I imagine that that is nothing special in certain circles in Italy but in the rest of Europe it is a bit like meeting someone who denies holocaust (think of it – how many Italians you know or have met and how many have said they vote for the buffone?). Most Berlusconianos are aware of that and will hence not tell foreigners, like me, that they actually vote for him. However, speaking Italian I sometimes manage to gain their trust.

Having now spoken to quite a few of them and having given it a bit of thought I believe we can put buffone-freaks/Berlusconianos into three categories:

1. The deniers

There are those who have been so brainwashed by now that they actually begin to believe that the man is not guilty of anything, that the media is not on his side, that the judges in Italy are all communists, that his accomplices do not manipulate media coverage, that passing legislation in parliament allowing for false accounting is not in his interest, etc. These are the closest to the holocaust deniers and are hard if not impossible to get thru to.

2. The ultra-pragmatists

Then there are those who admit everything: that he has mafia connections, has masonic lodge business, has committed bigscale the tax fraud, pass false accounting legislation to save his own ass, that he bribes judges, embezzles, that he uses the state to serve his own interests, etc – and then say that there is no alternative!

Now, you can choose to love to hate the other Italian parties – but accept all of the above and yet still vote for him takes a level of forgiveness that would leave even Mother Teresa gabing! The ultra-pragmatists basically say that the buffone is all he is charged for being and devil-like – but the others are the real devil (of whom you cannot accuse the same). To me that is not pragmatisme – that is taking it to a whole new level – ultra-pragmatisme.

3. The menofreghisti (the ‘I-couldn’t-care-less’)

This group has given up figuring out whether the guy is guilty, self-serving, immoral, or the like, but appreciates his entertainment value. They find it funny when he flips the bird, when he starts singing, when he keeps Angela Merkel waiting, when he shouts at politicians in the European Parliament – he constitutes a rebel for them – somebody who is just as indifferent to the establishment as they’d like to be if they had the chance.

The above serves mainly as an observation. However, it might be worth considering the above when trying to win over buffone-freaks and when targeting campaigns against the buffone. None of the three groups are easy to get through to. However, on the surface, the third group – the menofreghisti (the ‘I-couldn’t-care-less’) – would be the easiest. You would just need a bigger clown than the buffone (and there are people who do that for a living so that should not be hard to find). However, if a politicians does more clownacts than the buffone he might recruit this segment but he will alienate others (unless he, of course, have hundreds of people working for him on television channels assuring us that this kind of behaviour is normal!).

However, this is only one part of the problem – even more serious is that the other Europeans – and I think primarily of the politicians in the European Parliament and the Commission – have failed to address the biggest political embarassment in Europe since World War II. Let us hope that changes soon.

2009 turned out to be bad year for the buffone – independently of whether you like him or not!

His wife is divorcing him, one of his laywers has been convicted of taking a bribe from him, one of his many self-serving laws aiming at granting him immunity was overruled by the Italian constitutional court, a No Berlusconi day was launched not only in Italy but across the globe, he was hospitalised and suffered injuries after a heavy souvenir of the Milan cathedral was thrown in his face, his second in charge Fini was caught bad-mouthing him, he was humiliated publicly by Michelle Obama, made a fool of himself at EU summits, his approval ratings fell 10% (although still above 40% unfortunately), he lauded the last European Dictator saying ‘his people loved him’, etc.

However, he is still the Italian Prime minister and not yet on proper trial.

So, the pressure on him and his followers should increase not decrease in 2010. For the time being the constant reminding of who he is, what he stands for, his conflict of interest, his continuous efforts to demolish the Italian democracy – should not only continue but be enhanced.

And, he will fall. But he might not fall the way I would have expected a year ago where I thought he’d be losing to the opposition in various elections. However, now I think it is more likely that he will be dethroned by his own. As his popularity shrinks and even some his former allies reluctantly admit his failings, I find it more likely that the dissatisfaction within his own ranks decreases only to eventually dethrone him.

This is would also be the best way. As his governance, style, interest of conflict, etc has nothing to do with left or right he should implode from within not loose by being beaten by the left. A victory by the left would only polarize further Italian politics – what is more important is bring a bit of trustworthiness and honesty into Italian politics (and that would happen by an implosion). Yes, you can call me a dreamer!

I think more and more a realising that by supporting the Buffone now they risk being ridiculed at best, and made scape goats at best in the future. Should you be a Buffone supporter then the time is getting ripe for taking a new stand!

So, pressure up, buffone down, and happy new year!

You can read more about the buffone’s 2009 here:

http://www.economist.com/world/europe/displaystory.cfm?story_id=15105747

The event was first intended for Rome, Italy but as the discontent is such the event has moved not just across the European continent but across the globe.

Show up and show your discontent and outrage with the Europe’s biggest disgrace – the Buffone.

