Italy and Mafia
Posted on June 12, 2006
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How Italy, one of the leader countries of Western culture, from Renaissance to Enlightenment, has become a suburb of modern civilization?
Do not think that “the only cause is Berlusconi”, a media tycoon grown up with dirty seed capital and strong political connections. The responsibility is of the Italian people also.
Italian people have accepted contemptible governments since Mussolini onwards. They supported, more than accepted, a dictatorship which led Europe into one of the most infamous moment of our history –the Second World War. Forty million victims were necessary for the Italians to discover what should have been clear to everybody: Mussolini was a demagogue and a murderer (the fascist party killed the MP Matteotti, who denounced the newly born dictatorship, and everybody knew it).
In the following thirty years after the war (from the economic boom of the 50s to the terroristic boom of the 70s) Italy was divided in two: on one side the totalitarians, on the other the corrupt. It seems that nobody thought that a good working state was preferable to another dictatorship (fascist or soviet) or to a corrupt system, in collusion with the powerful Italian criminal organizations. The few exceptions were journalists, or intellectuals, which rarely entered the system. The very few who did, were changed by the system –or expulsed, dead or alive.
As the left-totalitarians lost power at the beginning of the 80s, the corrupt had free space of action. The corruption invaded all the artery of the system, leading to an economic and moral crisis, which reached its peak at the beginning of the 90’s, with the “Clean Hands” operation. A real revolution led by a pool of judges from Milan, which led to the collapse of the system. The Communist Party, which had changed its name in 1989 (Left Democrats), was so lucky not to be deeply involved in the inquires. The reason could be more the honesty of the base than the integrity of its leaders.
The results. In 1994 the Left Democrats lost the elections against a newly-political arrived Mr. Berlusconi. He merely entered the open fight because had lost all his political hooks, first of all Bettino Craxi, one of the most powerful man in Italy, at the head of a small Socialist Party. Craxi was charged by so many accusations that had to go in self imposed exiles in Tunisia (where he eventually died) to escape prison.
Why did Mr. Berlusconi “descend onto the battle (or football?) field”, as he says? It was clear that the Left, if in power, would have ruined him. But the left did not get the power, and the secretary of the party, Achille Occhetto, had to leave in favor of Massimo D’Alema.
Due mainly to the inexperience of Mr. Berlusconi and of the North League (a racist party which still had some positive effect supporting the pool of judges in Milan) the government fell, and the Left eventually went in power. It was 1996.
After fifty years of struggle, after the American vetoes to leftist governments, the former Communist Party was in power. Everybody, Berlusconi included, thought that was the end of Silvio Berlusconi. It would have been easy. A bill on conflict of interests. A help to the judges, which were strongly supported by public opinion at that time. The party had clearly stated its closeness to the social democratic ideals. Eugenio Scalfari, I remember, one of the few above-mentioned intellectuals, director of “La Repubblica”, had baptized the new party six years earlier. Everybody was there, waiting for something to happen.
And something happened: the Deal. The big deal between the Left Democrats and Mr Berlusconi. A shameful attempt to alternate the administration of the political power, to silence the magistracy, which fanished the hope of a decent government in Italy. The governments of Romano Prodi, and Massimo D’Alema later, did quite a lot in favor of Mr Berlusconi. And one of the biggest favor was the extinction of the fight against the Mafia, the same Mafia which was accused to have financed Mr. Berlusconi in the late 70’s and killed, last but not least, the judges Giovanni Falcone and Paolo Borsellino in 1992.
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