The View from Bologna

Who will Carlo vote for?

Spare a thought for my friend Carlo. Like many who lean left, last week he was hit by a a profound depression watching the deja-vu muppetry of Prodi's government disintegrating. Carlo's been here before. In 1998 when Fausto Bertinotti's Rifondazione Comunista party withdrew its support from Prodi's coalition, forcing a succession of caretaker governments which hobbled along until the 2001 election, it may have seemed to Carlo and many that it was simply poor political judgement on the part of the coalition.

Last week, though, the worst accusations thrown by Berlusconi and co - that the Italian left is simply incapable of keeping a government together - were hard to dismiss.

One simple observation (presented to mute response on Ballaro' last night) sums it all up. In the last five elections (from 1992 onwards) Berlusconi, the unified leader of the right, has faced 4 different left wing candidates (Prodi ran against him twice, and won twice).

Now, there will almost certainly be elections within the next 4 months. Should President Napolitano appoint a caretaker government, it will be one charged with the main task of referming the electoral law (yet again) before calling new elections. On the other hand, he may just bite the bullet and dissolve parliament straight away, allowing the country to vote under the current electoral law.

Either way, voters like Carlo will face a choice between a unified right-wing which has, despite its huge internal contradictions, managed to govern for a full term (something hitherto unheard of in Italian politics), and a left-wing which is already fragmented and bitter in the wake of the crisis which collapsed the government.

The new leader of the PD party, the largest single centre-left party, Walter Veltroni, according to many analysts precipitated the fall of the government with his declaration that in the next election his party would run alone - an announcement that could hardly be welcomed by his coalition partners. Now Veltroni is faced with the unappetising choice of either running alone in the upcoming elections, and thus guaranteeing Berlusconi's centre-right coalition a victory, or eating his words and putting together another coalition. Not that eating his words is any problem for the current Mayor of Rome - Veltroni asked in 2006 if he harboured ambitions for the leadership of the left responded that he had no intention of running, and would retire to do charity work in Africa once his mayoral mandate ran out. In any case, who will rush to vote for a centre-left coalition this time round?

So spare a thought for my friend Carlo. A man, like many, who's convinced that Berlusconi's conflicts of interest make it impossible to vote for a centre-right coalition. Who will Carlo vote for?

On Mastella's resgnation speech

Last week the Justice minister Clemente Mastella gave a teary-eyed speech of resignation to the parliament, upon learning that he, his wife, and most of their political party - the UDEUR - were being formally put under investigation for political interference in public appointments (in particular within the health service). Mastella's resignation, followed on Monday of this week with his decision to withdraw the UDEUR's support for Prodi's government, led directly to yesterday's no-confidence vote which brought down the government.

So, it's not unreasonable to pay some attention to Mastella's resignation speech. Something few journalists have done. Thankfully, though, Goffredo Fofi of Lo Straniero has written just such an article for Internazionale magazine. The following excerpt provides excellent analysis of the whole 'Mastella problem':

Announcing in parliament his resignation, offended by the accusations of corruption (concussione)directed by the magistrature at his wife, who is president of the Campagnia regional council, Clemente Mastella said that 'between power and family' he chose family. And it seems to me that no-one was scandalized. Strong through his capacity to hold to ransom Prodi and his government, thanks to the few but indispensable votes at the disposition of his small party, he said 'power'. He didn't say the 'function of minister of the republic' or 'service to the state' as would have been required just a few years ago, for motives of rhetoric and appearance's sake. No, he actually said, and I don't know whether it was more through misunderstanding or cynicism, 'power'.

And here, I believe, is the crux of the Italian crisis: none of those elected by the people still feel, even merely in words, the necessity to recall themselves to their constitutional obligations, to the honest administration of public space, to good government. They see in themselves simply and crudely power.

Prodi falls

The only surprising things about the fall of Romano Prodi's governemnt last night - following a vote of no confidence which was defeated in the lower house, but passed in the Senate where Prodi's majority has always been in single figures- was a)how long it took and b) the surprise itself that greeted Clemente Mastella's 'betrayal' of the government.

