Should we judge a nation by its leader? It seems logical in a democracy where leaders represent the elected will of a nation. After all, the world seemed to judge America as world opinion turned against the USA as her leaders terrorized the public, turning them from a quivering mass into a frothing, pre-emptive war seeking mob, while the fourth estate turned cheerleader and lost its bearings. The media’s role can’t be discounted as many see it as their duty to protect the public by keeping it informed. Dangers arise when the fourth estate becomes a mouthpiece for the government’s agenda instead of its watchdog. Anti-Americanism may have passed it’s apex, but the damage done will be long lasting to both the nation and the world. But what of other nations with leaders equally vile as Dubya? Robert Mugabe was once loved in Zimbabwe, Stephen Harper has received more votes in Canada than anyone else in the last two elections, or even Super Sarkhozy in France - do they reflect their people? Well, you’ll find no uglier combination of evil, sleaze and corruption together with control over the media mind control machine than in today’s Italy, personified by it’s supreme narcissist, Silvio Berlusconi.

With the European Parliament (EP) elections coming this week, Il Caviliere, or Papi as he is known to 17-year old ‘friends’ and ‘virgins’, seems to have tired of simply playing the playboy-clown role that he has perfected over the years; his actions, statements and policies have taken a turn for the surreal, delusional with a little Lolita thrown in for good measure. In case you missed it, the EP is more than just every trans-national government conspiracists’ nightmare. Besides providing perhaps the best parliamentary speech of the year, it is also has some real powers mostly revolving around passing, amending or rejecting European Commission legislation. It also exerts a large amount of indirect influence on foreign policy as it must pass all development grants. It’s 785 MEPs serve the second largest democratic electorate in the world after India and are directly elected every five years. Well, I say directly, but truth be told, I still can’t wrap my head around the whole system. Parties put up lists of candidates from which voters seem to randomly fill in some boxes and voila, magically some people get elected.

Well, in order to add some legitimacy to this arcane system, Berlusconi decided to sex up his party’s (Partito della Liberta - PdL, The People of Freedom) ballot by throwing in some starlets and showgirls, including Angela Sozio, a former Big Brother contestant, Barbara Matera, a Miss Italy contestant and model, and TV starlets Camilla Ferranti and Eleonora Gaggiolo. Why not? Apparently the women had attended a crash course in politics ahead of the European elections. Problem is the course was not originally intended for candidates, but parliamentary assistants! Oh, and Papi’s going to run as well, however that works?! Some may argue that he’s doing all he can to weaken the legislative in order to empower the executive, while others might point out that Papi needs some younger babes to ogle. After all, it’s been awhile since 2007, when his wife issued an open letter to a daily newspaper demanding a public apology from her husband for flirting with Mara Carfagna, an Italian topless model turned member of Parliament and currently equal opportunity minister in Berlusconi’s cabinet. Ah yes, sex, it still sells, especially if there’s a 17-year old involved…

Yes, perhaps it’s the image of a 72-year old man and a 17-year old bombshell that will wake Italy from it’s slumber. Berlusconi’s wife of nearly 20 years, Veronica Lario, came out punching, demanding a divorce after learning that the great seducer had made a now 18-year old aspiring model his pet project, stating, “My marriage is over. I can’t stay with someone who cavorts with minors.” Well, maybe she was 17, but news didn’t break until Berlusconi showed up at her 18th birthday bash bearing a diamond pendant, a little gift from the man whom the girl in question, Noemi Letizia, calls ‘Papi‘. Predictably, Silvio demanded an apology from his wife, denied any wrong doing and claimed, “I am friends with her father, that’s all. I swear.” Sure Papi, you happened to notice the girl while visiting a civil servant in Naples, not leafing through a ‘fashion book’ looking for your next prey.

Oh yes, I’m sure Papi brought Naomi to Rome last November so he could discuss politics with her father, but, maybe… Then, like manna from heaven word leaks of a New Year’s Eve party, where as many as 40 girls, including Naomi and others under 18 like her, thrown at Papi’s Sardinia island retreat. Topless cavorting, publication bans on pictures, rumours of a naked Czech president, all too good to be true. Hot 17-year old chicks and 18, maybe even 19… with a 72-year old PM $10 billionaire. Berlusconi’s wife went ballistic, demanded a divorce, the opposition questioned his parenting skills, the world wonders how he gets away with it, then remembers, it’s Italy, a macho image somehow convinces people to vote for you.

