September 26, 2009
A Tale of Two Countries
Frederika Randall in The Nation:
Next month the Constitutional Court will rule on whether a tailor-made 2008 law granting Berlusconi full judicial immunity is constitutional. If the measure is knocked down, the prime minister could be exposed to prosecution in a corruption case. His leading ally in his Popolo della Libert party, Chamber of Deputies president Gianfranco Fini, has been marking his distance from Berlusconi and signaling he's ready to replace him. Berlusconi's European partners and the Obama administration are said to be annoyed about his effusive displays of friendship to Vladimir Putin and Muammar Qaddafi. The European Union has censured Italy for towing boatloads of desperate Eritreans and Somalis, many of them certainly eligible for refugee status, back to Libya from where they set out--and where they will be interned in barbaric prison camps. And the worst of the world economic crisis is expected to hit Italy this winter.
For the first time, there is talk about the end of Berlusconi. And for the first time, comparisons of this regime to Fascism are being advanced not just as rhetoric but in all seriousness.
More here.
Posted by S. Abbas Raza at 11:15 PM | Permalink
Comments
Comparisons of the current Italian regime and Fascism have been serious for years (minus the short break with Prodi). The situation is laughable, but deadly serious. The Italian left is completely fractured, and the right is on auto-pilot to disaster.
Sadly, the Italian public continues to support Berlusconi. Being a corrupt, lying, cheating, sociopath seemingly serves to endear him to about 50% of the population. The Catholic church could step in and make a case against him on moral grounds, but they have been so compromised with child sex abuse cases that Berlusconi can probably hold them in check. The takedown of Dino Boffo is just a taste of that. Anyway, they have supported him so long that a real turn around is likely impossible.
All that said, Berlusconi's face might have had enough plastic surgery to look 50, but underneath there is a aged, clogged heart. And it's far from clear that the Italian right will have staying power after his exit. Of course, the Italian left has no coherent alternative to present to the country either...
Posted by: Cyrus Hall | Sep 27, 2009 1:23:50 PM
Although as a responsible Italian citizen I dislike Berlusconi very much, and never voted for him, I think there is at present an anti-Berlusconi campaign that comes from the outside (not directly fueled by his own failures and shortcomings, but somehow orchestrated).
I gain this by the whole d'Addario case, which is nothing but a Lewinsky case, built-up to demolish his public figure (an attack which proved unsuccesfull because he laughed where Bill Clinton couldn't.)
In fact, it backfired because it makes no sense to attack Berlusconi because of some encounter with a prostitute when everyone in Italy knows he has done much much worse than that over the years. This is no Denmark. Mafia controls at least half of our territory. We know that more serious matters should be of international concern that even Berlusconi himself.
My impression is that, in the background of the official stories, Berlusconi isn't releasing his prerogatives in the hands of internatioal powers like the EU, the world banks, as he's supposed to do.
Ergo, he is proving to be not controllable, too unpredictable and too independent.
But these, mind you, can be good qualities sometimes. For example when foreign entities want to buy out a country that he instead considers his own property.
(and I, little vase between these giant rocks, would rather have the local bully than the international one).
About issues like immigration, it is some ugly horrible business, all rich countries are guilty here, Italy is just a frontier country, and I really would love to see how France or Germany would have fared in its shoe.
Posted by: nonhocapito | Sep 27, 2009 4:58:30 PM
I wanted to voice support of nonhocapito (translated: I do not understand) first thesis: the Tarantini case has been a horrid sideshow. There are so many other more important complaints to be lodged. That said, many of those complaints have been aired previously, and have also fallen on deaf ears.
I don't perceive an international conspiracy against Berlusconi. He certainly does seem to believe there is one, but this is his personal paranoia rather than reality. Rather, I think there is a general disgust at his reflexive and self-serving governance. The selection of his Euro MP candidates was a case is point. Or, more egregiously, his support of indemnity laws for elected officials.
And as for your excuses on the immigrant situation: speculating what other countries may or may not have done does not excuse Italy's behavoir. Italy is certainly in-between a rock and a hard place in terms of immigration, but it *is* a member of the EU, and is required to stand by the EU Charter of Fundamental Rights no matter.
Posted by: Cyrus Hall | Sep 27, 2009 9:32:59 PM
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