Things are starting to look abnormally ominous for press freedom in Italy. Legislation introducing new wire-tapping, or rather, anti-wire-tapping stroke press gagging rules, took a step closer to being written into Italy’s law books yesterday after the bill proposing the changes passed though Italy’s Senate.
Senators who are members of the Italian Values opposition party caused a stir yesterday when they occupied government seats in Italy’s Senate in protest at the attempt to push the bill through. The unruly senators where duly kicked out of Italy’s senate until voting on the wire-tapping bill was to commence.
Former Italian prime minister Romano Prodi stated that the proposed legislation will cause breathing problems for democracy in Italy. Ferrari boss Luca Cordero di Montezemolo commented that the new laws have not been thought through well enough.
Differing Points of View
While Berlusconi and his crew are claiming that the new wire-tapping laws will reinforce the rights of Italians to privacy, others believe that the laws will ensure that many, which includes plenty of Italy’s dodgy politicians, will be able to get away with even more skulduggery than they’ve been used to getting away with.
Berlusconi himself is reportedly unhappy that the new laws will not go far enough, whereas Italy’s press are convinced that they will go far too far, and effectively gag Italy’s news media.
The Economist in its article entitled Italy’s Gagging Law – Private Lives does not not think the proposed sections regarding reporting are overly restrictive. Indeed, they would not be, if Italy did not suffer from levels of corruption which are way above normal. Then, there is the constitutional aspect.
On the face of it, the amended wire-tapping law does appear to go against Article 21 (1) of the Italian Constitution, which grants “Everyone the right to freely express thoughts in speech, writing, and by other communication.”. Furthermore, the Sword of Damocles in the form of fines and imprisonment for editors and journalists who infringe the proposed new legislation by reporting certain items, appears to go against the spirit of Article 21 (2) – “The press may not be controlled by authorization or submitted to censorship.”. See this post on BlogfromItaly.com: Wire Tapping Troubles in Italy, for more on the wire-tapping situation and the full text, in English, of Article 21 of the Italian constitution.
What we can be sure of is that Italy’s justice minister and his team have been jumping through hoops to find wording for the new legislation which cannot easily be challenged as being unconstitutional in Italy’s Constitutional Court, or elsewhere.
Bill is Nearly Law
Now the bill will go before Italy’s House of Deputies, and then, if it passes, will head for Italy’s President Napolitano, who can either send it back for amendment, or sign it into law.
Even if Napolitano signs, and he will probably be brow-beaten by Berlusconi into doing so, challenges on the grounds of the constitutionality of the law will still be possible. In the meanwhile though, the law will be binding. There are also proposals afoot to appeal to the European Court of Human Rights, should all other appeal avenues lead to dead ends.
Corruption Brushed Under the Carpet
If the law does go through, Italy, which is already riddled with corruption, (See: Corruption Begins in the Cradle in Italy) will become even worse, only most incidences, one suspects, will be brushed under the carpet. Italy’s press, which is already suffering from falling revenues, will have its hands tied, so Italy’s citizens will remain none the wiser, which appears to be what Berlusconi is angling for. Berlusconi’s concept of corruption, and mafia, is perhaps a little different from that of most peoples, or so it would seem. Pietro Lunardi, a minister in one of Berlusconi’s former governments once publicly stated that Italy needs to live with the existence of the mafia.
The new wire-tapping laws will, potentially, make life easier for Italy’s various mafias, as has been pointed out by Italy’s very own anti-mafia body, and by the US Justice Department.
Journalists to Strike
The 8th and 9th July in Italy are scheduled to be days of ‘noisy silence‘, as Italy’s print and broadcast media strikes in protest at the forthcoming wire-tapping legislation. The situation is looking somewhat bleak for the future of the freedom of the press in Italy at the moment. If the law does come into force, and stays there, it will be interesting to see how Freedom House rates levels of press freedom in Italy.
Is there any hope? Well, Italian independent newspaper, Il Fatto Quotidiano, despite sporting a black armband, believes there is, and it comes in the form of the world wide web.
