The View from Bologna

Dousing the Olympic Spirit - The 'No-Globals' target the Olympic Torch

Imagine the scene: An athlete jogs nervously down one of Bologna's main thoroughfares, clad in a politically-correct, unisex, running suit clutching a futuristic-looking, metalic, flame-flowering torch. It's hard to get a view of him/her though as the athlete is surrounded/accompanied by 15-20 particularly uncomfortable-looking riot-police, jogging (or speed-shuffling in most cases) in phalanx formation. The reason? The Olympics have come to town.

Or rather the Winter Olympics torch-relay comes to town, being chased by a group of students who, obviously, fall (at least in the media's terms) under the label of 'No-Globals'. They are the reason for our friendly riot-police squad's discomfort, chasing the torch chanting 'Bollicine Assassine'. To translate their chant loses all of its buzz*, but for the sake of clarity it runs along the lines of 'Fizzy Bubbles Assassins'. A none too subtle accusation towards the Coca-Cola corporation.

"Good God, is nothing sacred?", you may well ask, indignant at this attack on the 'Olympic Spirit'. Conversely, you may well ask yourself "have these students nothing more important to protest about?". What may be worrying the Turin Winter Olympics organisers, though, is that protests surrounding the upcoming games are not limited to students.

In fact, during the month of November, Turin's city Council took a contentious vote to boycott Coca-Cola products from vending sites under the Council's control. The vote was passed by a slim majority, much to the anger of Turin's mayor Sergio Chiamparino, a member of Romano Prodi's centre-left Ulivo coalition party. City officials have been hoping that the Winter Olympic games will boost Turin's image worldwide, leading to much needed investment for a city that has suffered the decline of its main industry - FIAT. Boycotting one of the main sponsors of the Games was obviously not part of the plan.

In particular, last Friday's protests in Bologna were to highlight accusations against Coca-Cola that suggest the world's favourite fizzy drink has actively been involved in the violent and illegal surpression of trade unionists at bottling plants in Colombia.

The Winter Olympics are hosted as a business opportunity. They are sponsored by some of the world's biggest (and baddest?) corporations as they provide a wonderful advertising opportunity. Hence it shouldn't be of much surprise that they also present a wonderful protest opportunity.

So, when Bolognese singer (Italy's answer to Cliff Richard) Gianni Morandi whined on Saturday that the students had ruined something that could have been beautiful, this Monkey started pondering what this something beautiful referred to by Morandi may have been. Presuming it to be the 'Olympic Spirit', I journeyed to the Torino 2006 official website hoping to tie down this abstract concept.

The folks at Torino 2006 were way ahead of me, having converted, through some mystical alchemical process (perhaps in non-unionised, sweat-shop alchemy plant?), the abstract notion into a concrete reality. "Wear the Olympic Spirit" they helpfully advised, in a sub-category of 'The Olympic Spirit' section of the site labelled 'official products'.

So if the students protesting on Friday in Bologna ruined Morandi's 'Olympic Spirit', not to worry. He can always go out and buy some more...

*A part from the fact that it has a perfect chanting rythm, the phrase also evokes, amongst other things, cultural icon Vasco Rossi's song, Bollicine, about Coca-Cola, with its lines "Bevi la coca cola che ti fa bene/
Bevi la coca cola che ti fa digerire/
Con tutte quelle, tutte quelle bollicine" (Drink Coca-Cola it does you good/ Drink Coca Cola it helps you digest/ with all those beautiful little bubbles'.

A load of hot air? There's no ducking the energy issue.

Italy's minister for Foreign Affairs, Gianfranco Fini (TIFOF™)*, was quick off the marks last week in writing to EU Commission President, Manuel Barroso, urging him to initiate discussions at the hightest levels to resolve the Russia-Ukranian gas stalemate (a deal was finally reached in the middle of last week).

The deal will have brought little consolation to Italy, which has had yet another short sharp shock in relation to its security of energy supply. Two years ago a tree fell down in Switzerland and Italy as a nation found itself without Electricity for several hours. Last Tuesday (2nd January) Italy registered a drop of up to 24% in pressure in its gas pipelines due to the Russian squeeze on the Ukrainians. It's hard to be sure of your energy supply when you import up to 85% of it from abroad.

One policy to ensure a steady energy supply has been to seek diverse suppliers, so for the 80 billion cubic metres of Gas imported annually Italy turns to both Russia and North Africa (Libya and Algeria). 36% of this is used in homes throughout the country for heating/cooking. Another 36% is used in the national grid system to produce up to 60% of Italy's electricity (source La Repubblica).

