buttiglione, is that against the native Italian, or more accurately Padanian, who finds himself, allegedly, at a disadvantage in contrast with the hordes of invading extra-comunitari. In response to the opening of a national office to combat racial discriminiation, Leghista Davide Boni has decided that there should be an office set up to defend the rights of Padanians. "To be Italian is difficult, to not be an immigrant has become a disadvantage", said Boni, according to La Padania, talking about his initiative. Umberto Bossi, leader of Lega Nord, and framer of Italy's most recent immigration legislation, last year famously said about Milan's housing list: "Houses must go to Lombards first, not to the first 'bingo bongo' that arrives"[2].

As a European citizen, who recently had to renew his permesso di soggiorno,a permit required to do virtually anything including work or open a bank account, standing in a queue for hours, listening to civil servants screaming "Don't you speak Italian?!" at people struggling with the various forms that need to be filled in, I would suggest to sustainers of Mr Boni's argument that there is anything but an advantage to being a foreigner in Italy. As someone, thanks to Irish citizenship, with every right to be here, I dread to think what the process must be for those arriving from outside the European Community.

Of course, my own traumatic experience with bureaucracy means little - rules after all are rules. There's the evidence though from a recent study conducted by the International Labour Organisation and the International and European Forum of Migration Research. In the study[3], conducted in several countries, two actors responded to job ads by telephone, the only difference between them being their nationality. Out of 533 cases, 367 employers invited both candidates to interview, but 154 invited only the Italian, while only 12 invited the foreigner to the exclusion of the Italian. In 26.6% of cases then, an employer chose not to invite a perfectly qualified foreigner for interview. On top of that, there's the survey by the APPC, an association of small landlords, that found that 57% would not rent their property to non-Italians (the survey was carried out in a number of cities, and an average rate taken - shamefully Bologna was top of the list with a whopping 95%).

To suggest that being Italian has become a disadvantage in Italy is, to put it simply, ludicrous.

This over-the-top nationalism leaves a bad taste in the mouth, and so, on possibly the first occasion that this Monkey has learned anything from the Lega, however unwittingly taught on their part, I hereby retire from bigoted grudges against Sicilian strikers - and officially wish Totò Schillaci the best (God knows he's suffered enough, having been reduced to appearing on L'isola dei famosi).

* L'isola dei famosi corresponds to
[1] "sentirsi italiani è difficile, non essere immigrati è diventata una situazione di svantaggio." - La Padania, 21/11/2004
[2]"Le case si danno prima ai lombardi e non al primo 'bingo bongo' che arriva" - La Repubblica 4/12/2003
[3]La discriminazione dei lavoratori immigrati nel mercato del lavoro in Italia - Report published by FIERI and ILO

Airbrushing the news. A change in Direction for Berlusconi's Mediaset.

It's scarcely mentioned outside of Italy that there are actually some fine journalists working for Silvio Berlusconi's Mediaset. Under the directorship of Enrico Mentana, the news broadcasts of Canale Cinque, have by and large maintained an impartial and professional stance when reporting the news (in comparison with one of Berlusconi's other channels Retequattro, and its laughable 'news' broadcasts, panegyrics to the selfless leadership of Berlusconi*).

On thursday night, during the closing remarks on the main evening news, Mentana announced with much regret that the board that controls Mediaset (of which PierSilvio Berlusconi, Silvio's son, is a prominent member) had decided to replace him with the current director of weekly current affairs magazine Panorama, Carlo Rossella.

What exactly this means, for Canale Cinque and the independence in general of the Italian media is too early to say. When asked whether he believed there were political reasons behind his effective dismissal, Mentana responded "Let's not be hypocrites, of course there were"[1]. From a ratings point of view, Mentana's news team consistently topped the polls for Mediaset. In the same interview, La Repubblica suggested that there may be an eye on the impending regional and national elections. Recently Forza Italia deputy Paolo Guzzanti called Mediaset to arms, politically speaking, when he suggested that with current media coverage the ruling coalition would lose any Election.

It would be unfair to judge Mentana's successor Carlo Rossella as a stooge to Berlusconi and Forza Italia's interests, at least until we've had a chance to see what tangible difference he makes. However, there's an interesting aside in La Repubblica, that may give some idea as to the attitude Canale Cinque's news may take towards the Government under Rossella's stewardship.