Offshore Press
What Il Fatto Quotidiano is proposing to do, is to set up a website beyond Italy’s jurisdiction which will publish news stories which could not be run in Italy, thus circumventing Italy’s press-gag. There would, if fact, be a network of what could be called offshore Italian news websites carrying stories which have been banned in Italy. This, to an extent, will help preserve the spirit of Italy’s constitution, although the press which is friendly to Berlusconi will no doubt do all in its power to discredit these offshore news sources.
The really sad thing though, is that this change to Italy’s wire-tapping laws has been effectively brought about by Italy’s press who have been simply reporting who is being investigated for what. The sort of thing the press in any normal county does anyway. The ‘who’ in many recent cases has been Berlusconi and his associates.
Other Italian newspapers are wearing black armbands today as well, ANSA: Press protests wiretap bill
Is Italy a normal country? Or is it destined to become the European version of Burma? Answers via a comment.
Photo credit:
Gag photo by Lorelei7
Lastminute Angebote says
No country is bad or good itself,just its population make it so.and some times Government and politicians represent the country through their laws.
Partigiano says
Hi Alex thank to you for this discussion and for host my comments, few people outside italy knows enough about the “dark side” of its history so I’m happy if people that reads your articles could learn something that “tourist guides” don’t show 🙂
And sorry for my euro-english, my expressive skills are inherited from high-school period; really I have very strong difficult to use correctly the phrasal verbs and the consecutio temporum.
Thanks a lot and best summer 😀
Partigiano says
Addendum:
http://www.ilfattoquotidiano.it/2010/07/08/la-nuova-p2-di-denis-verdini-ecco-perche-b-non-vuole-il-bavaglio/38100/comment-page-9/#comment-462798
Alex Roe says
Hi Partigiano,
I was aware of the P2, and that Berlusconi was apparently (still is??) a member. However, I did not know much about P2. Now, thanks to your links, I know much more.
Very interesting – if people can read Italian, but for those who can’t there is a Wikipedia entry here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_Due
Do you think P2 is still active? Gelli has been on the telly here in Italy a couple of times quite recently. Could this mean that the P2 is re-grouping, or has re-grouped?
Best,
Alex
Alex
Partigiano says
P2 was never officially dismantled. It nominally was a masonic lodge, many of its members were politicians, high-ranking military people, journalists, financial tycoons. It was and it is in activity, because some of its members actually are present in the Berlusconi admininstration. I read that investigators think P2 belongs to an international network especially active during cold war period(the “Stay Behind” NATO operation is another piece of this complicated puzzle if you like puzzles :-D).
You can find P2 behind the scenes of the political misteries of the italian history after world war II. If you analize the political programme of Berlusconi it resembles in a very embarrassing way to the “Piano di rinascita democratica”. Sometimes ago a journalist of the newspaper “l’Unità” interviewed Gelli. He told the journalist, speaking half serious half joking, that he would to obtain royalties from Berlusconi because the “Cavaliere” used its own political format and ideas to gain power in Italy.
Here is on youtube a journalistic inquiry taken from italian broadcast tv RAI that explains what was P2.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZuUlymH6bco&feature=PlayList&p=676F2512B95F1A42&playnext_from=PL&index=0&playnext=1
It is in italian language of course but it is well made and very accurate.
Alex Roe says
Hi Partigiano,
Interesting you should have mentioned the “Piano di rinascita democratica”, as I had noticed the similarities to what the Berlusconi government is up to. Not all of the plan is that bad, but what is worrying is the control – who is involved and what they are up to.
Interesting too, to hear that you think P2 is most probably still active.
The fear of communism thing has worn a little thin, the Cold War ended years ago, and Russia is no longer a commie state. Even China is moving steadily away from communism. It seems Italy is rather stuck in a time warp, but then it is the Living Museum!
I’ll watch the video. I don’t think the Italian will cause me many problems.
Best,
Alex
Partigiano says
I heard that Juan Domingo Peron, the argentinian dictator, was in friendly relations with Gelli. Gelli himself was a Mussolini’s fascist “gerarca” and before the end of the war he worked for the military american intelligence service OSS(now OSS is well known as C.I.A.).
