Okay so we all know what April 15 means, right?
It's when:
April 15, 1991 Europe foreign ministers lift most remaining sanctions against South Africa
April 15, 1988 Meteorite exploded above Indonesia
April 15, 1985 South Africa will repeal sex and marriage laws against whites and non-whites
April 15, 1983 Tokyo Disneyland opens
April 15, 1973 Walt Disney Store opens
April 15, 1896 1st Olympic games close at Athens, Greece
April 15, 1877 1st telephone installed: Boston-Somerville, Massachusetts
April 15, 1865 President Lincoln shot by John Wilkes Booth at Ford's Theater
April 15, 1784 1st balloon flight in Ireland
Apart from these, it's also the day these famous stars were born: emma watson, emma thompson, elizabeth montgomery, henry james, leonardo de vinci,
And of course, moi. Yours truly.
BUt April 13 and 14?
For Italians, it's market day, a walk in the park, think about good and evil, coffee break, work some, cigarette break, chat with colleagues, lunch break, another coffee break, siesta, work a little, cigarette break, coffee break, and then maybe finalize a decision about which lesser evil to vote for.
With the failure of Senate President Franco Marini to form an interim government after former Prime Minister Romano Prodi was forced to step down from office when he lost a most crucial confidence vote in Parliament, a legislative election was then scheduled for these two 'spring' days - April 13 and 14.
The race isn't as exciting as CLinton's and Obama's. Nor is it, at least in my opinion, that substantial.
Like most things in Italy, I gather it's all for show.
We have Silvio Berlusconi, Italian politician, entrepreneur, and media proprietor who heads the Forza Italia political movement, a centre-right party founded in 1993 in Rome. The wealthy Berlusconi has three times held the office of President of the Council of Ministers.
I like to call him Silvio Vulture-sconi. Imagine such a wily, violent predator following the Prodi government's every move with its right eye, its left ready to signal when to pounce and eat them all alive.
And on the other side we have Walter Veltroni, leader of the Democratic Party and former Mayor of Rome, having held office for seven years. He's the Italian Giuliani, I guess. Not much I know of him. Except that he was a former journalist, seemingly all-for Democratic Rights, and a socialite-life lover.
I've never really been into politics, but I am beginning to show some interest not just in the Italian political system but those all over the world. True, hurts every working nerve in my body thinking about all the reading i have to catch up on to get me updated, but hey.
Italians, according to the survey done by Demos-Eurisko , as published in national daily are split into a 44.3 % vote for Berlusconi and a 43.2% for Veltroni.
The rest is undecided.
Most of the Italian friends I know and with whom I have had discussions with, well.... discussion's a pretty strong word, would normally shrug. Or they'd be like, "Oh well. I'll decide when i get there." or "It really doesn't matter. This country needs someone ready to instigate change.I guess we'll have to just wait." And that's that.
Going back, I say that the coming elections is kind of futile, because i kind of agree with ROberto Saviano, Italy's foremost writer/journalist/Mafia nemesis. He is that Superman sans underwear over tights, Clark Kent sans eyeglasses. I have yet to read his GOMORRA novel, wherein he describes in detail the machinations of the Italian Mafia, but there was this article that he wrote in the March 24 issue of TIME Magazine, entitled "Maimed by the Mob", which poured more cement to my already hardening belief that Italy cannot fix its regional and national ills without fixing its "Mafia" problem first.
I used to watch Mafia movies and I have always found them interesting, almost romantic - living that hard-trodden path where you face evil everyday but keeping (supposedly, at least, most of the heroes did) a good heart inside.
Now I think Mafia and I think death and filth.
Rue the day when it gets to me so much that thinking of Italy would bring no more images of the good life, Tuscany, olive oil or wine but the Mafia and those two words that unfortunately cling to it.
SIAMO INCAZZATI
YURIGU, my friend posted this photo in his site; him, being all about politics. (still my idol!) MY interest isn't so much that I would voice out my own little-informed (as of now) opinions on which guy to root for, but the campaign ad did get my mind thinking. As an immigrant, what WOULD i like addressed on a national level after the elections are over? Granting, of course, that the person elected would have the balls to address them.
The site to go to is http://www.siamoincazzati.com/ where you will be greeted by these words:
ci sono un milione ragioni per essere esasperati e stanchi ma non dobbiamo rassegnarci
( there are a million reasons to be exasperated and tired, but we shouldn't give up. )
Here below are my own ideas:
All photos and text by Ha-neul.ccg
