Articles by: E. M.

  • Berlusconi and His Crew


     

    The 60th Italian government since the end of the Second World War was sworn in on Thursday. In a ceremony led by President Giorgio Napolitano, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and 21 ministers of his center-right cabinet pronounced a solemn oath on the Italian Constitution. It marks the media tycoon’s fourth non-consecutive term as head of government.

     

    Berlusconi’s new cabinet rallies figures from various right-wing parties, and among them, many familiar faces. Gianni Letta, the PM’s close business and political aide, was named Cabinet Secretary, and according to Berlusconi is “a gift from God to all Italians”. Umberto Bossi, famously at the helm of the anti-immigration Northern League party—a man stalwartly and controversially in favor of a federalist system that gives greater autonomy to the North—will be minister of reforms. Roberto Calderoli, also of the Northern League and Berlusconi’s former minister of reforms, is now in charge of “simplification” (in other words, simplifying the Parliament and reducing its costs). Calderoli is best known in the media for having upset Muslims when he proposed pigs be brought in to discourage plans for the construction of a new mosque in Bologna and unbuttoning his shirt to reveal underneath, a t-shirt bearing an offensive cartoon of the Prophet Muhammad, setting off violent demonstrations in Libya. He has also been criticized by animal rights organizations for keeping wolves as pets. Roberto Maroni, another Northern league veteran and fierce advocate of federalism, is Minister of the Interior.

     

    Giulio Tremonti of Berlusconi’s People of Liberty/ Forza Italia party, who has served in previous Berlusconi administrations, was re-cast as Finance Minister. He is a university lecturer long in favor of tax-cutting and most recently delivered a speech on the dangers of globalization. The National Alliance party’s Ignazio La Russa is the new Minister of Defense, and curiously, has a predilection for Native American culture, naming his sons Geronimo, Lorenzo Cochise and Leonardo Apache.  

     

    The cabinet’s four women include the youngest of the pack, Giorgia Meloni. At 31 she is Youth Minister, while Stefania Prestigiacomo, frequently in the media spotlight by way of her feminist proclivities and blonde good looks, was named Minister for the Environment. Although former Miss Italia contestant and Maxim cover girl Mara Carfagna, whose Google image search yields more thongs than pantsuits, could probably give Ms. Prestigiacomo a run for her money. Berlusconi appointed Carfagna Minister for Equal Opportunities and has said of her “she is beautiful inside and outside”. The more muted Maria Stella Gelmini, a defender of family values who is close to the Catholic Church, is Minister of Education.

     

    The varied cast of characters will join Berlusconi at the first cabinet meeting in Naples early next week. The choice is symbolic of Berlusconi’s promise to resolve the embattled city’s trash crisis, which has lately prompted the European Commission to file a lawsuit against Italy for improper waste disposal.

     

    Walter Veltroni, the center-left Democratic Party’s leader, responded to Berlusconi’s cabinet appointments by forming his own “shadow government”. The 21 officials on his side include nine women and as Veltroni put it, “will serve as an instrument of opposition to the actions of the Berlusconi government and bring about alternative solutions”.

     
     
     
     
     
     
     
  • Facts & Stories

    March 8th, International Women’s Day, a century-old event


     The large-scale marches held in Rome by Cigl, Cisl and Uil, Italy’s most important trade unions, harken back to the highly political founding of Women’s Day. Though the holiday is especially popular in the former Soviet bloc, where it benignly acts a sort of Valentine’s Day or Mother’s Day, Women’s Day owes its history to the U.S. women’s movement of the early 1900s.

     
    In 1908, when oppression and inequality were spurring women to activism, 15 000 women marched through New York City demanding shorter hours, better pay, and voting rights in the first protest of its kind. Three years later, immediately following the declaration of International Women’s Day in Copenhagen, a fire in a downtown-New York City garment factory claimed 140 lives. The victims, all women—nearly all Jewish or Italian immigrants, either died in the fire or jumped to their deaths. The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire, as the tragedy is commonly known, drew attention to appalling work conditions across the U.S. and to labor legislation, which became a focus of future Women’s Day proceedings.
     
    The shadow of Women’s Day labor history loomed large in Rome, suggesting that the work of women a hundred years ago was nowhere near done. At Saturday’s labor unions rally, Equal Opportunities Minister Barbara Pollastrini spoke out against Italy’s disappointing female employment rates. “We must be there in the squares, cities and institutions to hammer home our independence. We ask for more jobs for women, especially in the south.”
     
    At 46.9 %, Italy is well below the European Union’s average percentage, of 58.8 %, for women in employment. In a listing of individual European countries’ female employment records, Italy is second from the bottom, topping only Malta. And though the portion of Italian women that are company directors is comparable to the European average, women remain woefully under-represented in Italian politics. Only 13 out of 78 members of parliament are women.
     
    In Rome The National Feminist and Lesbian Assembly led their own charge a day early. Friday they protested violence against women and defended women’s reproductive rights, or in other words, a woman’s legally recognized right to an abortion. Much like in the U.S., abortions have infamously been used by Italian politicians as a hook to energize the religious and right-wing electorate. And though abortions are permitted by law in Italy, anti-abortion sentiment runs deep.
     
    In keeping with the spirit of the day, Italy’s president Giorgio Napolitano reiterated unequivocally Italian women’s pro-choice rights. This was in contrast to statements made by the anti-abortion figure, Giuliano Ferrara, who took advantage of the day to launch his “Abortion? No thanks” campaign. In a crush of journalists and onlookers his wife Anselma, and celebrity feminist Gabriella, were also involved in a heated altercation.
     
    During a day that proved more impassioned than celebratory, in which women, more than in years past, took to the streets with fists raised, other issues such as underage prostitution and the rights of immigrant women were on the lips of demonstrators. Some concepts even transcended left to right-wing party lines. In Milan a local branch of the ultra-conservative Northern League waived the traditional handing-out of mimosa flowers and opted instead for cans of mace. ''Rather than mimosa, the women of Milan are increasingly in need of safety”, a Northern League representative said. All over Italy it seemed that the mood demanded something more than flowers, something more abiding and with the promise of action.