Berlusconi versus Fini – what a show

I have not paid much attention to Italian politics other than knowing that generally the governments have been unstable ever since Mussolini. Who can understand Italian politics anyway? It is especially difficult for an American since it is a parliamentary style of government which generally mystifies us from the start. Add to that the behind the scenes maneuvering and seeming endemic corruption and you have layer upon layer of obfuscation. However another blogger that I follow brought my attention to the government soap opera that continues unabated.

Imagine that in the U.S. our President got into a public shouting match with the other most important figure in the SAME party who also was the speaker of the house. I’m not saying a virtual shouting match with dueling press releases but an actual shouting match. This happened between Silvio Berlusconi and Gianfranco Fini in April of this year. As you can imagine, things then continued to get worse. Of course Berlusconi is a media mogul in Italy and one of the country’s richest men. He owns three of 7 television networks and a widely read newspaper as well as a ton of other stuff. So the Berlusconi media empire went to work on Fini but that just seems to have contributed to the cynicism of the Italian politicians and voters. Next Fini established a secondary political party with a bunch of members of parliament and the senate which hamstrung Berlusconi’s efforts to limit wiretaps which were providing damaging evidence against members of his government. Actually it goes beyond that. Since the Fini rebels now have the crucial swing voting power then Berlusconi almost has to go them hat in hand to ask to go to the bathroom. This does not make Silvio a happy man as you can imagine and can see in the photo below.

Ah the mudslinging on both sides would leave make some American politicians proud. The drama continues with a lot of cunning moves on both sides. My pal in Torino, Massimiliano, is no fan of Berlusconi and generally abhors the government corruption in Italy. But is Fini any better? He led a neo-Fascist party that he merged with Berlusconi’s party to get Berlusconi elected the last time. In 1994 he praised Mussolini for the record – a statement that he is busily running away from.

For me, reading about Italian politics is kind of a humorous break from our own crazy politics with the Tea Party and some of their wacko candidates and the ever-present Sarah Palin. You only need to look at the photos below to see that while he may or may not be evil (I vote for evil)  he is entertaining. Maybe that’s how he stays in power – by telling jokes and playing the buffoon while having fun with women, enjoying his wealth and protecting himself – the dream of so many Italian men.  However if I were an Italian I expect that I would be as disgusted as Massimiliano. By the way you can click on any image to get it enlarged and allow you to flip through the images.

I can hardly wait for the next chapter in this political comedy in Italy.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 18th, 2010 at 8:54 am and is filed under Culture. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.