Today, according to most of the centre-left newspapers, we’re witnessing a historic moment. The birth of a new party – the Partito Democratico, along with an american style primary to decide the leader of the party – which will be Rome’s mayor Walter Veltroni.
On the official face of it, this is a new begining for Italian politics – having finally come good on Aldo Moro’s historic compromise between centrist catholics and the left-wing (Moro was kidnapped and murdered by the Red Brigades shortly after declaring the compromise – perhaps equally to the relief of many on the right). The party is fundamentally founded on the union of the two largest centre-left parties The Margherita and the Democratici di Sinistra both of whom are currently serving in Prodi’s coalition government. The creation of one large centre-left party will, in theory, allow the presentation at the election of one dominant national party – jettisoning many of the small parties that seem to interminably hold the legislature to ransom for purely local interests. Berlusconi is already working on a similar move on the right side of the political spectrum, which – if coupled with a sympathetic electoral reform – will pave the way to a new two-party system.
The innovation of this move is trumpeted by the newspapers (the majority of which recieve funding from the government – but that’s another story), but what must strike any neutral observer is the deja vu of it all.
Veltroni, for example, was involved in the last great rupture and innovation on the left – the splitting of the Italian Communist Party (PCI) in 1989 (a month after the fall of the Berlin Wall). The split involved the founding of a new party – which eventually adopted the name of Democratici di Sinistra – with many of the old faces.
The origins of this new ‘democratic’ party are similar. Sure, there’s the need to reduce the stranglehold of small parties on the national government, but one of the more important factors behind the birth of the new party is the simple need to change image after the disastrous election results of 2006, and the fiercely unpopular first year of the Prodi government. A cosmetic change at best.
This is demonstrated brilliantly by the choice of name, and candidate for Party leader. Partito Democratico is a master-stroke, almost up there with Berlusconi’s brilliant marketing coup of Forza Italia. Single-handedly, it puts the patent on the term ‘democratic’ – as if registering a trademark or domain name. Your other parties might have their pros, but we are the democratic ones. The fact that the election for party leader is from a list of five candidates, only one of which has even vaguely the same public profile as Veltroni indicates how this new party will define ‘democracy’. In the information age this new party defiantly retains the top-down model of power. We’ll choose the candidates, and the people can rubber-stamp the choice. Innovative my arse.
The one-sided nature of the primary is even more dissapointing given the fact that Veltroni is a hugely popular candidate who could see off most contenders. It’s a coincidence that he’s a Juventus fan – like them he’s sure to win due to his merits most of the time, but unwilling to take the risk of losing that is a necessary pre-condition of a true democratic contest.
The man that has been described as Italy’s Bill Clinton (I think it was meant as a compliment…), will be eagerly watching Gordon Brown’s progress in the U.K. Like him he’s waiting in the wings, hoping to step in at just the right moment to reverse the falling popularity of the government, no-doubt with a snap election hoping to catch Berlusconi’s mob on the hop. Like Brown it will be a cosmetic change – the new party will have an overwhelming majority of old faces involved. True, Veltroni is not serving in this half-arsed excuse for a government, but most of his mates and future party colleagues are.
There are various things to recommend Veltroni, I’m sure, but one emblematic moment sticks in this monkey’s mind. Veltroni, appearing on a popular television show Le Invasioni Barbariche, was interviewed by Daria Bignardi (perhaps the only decent interviewer in Italy) who pressed him on his oft-announced decision to retire from political life after a second term of office as Mayor of Rome. Veltroni, serenely, without doubt, announced that he would dedicate himself to other things – including working in Africa – after his term ended. He expressly said he would not be looking to succeed Prodi as the preferred leader of the centre-left.
Perhaps that’s what the papers mean when they talk of a ‘historic’ moment – yet another occasion when a reluctant leader is convinced by the people to take power. A reluctant leader with the courage, integrity and respect for democracy of Gore, Clinton, and Gore – in that order.