It’s getting harder and harder to track Papi’s transgressions. Having been charged numerous times for corruption, tax fraud and illegal party funding, he has always escaped conviction. Most egregious of all, facing the likelihood of finally being found guilty, last year he simply pushed an immunity bill through parliament. Now he can sleep easily, knowing he can’t be charged for bribing lawyers to lie for him, or ordering hits on opponents. If you don’t like being in opposition, (this is Silvio’s 3rd time as PM) as he was in 2006, just get the church to lean on a swing block led by Clemente Mastella in the parliament, to force a no-confidence vote and the collapse of Italy’s 60th government since WWII. Allies have been absorbed, Berlusconi’s Forza Italia and the National Alliance, which grew out of the neo-fascist movement, united in a single entity, the People of Freedom. Only Lega Nord, the Northern League, Berlusconi’s ‘independent’ fascist ally has the parliamentary clout to bring the government down. So they can call to segregate the Milan transit system without it really being Papi calling the shots, leaving him free to stir up hatred against more specific groups, like the Roma. His coronation as leader of the new party (there was no election) could make him a kingmaker in the EP if the conservative EPP-ED block gain control as expected. All part of his plan to torpedo the Polish/German hope for leading the European Parliament and to have his own man, Mario Mauro, installed.

So how does he get away with it? Time Magazine dubbed Italy Berlusconistan last week, but it seems they don’t even know the half of it. This nation of 58 million is spiraling dangerously out of control. Having fallen 12 spots in the the least corrupt nation rankings of Transparency International, putting them between South Africa and the Seychelles, you’d think someone would start asking questions about whose steering the ship. Then you remember, it’s Berlusconi who, along with his family, controls a string of television stations which command half the national viewing audience. He owns Italy’s largest publishing company, its most glamorous football club, a booming financial services company, and some lucrative odds and ends in the property sector. As the prime minister of Italy, he has control over the Italian public service broadcaster RAI, as his government can approve allies to the positions of president and board of directors. Essentially, he has influence over 90 per cent of all national television broadcasting. In 2002, NGO Reporters Without Borders reported that Berlusconi’s government pressured RAI to drop the political TV show, “Sciuscia” and fire two journalists, Michele Santoro and Enzo Biagi, after they criticized Berlusconi. During the 2006 Italian election, there were complaints of blanket coverage favourable to Berlusconi. He received three hours and 16 minutes of airtime in one 15-day period compared to just eight minutes for Mr. Prodi, his rival, a clear violation of Italian electoral laws, which stated candidates should have equal airtime. He can call up RAI’s director and ask him to hire some actresses in exchange for political and financial favors, then get the judges to destroy the wiretaps.

The Financial Times claims that Italy isn’t in danger of slipping back into fascism, but where else are they headed? Whatever you think of the man or country, we’re talking about a G7 (or is it 8 still?) nation, one that sent troops to Iraq, was at the very least a complicit partner of the US led ‘extraodinary rendition‘ program and was once convinced to throw its support behind Hitler. Berlusconi’s three terms as PM have been disasters, the International Monetary Fund thinks Italy will be the only euro zone country to experience three consecutive years of recession, from 2008 to 2010. Italy’s public debt is set to soar to 116 per cent of gross domestic product by 2010, according to the European Commission. There are now 24 Italian MPs, senators and European MPs who have received final convictions for crimes. Maybe the psycho dwarf’s antics and quips are designed to divert attention from the real problems of the economy and the rise of xenophobia in his nation. A country led by a man who the pope called a racist, a man who said of Obama, “He’s young, handsome, and even has a good tan.” A man who has simply used the state as a means of securing his own interests and to keep himself out of jail will host the next G8 meeting in earthquake stricken Abruzzo, where according to Papi, the homeless were able to enjoy a “camping weekend” and where he’s sure to come up with more comedy gaffes. By that time he could have decided who’s running Europe, yippee!

“We must be aware of the superiority of our civilisation, a system that has guaranteed well-being, respect for human rights and - in contrast with Islamic countries - respect for religious and political rights, a system that has as its value understanding of diversity and tolerance…

“The West will continue to conquer peoples, even if it means a confrontation with another civilisation, Islam, firmly entrenched where it was 1,400 years ago.” - Silvio Berlusconi

You do have to watch the slippery slope, it’s not only easy to slip and hit your head, but before you know it the hate could be turned on you. I wrote a few months back about the racial violence in South Africa caused by the upsurge in Zimbabwean refugees, quickly brushed over some American intolerance and also mentioned some problems they’d been having in Italy. Yes, in case you missed it, Silvio Berlusconi is back in power in Italy, having ridden to victory partially on a wave of old-fashioned, finger-pointing, it’s their fault intolerance. Well my friends, it seems that even the Vatican is sitting up and taking notice.

