Pope’s
butler Paolo Gabriele is facing a trial for leaking stolen papal correspondence
the press. In his house, investigators
found not only the stolen dossiers, but also three presumed presents for the
Pope: a check made for Benedict XVI, a gold nugget and an ancient edition of
the Aeneid.
The so
called “Vatileaks” case is still extremely taboo in Italy, but now it seems to
be getting more covering. Paolo Gabriele claimed he stole
the documents because the Vatican is too corrupted, and he wanted to reveal its
scandals. But so far, the only one facing prison terms (up to 6 years) is the butler himself. His references to corruption and scandals so far have been almost ignored.
This is the video, with a translation, of one of my favourite songs, “Buonanotte all’Italia”
by Luciano Ligabue. It is a tribute to Italy, saying that despite all the things
are still wrong there, it is, and always will be, the most beautiful country in
world.
“Good night to Italy”
From a song to another
From toll-gates to stations
We made a day
That still had to be made
The moon took us
And put us to sleep
Or to circle our mouth
To be amazed and to smoke
Chorus:
As if the angels were there
Saying that, yeah
Everything is possible
Goodnight to Italy, she needs to get some rest
After all, there's a great amount of sea watching over her
There is some faded moss in this nativity
That never gets changed, nor taken down
And mosquitos-vampires that suck her there
And pump such a great blood right in their stomach
Goodnight to Italy, that you either make her or die (famous statement by Garibaldi, meaning that
they either had to unify the Italian state or they would never make it in any
other way)
Or you spend the night wanting to buy it
Chorus:
As if the angels were there
Saying that, yeah
Everything is possible
As if the devils were to say
That no, it is nothing but a fairy tale
Goodnight to Italy, that has too much to do
All the history books won't let her sleep
Lying on the world, under a private sky
Between St. Peters and Virgin Marys
Between progress and sin
Between a future that is coming, but seems in apnoea
And yesterday's scars that won't fade away
From caress to caress
From certainty to amazement
All this beauty without a navigator
Chorus:
As if the angels were there
Saying that, yeah
Everything is possible
As if the devils were to say
That no, it is nothing but a fairy tale
Goodnight to Italy, that has scars in her heart
And drips plugged in by who holds all the power
And looks distractedly at her, as if she were a wife
Or a game in the attic that is not appealing anymore
But a star always shines without any question
It forces you to see everything that is there
Goodnight to Italy, that you either make her or die
Or you spend the night wanting to do her
Italy really is a weird place. Instead of praising the Palermo magistrates that are trying to find the culprits of the Mafia massacre season, we get mad at the magistrates. Politicians label them "giustizialisti" (I've been looking for a translation and couldn't find it), meaning that they rather punish an innocent than not finding someone to punish (or something like that, it's a typical Italian concept that is quite hard to explain). Too many people are attacking the magistrates, and passing on the idea of the evil judge who doesn't care about justice and only acts in their self-interest. And a lot of newspapers don't even bother reporting the fact. The national newspaper "Il Fatto Quotidiano" started to collect signatures to show that there are people on the magistrates' side, and most of all on justice's side. For any Italian who wants to sign, here's the link. Marco Travaglio's article (Italian) and petition, named "We stand with the magistrates": http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2012/08/09/zero-tituli-2/321269/
Italian
walker Alex Schwazer failed a doping test, and he is out of the Olympics.
Italian
media are going crazy about the topic. We have already seen hundreds of
melodramatic reports going on and on about his fatal mistake, and they will
probably never get tired of broadcasting the interview where Schwazer burst into
tears admitting his faults.
Schwazer made
a huge mistake, that’s sure, and a hateful one. Assuming drugs to perform
better is definitely not sporting.
Anyway, now
they are turning him into a scapegoat. He tried to cheat and they got him. Unfortunately,
there are many more people who cheat and never get caught.
As wrong as
he was, to me Schwazer looks like a good guy who, in the end, was too afraid
not to satisfy other people’s expectations. He really seems to regret what he has done,
and I honestly think that what he needs the most now is psychological support.
I don’t mean
to make him look less guilty, but at least we have to admire the way he took responsibility
for assuming drugs. The minute he was caught he gave in. He apologized and said
that he deserves to be disqualified for life.
If only in
Italy we saw the same sense of responsibility in every other area besides
sport, maybe we would be a better country. You will never see an Italian
politician apologizing for their mistakes (which usually cause much more
damage) the way Alex Schwazer did.
He was
interviewed by The Wall Street Journal, and his statements already caused the
rage of Berlusconi’s party, People of Freedom. He claimed that Italy would be
in an even worse economic situation if it weren’t for his government.
Here is the
incriminated excerpt:
“Question:
Why, despite your measure, have Italy’s borrowing costs remained so high?
Mr Monti:
Spreads are still high because our debt is objectively very high, and markets
have started realising in a dramatic way that Eurozone governance is weak. France
has done much less reform than we have and yet its spreads are lower. I think
the reason is that people believe Germany will never let France go. I think
that if the previous government were still in power, Italy’s spreads would now
be at 1200 or something.”
Well, he
might be right. Monti could probably do more, but I have no doubt that if we had Berlusconi in power, he would still be claiming that there is no crisis
and therefore he wouldn’t do anything to solve it. And that holds for almost
every party in Italy. If the oppositions actually knew what to do, they would
be asking for early elections. They are all very good at criticising Monti, but
at least he is trying. Does anyone else in Italy actually have the guts to do
something?
Italian
Prime Minister Mario Monti was interviewed by the German magazine “Der Spiegel”.
He mainly discussed the future of the Eurozone, but he also talked about Italy.
He claimed that he wants to govern until the end of his mandate (April 2013),
and that he hopes that by then “Italy will be a little bit more boring to
foreign observers’ eyes”.
Yeah, right.
We Italians are never boring, especially when it comes to politics (and we will
be even more hilarious if Berlusconi actually comes back), but generally speaking we are undoubtedly amusing . The world will
always watch and smile. So, Monti, don’t even bother: we are not boring,
and never will be. That’s just too much fun.
Picture: Italian athlete holding the note "Mum, I'm here" during the Olympics opening ceremony. Would you call that "boring"?
Sicily’s
regional president, Raffaele Lombardo, resigned yesterday. He is under
investigation for Mafia ties, but Sicily has recently been hit by another
scandal: the region is at risk of defaulting on its debts. There must be a reason if they call it “the
Greece of Italy”. The rumour is spreading all over the world; even The New York
Times wrote a big article about it.
Sicily is
currently governed by the Movement for Autonomy, a party which wishes Sicily
seceded from Italy. Honestly, I have no idea how Sicily could survive on its
own, since it is already having trouble as it is. Sicily is already an
autonomous region, and as such it has almost full control of its tax revenue.
Whether they use it properly or not, that’s the question. It seems that Italy doesn’t want to let go of
Sicily simply because many parties need the votes of Sicilian people to
survive.
Meanwhile,
PM Mario Monti is sending 400 million euros to solve Sicily’s liquidity
problems.
Among all
the good news we hear recently, the thought of Sicily defaulting isn’t really
reassuring. As Italy is at risk of defaulting as well, let’s hope that Sicily
won’t start a chain reaction that will turn the whole country into another
Greece.
