Mambo Italiano
Having lived in Italy for three years in the late 70's, and like my friend Roger Simon, believing it's the greatest place in the world to have lunch, I pay special attention to its national politics.
This week's election has left the country very neatly divided in almost perfect halves. Fortunately, the balance tipped against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi who now must retire to simply being Italy's richest man -- and the owner of most of its broadcast media. Romano Prodi, the leader of Italy's center-left Olive coalition, will probably spend the next two months trying to piece together a new and tenuous governing majority.
To understand the implications of the Italian vote, it's best to rely on European reporting. Too much of American analysis is refracted solely through a U.S. domestic political prism. Whether it's the American right or the left, the Italian vote was excessively sifted through the sands of the war in Iraq -- the fact that Prodi is likely to withdraw the few thousand Italian troops still serving over there. A big whoop.
While Italian participation in the war was an issue -- and a very unpopular one for Berlusconi-- the election was much more about the economy. Italy now bears the ominous title of 'sick man of Europe.' I suppose it's all in who is making the diagnosis. But Italians face an undeniable economic malaise. Jobs are extremely scarce. And prices are astronomic. I spent some time in Rome this summer (and without whining about the steep exchange rate), I did the math --based on the average Italian salary-- and was stumped to figure out how the average guy made it past the 15th of the month. No secret as to why so many young Romans seem to spend all of their time hanging out on the Spanish Steps and comparing sunglasses -- they have nothing else to do. And no money with which to do it if they had.
Corruption still runs rampant. As does bureaucracy, leading the Italians in the industrious north to constantly wonder if anyone living south of Bologna actually works for a living. And in Italy the bloody antics of the good old-fashioned mafia add up to something much more dramatic than a great HBO series.
Also at stake in the Italian vote was the very tone and approach of the government. On a personal level, you couldn't have a sharper contrast between two candidates. Aptly named "the clown and the bear," Berlusconi and Prodi are polar opposities. The former is a brash, vulgar billionaire with an obvious Napoleonic complex. His governing coalition strteches from the moderate right though regionalists, declared xenophobes and the political heirs of Il Duce.
Prodi, by contrast, is the consumate master technocrat. Passive, unemotional, dignified and extremely boring. His coalition runs from the centrist (some would say conservative Christian Democrats through some very moderate Socialists, sometimes even more moderate ex-Communists, and a more leftist fringe of so-called Refounded Communists). That's a complicated way of saying liberals and social democrats -- though these terms mean less and less in today's Europe.
It's not going to be any picnic for Prodi. His political prowess will now be put severely to the test. For starters, the blustering Berlusconi is threatening to challenge the tight election results and force a recount of 38 million votes. And with his bottomless bucks and much of the media at his command, Berlusconi has no intention to quietly withdraw from the political scene.
Many observers are predicting that Prodi won't last a year. Let's hope they're wrong. At a minimum we can hope that Berlusconi will never again return to government. A marvelous and wonderful country like Italy deserves something better than a beligerant clown for a Prime Minister.
P.S. I love this little sidebar from Nicole Martinelli in Milano (via PJM).
P.P.S. Completely off-topic: More evidence, as I have been suggesting, that it is the pro-immigrant movement, and not its adversaries, who have the political initiative and the momentum. And it's not just Republicans who have fallen behind. Also.. some first person dispatches from Monday's L.A. demo from student reporters at USC.
April 12th, 2006 at 7:16 am
Hi Marc – thanks for the link.
Just a point of clarification – the Publius Italian coverage was definitely not from the American right – we have a young Italian woman in Sardinia doing the posting on Italy for Publius and all of her thoughts are independently hers as well as authentically Italian.
best,
Mora
April 12th, 2006 at 7:50 am
Le Monde has a wonderful cartoon on its front page by its fabulous political cartoonist, Plantu. I can’t really do it justice but here goes: An Olympics style podium is made up of three television sets, all showing Berlusconi’s face in closeup. On top of the middle TV is a ballot box, on which stands Prodi giving victory signs with both hands, while two Berlusconi’s looking very angry and upset stand on the outer two TV’s. As I say, hard to describe but very funny. The Le Monde headline over that says “Prodi wants to restore Italy’s place in Europe.”
As you point out, Prodi is a technocrat–what Europeans call a Eurocrat–but anybody has got to be better than Berlusconi. The big question is why the Italians, who have such good taste in food and fashion, kept him in power so long. But you might also want to ask why Mussolini was in power for 23 long years…
April 12th, 2006 at 8:18 am
Thank you Marc for your article.
But you have forget to tell two things: that the key vote that give the senate to Prodi was from the Italian who are living abroad Italy (like me , a Bolognese who is living in New York, Legal, but is sympathyzied with all the illegals who are working hard and did not have any chance to have a visa) and also you have forget that without the new election Law made by Berlusconi Prodi will never have won this election.
April 12th, 2006 at 8:18 am
By the way, sorry for my english……
April 12th, 2006 at 9:03 am
Okay, in reference to the Plantu cartoon, maybe I had better not assume that everyone knows that Berlusconi is a major media mogul in Italy and has been often accused of abusing that position to advance himself politically. Many or most people here will know that, but the average American will not because curiosity about other nations and cultures is not greatly encouraged in the United States. The average European knows much more about what goes in the USA than vice versa.
There, that’s about as provocative as I want to be today.
April 12th, 2006 at 9:56 am
Giuseppe,
Vostre inglese è migliore del mio italiano!
Michael,
If a president in the US owned all the private broadcast networks and had effective control over public broadcasting through his office, I’d be very worried.
