"On a dirty wall the history of Italy is written"
I had trouble explaining and coming to terms with my feelings this past weekend at the exit of the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi.
I have not lived in Italy for 17 years yet although I have made my home in England, have traveled considerably for work and resided in countries as far afield as the Philippines, I have always considered myself Italian.
In heart, mind and spirit.
For the past years the figure of Berlusconi has haunted me, as it did to many Italians abroad, with his inane remarks, his gaffes, his cavalier attitude towards his own countrymen's misfortunes, his incompetence in leading his country and his relentless ability to become embroiled and be the centre of scandal upon scandal... Corruption, sex, political.
To have such a pantomime of a man at the head of your home country is a joke you're willing to share with others in the pub, but smarts deep inside you.
Last week, with a minority of 308 parlamentarians, Berlusconi was asked to leave with immediate effect 'For the good of the Country'.
The defeat, tainted by last minute betrayals and made bitter by a string of new allegations about his private life, must sting. Berlusconi will try to remain at the head of his party but he'll discover that for every sinking ship there are a vast number of men who have no interest in protecting him anymore.
I realised as I was drawing this piece that I was becoming angry with each and every brush stroke, incensed by what one man could do to his fellow countrymen out of greed.
Yet one man alone cannot drive a whole country into an economic distaster of European proportions, others have helped him achieve that power, reach those postions; more still are responsible by doing nothing, their apathy and inertia posing no obstacles to those who are greedy for power. Each and everyone of us, responsible in one way or the other.
Perhaps part of my anger was also directed at myself for becoming so detached with the country I love so much.
To me he is now this old syphillitic, perma-tanned sleezeball, his hand firmly squeezing out whatever life there is left in his rancid ball-sack, cloaked in the stained remains of a flag he helped tear to pieces, flashing that famous corrupt smile through even faker teeth.
Good riddance!
We will now have Monti to lead Italy, elected not by the people, but placed there to save the country's economy.
Previously at Goldman Sachs and the Bilderberg Group, Italy will have a banker at the head of its state, just like Greece will.
Before it was the politicians who did the bankers bidding, as Ezra Pound said "Politicians are just the bankers' waiters", but now the bankers are stepping into the light and taking actual control.
Will a banker ever hold the people's interest above all else?
This we'll have to wait and see as Italy enters a new stage in its tumultuos history, one finally without Berlusconi.
“A slave is one who waits for someone to come and free him.”
―
Ezra Pound
ps. I don't usually do long political posts but I just had to get this one off my chest... Next week normal service will be resumed!
