It was, in a sense, a political exorcism. At least Fabrizio Cicchitto, a leading member of Berlusconi’s Popolo della Libertà would have had us believe.
On the 14th of may, at the first sitting of the newly elected parliament, Cicchitto (who in 1981 admitted to being a member of the Masonic Lodge P2), speaking for the motion to elect Berlusconi Prime Minister (a foregone conclusion) incanted a solemn rite:
“I can say with certainty, listening to the debate in this parliament, that we find ourselves in a new political phase in which, while before civil war, cold war and strategic pacts were ambiguosly intermingled, now we seek to confront each other in a clear and transparent way between majority and oppostion, in a normal encounter, without pact-building, but without direct attacks and demonisation“[emphasis added](1)
At this point any decent dramatist would turn the camera onto the shining and statesman-like face of Silvio Berlusconi (giving him warning, though, to avoid any embarrasing moments ). A puff of smoke, and perhaps the sound of wind rushing out of the chamber (not so far-fetched, that one) to let all know that the new Prime Minister is no-longer to be considered as a demon. He is, at last, an ordinary man, albeit extraordinarily powerful.
Tricky things demons, though. No sooner have you cleared up one, and it skips merrily into some other corporeal form.
As Cicchitto spoke to parliament, further south in Napoli the remains of a Gypsy camp, burned by angry locals, were still smouldering. Firefighters had been booed when they tried to put out flames. The camps had been hastily abandoned prior to the burning meaning.
The anger of locals in the Ponticelli district took shape as news broke that a 16 year old ‘Roma’ had walked/broke into an appartment and had been caught red-handed trying to steal a baby. Classic demonic behaviour this – and as the experts over the centuries have always stressed, the best way to fight infernal beings is with fire.
Just days before, another case of presumable demonic possesion overtook noted journalist Marco Travaglio, as he spoke ill, on prime-time television, of current Senate leader Renato Schiffani. Travaglio suggested that the current #2 of the Italian Republic (the senate leader takes over the presidency of the Republic, should anything happen to the current President) had associated with mafiosi in the past (Schiffani founded a firm that had amongst its shareholders Nino Mandalà, who would later be convicted for mafia offences, being described as the ‘boss’ of the town of Villabate). Accusations that have been published for some time by both Travaglio and other journalists – indeed Schifani sued journalist Marco Lillo in 2002 for similar accusations, only to have his case thrown out in 2007 as the judge held the article in question to be substantially true(2). Cue a political uproar. Maurizio Gasparri of the former post-fascist party Alleanza Nazionale and one-time Minister of Communications , threatened there would be ‘political consequences’. In short, a political outcry for an exorcism in RAI, the state broadcaster. An exorcism which would take the form of banning Travaglio.
Would that all demons were as easily exorcised as the one tarnishing Berlusconi’s name. Despite his ever-present conflicts of interest, charges of corruption, and poor sense of humour*, all it took was a spirit of goodwill on the part of the opposition, led by Walter Veltroni (the political equivalent of a sprinkling of holy water), and the man who was a serious threat to democracy suddenly becomes the great statesman.
It will prove harder to exorcise the demons seen in Travaglio or amonst the Roma gypsies – not least because, despite the fact that every man on the street (or at least those that watch the ‘news’) knows their evil deeds, the facts stubbornly refuse to back up the accusations against them.
Travaglio repeated an accusation that is present in a number of published books – none of which have, to the best of this Monkey’s knowledge – been subject to legal action from Schifani. Schifani has not made any public appearances to respond to the accusations. Rightly politicians, and editors of some of the main newspapers have concentrated not on the substance of the allegations, but rather on the intent of Travaglio, because as any demonologist worth his salt will tell you, intent is everything when it comes to demons.
More disturbing are the elements surrounding the case of the Roma kidnapping in Napoli. Despite the fact that, again, every man on the street knows that they have a long history of stealing children, thus far no-one seems to be able to provide any proof of this. Every time a child goes missing in Italy the alert goes up, and yet the closest they’ve come to proof was a case a number of years ago when a young girl (denise) was kidnapped from Sicily and later apparently spotted and photographed in a gypsy camp in Northern Italy. The newspapers and televsion were quick to spread the good news, that finally proof had been found for what had long been suspected – that gypsies steal babies (like witches, and the Jews before them). They were slower to later reveal that the child identified was actually a boy, and the son of a Roma family.
The case in Napoli has proven particularly frustrating – though thankfully the newspapers have kept most of the ambiguity absent fromt their reports. Contradictions brought to light by human rights group Everyone simply served to muddy the waters when every journalist, and government minister, knew what had taken place – to the point where current Interior Minister Maroni, on the nightly news, put the camp burnings into context for the man on the street:
“We need to look after Italian citizens. The accusations made, that people threw molotovs into the gypsy camps are serious and supported, and obviously it’s something that’s wrong, but it’s worth remembering the crimes committed, in particular the attempted kidnapping of a six-month old infant” (3))
Absent in particular amidst all this torch-waving were the questions surrounding the involvment of organised crime in the camp burnings, and the very significant fact that the land in question is due for massive redevelopment funding – provided work starts in the coming months.
The lord works in mysterious ways it’s true, and the devil is in the details.
# This monkey would be lying if he said he didn’t chuckle every now and then thanks to Silvio. It’s unlikely, though, that russian journalist Natalia Melikova saw the joke when Berlusconi mimed a shooting in response to her difficult questio to buddy Vladimir Putin.
1)”Dico che certamente, ascoltando il dibattito in questo Parlamento, ci troviamo in una nuova fase politica nella quale, mentre prima si intrecciavano ambiguamente guerra civile fredda e consociativismo, adesso cerchiamo di confrontarci in modo limpido e trasparente tra maggioranza e opposizione, in un confronto normale, senza consociativismi, ma senza scontri frontali e senza demonizzazioni.” – As published on Hon. Cicchitto’s site (http://www.fabriziocicchitto.it/html/argoblog.asp?IDa=180&IDu=3)
2)Su schifani ho raccontato solo fatti – Marco Travaglio, Repubblica 14/05/2008
3) “Dobbiamo intervenire per tutelare i cittadini italiani. Le accuse che sono fatte a chi e’ andato a buttare le molotov nei campi rom sono accuse fondate e non si deve fare naturalmente, pero non va dimenticato cio che e’ stato compiuto, i reati, in particolare il tentativo di sequestro di un neonato di sei mesi” – TG1 20/05/2008