On Tuesday December 14, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi narrowly won a confidence vote that sparked violent protests in the center of Rome against police. Although most media outlets are reporting on the political ‘nine lives’ of the mafia tainted media mogul turned politician and the ensuing protests that erupted after the no confidence vote, the news reports have omitted critical background information related to the story. The lapse in reporting critical background information prevents more people to learn the internal domestic factors that fueled the protestors’ anger at the government and how Silvio Berlusconi survived yet another political scandal.
Not reporting on the high levels of corruption in Italian politics, which includes the mafia, the lack of press freedom in Italy, and the flawed democracy ranking recently given to Italy by the Economist Magazine, explains why more people do not know why Italy is often referred to as the Stinking Boot of Europe.
Corruption in Italian politics
Though most of the news media is euphemistically describing the financial power of Silvio Berlusconi to buy the votes of several key lawmakers as ‘Berlusconi's uncanny ability to survive’ a more accurate and independent analysis would highlight the rampant corruption that has been institutionalized in Italian politics. One of the most notable aspects of the story not reported on by any of the news wire services, is the fact that the vote was held on 14 December so members of Parliament would have reached the required 2 ½ years of public service to be entitled to a life time pension from the government.
It is erroneous for the news wire services not to include more information on the level of political corruption in Italy that triggered the riots, while reporting on the more sensational aspects of the no confidence vote such as including information about three pregnant lawmakers arriving in ambulances to cast their votes. Instead of wasting time talking about the circus like atmosphere surrounding the political spectacle of the no confidence vote, the news wire services should have cited research by the independent non-governmental organization Transparency International that ranks Italy as the 63rd least corrupt nation in the world. By not focusing on the level of corruption in Italy, the international press frames the recent no confidence vote and the ensuing riots as merely a violent political demonstration by youthful protesters, and downplays the factors leading to the political unrest. Perhaps fueling the rage for most of the youths in the recent riots was the revelation in US State department cables by Wikileaks that Berlusconi is “profiting personally and handsomely" from secret energy deals with Russian prime minister, Vladimir Putin.
Taken to a new level by Berlusconi as recent classified US State Department cables highlight, the political corruption in Italy is perhaps the greatest factor contributing to the continuing political unrest in Italy and the frustration of its disenfranchised youth. The corrupt business deals by Berlusconi have gotten so bad that the US Department now feels it has undermined the geo-political relationship between the United States and Italy.
According to a Wikileaks documents provided by American Private First Class Bradley Manning serving in Iraq,
Berlusconi's close personal (and, some suspect, financial) relationship with Putin has led him to champion unquestioningly every initiative the Kremlin has rolled out. Italy's Russia policy is his personal game, one which he conducts on a tactical basis to gain the trust and favor of his Russian interlocutors. He consistently rejects the strategic advice of his demoralized, resource-starved, and increasingly irrelevant Foreign Ministry in favor of his business cronies, many of whom are deeply dug into Russia's European energy strategy.
Although most people living outside Italy have very little knowledge of who Silvio Berlusconi is or how he rose to be the most powerful and wealthiest man in Italy, the youths charging the barricades and the political opponents of Berlusconi like Beppe Grillo who often refers to Berlusconi as the ‘psycho dwarf’, are all too familiar with the mafia tainted media mogul turned politician.
While recent US State Department documents detailing the close personal and financial relationship between Silvio Berlusconi and Russian President Vladimir Putin may have lost their importance in America due to the 48-hour news cycle of the infotainment media bubble, the news was not quickly forgotten by Berlusconi’s political opponents in Italy. Young Italians not seduced and corrupted by the scantly clad models and reality TV shows on channels owned by Berlusconi, took to the streets to vent their anger and disgust at how their leaders are using their government positions to enrich themselves while public services are being cut and economic growth remains stagnant.
Lack of Press Freedom in Italy
In a political biography of Silvio Berlusconi in the book, The Sack of Rome, by Alexander Stille, a professor of journalism at Columbia University and the son of a former editor of the Italian newspaper Corriere Sierra, Berlusconi once told his close friend Marcello Dell’Utri, “
Don’t you understand? If something isn’t on television, it doesn’t exist.”
This understanding by Silvio Berlusconi between the power of the media and political power has been the cornerstone of his success and the unsolvable obstacle that political opponents of Berlusconi have had to overcome. In a political scandal that would have almost assuredly taken down any other leader in a Western European country, due to Berlusconi’s near total control of the Italian media and the government financing of newspapers in Italy totaling more than $ 239 million a year, the recent no confidence vote demonstrates the benefits of controlling the media.