Mastella, currently under investigation for corruption (along with the larger part of the UDEUR his party, including his wife) has repeatedly threatened to bring down the government - any time there was even the whiff of granting homosexuals the right to civil partnerships, for example - so it should have come as no surprise to anyone that he would evenutally do it.

When Prodi's shaky coalition first came to power the press and political commentators all stressed how impossible it would be for Prodi to keep the 'extreme'-left and 'moderates' like Mastella together (how denying consenting adults the right to declare themselves next of kin, and to benefit from conjugal property rights can be considered 'moderate' is another day's argument). Repeatedly the threat of 'reds in the bed' was waved before Prodi by his detractors - we were led to believe that the various trotskyites and communists that had infiltrated his ranks would bring down the government (in fairness, it was Bertinotti's Rifondazione Comunista party that brought Prodi down the last time).

And so, some feign surprise when in fact it was the 'moderates' who brought down this government. How surprising can it be that someone like Mastella plays the political opportunist? He had already been a coalition partner to both Berlusconi and Prodi's previous governments.

What happens next is largely unclear. President Napolitano will hold consultations today with various political leaders. The newly born DS party favour some sort of 'institutional caretaker' government charged with the specific task of urgent electoral reform. Berlusconi's Forza Italia seem opposed to the idea, given that his centre-right coalition will almost certainly win any election held in the coming months. Given the poor performance of the Prodi government in all likelihood Berlusconi will romp home with a majority in both houses, using the same electoral system which crippled Prodi's government last time round.

THis monkey will post further as news emerges

Hasta Sempre Padre Pio!

Padre Pio has been in the news here lately - or rather he's been more in the news lately. The decision to exhume his body has caused no small amount of controversy, while historian Sergio Luzzatto has recieved more than his fair share of villification from the faithful thanks to the release of his book on Francesco Forgione (a.k.a Padre Pio) which suggests that Forgione's stigmata were less a product of divine intervention than a judicious application of carbolic acid (bought secretly from a trusted pharmacist).

Saint Pio of Pietrelcina,as Forgione has become, is without doubt the most popular icon of the modern church in Italy. Travel around the south of the country, particularly in both his native Campania and Puglia, and you'll see statues, paintings and dedications to him throughout. It's not surprising then, that there is a tourist industry based entirely around the saint. A massive basilica, designed by Genoese architect Renzo Piano , has been built in the town where he preached, San Giovanni Rotondo in Puglia. A basilica that cost $35m - a basilica surrounded by gift shops and hotels for pilgrims.

Pio's exhumation later this year, a standard procedure by the Catholic church (would it be blasphemous to suggest 'routine maintenance' is involved), will be followed by a period where the saint's body will be on display - presumably attracting thousands of pilgrims. Anything to do with Padre Pio, for the faithful, is likely to stop the traffic.

Like the incedent releated, in today's Venerdi supplement with La Repubblica, by journalist Giorgio Bocca. Bocca describes how, in the town of Caserta (at the centre of the controversy surrounding ex-minister for Justice Clemente Mastella and accusations of political interference in health-service appointments), traffic was stopped and chaos reigned when the face of Padre Pio emerged from the brickwork of a house in the middle of the town. Devotees of the Capuchin monk flocked to witness the miracle - delighted to see the face of their holy hero, even if it did bare some worrying similarities to a certain Argentinean Cuban revolutionary of a decidedly different parish.

The miracle was explained shortly after, when it was found that rain (containing God knows what, given the pollution problem in Campania) had washed the paintwork of the building, allowing a previous portrait of Che Guevara to emerge 'miraculously'.

God works in wondrous ways...

The price of protest - the fallout from the La Sapienza affair

The reaction, from the political world and the 'fourth estate' to the decision of 67 Academics at La Sapienza University to protest the invitation to Pope Benedict XVI to address students at the start of the Academic year has been vicious. As already documented in this blog, most mainstream commentators ranging from the President Napolitano, and Prime minister Romano Prodi through to newspapers like the Corriere della Sera, have framed the scuffle at La Sapienza very much along the lines established by the Vatican Press office - i.e it was a shameful display of illiberal intollerance to 'prevent' the Pope from speaking last week at the University.

