Veltroni’s latest attempt to sink Berlusconi’s ship is a petition against Italy’s charismatic and controversial prime minister.
Think of Italy’s main political parties as having been two moderately large ships. At the same time, all the little Italian political parties were a bunch of mercenary gunboats who would side with whichever of the biggest ships looked strongest at the time. … Continue Reading
You can tell it’s getting mighty close to election time here in the Living Museum. Berlusconi is on the attack. He’s using his usual ‘Veltroni is a commie’ jibe.
It’s a shame he can’t come up with something a little more original. You know, something like possibly: ‘Veltroni’s a Martian’, or ‘Veltroni’s been regurgitated‘.
Of course Berlusconi is targeting the age old Italian fear of communism, even if there are a good few commies in Italy. Well, Italian style communists, and they are not the same as the Lenin/Stalin lot. No, they are much tamer. But some are much more equal than others.
And there will be a mass exodus from Milan this Friday, as all those from down south who are working up here in north Italy head off home to vote. Postal voting is not possible in Italy – it would be too easy to fiddle.
The trains are all booked up. This coming weekend will not be a good time to travel in Italy, one imagines. Sunday night will be hell too, as this is when all the Southerns will come back to the north.
Just as well the weather is grotty at the moment.
The person who was formerly known as the richest man in Italy, Mr Berlusconi, has been making noises about acquiring Alitalia in an attempt to save it from the dastardly marauding French.
What a master stroke, right at election time too. He couldn’t have planned it better. Who knows how may votes this little stunt will garner? A good few, undoubtedly. Most of those who work for Alitalia for a start. Then there will be all the others who fear that their companies may come under foreign rule. … Continue Reading
Mr Berlusconi, the man who would be Prime Minister of Italy (again), and one of Italy’s potentially top five sinners, dropped a slight clanger on prime time TV, yesterday, I think it was.
In an interview he told a young worried female ‘precarious’ worker that she would be able to solve her financial worries by simply marrying a millionaire. He even offered his son as a potential partner.
By the way, ‘Precarietà’ is an Italian word used to describe those who do not have a full time work contract.
Veltroni, Berlusconi’s number one election opponent was, understandably, quick to turn this off-hand comment into vote catching capital. Veltroni observed, quite reasonably, that in a country in which more and more youngsters are worrying about their futures and their finances, Berlusconi’s ‘advice’ showed just how out of touch the media magnate was with Italy’s populous and its problems.
Meanwhile, and unsurprisingly, Berlusco has been playing his ‘advice’ down as being ‘tongue in cheek’. Trouble is that many Italian youngsters may now be rather wary of voting such a joker in.
Still, if Berlusco does manage to get Italy’s top political spot for a third time, if nothing else, he will keep the Italian people amused.
Oh, the Italian electoral circus – pure entertainment.
As you may imagine, Italy is suffering from a minor bout of election fever at the moment. The general elections are just around the corner and election posters are appearing right, left, and centre.
I’ve seen a couple of amusing ones, so far. First there was this lovely one from the Berlusco-Fini duo which, much as I have done, pointed out that the left wing politcos are trying to re-package themselves in an attempt to appear new.
This was a ripe observation coming from the Berlusco-Fini camp, seeing as neither are new to Italian politics either. And I do believe that more than a few potential voters realise this.
Anyway, there was another interesting election poster. This time it was promoting one Ignazio La Russa, again a sort of right winger like Berlusco and Fini, and this poster had black and white mug shots of Veltroni and Prodi next to one another. Again the point of this not so subtle electioneering exercise appeared to be that Veltroni was about as new as Prodi. And just for good measure, the photos of Veltroni and Prodi appeared to have been re-touched a wee bit to make Veltroni look as old as Prodi. If it weren’t so sad it would be quite amusing.
Oh, and Ignazio La Russa has been in Italian politics about as long as anyone can remember, so he’s also playing the kettle, if you catch my drift.
Yes, as you may have guessed, the theme behind the current election circus in Italy is that everyone is doing his level best to portray himself as being something new. Obviously they’ve all been reading Beppe Grillo’s blog.
I’ve heard it said that Italian politicians are masters of the art of re-invention, and I’m seeing evidence of just this springing up in the election posters all over Milan.
The truth of the matter is that nobody who is making a grab for power here in the Living Museum is at all new, up to and including the almost newest of the bunch, Mr Veltroni.
Trouble is, the poor old Italian voters really have no choice. Either they get someone who they had before, and who did not manage to sort things out, or they get someone else who they had before, and did not manage to sort things out. Quips he, repeating himself.
Still, I quite like the idea of this making out you are new thing. I think I shall have a go too. Maybe I could start by pretending that I have not met anyone before. I might get some funny looks, but you never know, they may well fall for it.
By the way, I’d like to welcome you to the new Blog from Italy. Oh, I know it’s not really new, but if I tell you it is, you might just believe me. Not.
Heck, I don’t know.
Rob, over at his interesting bi-lingual blog, Wind Rose Hotel, has written a couple of posts on Veltroni, in Italian.
In the first of his posts back in June last year, Rob observed that although Veltroni is no great orator, he does appear to be an effective communicator, and is possibly good enough to counter the effects of Italy’s arch-communicator and Veltroni’s main opponent, Mr Berlusconi. And, I think what impressed Rob most with regard to what Veltroni has been saying were the vestiges of genuine sincerity which the man managed to convey.
Rob’s second post is even more optimistic, and it is my impression that Rob believes that there may be a little more to Veltroni than meets the eye. Rob’s bases his opinion on an interview Veltroni gave to the Italian newspaper il Foglio. And I have to agree that what Veltroni said does appear to be rather open and insightful for an Italian politician, old guard or not.
I really do hope that Rob’s impressions are correct, and that Veltroni has not simply been demonstrating the capacity, which all the best politicians possess, to blind the populace with carefully crafted rhetoric. Such rhetoric often turns out to be rather hollow, as after the speaker has managed to worm him or herself into power, all the magnificent promises made and ideals espoused are quietly forgotten.
Still, hope springs eternal, and hope is one of the things that propels this blogger forward in life.
I’m starting to think that giving Veltroni a chance may not be such a bad thing after all. The only alternative is Mr B, and, let’s face it, he had his chance, but did not do much with it.
Out with the old and in with the new (ish).
(Yes, I’ve had a change of heart – and maybe, just maybe, regurgitating Veltroni may not turn out to be so bad after all. Heck, I hope so, for the sake of all the great Italians I know.)
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To get Italy flavour news and updates via Twitter, follow: @newsfromitaly 2300+ followers and counting.For those who did not know, Francesco Cossiga, who died the other day, was an Italian politician and one time President of Italy. Cossiga hailed from Sardinia, was a fan of John Le Carre and had earned himself the nickname “the pickaxe” owing to his no holds barred criticism of other Italian politicians.
As you may be aware, the generally tumultus world of Italian politics is in turmoil. The Berlusconi government is teetering on the brink of collapse, but what is really surprising, is that this collapse was sparked from the inside.
From spat to full-blown split. Silvio Berlusconi’s marriage of political convenience to Gianfranco Fini has ended in tears. Scorned lover Berlusconi even rejected Fini’s last minute attempts to kiss and make up and remain part of Berlusconi’s party of love. End of love in. Period.
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