From the nascent stages of Berlusconi’s wealth due to his friendship with the former Prime Minister Bettino Craxi, Berlusconi has continued to avoid punishment for his numerous illegal acts and political scandals. The ‘psycho dwarf’ as Beppe Grillo calls Berlusconi, is giving the reputation Ronald Reagan had as being the Teflon President a whole new standard.
To appreciate and understand the system that Berlusconi manipulated, it is important to remember that Berlusconi began to gain a large share of his wealth and a vehicle to launch his future political career, after a 1976 Constitutional Court decision allowed private television stations to broadcast locally in Italy. Intended to open up TV frequencies to the private sector in Italy, the Constitutional Court limited private station owners to only local markets. This was intended to avoid monopolies and oligopolies from forming. Berlusconi with political cover from the Craxi government flagrantly breached the provisions set down by the Constitution Court and by 1984 Berlusconi was broadcasting on Rete 4, Canale 5, and Italia 5 covering almost the entire Italian peninsula. It should be noted that Bettino Craxi the Prime Minister was brought down by a huge corruption scandal in the late 1980s, and died in Tunisia a wanted fugitive from Italian justice in 2000.
Like all politicians, Berlusconi is a by-product of his environment. Understanding the clientilistic practices during the First Republic of Italy (1948-1992) and the United States supported Christian Democrats, Berlusconi learned that political access meant financial award. Since entering politics in 1993 to protect his financial and media empire, Berlusconi and his supporters have continued to exploit the system to their benefit. While he has been Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi has been able to use his power in the state television channels to further extend his power and influence. The type of power Berlusconi wields is equivalent to the owner of Fox News being President and Speaker of the House, while being allowed to appoint directors at 4/5 of the cable news outlets, owning several national newspapers and only the opposition having a voice on PBS public television.
In addition to the TV stations and his Media Set empire, he also has owns five national newspapers, over twenty magazines, and even the most successful soccer team in Italy, AC Milan. It is no wonder why Italy ranks as a partial free country when it comes to press freedom by the American organization Freedom House and ranked as the 50th best place in the world for press freedom by the non-governmental organization, Reporters without Borders.
Underscoring the synergy between the business and political success of Silvio Berlusconi was the news that Mediaset, the Milan-based media company that helped Berlusconi become one of the world’s richest men with a fortune of $9 billion, erased early losses and gained as much as 5 percent, after the recent no confidence vote. Mediaset stock gained 3.3 percent to close at 4.64 euros on the day of the no confidence vote.
Although Italy has the highest level of public debt in the Euro zone, forecast at 118.5 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) for this year, the reaction on the markets was positive, with the benchmark FTSE Mib index closing up 0.36 per cent.
Italy—Full Democracy to Flawed Democracy Under Berlusconi
The elevated level of political corruption in Italy combined with the near total control of the media by Silvio Berlusconi in Italy has greatly contributed to the recent 2010 Democracy Index by the Economist Magazine to rank Italy as a flawed democracy. Due to the strengthening of anti-immigrant political forces in Italy such as Umberto Rossi’s Lega Nord (Northern League) political party and the disaffection with the political system by the centrists like Gianfranco Fini, Italy is considered to have the same type of democracy as Panama and South Africa.
According to The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Index of Democracy 2010:
Since the Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi, returned to power in 2008, the media situation has deteriorated significantly. In addition to owning and controlling Mediaset, which comprises three national television channels, Mr. Berlusconi also has indirect control over RAI, the state broadcaster. RAI 1, the state channel with the largest audience, has repeatedly chosen to limit coverage of, or completely ignore, negative news about Mr. Berlusconi or his close associates. There has also been political pressure on RAI to cancel or curtail several popular left-leaning programs for their criticism of Mr. Berlusconi and his government is widespread in Western Europe, as reflected in many countries by declining levels of trust and confidence in political institutions.
The Economist Magazine analysis that cites negative news stories of Berlusconi or his ‘close associates’ not being reported on in the Italian media controlled by Berlusconi, refers to individuals such as Marcello Dell’Utri, a Sicilian lawyer convicted twice of having business relations with the Cosa Nostra Sicilian Mafia. The close relationship between Marcello Dell’Utri and Silvio Berlusconi further demonstrates the close relationship between the political power of the mafia in Italian politics and why Silvio Berlusconi has been able to remain in power.
For readers wanting to read more about the power of the mafia in Italian politics, the books Excellent Cadavers by Alexander Stille and A Concise History of Italy 1943-1980 and Italy and Its Discontents 1980-2001 both by Florence University professor Paul Ginsborg would be good places to start.
0 comments:
Post a Comment