Rising gas/oil prices coupled with a particularly cold winter are driving up utilities bills for a public that is already feeling the pinch of a continuing economic crisis.

The economists will tell you that technological innovation is spurred on by conditions such as these, as investors start ploughing money into research and development for alternative energy sources - paradoxically relatively cheap oil prices over the years have meant that we are still dangerously dependent upon oil as it hits record prices. Well and good. Taking this monkey's current gas bill as a barometer, Italy is in particularly desperate need of some energy breakthrough.

Alberto Clò, one of Italy's "greatest experts on energy politics" gave an interesting interview, in La Repubblica, where he suggested various plans that need to be reconsidered if Italy is to avoid loss of energy supply. These included

Reversing privatisation:
"The fact is that privatisation can only be done in markets where there is an excess of production, otherwise it's a boomerang. In the gas sector, for example, the Gazprom-Ukraine crisis is precisly the example that shows that the market on its own can't give the right response, particularly when facing political disputes.

Environmental concerns:
"Practical countermeasures must be put in place to co-ordinate the gas reseves of various countires or the introduction of greater flexibility in the use of energy sources also temporarily suspending environmental protection regulations"

and of course Nuclear power:
"Yes [to investment in Nuclear Energy], but in the long term. It's impossible to expect immediate results from Nuclear".

Nuclear energy is contentious in Italy, where it is prohibited by law (after a referendum) despite the fact that the electricity imported from France is generated partly by nuclear reactors. Berlusconi re-opened the nuclear debate last year, pointing out that Italian firms are penalised by high energy costs (20-30% higher according to il Cavaliere) while at the same time living with the risk of environmental damage from neighbouring France's reactors. For once Berluska almost seems to have sense on his side.

It's a far from simple issue though. The debate rages as to how economic and safe Nuclear may be.

One thing that baffles this monkey,though, having attended the annual Pio Manzu energy conference and heard Jeremy Leggett, director of Solar Century and advisor on solar energy to Tony Blair's government, is why there hasn't been more emphasis on solar energy in this decidedly sunny country. Leggett talked through the experience of the somewhat shady Woking in Surrey where through a combination of solar and renewable energy and the implementation of energy efficiency measures, the local council have become world virtually self sufficient in terms of energy, without reliance on the National Grid.

We'll wait to see the manifestos for this year's election, but this monkey suspects that in relation to energy policy and concrete proposals the language will remain sadly cloudy.

*The intelligent face of fascism

The fortune-telling monk vs the scantily clad starlet - A new year calls for a new calendar

We kick off the new year some kilos heavier after a December spent sampling the culinary delights that make Italy such a good place to live. This may account for the scarcity of entries during the final month of 2005 - It's hard to be quite so opinionated on an over-full stomach.

A brief entry to kick off the year, on the subject, appropriately enough, of calendars.

Towards the end of the year, on every chat show and news programme (news?!?) one is bombarded by breasts, as models, showgirls, and latest 'reality' stars parade their wares launching their calendari. This is, after all, the country from whence the Pirelli Calendar came - elegantly bared nipples used to sell
tyres, ingenious...

According to the PR firm of mass medialogue Klaus Davi, this year, though, the most sold calendar was the 'Frate Indovino' (The Fortune telling Monk). A type of calendar that handily mixes superstitions, giving you all the official Roman Catholic feast days alongside lucky days to plant seeds, harvest wines, and days to stay in bed - Friday the 17th for example is particularly unlucky in Italy, they say.

Second place is the 'Famiglia Cristiana' (Christian Family) calendar. Third best-selling was the new 'Carabinieri' calendar (Italy's military police), followed finally by the starlets and their bosoms.

I'm at a loss to say what light this might shed on the country and its allegiances for the coming year. While undoubtedly a lucrative market, the calendari are bought by a minority happily sustaining their own brand of religious orthodoxy, authoritarianism, and cosmetic surgery. Most Italians, I suspect, mark their days off against the numerous free calendars given as gifts by local shops to loyal customers. For example the calendar received by us from the local hardware store, that takes as its underlying theme Italy's other favourite religion, calcio (football). This monkey will follow the year synchronised with Bologna F.C currently languishing in the bottom half of Serie B but ever hopeful that 2006 will augur well.

Happy New Year!