The View from Bologna

They'd do better to remain silent

Global 24hr news stations, well-resourced and able to bring us in-depth, live coverage of epoch defining moments. Italy, like many other countries, has had its news media shaken ever so slightly over the last couple of years with the introduction of 24hr news channels.

Rai 24, the news flag-ship of state broadcaster specialises in developing news reports that get broadcast to satelite subscribers, and make news headlines across the world, but never get shown on domestic tv - the most infamous example being the report they made on white phosphorous use in the US assault on Fallujah, a report which has been translated into English, but never broadcast (to the best of this monkey's knowledge) on regular Italian tv.

Sky news has entered the Italian market, and I've recently started watching it online - with a vaguely open-mind. Italian news reporting is, generally, of such a poor quality, that Sky almost seemed like incisive reporting.

Then today I was shaken to my senses. While having lunch we were subjected to an interminable broadcast from the commemoration service for that famous-for-being-famous dead blonde. That the channel might devote some time to the service was inevitable, and justified given that many Italians are unhealthily obsessed with the English royal family. That we were subjected to the line by line translation of gems from the common book of prayer, and each and every utterance from all and sundry was not. The broadcast of the two minutes of silence was either the best or most nonsensical piece of this t.v trash.

Give to Caesar...

In yet another attempt to harness widespread dissatisfaction with Prodi's government, Umberto Bossi - leader of the Lega Nord party, has made calls for a fiscal strike, or to put it another way, tax evasion.

The calls for a fiscal strike were augmented by last year's budget which raised taxes in several areas under the prextext that the Italian economy was in seriously bad shape after five years of Berlusconi rule - a claim that sounded slightly weak given that soon after the tax raises a whole range of economic indicators sang positively, and that the dept. of finance discovered it had a mini-surplus on its hands through some oversight.

The call for the fiscal strike though remains at a soundings level. Declarations are made in public, and then denied by the self-same parties. Bossi's call last week for a fiscal strike was immediately followed by a statement from Roberto Calderoli stressing that the Lega weren't calling for a strike per se, but rather "a protest along the lines of the 'tea protests' organised by the English colonies against the crown".

What form the Lega Nord's 'Tea Party' will take is still open to much discussion. It seems that both Bossi and Berlusconi are keen on the idea of a tax protest as the best way to cripple this government, while their political partners the post-fascist Alleanza Nazionale party are against - after all, if you're a heavy-handed 'law and order' party, it's hard to reconcile such disobedience.

The debate, which has been going on for months, seems more than a little abstract. Italy, after all, has one of the highest rates of tax evasion in Europe - amounting to up to 27% of GDP according to estimates. The lesson - Bossi and Berlusconi are preaching to the converted.

Prodi's government are being backed in their fight against tax evasion by an important foreign ally - the Vatican. Speaking at a conference in Rimini, the Vatican's Secretary of State, Cardinal Bertone, said that "We must all do our duty paying taxes, according to just laws that allocate funds to just works and to the poorest and weakest in our society"[2].

Leaving aside the question as to what reaction the Italian press would have should an official of any other state - let's say Ireland's Brian Cowen, for an example - were to make a similar declaration, it's interesting to see a new Vatican line emerging on tax evasion.

Rumour has it that Pope Benny is working on a doctrinal pronouncement against tax evasion[3]. Interesting given the Vatican's shady banking dealings during the days of Roberto Calvi and the Banco Ambrosiano (see the latest edition of Three Monkeys for an interview with English journalist Philip Willan, who talks at length about Calvi and the Vatican). In a nutshell, during the late 1970s and early 1980s, against a backdrop of social unrest and the fear that a left-wing government would take power, a massive transfer of wealth occured with rich Italians funnelling money out of the country (illegaly) to off-shore havens where it would escape any wealth-taxes. One of the escape routes for this fleeing capital? Well, the Vatican bank was handily located in a foreign state in the heart of Rome...

The other interesting element of the Church position on tax evasion is the fact that the Church has a special exemption on property tax in Italy - which is one of the taxes causing the biggest uproar. Well and good that places of worship are exempt from property tax, perhaps, but it should be remembered that the Church has huge property holdings across the spectrum in Italy - it's been estimated that one in five buildings in Rome is owned by the Vatican[4], and this includes hotels, commercial properties, and a large amount of buildings leased out to tenants.

1. 'Sciopero Fisco, Berlusconi apre alla Lega' - La Repubblica 18/08/2007
2. Sciopero Fiscale, Monito di Bertone - La Repubblica 20/08/2007
3. 'Pope condemns socially unjust tax evasion' - Independent 11/08/2007
4. In Rilievo - citing a report by Sandro Orlando in il Mondo

Materazzi comes clean about Zidane

And so, one of the greatest Italian mysteries of the 21st Century is brought to an end.

Amateur humorist and sometime Inter defender Marco Materazzi has revealed what he said to Zidane during last year's world cup final. Apparently Zidane, frustrated at Materazzi's constant shirt pulling had said sarcastically to the Italian player "If you really want my jersey, I'll give it to you after the match", to which Materazzi responded 'preferisco la puttana di tua sorella' - or, 'I'd prefer your whore of a sister'.

More than one football fan here has breathed a sigh of relief, given that Materazzi is cleared of having uttered a racist insult. La Repubblica in a none to subtle reproach to the Times -which credited Materazzi with the greatest sporting insult of all time recently - wondered today whether the London newspaper would be reconsidering its top of the sporting pops in light of Materazzi's revelations.

It seems almost like shooting at ambulances to bring attention to the attitudes revealed by Materazzi's insult - and the downplaying of its offensive quality.

What is interesting, though, is the continued villification of Zidane. Indeed the Times list comments were inundated with touchy Azzuri pointing out that, if anything, Zidane's headbutt was the greatest sporting insult of all time. This despite the fact that Zidane practically handed the Italian team the trophy by his headstrong actions.

Still - it's the winning that counts, one should remember, as Juventus return to Serie A.

Let them have cheap flights

Shane Barry, in the blog above this monkey, has taken a certain amount of umbrage at the Rough Guide's suggestion that Ireland (Republic and North of) are amongst the "most backward places when it comes to racism [...]".

This monkey can proudly reveal that in Northern Italy innovations previously unthought of are being hatched on a regular basis in the area of racism.

Post-Fascist party Alleanza Nazionale, in the form of a number of its elected mayors throughout Northern Italy, are stepping into the breach with hands buried deep into the communal coffers.

The police in a number of regions are strapped for cash, and are thus having difficulty escorting illegal aliens to the border (under the yet to be reasonably modified Bossi-Fini immigration laws).

The mayor of Padua, it would seem (from whence Portia did implore Shylock on the qualities of mercy...), with the approval of his party (AN) is stepping up to charter a plane, to get rid of these w.o.p's

Sounds like a niche market for Michael O'Leary is opening up - though he won't make a killing on luggage fees...