The Man Booker International Prize list has been announced for 2007. Not surprisingly there are no Italian novelists included. Not surprisingly as the English-language publishing world takes a lot of interest in ‘international’ but not ‘foreign’ literature. There are plenty of great living novelists in Italy, but few who manage to get published in English. […]
Generally speaking, nothing irritates this monkey more than bloggers talking about bloggers – be they Irish, Italian, or otherwise. Having said that, the latest post on Alessandro Longo‘s excellent blog is worth sharing. Talking about the debate as to whether blogging – specifically in an Italian context – can become a profession, Longo draws attention […]
Adjmal Nashkbandi, the Afghan interpreter kidnapped alongside the now-free Italian journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo, payed the ultimate price for not-being Italian, when the Taliban executed him yesterday.
Mastrogiacomo was released on the 19th of March, in a deal that involved the release of five taliban prisoners by the Afghan government. Nashkbandi, though, was not released at the same time, being kept by the Taliban in order to force more concessions from Karzait’s government. Concessions that were never likely to come.
On the 2nd of April a very public message was delivered to the new President of the Italian Bishops Conference, Archbishop Bagnasco. Daubed on the doors of Genoa’s San Lorenzo cathedral were the words ‘Shame on you Bagnasco’1
The message was, presumably, a reaction to the controversy generated by the newly appointed succesor to Cardinal Ruini, and his clarification as to why the Italian Bishops Conference has publicly opposed upcoming legislation which would grant legal rights to de facto couples (including homosexuals)[legislation referred to popularly as DICO, from it’s acronym in Italian].
One thing that the worlds of entertainment and politics have in common in Italy is the fact that most of the key figures involved are past the normally accepted retirment age.
The political stage is dominated by figures like Silvio Berlusconi (age 72), Romano Prodi (age 67), not to mention the cabal which recently brought down the government in the senate – Giulio Andreotti (age 88) and Francesco Cossiga (age 78).
Entertainment on both the public and private TV channels is dominated by figures like Pippo Baudo (age 77), and Mike Buongiorno (age 83).
Last week the release of journalist Daniele Mastrogiacomo sparked off controversy left, right, and centre – outside Italy. Inside Italy, apart from some opportunistic jibes from Berlusconi*, virtually all political parties supported the government’s efforts to release Mastrogiacomo, who had been held captive in Afghanistan by the Taliban.
Gianni Di Michelis, former Italian Foreign Minister, and author of ‘where shall we dance tonight? A guide to 250 of Italy’s best discos’, las night dismissed the women behind the campaign to block expansion of the American military base in Vicenza as ‘Nimbys’*. Our disco-dancing Kissinger is far from alone, at least in the political […]
The day after Romano Prodi’s government fell, the majority of left-wing and right-wing newspapers frothed around the two dissenting ‘radical’ left wing senators* Fernando Rossi and Franco Turigliatto, both of whom had refused to vote for their government in the senate, helping to cause the collapse of the government. That so much attention should be […]
During today’s lunch time news, on the state-funded channel RAI1, we got the following news. “Praying is not a matter of choice. It’s a question of life and death. Only those who pray will gain eternal life in paradise”. The news report quoted, almost word for word, Ratzy’s weekly wanderings from his balcony. I waited […]
The centre-right opposition parties could scarcely contain their glee last night, as special panel shows were hastily put together to discuss the unfolding crisis. And who could blame them. A consistent line was taken, as if the election campaign were already underway (something that is far from certain). Across the board spokesmen for Berlusconi’s Forza […]