There’s been talk in the past, mostly whispers mixed with the occasional warnings from Nobel laureate Dario Fo that what we are witnessing in Italy can only be called creeping fascism. However, when Fo would say of Italy that “the new style fascism is already with us“, the right would just call him a communist looney. Then last week I noticed a story about an Italian Catholic magazine called Famiglia Cristiana that ran an editorial claiming that Italy may be witnessing the re-birth of fascism and finishes with “Let’s hope their fears are unfounded that another form of fascism is looming here“. This is the Catholic Church, to whom most right wing politicians swear allegiance. In an odd schoolyard type reply, junior minister Carlo Giovanardi, attacked the magazine saying: “You are fascists, with your bludgeoning tone“. The government had previously labeled the magazine Catho-communist for an earlier editorial against anti-crime measures. The head of Berlusconi’s People of Freedom party in the upper house of parliament, Maurizio Gasparri, said he would sue the editor of the magazine. Still, it’s not like the Pope called them fascists…oops!

“I am the Jesus Christ of politics. I am a patient victim, I put up with everyone, I sacrifice myself for everyone.” - Silvio Berlusconi, 2006

Yesterday as Pope Benedict XVI (B16) was delivering his weekly Sunday sermon, he was telling a story from the gospels about Jesus meeting a pagan woman and rising above his initial misgivings to perform a miracle for her daughter. A little later the pope said: “One of humanity’s great conquests is the overcoming of racism. Unfortunately, however, there are new and worrying examples of this in various countries, often linked to social and economic problems that nonetheless can never justify contempt or racial discrimination.” Later he reminded Catholics of their duty to steer others in society away from “racism, intolerance and exclusion [of others]“.

Um, dude, er, Il Cavieliere, Berlusconi, the pope just called you a racist. I’d love to see him try to keep that smarmy smile on his face as he reads the news. He seems to be having some problems with the Church, this on top of the whole marriage problem he’s trying to ‘fix’. Seems he’s been trying to get them to lift the ban on communion for divorcees. If only it were as easy as changing the laws of your country for your own purposes when you’re a fascist dictator. Berlusconi has faced multiple charges of corruption, tax fraud, false accounting and illegally financing political parties over the years but has always protested his innocence. He has even been found guilty, only to have the decisions overturned on appeal. In under a month between June 26th and July 24th his government managed to introduce and pass two bills to protect himself and his buddies. The first froze long-running trials, including one involving Il Cavieliere for a year. The second, and perhaps most audacious, grants himself, the president and the speakers of the two parliamentary chambers immunity for the time they are in office. Berlusconi has long criticized what he sees as the power of the magistrates but now has a strong enough majority to pass such laws. Most people see the magistrates’ power as necessary as their dates back to the post-war era, when a strong court system was seen as a bulwark against a repeat of fascism.

“If I, taking care of everyone’s interests, also take care of my own, you can’t talk about a conflict of interest.” - Silvio Berlusconi

Fascists are easy to spot, they us the same repertoire and shout the same slogans: freedom, effort, fatherland, Italy, defense of the race, culture of our civilization, original civilization. In Italy, Berlusconi swept back into power while the far right won the mayor’s race in Rome where liberals had ruled for years. Berlusconi’s coalition is an assortment of far-right extremists and dangerous, deluded rabble-rousers. The Popolo della Libertà coalition, for example, includes Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of you-know-who. It also includes the remains of the so-called post-fascist party, the National Alliance. Its leader, Gianfranco Fini, once said that Mussolini was the greatest statesman of the 20th century. Perhaps most worrying of all is that the Northern League, led by Umberto Bossi, won 8% of the national vote. Their xenophobic rantings are truly evil, one recently suggested that foreigners should be forced to use separate train carriages; Bossi himself has, in the past, urged the Italian navy to use live rounds against the thousands of immigrants arriving on Italian shores. If you don’t like it Bossi has
said the rifles are still warm and that he has 300,000 martyrs ready to battle those who get in his way. It’s been seen before, first you whip the people up into a rage about the problems of a country being the fault of Others, intolerance grows and violence breaks out, in this case a concerted action along with the authorities. New laws are passed, against immigrants, particularly Roma, they gradually grow more menacing, to the point where they are identifying people according to ethnicity, not only those you don’t like, but everyone.

“Mussolini never killed anyone. Mussolini used to send people on vacation in internal exile.” - Silvio Berlusconi

I’m not the only one comparing Italy 2008 to 1922, or Hitler’s treatment of minorities to the creeping xenophobia that’s entering Italy’s mainstream. The celebrations following Berlusconi’s victory saw amid the sea of tricolour flags were hundreds of people raising their right arms to the skies, their fingers tense and straight. Everywhere you could see the old fascist salute. It is back in fashion and many are now wondering if the boot-boys themselves are back in power. There is much indifference in Italy to this movement, as usual there are other, more important things to worry about, the timing is right with Europe nose-diving into recession. The concentration of power, particularly in the media allows Berlusconi to shape public opinion. Making things even scarier is the shift in how the fascist past of Italy is now being looked upon. Mussolini has been reconsidered and rehabilitated. Fascism is nearer than you think and not only in Italy, who knows, maybe this time the pope is the only one who can save us from its grips.