Rossella is a journalist/editor of some experience, having directed La Stampa, and latterly Panorama, both owned by Berlusconi. A year and a half ago, while Berlusconi confronted the magistrates during one of his trials (more of which in the next posting), a famous photo appeared in all the newspapers - one of Berlusconi, taken from behind, with an accusing finger pointing at the judges. The photo was a potent symbol of the ongoing clash between Berlusconi, the Government, and the Judiciary, and as such was printed in most newspapers and magazines. The curious point is that in Rossella's Panorama, the photo had a noticeable difference, somehow Berlusconi had lost his bald patch and appeared with a luxuriant head of hair.

Journalists in Canale Cinque have demanded the reasoning behind Mentana's dismissal, and have not ruled out strike action in support of their colleague.

Canale Cinque is a privately owned broadcaster, and as such is perfectly entitled to replace whoever with whomever they choose. In the normal course of events I would simply change channels. Ah, but change channels to where? RAI, the state broadcaster is controlled by the Government, and the Government is controlled by...

* an example of Rete Quattro's news coverage was given recently when the Centre Left won a string of important by-election results, including in Milano, Berlusconi's home patch. Rete Quattro, perhaps finding that there was no possible way of creating a positive spin, simply omitted the by-election results from their news.

[1] Interview, La Repubblica Friday 12/11

Slow Learners? The Italian reaction to the US Presidential Election

While commentators in America are still analysing what exactly went wrong with the Kerry campaign, or indeed what went right with the Bush campaign, most politicians here have opted for the cautious approach when trying to extrapolate specific lessons for Italy. Most, but not all. There are some who have been keen to pull the political moral out of the magician's hat, as if the American elections were merely a proxy or practice run for Italy's next general election [due in 2006, though as likely to be in 2005].

Silvio Berlusconi, barely concealing his delight, took the opportunity to lecture the Italian left on the politics of demonization. "There's a lot to be learned from this election - he told La Repubblica - they [the left] have to understand that no one wins by demonizing their opponent the way that the press and media did with Bush"[1]. Handy for a man who would like to keep his personal conflicts of interest out of the limelight, but he failed to take into account the fact that to a large extent George W.'s election victory was firmly founded on a demonisation of John Kerry -witness the skilfull proliferation of the 'flip-flopper' title for Kerry. Bush's victory has certainly provided Berlusconi with a temporary respite from his political problems (dissapointing European Election results, the loss of key seats, the Buttiglione fiasco, a stagnant economy and fractious coalition partners). Appropriately enough, Berlusconi is pushing ahead, against advice from left, right and centre, with proposed tax cuts à la Bush.

Massimo D'Alema, the president of Democratici di Sinistra, and nominally one of Berlusconi's opponents (though you'd wonder sometimes!), concurred that one of the main lessons of the election defeat for Kerry was his campaign's reliance on an anti-Bush momentum to carry them through. Indeed, according to D'Alema "there are those who suggest that Berlusconi won in Italy [in 2001] because we weren't anti-Berlusconi enough - which is clearly nonsense"[2]. D'Alema dismissed the support Kerry gained from people such as Michael Moore in the Democrats campaign. He would though, wouldn't he, considering that he is far from popular amongst the more vocal elements of the left wing. Many still blame him for the fall of the last left wing Government. In particular the words of Nanni Moretti, one of Italy's leading film directors, must still ring in his ears. Moretti famously said, on a shared platform with D'Alema and other principal left wing leaders: "I'm sorry, but with leaders like these we'll never win". D'Alema stormed off the stage. Cynics would also suggest that D'Alema would prefer to keep the spotlight off Berlusconi's conflicts of interest, due to his own failure to do anything about them while Prime Minister.

To place things in context, Romano Prodi, outgoing President of the European Commission, and leading light of the left, will return to Italy in the coming weeks to convene a meeting of left wing leaders under the Ulivo coalition label, in order to decide on a broad platform to fight the elections. He is almost certainly going to be the leader of the coalition, and so the question is how can he avoid becoming an Italian John Kerry?

On the one hand there are the voices of D'Alema and Francesco Rutelli, leader of the Margherita party, who have their sights firmly on the centre ground. Rutelli has talked about five million undecided voters "that are fundamental to win". And that means moderation.

