Politics in Italy is much like a situation comedy or a zombie horror movie, or at least that is what the uninitiated may believe.
Recently, two prime political movers, one of whom just happens to be comic in real life, Beppe Grillo, called the far from comical leader, Pier Luigi Bersani, a failure, and labelled him a zombie too, just for good measure.
Not only did the leader of Italy’s Five Star Movement accuse Bersani of being a failure and a zombie, Grillo also said the man was P2 friendly. The P2, if you did not know, was a kind of underground secret society which attempted to take control of Italy.
Just to stoke the flames a little more, another politician waded in and referred to Bersani as an ageing bully.
Pier Luigi Bersani, who has been the leader of Italy’s democratic party for quite some time, has not managed to end up as prime minister of Italy. This is primarily because his party is not terribly convincing. One could go further and say the PD is utterly unconvincing. It did not, for example, manage to stop Italians from choosing Berlusconi over Bersani, a couple of times. Bersani’s leadership could have something to do with this, as Beppe Grillo would no doubt agree.
Once Silvio Berlusconi, another comic at times, had jumped into Italy’s driving seat, the opposition led by Bersani was pretty much ineffective. The Bersani led PD could have used the Rubygate and bunga bunga affairs to much greater effect. For reasons unknown, the PD also kept very quiet on Berlusconi’s conflicts of interest.
Nice chap that he seems to be, Bersani has to a great extent failed, so Beppe Grillo’s charge is actually truthful. As for Bersani being a zombie, I do not know.
Some in Italy do think Bersani should stand down and make way for a new face. Bersani, on the other hand, and like so many of Italy’s politicians, wants another crack at Italy’s top spot. Hence the zombie jibe. Politicians in Italy come back from the dead far, far too often, and then some. And old, petrified minds are not too handy at solving modern problems, nor Italy’s traditional problems such as corruption and the distinct lack of meritocracy.
Stop reading, start speaking
Stop translating in your head and start speaking Italian for real with the only audio course that prompt you to speak.
To counter Beppe Grillo’s comments, Bersani, who became terribly uppity, has labelled Grillo and his followers “web fascists”, which was not exactly the greatest counter jibe of all time.
The sparks are still flying and will continue to do so. Italy’s voters will continue to have no idea who to take seriously and, of course, who to vote for. Such silly little spats occur with remarkable regularity in situation comedy that is Italian politics.
What I would love to know is who the heck the scriptwriters are? If this were a real (slight contradiction in terms, I know) situation comedy, it would not have lasted past the first season, if not the first episode.
But this is Italy, so the comedy is likely to keep on coming, a bit like the zombies in horror films.
Once Monti has been consigned to history, Italy will be placed back in the same comical/zombie hands which got the country in such a mess in the first place.
In Italy, elections are resurrections. The zombies will be back in 2013. Or else Italy will end up being run by a web fascist comedian.
Talking of resurrections, Italy is still waiting for Silvio Berlusconi to definitively announce his comeback. Yet another zombie.
Perhaps Beppe Grillo has a point.
Politics in Italy is really funny, don’t you think?
