Letter from Lhasa, number 293.
Grillo’s A Riveder le Stelle
by
Roberto Abraham Scaruffi
Grillo, B., A Riveder le Stelle. Come seppellire i
partiti e tirar fuori l’Italia dal pantano, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 2010.
(Grillo 2010).
Beppe Grillo
This book is a kind of
articulated political manifesto of the Grillo’s political party, M5S [the Four
Stars Movement], realized extracting Grillo’s posts from his blog, http://www.beppegrillo.it/. It is well
written, although demagogical and politologically weak, confused.
(Grillo 2010) represents
Italian politicians as waiters of the parasitic-mafiosa economy, and as created
from media, from their lies. ...Politicians as representation... For it, judiciary
should have supremacy over politics, the Parliament should be without convicted
people, traditional politicians and journalists should be fired and the US
military bases should be expulsed from the Italic territory.
“Il programma parla di
energia, di trasporti, di mobilità, di Wi-Fi libero e gratuito, di accesso alla
Rete, abbiamo grandi cose sulla raccolta differenziata dei rifiuti porta a
porta: un sacco di proposte, le idee del futuro. Potremo decidere noi se fare
le centrali nucleari, noi e non degli zombie che sono lì a decidere sulla
nostra qualità della vita e su quella dei nostri figli!” (Grillo 2010, p. 8)
This represents a kind
of statu nascenti of a movement full
of illusions. Actually, the Grillo movement has already overcome the phase of
the statu nascenti. The statu nascenti is only simulated from
the Grillo-Casaleggio staff for image/propaganda reasons.
So, they dream a political
party, without bureaucracy, headquarters, statutes, treasurers, party funds,
party functionaries, formal leaders, basically a libertarian movement however
well sectarian and verbally violent when dealing with dissenters. On the other
side, no movement without a centre could actually exist. The command centre of
the M5S is in the dictatorial hands of the Grillo-Casaleggio staff.
They claim they want to
liquidate ‘the [political-institutional] caste’, to limit the parliamentary
mandate to two legislatures, not to allow inquired and convicted citizens to
parliament, to fight MPs’ absenteeism. At the same time, slave of regime stereotypes
and previous political-demagogic initiatives, they declare they like the
horrible (institutionally weak), confuse and prolix Italian formal Constitution.
They do not want a Constitution allowing a real government and a real
parliament. They dream a total change with institutions do not allowing any
change...
A ‘clean parliament’ is
not better that a ‘dirty’ one. All parliaments are representative of something
and somebody. Party have always decided who ought to be elected. Intraparty
competition rewards only the most corrupted politicians because they have more
funds and supports for their personal campaigning. So, intraparty competition
is not a guarantee of anything. That MPs be present at parliamentary works is
guarantee of nothing if a parliament is without any power, what is the case of
the Italian parliament, what ignorance and demagogy cannot catch and denounce.
For (Grillo 2010), to suppress
provinces would bring to save about 11 billion per year, even more firing at
least part of its employees. (Grillo 2010) becomes suddenly soft about firing
bureaucrats, despite they largely be inefficient and useless. Equally it
advocated the reduction of the number of communes, a part of which is really
too small. Despite something be made in this direction (reduction of the number
of provinces and communes) from the Monti government, actually to remove useless
and harmful bureaucracies is continuing to be an impossible mission in Italy.
First, it would be
necessary to introduce a British-style flexibility, where it is possible to
rapidly fire, as well as to rapidly hire if necessary, masses of public
employees. Without that, State apparatuses will remain out of control, whoever
got the formal political power.
In Italy, the whole
demagogy against “the caste” [politicians] has been created from real power
centres for protecting bureaucratic and private corruption, wastes, predations.
Politicians and Statesmen/women are stigmatized while bureaucratic corruption
and wastes, costing thousands times more, are simply passed under silence.
For instance, to serve,
in whatever elective position, only a maximum of two terms, as in the M5S
program, would have the consequence of letting more politically uncontrolled,
than nowadays they already are, omnipotent, inefficient, corrupted, predatory
public bureaucracies. If a MPs or a local administrator cannot be in office for
more than 10 years, why should a public employee? In Italy, for simulating
better controlling bureaucracies, authorities
have even been created, ...but it is a real mystery what they actually do. They
are just additional costly and corrupted useless bureaucracies.