April 12th, 2006 at 10:48 am
“Many or most people here will know that, but the average American will not because curiosity about other nations and cultures is not greatly encouraged in the United States. The average European knows much more about what goes in the USA than vice versa.”
Michael, I seem to recall reading your comments here a few months ago and being extremely impressed with your knowledge of what was going on in all parts of the world. But in the past week that I’ve been nosing back around it seems like you can’t go a couple paragraphs without insinuating all Americans are morons. Could you at least concede that whether or not the average American is curious about the world, the average American reading Marc Cooper’s blog (you know, the people actually reading your comments) is?
April 12th, 2006 at 10:56 am
“Could you at least concede that whether or not the average American is curious about the world, the average American reading Marc Cooper’s blog (you know, the people actually reading your comments) is?”
Absolutely, I do think that is true, and said as much in my previous post when I indicated that many or most people here would know about Berlusconi’s background even if the “average American” probably does not. btw I do not think that ignorance makes one a moron, as there are different reasons why one is ignorant: Lack of opportunity for a good education, lack of curiosity, etc.
April 12th, 2006 at 1:31 pm
Doesn’t Berlesconi need to stay in power in order to stay out of jail? He loses his immunity does he not?
April 12th, 2006 at 1:57 pm
Richard,
If I recall correctly I believe that in Italy, the statute of limitations on criminal prosecutions runs throughout the prosecution of crime. In the US, once someone is indicted, the clock becomes irrelevant except to the extent that their right to a speedy trial is not observed.
I think that may be why Berlusconi has been refusing to acknowledge the inevitable: that he lost amd may have to answer for a lot.
Also, the opposition plans to introduce a law requiring elected officials to put businesses ina blind trust. Accordingly, if this goes through Berlusconi will have to choose between his businesses or a political career.
April 12th, 2006 at 5:36 pm
http://www.knowital.com/italian/articles/italy-birthrate.html
I thought the above blog written by an American living in Italy was insightful, in a “sociological” sort of way.
Is there that much difference between Berlusconi controlling the media in Italy, and the corporate media controlling news in the U.S.?
National networks, NBC, CBS, and ABC, as well as most if not all of the smaller cable channels, are owned by large corporations: General Electric, CBS Corporation, and Disney which manipulates news and controls what the public hears and sees.
And since both the Republican and Democratic Party, exclusively represent the coporate agenda, news is tainted, so that the public is fed the same crap over and over again–so during elections, the mesmerized public, ultimately votes against their own interests and in ways that benefit the multi-national corporations.
Ciao!
April 12th, 2006 at 6:19 pm
Eleanore,
CBS is owned by Viacom which also owns Simon & Schuster, Paramount, MTV, Nickelodeon, etc.
Is there that much difference between Berlusconi controlling the media in Italy, and the corporate media controlling news in the U.S.?
Uhh, yeah. Berlusconi is not in competition with himself.
You also failed to mention that as head of government Berlusconi effectively controls public broadcasting in Italy, so your analogy is way off the mark.
April 12th, 2006 at 6:38 pm
Randy,
Competition is relative, perhaps our electoral system appears to be competitive; but the Republican Party could be called “SAME” and the Democratic Party could be called “MORE OF THE SAME.”
It’s like the jackass that forgot he was really an elephant!
April 12th, 2006 at 7:14 pm
Eleanore,
Your analogy still doesn’t hold water. In this country, Berlusconi would have had to put his media empire into a blind trust and would have had zero control over it. He did not have to do so in Italy. Accordingly, he was able to use is media outlets for his own good.
You’re comparing apples and oranges.
April 13th, 2006 at 3:49 am
Sorry, but do you know Italy? The mainstream media is controlled by the Left, not Berlusconi.
You’ll realize how Prodi is bad by seeing his anti-Israel and anti-US policy.
Berlusconi was far better off
I am not a fan of him, although I am RIGHT WING and proudly so. BUT I don’t want a clown like Prodi to compromise my future as a young person looking for a job. He’ll put restrictions to the labor market, will tax our savings and will damage our country by : APPEASING TERRORISTS, ALLOWING ILLEGAL ISLAMIC IMMIGRANTS TO INVADE US, ADOPTING A PRO-EU, PRO-UN AND ANTI-U.S. POLICY
I guess you’ll miss Berlusconi
And by the way, let’s not forget that Mr. Prodi is also corrupt ( do you know about his role as banker at IRI ? )
Berlusconi owns 3 TV channels, but he doesn’t control them. There are many journalists there that are leftist and very much so.
Also, if you know about Italy, you’d know that most of our media is LEFTIST . Il Corriere della Sera endorsed Prodi, not Berlusconi
These lies about Berlusconi are similar to those against President Bush
April 13th, 2006 at 6:35 am
These lies about Berlusconi are similar to those against President Bush
You just threw away what little credibility you had with that statement.
Thanks, but I’ll stick with what the conservative magazine The Economist said about Berlusconi in 2001 and what they say know: he’s unfit to hold office.
April 13th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
And by the way, let’s not forget that Mr. Prodi is also corrupt ( do you know about his role as banker at IRI ? )
Did a little investigating. Seems like a lot of sound and fury, but not a lot of substance:
It rankles Berlusconi, I’m sure that The Economist has been so tough on him. He is wont to accuse those who accuse him of being in league with the communists, but that certainly won’t stick with that magazine.
Berlusconi owns 3 TV channels, but he doesn’t control them.
Please. If someone displeases him, do you expect us to believe he has no control over their continued employment? The fact that there are leftist journalists does not mean that Berlusconi doesn’t control his numerous media properties.
Typing in upper case doesn’t make something true.
April 16th, 2006 at 3:53 am
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April 16th, 2006 at 3:54 am
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