The protest has largely been misrepresented, and its authors maligned, attacked, and written off variously as 'cretins' (Philosophy professor and Mayor of Venice Massimo Cacciari), and fundamentalists, while Alleanza Nazionale's former minister of communications, Maurizio Gasparri described the original author of the protest, Professor Cini as a 'liar and formentor of violence'.

That's what you get for daring to say that in your opinion the 'infallible' leader of a religious denomination has no place setting the tone for the Academic year in a secular state-run University.

While Ratzinger did get to have his speech read out at the university - and protesters were not allowed into the University, stopped by Police at the gates (while militant catholic students did get a p.r protest inside the auditorium, standing gagged for the drooling t.v cameras), the results for at least one of the signatories of the protest have not been so positive.

Physicist Luciano Maiani has had his appointment as President of the National Research Council boycotted by a vote in the Senate. The physicist was nominated by the council for the position on the basis of his academic qualifications. The nomination was, though, in an unprecedented move voted down by the Italian Senate, where Forza Italia senator Franco Asciutti remarked that the scientist had shown himself to be incompatible with balanced and 'laico' attitude" that the position required. Laico I have left untranslated, as it is a particularly problematic term. It's sense conveys something of the 'secular' but it's not an exact fit. What that has to do with his scientific credentials, though, is anybody's guess.

Meanwhile, though the press has been quick to point out that it was a 'mere' 67 of La Sapienza's teaching staff who signed the protest against the 'holy father', they've been less quick to point out the growing number of academic signatories to a statement of solidarity for those original 67 who have been the subject of such a ferocious backlash. The petition is online at Historia Magistra (http://www.historiamagistra.com/e107_plugins/content/content.php?content.41), and can be signed only by academics. As of the time of writing up to 970 academics from different faculties and universities throughout Italy (and abroad) have signed.

Ruffians, fundamentalists, and illiberal formentors of violence the lot of them!

Back to the Future

Barring a miracle, or infernal deal, Romano Prodi's government will fall later today, when a vote of confidence in which one of his coalition allies, the UDEUR party, will vote against him.

It's been on the cards since last week, when Justice minister (and leader of the UDEUR party) resigned his post following a blitz by investigating magistrates that saw 22 of his party (including himself and his wife) being put officially under investigation in a corruption probe.

It's all a depressingly familiar scene - though with some variations. In 1992, at the outset of the Mani Pulite corruption scandal, prime minister Bettino Craxi reacting to the news that he was under investigation addressed parliament in a literally stunning speech in which he admitted that his (and all other) parties had recieved illegal donations. The reaction to his speech was silence.

Last week Mastella gave an emotional and lengthy speech (strange, given that it was supposedly impromptu) where he admitted nothing, and lashed out at magistrates. His speech recieved rousing applause from most sectors of the parliament, and afterwards speakers from all the major parties offered their solidarity to the minister under investigation.

His party the UDEUR has as its powerbase the region of Campania - a region where for fifteen years they have been unable to organise a system that allows for regular and uninterrputed rubish collection. A region where cancer rates have apparently doubled due to exposure to toxic waste. Mastella's party is largely under investigation for a number of incidents where it's alleged that party members influenced the appointment of various civil servants in return for votes. Mastella, with shades of Craxi (who, though he died in exile in Tunisia, has been steadily rehabilitated over the last 5 years), admitted his ethical vision last week in a press conference: "The request for a position? Politics is done like that. It may be deplorable but, excuse me, everyone does it like this".

With his resignation Mastella declared that his party would still support Prodi's sickly majority. Yesterday he withdrew that support. Only the hardest of hearts would cynically suggest that his support of the government was tied to some kind of intervention in the ongoing investigation. In fact the timing suits Mastella's party perfectly. Should an election be called tomorrow it's almost definite that the centre-right led by Berlusconi would win a comfortable majority -and one in which there's probably a place for Mastella's 'centre' party. Electoral reform has been in the air recently with the formation of the new centre-left PD party determined to squeeze small and demanding coalition partners out of the running.