The list of cities where ‘No Berlusconi’ demonstrations will now take place include:

San Francisco and Sacramento, USA

Ottawa and Montreal, Canada

Buenos Aires, Argentina

London, England

Madrid, Spain

Amsterdam, Netherlands

Vienna, Austria

Lisbon, Portugal

Copenhagen, Denmark

Istanbul, Turkey

May the force be with us!

2 out of 3 aint bad

3 buffone news – two good, one bad

To take the bad news first
EPP section surprisingly lets Europe down

Independently of political orientation, the proposal tabled in the European Parliament against excessive media control was sensible but failed to pass by a few votes. Of course this proposal should have had massive support in the European Parliament including from the EPP (Group of the European People’s Party (Christian Democrats) – centre-right).

The buffone and his accomplices in the so-called “People of liberty” party are of course part of the EPP and it is obvious that others from the EPP did not want to rock the boat by voting in favor of the motion on media control. However, what they failed to realise is that voting against it they undermine their own credibility and the likelyhood of being future laughing stock – or even scape goats.

The motion would not necessarily have lead to any concrete measures as the Commission and the commissioner in question Luxemburgish Viviane Reading, unfortunately, so far has been dismissive of the idea to put forward a directive proposal on media control.

The first good news

Way to go (!) – praise to Italian constitutional court

It was a day of rejoice when the Italian constitutional court proved itself to have integrity and clout and give in to the political pressure exercised by the buffone and accomplices.

Despite the buffones tireless attempts to undermine democracy in Italy, power there is still, as in any democracy, split in three – legislative, judicial and executive. The buffone would have liked to join the former two but it did not work out.

Although the buffone probably deep down inside knew that the constitutional court was right and was merely doing its job he could obviously not say that and resorted to the repetitive accusations of judge being communists! Come on! That is so tedious!

But let us not be negative and rather celebrate this rare strike against the buffone and his contemptuous efforts to take complete control of Italy.

The news is not only good in itself it will possibly bring more good news as new trials against the buffone are meant to be kicked off again.

Second good news

Milan appeal court upholds conviction that the british lawyer David Mills took 600.000 Euros in bribe from the buffone

The bribe was to make David Mills make false testimony in two trials relating to of the buffone’s offshore companies.

David Mills had already been convicted at a lower city court of Milan but him, and the buffone, appealed, but fortunately in vain.

David Mills has said that he will appeal to Italy’s highest court and his plan is very simple. If he can keep the trial going beyond 2010 the case becomes obsolete and he will be off the hook – expect him and the buffone doing all the stalling they possibly, and impossibly (!) can! Time will tell if the Italian legal system will let them get away with this scam, but so far we have reason to think not, and to be optimistic.

The question about why some vote for Berlusconi is very closely linked to the issue of conflict of interests and obviously there will be different theories. Being a media mogul and prime minister (or president of the council of ministers as it is called in Italy) makes it possible to a very large extent to manipulate public opinion.

The manipulation is not merely in the form of flooding programs with Berlusconi-supporters but to the extent of dismissing critics from TV. In fact in 2004, 2005  and again in 2009, Italy was the only country in the EU who was not ‘free’ – but only ‘partly free’ in terms of press freedom according to the Organisation Freedom house (http://www.freedomhouse.org/)

But that is of course not the whole story.

Firstly, it has been possible to be head of state by using his position as a media mogule who gives a favourable picture of him.

Secondly, the rist and permanence of power in Italian politics was also largely due to a fragmented centre-left wing – with many centre or left-wing politicians being basically incompetent.

The splitting of media and politics should have been a key priority for ANY government in Italy be it left, right or centre. However, the left had a more imminent interest in addressing and nevertheless failed to do so during the years of centre-left ruling that is 1994-1996, 1998-2001, and 2006-2008.

We attribute this lack of will to address and issue which constituies the very fundamental functioning of a modern democracy as a lack of competence (again, independently of political belief).

However, having mentioned all of the above, there are of course other reasons. Firstly, even if Berlusconi is the buffoon of Europe, you can actually agree with him and many of the reforms he have suggested are sensible. However, there is one hell of a distance between what he promises and what he implements and even if he did implement the fact remains that he has systematically sought to protect himself by passing self-serving legislation and used the media as a power tool.

It could also be an attack of stubbornness where many want to dismiss the many stories and scandals about the buffone as simple political opportunism of the political enemies.

This is a very human reaction but just like the defenders of communism in Eastern Europe during the cold war, they will eventually have to face the reality and the truth. The so-called support for Berlusconi is a bubble that will burst – the only open questions are when, and whether it will explode or fade out.

What has happened, has happened, and it is time to look forward – hense the buffone.eu site.

In 1990 Berlusconi was declared guilty of false testimony by the appeal court of Venice on his affiliation to the freemason lodge “Propaganda 2″, commonly known as “P2″; however the court did not proceed to a punishment sentence because the wrongdoing had been extinguished by an amnesty passed in 1989.

