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I apologize in advance to my readers for temporarily abandoning the story of my return trip from Asia, not respecting for once the chronology of events. Fact is that, while having moved to live in Istanbul a month ago, three news arrived from Italy in the short span of 7 days have struck my attention and I believe they deserve an immediate comment.

1) Clemente Mastella. Sunday, June 7th, was elections day for the European parliament. Like the vast majority of European citizens, I didn't vote. The overall voter turnout was 45%. Low. In the UK 35%, in Poland as low as 25%! In Italy, however, a country where politicians are known to oblige to their duty, never take backsheesh, never dream of using their position to earn unlawful benefits, always strictly adhere to the will of the citizens, never absent from parliamentary duties, not even to take a piss, well, seriousness and commitment pay and so in this country of stakanovist cherubims voter turnout has been 66%!

And that's not all. I took a look at the lists, there appear, in addition to all the party leaders (including Berlsuconi. Of course, because a prime minister has so much spare time that a second job come always handy), gore characters such as Ciriaco De Mita, chief of machinations of Christian faith since the days when Nixon was facing Watergate scandal in America. Indeed, I must remember to ask what embalming technique they use. Magdi Allam (now known as Magdi Cristiano Allam), who was born in Egypt but was educated by nuns and priests. The one who during Easter 2008 converted to Catholicism and received the baptism in the Vatican from Benedict XVI in person. Has become now such a crusader -as always happens with the convert, regardless of which faith-, a true paladin of the Christian cause. Self-labelled expert on Islam, his writings are painfully monothematic and genuine invitations to religious hate. But my favorite, despite a full list of gruesome characters, is Clemente Mastella, small provincial satrap and transformer, who'd be in prison in any country but Italy, where instead he get chosen to represent us in Strasbourg. Ah, well there was also Emanuele Filiberto of Savoy (he didn't get elected, though) scion of the royal family, those same who, during World War II, left Rome and the Italian people to the mercy of the nazis and sought asylum for themselves under the sheltering wing of the Americans. Of course, were Italy a normal country, in 1945 the royal family should have end up like Louis XVI or the last Tsar. Emanuele Filiberto consequently would have never been born. Unfortunately, we've always been a country incapable of radical choices, and these are the results.

2) Beppe Grillo. Here in Turkey, YouTube is censored. So, I couldn't see the whole show protagonized by Beppe Grillo in the Senate last Wednesday, where he had been summoned as the first signatory of a bill that bar convicted persons from being elected into parliament and limiting to two the maximum terms in office. Rules absolutely fair and democratic, almost obvious. In Japan, for example, the sense of honor would prevent someone convicted for bribery to be a parliamentary candidate, and if it did, however, he wouldn't be elected. Unfortunately, in our country, common sense ceased to be law many, many years ago and honour seem to exist only in The Godfather saga. For years now, Beppe Grillo, exiled from television slave of the central power, keep a blog updated on almost daily basis and read by millions of users. It is actually number one blogger in Italy (shoulder to shoulder with Marcoelitaliano, I believe) and in the top 10 worldwide for number of readers, not small feat for someone writing in Italian.

However, I could not see it, but I could read it. Here are some excerpts:
"Almost two years after the collection of signatures for the popular initiative law called “Clean Parliament” I have the honour of being received and heard as the first signatory of the proposed law. (...) Two years wait for a law signed by 350,000 people. It’s a scandal that 350,000 Italian citizens haven’t even been considered for 2 years. It’s a scandal that in Parliament there are 20 people definitively convicted and statute-barred like Berlusconi, D'Alema, and Andreotti. It’s disgusting that 70 of our representatives are convicted at the first or second level or are under investigation. (...) This Committee, this parliament has nothing to do with democracy. Six people have decided the names of who became a deputy or a senator. They have chosen 993 friends, lawyers and, excuse the term, a few sluts and they elected them. They elected them, not the citizens who couldn’t even choose their representatives. Dear members of the Committee, you are illegal, unconstitutional, and anti-democratic. Out of respect for yourselves and for the Italians, you should resign as soon as possible. (...) Today, while I am here to ask the simple implementation of democracy and respect for the Constitution, today this Parliament will approve a law that limit tape wiretapping and muzzle information. I will do civil disobedience. The first thought of the psyco-dwarf (Berlusconi, mn) is not the country, but only not to be caught. You have approved the "Lodo Alfano" to prevent Berlusconi from being jailed and now you want to restrict the citizen's right to be informed. The tide is mounting, the psyco-dwarf can now only hold his rallies in closed squares, where only his claque is allowed in, as happened in Florence, as happened in Prato. He's defended only by his escort and lawyers. It's all he's left with, along with a crowd of journalists labelled as "servants" by the foreign press. (...) There's a few million of people out there who want to restore democracy. They are not asking you to listen to them. It's an order. They order, because you are their employees, to bring the "Clean Parliament" bill in the Senate soon and discuss it publicly. So that every Italian draw its conclusions and know who is against democracy and who is not. (...) Even the Great Council was able to oust Mussolini out of survival instinct. Listen to the voice of the country as long as you are still in time."

I must admit that I got emotioned. It is in line with what he writes on his blog, but going to parliament to tell them in their face is another thing, and this man deserves the respect of those who still believe that Italy should not necessarily be a third world country.

Next day I learn that the commission did not take any decision regarding the law they were there to discuss (strange...), but that, instead, parliamentary women of both right and left parties, with the exception of IDV, lodged a complaint against Mr Grillo for using the term "slut". An initiative fuelled by the Left, moreover. And then the small light bulb in my brain went on, how naive I am! Beppe Grillo in all these years did not stole votes from Berlusconi. Those who vote Berlusconi are generally people with monocell brains for whom reading is unthinkable. Grillo with his activities stole votes from the left, many votes, and they are pissed off. Because, basically, if Berlusconi and his kins have been able to do what they wanted for the past 15 years, this has been also possible thanks to the tacit acceptance of the left, happy to bark, but then punctually receive their bone. A radical change would oust them too!

3) Freedom of Speech. The law Grillo referred to in his speech to the senate. To limit the possibility of a magistrate to make use of telephone tapping. Like many of the laws enacted by the Berlusconi government, its main goal is to shield his own ass. Side effects: criminals in the world come to Italy, here you'll be free to manage your business without uncomfortable interference. You don't have an EU Passport? Never mind, this Italian government is racist when it comes to bricklayers and street vendors, but knows when to turn a blind eye on oil tycoons and ecomafia bosses. Why going all the way to Kenya when the real Africa is here? And it's malaria-free!

It's not all. I often read about censorship in China and in other "illiberal" countries. Well, our government too -to avoid libel, apparently- wants to create a rigid control over the web, so if one produces information, this will be theoretically checked and, if the reported news did not please the reader, it must be removed within 48 hours to avoid hefty fines for both author and host. Even without considering the profound ignorance at the basis of this law (How do you determine who is making information and who is not? How can you check hundreds of thousands of sites updated daily? What would they do with abroad based servers? Etc.) and that would probably make it impossible to apply and easy to circumvent, it remains the principle that freedom of expression is a right guaranteed by the Constitution. That document to what this gang of clowns in tie without dignity that govern us seem to assign the same value of toilet paper.

And speaking of freedom of expression. According to a study carried on by Reporters sans Frontiers, Italy ranks 44th in the world, behind all developed countries, of course, but also behind countries such as Mali, Bosnia, Macedonia, Cape Verde, Taiwan, Trinidad & Tobago, and even the United States...



ITALIANO
La versione Italiana di questo articolo è su Vagabondo.net
Link: Nel Paese dei Mastella l'Orbo È Re

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