Wednesday,
May 07, 2008
Why Italian Left Has Been Considered Unfit
to Lead
The
ANNOTICO Report
Why Italian Left Has Been Considered Unfit
to Lead
Le cause della sconfitta della sinistra italiana a uso e
consumo dei corrispondenti dei giornali stranieri
Il Foglio
7 maggio 2008
The
end of an epoch, theres no other way to accurately define the outcome of the
recent Italian elections, and even more so the conquest of the city of
In order to
understand the new
Development,
freedom, wellbeing and communications can be defined as more or less NEUTRAL values, common to
all sides of the political arena.
Traditionally the
RIGHT has
pursued them placing the accent on authority, merit, efficiency, respect for the creation of wealth, law & order.
The LEFT
has generally put the emphasis on equality, the importance of
hearing the voices of the poor and the marginalized, the redistribution of
wealth, tolerance and permissiveness".
The fact is that
so called "high culture" (which is not so high these days anyway,
considering how Universities are part of a mass culture) in
Berlusconi
infuriates the Left because he is protean, over the top, unsophisticated and
predictably unpredictable. In terms of his media image, what you see is definitely
what you get. Appearance as substance" doesnt
work at all for the Left, "whose political leaders" despite many of
them being perfectly decent human beings " frequently appear to be
Alfonso Berardinelli has also written about the Italian phenomenon
of "anti-political", the formal rejection of the "rules" of
standard politics, and he feels that it is severely underrated as a political
system in its own right. The Italians dont trust the political class,
even those leaders who appear to be the good guys", such as Walter Veltroni and Massimo DAlema.
The Left have attacked the
In my view a real
Left wing movement should be paying more attention to Society and less to the
Corridors of Power, learning how to view politics through the eyes of those who
dont actually practice it. At its best, the whole "Sessantotto" movement was a a good example of this, but at its worst, it was simply a
seed bed for producing sectarian mini parties and self styled future leaders.
So are
Berlusconi, Bossi, Fini and
Alemanno better at getting, or at least appearing to
get, retail politics through the eyes of the voters? They are more interesting
figures than the likes of Prodi, Veltroni
or DAlema, who for all their undeniable
political, ethical and personal qualities, dont really communicate
anything in particular. Veltroni in particular
projects this endless reheated nostalgic version of the Sessantotto,
idealized and meaningless, all cinema and all night cultural events, with no
real relevant content. Berardinelli doesnt even believe that Veltroni
or Rutelli were even much good as mayors or
I was born and
raised in Testaccio, so Im the real deal, a
proper Roman, even if I havent lived here for some ten years, but every
time I come back, Im amazed at how dirty and grotty it is, with such inefficient public transport. The
only people who think its ok here, are those who have
never lived in foreign capitals. So hasnt Veltroni dont anything right?
Yes, but none of it as far as
The only political
content of the residual communist parties and the greens was their
anti-Berlusconi fervour, having devoted little time
for either communist or ecological values. And then there are those
vampires like Toni Negri, preying on the young and
impressionable, making them think that there is no real difference between
bourgeois democracy and the Nazi Holocaust. His opinion of the satirical
comedian turned protest politician Beppe Grillo is not much kinder "he was never funny as a
comic and now he just spews out a continuous rage, the mirror image of the
political culture which he says he condemns. He criticizes the media but his
own demagogy is just as bad".
As a nation, Berardinelli thinks "we are clinging on for dear life
to our cult of good food, physical beauty and of superficial appearances of
well being. But we are a nation that is sick, and will be hard to make better.
We Italians are a nation of "social idiots",
we never seem to spot the long term public consequences of our daily behaviour patterns. We seem to lack a sense of practical
foresight and simplicity, which are in fact primary political values.
We frequently
forget that declaring principals and values without an immediate concrete
benefit is unworkable as a political strategy. Its easy
to feel very pleased with ourselves, as many of us within the cultural and
media industries are, and even easier to forget the tastes and inclinations of
the majority. If youre going to be like that, then theres no
point in seeking a political majority, you should just stick to founding
high brow magazines and schools of thought, and organizing cultural events.
So could it be said that Alemannos victory in
More than a
victory of the Right, this was a defeat for the Left, which is unable to
understand the physical nature of the citys problems. Although I consider
myself on the Left, I didnt vote; I couldnt have voted for Alemanno,
but then neither could I vote for Rutelli. But here
in
Fascism and Communism
are nowadays just two psychiatric conditions, which should not be analysed in political terms, but understood as self
referential aggrandizement of certain individuals. Society wants a balance
of stability and of freedom, and rightly or wrongly, this time round it was the
message of the Centre Right in
(translation by William Ward). di Nicoletta Tiliacos
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