In italy neo-fascism, mafia, some intelligence departments named “deviati”(deviato is not perfectly translatable it is something like traitor), political corruption, a type of masonry, some vatican state apparatus(try searching for IOR Vatican central ank and weapons traffic, you could be a little astonished) are all connected by a single subltle thread.
NATO used these political situation as anticommunist weapon.
I’m sorry sayin’ this, but U.S. government or better, some parts of the U.S. government contributed in several ways to this situation because of coldwar, but when U.S.S.R. fall down U.S. gov did nothing to correct its interventions.
During the sovietic-afghanistan war, US supplied the anticommunists mujaideen and talibans with antiaerial weapons, then after the sovietic withdrawal, US abandoned afghan people to its fate.
Something similar happened to italy.
Several times Italy try to turn its status of semi-democracy into a real, western democracy, but outside forces prevented it.
Thankfully communism is over, but the italian “talibans” still have the power.
P.S. actually circa 90 U.S. nuclear warheads are deployed on the italian soil. Question: is the world more safe with this military nuclear power in the hand of a governmente that is in very friendly relations with Putin and Geddafi?
Alex Roe says
Hi Again, Partigiano,
I’ve been watching the documentary on P2. Very interesting, as I thought it would be. I noticed that it stretched its tentacles beyond Italy’s shores.
I also noted that ‘fascist’ Gelli, swiftly changed sides when he realised that fascism in Italy had no future. Gelli was after power, and he did not give a damn how he got it – up to and including selling out his own country. I think he would have been tried for high treason if he had done the same in the UK.
Yes, the US was very paranoid about communism for a good few years – Mccarthyism during the 50s was a manifestation of this extreme paranoia. In some ways, this paranoia is easy to understand, in that communist Russia was a brutal place under Stalin – who murdered millions.
At the end of the day, and on the ground, though, communism and fascism are very remarkably similar – in that lots of power ends up being vested in often brutal people. No communist countries have worked. Only China has come close, and even it has had to concede that communism does not really work. Mao killed millions too. Cuba and North Korea are collapsing.
Anyone who believes in communism is either a utopian idealist or a megalomaniac. Whereas communism is a nice idea on paper, it cannot work – mankind is not mature enough for it to work at this point. It might be ready in 1000 years or so.
Fascism on the other hand, is an ugly idea both on paper and in its implementation, and it appeals to megalomaniacs.
I’m not in favour of any ‘ism’ which believes anyone is superior to anyone else. Capitalism, while not socially beneficial (depending upon who holds the purse strings) tends to be a little more democratic than either fascism or communism – and is closer to the current state of the human mind. Socialism, again, a nice idea on paper, cannot work, once again because humanity is not ready for it. We’re still animals – we want power, and trappings, and we’ll kill to have them – not all of us, but many of us.
The US has acted in some strange ways, many of which are open to question. Italy is useful strategically for the US. Those nukes may come in handy, one day. Personally, I think the disadvantages of nuclear weapons outweigh their advantages. Killing lots of people makes lots of others angry – just look at Israel – but I can understand why Israel is heavy handed – you’d be that way if someone brutally murdered your children – I know I would be.
Sorry, I digress. Back to Italy. This country seems unable to survive without cliques – everything in Italy is run by one clique or another. I don’t understand why this is the case exactly, as I am not a psychologist. I’m trying to understand why, but I’m not sure I’ll live long enough!
Thanks for your comments – and feel free to continue this discussion.
Best,
Alex
Partigiano says
Is Italy a Normal Country? No it’s not… Berlusconi’s law against free press and against judiciary has a precedent in the country history. This precedent is the so called “Piano di rinascita democratica” a black operation of a subversive organisation named “Propaganda 2” or P2 that in the early 80’s tried a coupe d’etat to turn the democratic regime into a authoritarian government. Berlusconi himself was a member of Propaganda 2.
http://www.disinformazione.it/loggiaP2.htm
http://www.societacivile.it/focus/articoli_focus/massoni/p2.html