giovedì 4 ottobre 2012

ITALY'S GOT GOVERNMENT (1)


Previously on "Italy's got government" 
Some years ago, the Italian politicians started telling the people that parliamentary majorities based on feeble coalitions were not fit to govern a country like theirs. What Italy needs, they said, is a steady system, with two prevailing parties competing to govern. 
From that moment on, they kept changing rules and confusing voters. 



Matteo Renzi, mayor of Florence and candidate for the 2012 primary elections of Italian Democratic Party, was in the USA just a month ago, at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, NC. I bet he would have never been invited if his party had kept his original name, Italian Communist Party. 
Obviously, the current Democratic Party has really little to do with his massive, monolithic ancestor, which was the greatest communist party of the Western world. The PD, this is how it's commonly called, has collected also many ex christian democrats, ex radicals, moderates, unsettled and whatsoever. There are more trends in the PD than on Paris catwalks. 
Only one thing hasn't changed over the years: the decision-making process is still in the hands of a small group of party notables. 
Pierluigi Bersani, Massimo D'Alema, Rosy Bindi, Walter Veltroni and others have spent a long time at the Parliament as representatives and they don't want to stop at all. They're professional politicians: many of them started as teenagers and never had another job. 
Renzi, on the other hand, has got a precise nickname, the wrecker, because he'd like to change his party from the very basis. He claims that politicians should be more like civil servants with defined programs, mandates and terms, quitting the roles of untouchable men of the establishment. 
Here the disputes come. Renzi is a liberal democrat, and perhaps his program sounds too liberal for the whole coalition itself, but it is the only one available on line so far. Indeed, no news as yet from his principal competitors, Bersani and Nichi Vendola. 
Leaving aside ideas and ideals, Renzi has got a communicative style that reminds people of Silvio Berlusconi. The former Italian prime minister has been the very first to use a contemporary and - why not? - American approach to electoral campaigns in his country. Renzi is on this path himself, but he doesn't own a multimedial corporation and, most of all, he is not as wealthy as Berlusconi. He's not one of the richest man in Europe, there's not conflict between his interest and nation's. For what we know, there aren't prostitutes, corruption or trials round the corner. Bersani speaks to people's commons sense; Vendola addresses straight to their brains. Renzi is different: he reconciles hope and dreams of a possible, better future, with practical purposes, likewise Berlusconi in 1994. 
Maybe Renzi will prove to be nothing more than a wrecker, but he could also be the opportunity for Italy to answer an old question: despite Berlusconi's disaster, could there be a liberal Italy? 





4 commenti:

  1. You are clearly swimming in dangerous waters... The real problem about the possible creation of a liberal party in Italy, lies in the cultural stagnant background of a rotten country.
    From south to north, in every past legislation, Italy has developed an insane tendency to corruption and malpractice. Northen businessman and executives arm-in-arm with southern criminals, with the tacit agreement and supervision of our politician.
    To sum up, the only possible solution in a terminally ill country as Italy, is to revolutioninze the meaning of the word politician itself, through a strong, cultural battle.
    Can Mattero Renzi be the answer to Silvio Berlusconi as the new leader of liberal coalition? Maybe he can.
    Will it mean a considerable change in Italian "liberal" policy? Impossible.
    Is Matteo Renzi going to gain the elections? I Hope not!!!!

    RispondiElimina
    Risposte
    1. Claudio, I think that Italy's rotten, corrupted and so on since Ottaviano Augusto's times. It's not a recent matter. It's because it's so old that it's so difficult to eradicate.
      We have to change, but we can't do that with a comedian or with the same people that destroyed our reputation. We have to do it without them.
      I don't know if Renzi's going to gain the PD's primaries or the general elections, but I like many parts of his program and it's the only program we can read so far.
      Italians trusted Berlusconi, why can't we trust someone younger and much less grubby?

      Elimina
  2. This video speeches to the formation of corrupt political culture, even though the end focus is about banking corruption.

    http://www.thersa.org/events/video/animate/rsa-animate-the-truth-about-dishonesty

    RispondiElimina

Se decidi di lasciare un commento sii rispettoso dell'opinione altrui ed educato nel linguaggio :)