The bureaucratic
question would be the real Italic (as well of many other States and countries)
question. Bureaucracies, as well as private predatory oligarchies, are
destroying Italy and there is nothing to do. Even ‘new’ movements as the
Grillo’s one simply avoid the question.
In (Grillo 2010), there
is a lot of other proposals, all reasonable, as referenda without quorum, financial
cover for whatever new law, publicity about legislative and public life and
possibility for citizens to intervene with their points of view, in practice,
extension of forms of direct democracy on the model, for instance, of http://www.data.gov/ . However, democracy by
itself has never solved questions of development-underdevelopment. Without
dealing with the basic questions of the Italic underdevelopment and
underdevelopmentalism, no real change and improvement will be actually
possible.
Of course, also other (Grillo
2010) proposals and denunciations are absolutely reasonable and appropriate. It
would be necessary to invert agriculture decline, while the world needs more
food, and favouring local products would create more consumer quality at
cheaper prices. Italy is without any real social assistance, and it would be
appropriate to create it. There are now continuous initiatives for destroying
whatever free enterprise, overall those favouring consumers. It would be
necessary a more universal health service covering everybody, illegal
foreigners included. Clean energy and various techniques of energy saving would
be more than appropriate, overall in Italy where there is a relevant even
electric power deficit. Decaying education and the phenomenon of researchers
preferring to remain abroad should be reversed. Internet should be free for
everybody, while Italy has now a backward position even relatively to
high-speed internet. To extend the web/internet is to extend the potential
access to information. It is right to say “No!” to the car society and to
exasperate mobility, while IT could avoid part of the moving from place to
place. It is true that it is anti-historical to incentive cars. Public
transportation should be efficient for being a real substitute of private
transportation. The Val di Susa (Italy-France) TAV [high-speed rail] is a clear
waste imposed, against whatever evidence and forecast, from predatory
oligarchies only anxious to speculate on a very costly, although useless,
public work. All that while commuters daily commute in miserable conditions,
use they private or public transportations. It is true that Italian journalists
be a prostituted caste. It is only that Grillo has illusions on foreign ones:
nowhere there are independent media.
Since nothing works, for
(Grillo 2010), “No!” is not anymore sufficient. One should learn to say: “Yes,
fuck off!” ...It would be useful if there were a real movement with some strong
idea and the possibility to change reality, what there is not. The Grillo’s
movement is not such.
History shows that the
course of underdeveloping and underdevelopmental States/countries can only be
reversed through State demolition and rebuilding and that this can be realized
only from developmental oligarchies. ...Not by useless and imaginary popular ‘revolutions’
[always an ex-post making sense of
senseless or not understood events] but by revolutions from the top. Simply,
such oligarchies there are not in Italy, and no German or ‘EU’ oligarchy has
any other interest than working for the further marginalization of the Latin
area, which will be accomplished with the open sinking of France, already
structural inferior to the Germanic and Nordic areas although presented, for
image reasons, as with the same status than Germany, what economically has not.
On the other side, the already realized marginalization of Italy and other
States/countries could not be reversed leaving the euro area.
Only developmental
oligarchies can create developmental courses. In Italy, there are not and there
is no symptom they could ever emerge.
For (Grillo 2010), the financial
and banking system has largely contributed to the deindustrialization and
economic decaying of Italy. Is it sure that public debt, and its permanence and
increase relatively to the 100% GNP of the last Andreotti government, despite
the claims of new eras and destruction of the supposed terrible partitocracy,
be not a more basic factor?
Anyway an uncontrolled
financial and banking sector is only the consequence of bureaucratic corruption
and inefficiency, and of a State out of control, what the 1992-93 judicial
assault, the Mediobanca-led Great Purge (exalted from Grillo and his M5S), has
only worsened. In (Grillo 2010), one may find the usual demagogy on the white
knights descending from the immaculate skies of the judiciary, as in a
corrupted and decaying country it would be possible a courageous and
independent judiciary. Such assertions are simply fantasies of desperate and
self-deceiving people.
Anyway, with a public
debt around 125-130% GNP, it is clear that the banking systems earns more
buying public debt bills than risking financing companies, apart, of course,
predatory oligarchy’s companies. What finally destroys whatever sane productive
system. At the base of these pathologies there is the dogma of a public debt
which, on the contrary, should be rapidly reimbursed. ...But nobody worries
about that...
The book finally
describes the progresses and projects of the Beppe Grillo political movement. The
M5S is presented as a kind of peaceful revolutionary movement wishing to pose
itself as a radical alternative to various current policies (while not worrying
too much about other ones as oppressive and predatory bureaucracies and
oligarchies) and wanting to change everybody life.