“A really efficient totalitarian state would be one in which the all-powerful executive of political bosses and their army of managers control a population of slaves who do not have to be coerced, because they love their servitude. To make them love it is the task assigned … to ministries of propaganda, newspaper editors, and schoolteachers.”
Brave New World (P.S.)

Archaeologists tell us that the earliest human groups were small family-tribes consisting of about 30 to 50 individuals. It was the perfect number to achieve the balance between having the ability to move quickly and being able to defend themselves effectively in the fight for survival. In a sparsely populated world, these small groups rarely came into contact with each other, but when they did, they had to decide how they would react to this Other. Today’s world sees many more potential meetings between groups, yet still we must choose how to react when faced with the Other. What kind of attitude should we have towards them? Should we throw ourselves in fury on those people who are different than us, build a barricade to keep them away, or get to know and understand them?

The headlines today are from South Africa, so we can can once again turn the page and know it doesn’t affect us. Whether we’re reading this in Europe, North America or even Australia we can feel comfortable in the knowledge that we won’t have problems like those in the townships of Johannesburg and Cape Town where at least 42 foreigners have been killed in violence aimed at immigrants. The country that has styled itself as the Rainbow Nation, has seen more than 12 days of violence aimed at immigrant groups. It was thought that this kind of thing could only happen in Nigeria, or maybe the Congo, but the home of the Truth and Reconciliation commission has been witness to marauding groups of vigilantes hunting foreigners, burning their homes and even burning people. A spike in Zimbabwean immigration combined with the fact that the economic gains of the past decade haven’t been shared equally among the population has led to violence and the worst is yet to come.

Yeah, well it is only an African phenomenon, right? Well, let’s take Italy, a country that has a few skeletons in their closet when it comes to xenophobic hysteria, so you’d think they’d have learnt from past mistakes. In fact though, the country is on the brink of beginning a process of deporting Italian citizens because of their Roma heritage. As is often the case when a right wing populist movement wins an election, Berlusconi’s party and their coalition partners won partially on a platform based on blaming the Others. Now, the people have begun to take matters into their own hands. In a scenario supposedly sparked by a 17-year-old Roma girl who supposedly tried to steal someone’s baby, the people of Naples have risen up night after night, marching, chanting and burning the homes of the second-class citizen Roma population. What’s worse is it seems they’ve been blocking firefighter’s access to the blazes. It’s an almost textbook example of directing the populations anger at a scapegoat as the city battles a huge waste collection problem. During the recent election campaign Berlusconi vowed to curb illegal immigrants, describing them as an “army of evil”. The government’s response to the recent violence, well quite predictably, more measures to get rid of the “army”. Army of evil you say, sounds familiar…

Meanwhile, in America, where they have been busy perfecting the policy of attack over dialogue, they are also embracing the idea of wall building, in this case to keep out the Mexicans. At the same time an election campaign, which could see the election of the first black president, drags on.

Why build a wall when your people need all the exposure to the outside world they can get? It’s not to fight terrorists, as construction was begun well before 9/11, in 1994 in fact. It’s to keep out the Other. The Great Wall of China, Hadrian’s Wall, The Maginot Line, even the rabbit fences of Australia were all overcome by the invaders they were designed to keep out. Over, under, around, through, a wall is just something to be overcome, and they always are. Another doomed barricade will surely be the planned missile shield whose only tactical value seems to be that it pisses the Other off. America has already wasted the past 8 years focusing their response on the first two reactions to the Other, what the world needs more than anything is someone to take up that risky third option, dialogue.

The Other is an easy target when people start getting nervous about their pocketbooks, or worse yet, the hole in their bellies. Throughout our history, mankind has always wavered between the options of war, wall building and dialogue when dealing with this Other. War is hard to justify, the encounter with the Other usually ends tragically with the imposition of one’s beliefs on the Other. Wall building only serves to isolate without fixing the problems that lie underneath. In a world where we seem to be moving from a mass society to a new, global society 2.0, interconnectivity is becoming the new world order. Linked more than ever before electronically through communication and physically in terms of transport and movement, how we deal with the Other will only become more important, culturally and economically. A surge in oil prices, a spike in food prices, an economic slow down, fingers will be pointed, swords could be drawn, if we don’t talk, who will be next to be blamed?