In the aftermath of Mani Pulite various political parties exploded, but their politicians remained on the scene (Mastella, for example, at the time was a member of Andreotti's christian democrat party - the DC) and simply went to find new homes straddling the left and right (Mastella has served both in Prodi and Berlusconi's governments - despite their supposed ideological incompatibility). Some semblance of a shakeup was required back then. This time round no-one has any illusions. It's business as usual.

Pope Benedict XVI scores a PR victory over the academics at La Spaienza

The Pope stole the front page of many newspapers today, both in Italy and abroad, as he performed a deft PR sidestep leaving Academics and students at Rome's La Sapienza university to celebrate a pyrrhic victory as they open the Academic year tomorrow without him.

The Pope had been invited by the university's governing body to address the students on the occasion of the opening of the Academic year. At first Benedict was offered the keynote address - an honour not usually given to either political or religious leaders, but rather to Academics of merit. A number of teaching staff at the university protested this invitation. The Pope was bumped slightly further down the running order, but invited nonetheless. A large number of Academics wrote an open letter protesting the invitation to the infallible one, and various student organisations backed the protest. This in itself was enough to garner headlines during a week when no end is in sight to the rubbish 'emergency' in the Campania region.

Yesterday evening Ratzinger pulled off the PR coup, as he decided to pull out of the event in the face of the (peaceful) protests. So this morning the papers were peppered with declarations from all the leading politicians about 'shame'.

Prime minister (and former member of the Christian Democrat party DC)Romano Prodi had this to say: "I condemn the gestures, declarations and the attitudes that have produced an unacceptable tension and an atmosphere that does no honour to the tradition of civility and tollerance in Italy". The gestures he refers to, and condemns, presumably include the open letter signed by over 60 Academics at the University, including many of Italy's leading scientists. You have the democratic right to protest in Italy, unless it's against the Pope - it would seem.

Berlusconi - no stranger to censorship, given his own treatment of journalists (not to mention his personal friendship with Vladimir Putin) - remarked: "It's a wound that humiliates the University and Italy".

The majority of television and newspaper reports covering the protests have framed the issue as one of secular intollerance and censorship. This despite the fact that it was the Pope's decision (cynically) to decline the invitation (as pointed out by numerous blogs on the issue, the Pope chose to bravely go to Istanbul despite threats against his safety - the Academic staff of La Sapienza, and indeed the protesting students, did not issue any threats against Ratzy).

It's been taken as a given, at least by the 'clash-of-civilisations' brigade that tend to use Ratzy as a rallying point, that the Pope has the 'right' to adress the students on this occasion. It is, thus, a question of 'freedom of speech'. It is, in the same way that Richard Dawkins could lament that he has not been given the chance to read from The God Delusion from the balcony in St. Peter's. The Pope can say what he likes, and to whom he likes. In fact, thanks to the efforts of various theo-cons, he can still, in Italy, legally incite hatred against persons on the basis of their sexual orientation, should he wish to do so. A platform for ones ideas is not a right, and one's ideas can be called into question (at least outside of the Vatican city state).

Out of 8 articles on the theme in today's Corriere della Sera five centre on the opinions of those who support the Pope's 'right' to address the students. That gives you an idea about how 'censored' Pope Benedict XVI is in Italy.

That the Pope's clever adoption of the victim's mantle in this case has turned the world topsy turvy was demonstrated when the evening news quoted a catholic blogger (without citing the actual source) as declaring 'today Italy ceased to be a civil country'. A snub to the Pope, rather than the fact that stomach and kidney cancer rates have increased dramatically in the Campania region due to fifteen years of failure on the part of the local administration to set in place the most basic of refuse collection systems (due, it would seem, to corruption and organised crime), and Italian civil society is in tilt.

Writing elegantly on the issue, Raffaele Carcano, secretary of the UAAR (Unione degli Atei e degli Agnostici Razionalisti), points out that no-one involved in the protest seeks to censor the Pope, or even to block him from adressing the students. "Rather, we invite the Pope to hold his 'lesson', so that at the end he can do as any good professor would, and ask those present 'are there any questions': and of questions to ask him there are actually many".