Actually, the Grillo’s
bubble is not a radical alternative to anything, although it will not be worse
of the existing political personnel. As typical of whatever new movement, it is
creating the illusion of an innovative political force while, as already
happened previously in similar cases, once in Parliament it will be used for
the needs of the Quirinale comprador dictatorship (with its Carabinieri Secret
Police with annexed judiciary) is devastating Italy since the 1992 (Capaci
massacre) Mediobanca comprador coup d’État. Under the so-called partitocracy,
it was not necessarily better, although there were differences at various
levels and the political and institutional personnel, despite it was
qualitatively miserable as later, was less subordinated to predatory
oligarchies.
Function of the 1992-93
Great Purge was precisely to liquidate non-buyable politicians. There was a
replay just emerged Berlusconi representing in some way the same relatively
independence of the then just purged ‘first republic’ politicians and
Statesmen/women. Whatever his personal interests, or the origins of his
capitals, Berlusconi was strongly fought from the Mediobanca and bureaucratic coup
d’État bloc because he was lived as, and he objectively was, the coagulator of
a political personnel not totally buyable from the predatory bloc, that
political personnel that bloc hoped to have totally liquidated by the 1992-93
Great Purge, when Mediobanca protected and promoted the political personnel on
its payrolls.
Moralist-judicialist
demagogy simulates that those who take illegal financing, sometimes also for
personal profit, from private interests be devils while those totally prostituted
to bureaucratic and private predatory oligarchies be saints. Ethically,
institutionally and politically there are various differences. Politicians
extorting companies are different from politicians at payroll of companies.
From this point of view, for instance, Craxi was an honest Statesman while
Prodi a corrupted one distributing large amounts of public funds to private
oligarchies. From a managerial point of view, apart from the Prodi propensity
to distribute large amount of public money and companies to his friends of the
predatory oligarchies, they were both disgustingly inept. Of course,
brainwashed people believe in ‘judicial evidence’ ...made up from Carabinieri
Secret Police corps, with annexed judiciary, at Quirinale-Mediobanca orders.
The Grillo movement belongs to this category of brainwashed people. It has a
logic absolutely internal to the Italic predatory system, despite his relevant
quantity of clever proposals. ...Whatever political party has programs full of
good ideas....
New supposedly
antagonist and remedial movements are just illusions eventually only favouring
further bureaucratic and private oligarchies predations. More politics is weak,
more bucreucratic and private predations can develop more freely. However the
Italic problem is not even this one.
Was and is ‘strong’ a
politics prospering on illegal financing while ‘weak’ a politics equally
prospering on illegal financing but judicially and mediatically covered because
making gift of massive amounts of public funds and companies to the usual
private and bureaucratic oligarchies? While politicians are, once in office, de facto hostages of bureaucratic and
private powers, the distinction between a
priori strong and a priori weak politicians
becomes a scholastic distinction. When Prodi (with lefts’ and trade union
support) made gift of the Alfa Romeo to the Agnellis, also a reluctant Craxi
(then head of the formal government) was obliged to submit to the
Agnellis-Mediobanca will. It was different on the SME case, where the Prodi’s
gifts to his predatory friends [CDB-Mediobanca] were successfully hampered.
What anyway did not
change the ineluctable course of the Italic marginalization.
DC-PCI-PSI-“laics”-etc finally always agreed on the common devastation of
Italy. Idem those who replaced them after the 1992-93 Great Purge. Both
‘strong’ and ‘weak’ politicians always found and are finding common grounds in
full harmony with predatory oligarchies!
The same Berlusconi,
object of a constant assault and obstructions from the Quirinale real
government, always observed the law of silence about that, for trying
minimizing his personal damages, accusing imaginary communist plots of
assaulting and obstructing him and his governments. Actually, not differently
from the left’s bloc, he always included, inside his majority, minority forces
constantly blackmailing and blocking, also from the inside, its governments.
Concretely, what finally
are political differences, differences about intentions? ...Now Italy will have
the Grillo’s intentions too.
Italy is without any
hope to reverse its marginalization. Any illusion will only produce more
depression in people minds and spirits. The alternative?! Simply, there is no
alternative.
Grillo, B., A Riveder le Stelle. Come seppellire i
partiti e tirar fuori l’Italia dal pantano, Rizzoli, Milano, Italy, 2010.