Bribing a member of the Financial Police : not guilty (not proven and statute of limitations)

First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 9 months) for four bribes.
Appeal court: the statute of limitations expired for three of the charges, an acquittal was given on the fourth because the court gave him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Illegally financed political party on All Iberian 1 : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First Court: sentenced to jail (2 years and 4 months) for paying 21 billion lire (about 10 million euro) to Bettino Craxi via an offshore bank account codenamed “All Iberian”.
Appeal Court: the statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.

False accounting on Medusa Cinema : not guilty (not proven)

First Court: sentenced to jail (16 months) for false accounting of 10 billion Lire (about 5 million euro) in some of Silvio Berlusconi’s bank accounts.
Appeal Court: acquitted on the charge. The court gave him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Bribing a judge on Lodo Mondadori : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First court: A Prima facie case was issued, but the magistrate decided to drop the charges. The state attorney refused to file the case and appealed against the ruling.
Appeal Court: statute of limitations expired before the appeal was completed so Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted.

False accounting on All Iberian 2 : not guilty (law changed)

First Court: on September 26, 2005 Berlusconi was acquitted because the new law on false accounting makes false accounting illegal only if there is a specific damaged party reporting the fact to the authorities.[1] This new law was passed by Berlusconi’s parliamentary majority after the beginning of the trial, and was claimed by the opposition to be an ad personam law, i.e. aimed at acquitting Berlusconi.

False accounting on Fininvest Media Group Consolidated : not guilty (statute of limitations)

Allegation: 750 million euro of illegal (black) funds stored by Fininvest in 64 offshore companies. The statute of limitations expired due to the new laws on false accounting approved by Berlusconi’s government, therefore an acquittal was given because no specific damaged party reported it to the government.

Embezzlement, tax fraud and false accounting on Macherio estates : not guilty (statute of limitations)

First Court: acquitted for embezzlement and tax fraud, the statute of limitations expired before a verdict was reached on the two cases of false accounting.
Appeal Court: acquitted for embezzlement, tax fraud and the first case of false accounting; statute of limitations expired for the second, therefore the case was closed.

False accounting on Lentini affair : not guilty (law changed)

Allegation: 5 million euros paid secretly to Torino football club for buying the player Gianluigi Lentini bringing him to AC Milan.
First court: The statute of limitations expired due to the new laws on false accounting approved by Berlusconi’s government, therefore the case was closed with an acquittal on July 4, 2002.[2]

False accounting, embezzlement and tax fraud on Mediaset television and cinema rights : not guilty (not proven)

Mr Berlusconi was on trial in relation to transactions carried out by the Berlusconi family’s media company Mediaset in the 1990s. Prosecutors suspected two offshore firms controlled by a Berlusconi family holding, Fininvest, bought television and cinema rights from a US firm. The companies, it was alleged, then sold the rights on at inflated prices to Mediaset, also controlled by Fininvest, to avoid Italian taxes and create a slush fund. The trial started on November 21, 2006. The court acquitted Berlusconi, giving him the benefit of the doubt (not proven).

Corrupting a judge and false accounting on SME-Ariosto : not guilty

At its outset, the trial SME-Ariosto involved both Cesare Previti and Silvio Berlusconi. Subsequently a bill was approved by the Italian parliament, the so called “Lodo Maccanico” act (also known as “Lodo Schifani”, after the name of Renato Schifani, the lawyer of Berlusconi and now speaker of the Italian Senate who was also a member of parliament working on the law). This law guaranteed immunity to the five highest officers of the state (premier, president of the Republic, Senate’s speaker, Deputy Chamber’s speaker, Constitutional Court’s president) during their period in office. To avoid complete suspension of the trial, the Court of Milan split it into two parts, one regarding Cesare Previti, the other Silvio Berlusconi. The Cesare Previti part of the trial resulted in a guilty verdict. In the other part (regarding Silvio Berlusconi) the Italian Prime Minister’s innocence had still not been proven but the case had to be stopped because of the “Lodo Maccanico”‘ immunity act. On 16 April 2004 the Constitutional Court declared that the “Lodo Maccanico” violated articles n. 3 and 34 of the Italian Constitution, [2] therefore this immunity act was declared unconstitutional and the trial resumed. After 12 years of trial, Silvio Berlusconi was acquitted on April 27, 2007, because of art.530 comma 2 (”He didn’t’ commit the fact”, i.e. full acquittal).

Tax fraud on Telecinco : not guilty

Mr Berlusconi has been indicted in Spain for charges of tax fraud and violation of anti-trust laws regarding the private TV network Telecinco. All the accused have been acquitted by the Spanish “Corte de Casacion” in July 2008.

References:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trials_involving_Silvio_Berlusconi