Thursday,
June 05, 2008
Is
The
ANNOTICO Report
Always
keep in mind that however studied people are about
Also
to be considered is that while one Definition of Fascism is " a
government, faction, movement, or political philosophy that raises nationalism
(sorely needed in a fractionalized country only 50 years old at that time)
above the individual (Somethink like JFK: "Ask
what you can do for your country, NOT what your country can do for you")
and is characterized by a centralized (sometimes autocratic) state, stringent
organization of the economy and society (A Managed Economy, like that which
lifted Japan out of the ashes of WWII) , and aggressive repression of opposition.
BUT,
Fascism was an experiment, that sprang from a
Journalist/Editor
The signs may
seem ominous, as Right Wing Silvio Berlusconi emerged
victorious in Italy's elections in April, in alliance with ,
a "post-fascist" party (the National Alliance,led
by Gianfranco Fini which merged its list with
that of Berlusconi) and the xenophobic Northern League, still led by Umberto Bossi Two weeks later Rome had a new mayor, Gianni Alemanno, a post-fascist was elected
This Italian saga
may be distressing, demoralising and upsetting. But fascism - a word that some use to signal their indignation and
mortification - is the wrong diagnosis.
Is
New
Statesman
DonaldSassoon
22
May 2008
Silvio Berlusconi is back in power.
Is
The signs are
ominous, and as Silvio Berlusconi emerged victorious
in
This Italian saga
may be distressing, demoralising and upsetting. But fascism - a word that some use to signal their indignation and
mortification - is the wrong diagnosis. The opposition will still be
able to regroup and go on fighting without being threatened by black-shirted
bullies or anti-democratic legislation. There will still be elections, a few
strikes, and the odd demonstration. On the other hand, broadcasting will be
more servile, because Berlusconi, owner of almost the entire media private
sector, will, by appointing cronies, also control the state sector. Yet even 20
years ago a Jeremy Paxman would not have lasted five
minutes. The daily press remains relatively free from Berlusconi's control.
There is no
denying that Berlusconi's victory was stunning. His coalition obtained almost
47 per cent of the vote - far better than any British government since 1966. He
triumphed throughout
The Italian
electorate was not in search of novelty. Berlusconi is no longer
"new". He is now a seasoned poli tician who won in 1994 and 2001. When he lost in April
2006, it was by only 25,000 votes.
Nor is it
accurate to suggest that the electorate was punishing Prodi.
Considering his tiny majority and the absurdly fractious behaviour
of some of his partners, he could never have been a great success. Yet it was
not a disaster. In his two years in office, Prodi
abolished a host of petty bureaucratic restrictions, took decisive measures to
counter tax evasion and succeeded in reducing the budget deficit to less than 3
per cent of GDP (to plaudits from the European Union but the dismay of Italy's
taxpayers, who had to pay for this feat).
Not much unites
the victorious coalition save an appetite for power, but that is usually
enough. The Northern League is in favour of regional
devolution to ensure that the wealth generated in the north will stay there
instead of subsidising the south. More recently, the
League has refocused its target, toning down its usual verbal abuse of
southerners. The main enemies now are immigrants to
...The
post-fascists, too, are keen on their law and order, but they cannot share the
anti-southern mindset of the Northern League because they are strongest in the
south. Berlusconi is supposed to be a neoliberal; his
past rhetoric was conventionally demagogic, however: lower taxes and more
public spending. His liberalism stops where his business starts. Monopolies are
fine if you happen to own them.
Why did
Berlusconi win? One obvious reason is that he was the leading conservative
candidate in a country in which the majority will vote for whoever is to the
right of the left. In the early 1990s the bribery scandals that wiped out the
Christian Democracy party (DC), the linchpin of Italian politics since 1945,
created a vacuum. Berlusconi stepped in, legitimising
at a stroke Gianfranco Fini's neofascists,
hitherto confined to pariah status. Then he made a deal with Bossi's Northern League. No other force, not even a
somewhat reconstituted Catholic party, has managed to dent this fierce trio.
The three hate each other, but they also need one another - the solid
foundation of many political partnerships.
The fascist past
no longer bothers voters. They do not ask themselves why Fini,
born in 1952, decided to join the neo-fascists when there were so many parties
to choose from. Fini once described Mussolini as
"the greatest statesman of the century". Now he knows better and
presides over the Chamber of Deputies. Success is a great teacher. It is the
communists who are expected to show contrition. Once, they could proudly claim
the mantle of the heroic struggle against fascism. Now to have been a Red is a
political embarrassment, as anti-communist pundits have taken up disparagement
of the Resistance with enthusiasm. A spate of books and articles on postwar
revenge killings by partisans against former fascists has helped to put
communism and fascism on the same level.
In search of
political virginity, the post-communists keep on changing their name. In 1991
they were the Democratic Party of the Left. In 1998 they dropped
"party" and the hammer and sickle, becoming the Democrats of the
Left, with a rose as a symbol. In 2007 they dropped "left" (turning
themselves into the Democratic Party), discarded the rose and adopted olive
leaves.
Honest
government
Many Italians feared not communism as an ideology, but what the communists or the post-communists might bring about: honest government. They might have to pay taxes. If you have spent your entire life cultivating personal relationships with those who have power and influence and who can protect you and help you with the endless bureaucratic tasks that plague your life; if you know that no one will investigate too closely if you have built an extension to your home, or built a home where one cannot be built (as is the case with so many houses constructed in Italy); if you know that your fiscal evasions and frauds will be overlooked because "everyone does it" - then, of course, you will be afraid of "the communists", that is to say, of those puritanical, holier-than-thou characters who threatened the foundations of Italian civic culture. To many Italians, nothing, not even the Red Army, is more frightening than good governance or "il buon governo".
Then there is the
enormous weight of small enterprises in the country, coupled with the very
large number of self-employed workers (three times the ratios of
This makes
His problem is
that he does not have the margins the old DC had.
The phenomenon of
Berlusconi is the
expression of this petty bourgeoisie. He thinks like them. He acts like them.
He does, almost instinctively, what they do. He has the same tastes, the same
sense of humour. The only difference between him and
them is that he has more money. This is why Berlusconi has done little to cut
down on the red tape and restrictive practices that plague Italians. Meanwhile,
an economy which 15 years ago overtook that of the
Donald
Sassoon is professor of comparative European history at Queen Mary,
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