I have La Repubblica online as my home page, and was cheered to see, on its home page on Monday, a picture of Il Buffone – sorry, Il Cavaliere, the Zaphod Beeblebrox of Italy, Sylvio “consorts with minors” Berlusconi – with a broken nose and blood on his face. An ordinary guy called Massimo Tartaglia, allegedly with a history of mental illness, twatted Zaphod in the face with a model of the Duomo whilst Il Buffone was on a flesh-pressing outing.
There’s been no indication yet of Tartaglia’s motives, though my immediate thought was: pick a motive, any motive. It’s not as if Berlusconi’s regime of opportunists, corrupt MPs, and neo-fascists hasn’t generated a thousand motives for hatred, particularly in its overt and virulent racism and its repression of political opposition (see an earlier blog post as a ‘for instance’). And, frankly, the regime has blood on its hands, and has sponsored and legalised paramilitary vigilante groups to patrol the streets of major cities.
The Minister of the Interior (equivalent to the UK’s Home Secretary), Roberto Maroni of the neo-fascist Lega Nord, immediately called for the closure of websites which “praise violence” and for China-style “filtration” of web traffic [1]. Just the sort of reaction you’d expect from a fascist, but highly disturbing when that fascist holds the second highest office in the government. Another senior politician, Fabrizio Cicchito, head of Zaphod’s party (ll Popolo delle Libertà) in the Chamber, accused La Repubblica, Italy’s best-selling national newspaper, of stirring up a “climate of hatred” against Il Buffone. Ludicrously, the gravel-voiced demagogue of the Lega Nord, Umberto Bossi, described the attack as “an act of terrorism” [3]. With such senior figures upping the ante, you have to worry that the regime will increase its legal and political repression of Press opposition inside the country.
There’s a visceral, dark personal satisfaction to be had from seeing those who abuse power so wilfully getting just a little bit of personal, in your face retribution, and I’ve got to say that the sight of his mangled chops made my Monday. It’s not very constructive I know, but in an era when policians and businesspeople are increasingly remote and unaccountable, it’s nice to see them being held personally and very directly accountable now and again. Unfortunately, Il Buffone and his neo-fascist mates will be able to make him a martyr after this attack, and he’ll be able to re-brandish his faux macho credentials as a brave leader facing up to the ‘forces of communism’. It would have been much better had he been ‘pied’, as nothing brings the rich, powerful and famous down to earth quicker than a custard pie in the chops – effective and humiliating.
To say that Il Buffone’s rule has been ‘divisive’ would be like saying that Margaret Thatcher wound up a few people. His regime is both symptom and cause of the increasing political and social divisions in the country, and would make Italy the laughing stock of the world if there was anything to laugh about. As a person he’s corrupt ‘fino al midollo‘ (to the marrow), as the Italians say, not just in financial terms, though he’s a spectacular master of financial corruption and, more importantly, getting away with it. How better to escape prosecution for being bent than to change the law to give yourself legal immunity? And even when he has been investigated and taken to court, his legali have spun the cases out so long that they’ve been ‘timed out’ and expired. He’s also politically corrupt and, if you’re of a moralistic bent, sexually corrupt as well, what with shagging high-fees prostitutes and, allegedly, a 17-year-old. Worst, though, the instinct of his regime is to shut people up, and this instinct will only be strengthened by the recent “act of terrorism” with a plaster model of the Duomo.
What his regime’s political corruption has done is thoroughly de-legitimise the Italian government. Italians have never been great fans of government and politicians, for very good historical reasons, but recent regimes have been, by Italian standards, stable and not overtly corrupt [4], and have made decent efforts to root out corruption and restore faith in the legal system. Once Berlusconi arrived on the scene, forming his own political party (Forza Italia) purely to protect his massive media empire, then pulling together a right-wing movement with such diverse and opposing forces as the Lega Nord and the Alleanza Nazionale, then conquering power on a wave of demagogic populism and open racism, Italy has reverted to overt corruption and authoritarianism in government. Il Buffone’s naked self-interest, his treatment of government as his own personal plaything and tool to advance his and his mate’s financial interests, his demonisation of the legal system as the tool of ‘communists’ [5], and his dismissal of all political and social opposition, has effectively de-legitimised the government in the eyes of Italians and indeed the world. This will have profound implications for Italian politics, which will inevitably, once more, move from the halls of government to the streets. Already there are disturbing reminders of the feared anni di piombo, the period in the 70s when political violence from left, right and State was commonplace and lethal. Let’s hope that Il Buffone’s regime falls before things get that serious again.
[1] Maroni: “Nuove norme su cortei e siti”. La Repubblica, 16/12/09
[2] Pdl, Cicchitto a Repubblica: “Da voi una campagna d’odio”. La Repubblica, 16/12/09
[3] Silvio Berlusconi attack stirs up Italy. The Guardian, 14/12/09
[4] Unlike the dark days of the Christian Democrat-Socialist duopoly which ruled post-war Italy until the Tangentopoli scandals purged the political class. For a great impressionistic treatment of this period, and its ‘dark lord’ Giulio Andreotti, see the excellent film Il Divo.
[5] Berlusconi has repeatedly accused Italy’s magistrates of being “toghe rosse” (‘red togas’) involved in a dark communist plot to bring him and his regime down.
)).