On the other hand, there are thinkers on the left who think very differently to D'Alema and Rutelli. Fausto Bertinotti, for example, leader of Rifondazione Comunista, who said of the American election "Maybe there is a lesson for the European left. The argument that victory would depend upon who won the centre proved itself to be completely abstract and far from the real issue [...] Perhaps the Democrats started to lose when they abbandoned Howard Dean and the spirit driving him"[4]. Bertinotti is the right's favourite bogeyman, and is used by Berlusconi as a synonym for extremism, but, and this is a big but, he's eloquent and close to the grass roots on the left.

It's not just Kerry's defeat that has the left wing squabbling over tactics. There's the legacy of Italian post-war politics, where with a diabolical genius the Democristiani managed to forge repeated coalition governments, always based around the idea of compromise and moderation. There's ample evidence though that this model of politics is dead and buried, along with the party that created it. Philosopher Massimo Cacciari put it succinctly this week when he said "today there's a total radicalisation because the old postwar equilibriums no longer exist. Now everyone is in search for new orientations. Today, there's a need to tell the people where you're going". Cacciari, who is linked with Rutelli's Margherita party takes a different view from the party leader, and it's a view partly prompted by the right. Talking of right wing journalist Giuliano Ferrara, he said: "he's guiding the rediscovery of the 'core values' of Buttiglione. We need to pay attention because they [the right] are saying that politics has changed". According to Cacciari, the political context has changed, and it's no longer good enough for the left to claim the centre and impress with its administrative skills - now is the time for radical ideas. The fact that Berlusconi's administration is the longest serving in Italian history suggests that Cacciari's analysis is on the money.

The post fascist Alleanza Nazionale, took one of the most obvious lessons from Bush's victory. "Above all, Bush's victory was the victory of clarity, of the strong defense of all the values which Americans see in themselves, with the will to put them forward without discussion or uncertainty"[5]. We can but presume that the Italian right will hope to fight an election campaign in the same manner, playing on security, strength and 'traditional values'.

Clarity, vision and, above all, unity are things that are sadly lacking in the Italian left at this stage. With a faltering economy, Italian participation in Iraq, and a string of frankly scandalous legislative measures undertaken, it seems virtually unimaginable that Berlusconi could win the next election. Unimaginable that is until you realise that there is still no concrete position amongst the opposition on Iraq, on controversial legislation such as that restricting assisted procreation, or crucially how to go about the election campaigning - or with whom.

It's rare that this Monkey will say it, but it seems that this time Mr Berlusconi is right - there are lessons to be learned from the American Election, and the sooner the Italian left realise that the better.

[1] "Dovrebbe imparare molto da queste elezione...Devono capire che non si guadagna consenso demonizzando gli altri come stampa e media hanno fatto nei confronti di Bush" La Repubblica Friday November 5th
[2] "Anche in Italia si è detto che ha vinto Berlusconi perché noi non siamo stati abbastanza anti-Berlusconiani. Una palese sciocchezza" L'Espresso #45
[3] "Mi dispiace molto, ma con questo tipo di dirigenti noi non vinceremo mai" - In Piazza con Nanni
[4]"Oggi c’è una totale radicalizzazione perché gli equilibri postbellici non ci sono più. Ora tutti sono in cerca di nuovi orientamenti. Oggi bisogna dire alla gente dove si va...
Parlo di Giuliano Ferrara che sta pilotando la riscoperta dei “valori profondi” di Buttiglione. Stiamo attenti perchè questi stanno dicendo che la politica è cambiata" - Professor Massimo Cacciari - L'Ulivo
[4]"Forse i democratici hanno cominciato a perdere quando hanno abbandonato Howard Dean e l’ispirazione che animava. Il voto contro non è sufficiente.
Forse c’è una lezione anche per le sinistre europee. La disputa sulla vittoria che si conquisterebbe al centro si rivela del tutto astratta e lontana dai problemi" - Fausto Bertinotti - Rifondazione Comunista
[5]"Soprattutto la vittoria di Bush è stata la vittoria della chiarezza, della difesa strenua di alcuni valori in cui gli americani si ritrovano, della volontà di imporsi senza discussioni o incertezze"
- Marco Zacchera Alleanza Nazionale