the democratic party in italy, what a lost chance...

[demoleft]

ciao DUers.

it's been a year since i'm missing here. so much going on.
12 months ago the italian Democratic Party was perceived as a big courageous challenge to the italian political impasse.
a big merging of liberal and progressive catholics and moderate progressive leftists, to create a new party and defeat the rightist self-defining "liberal" coalition led by the present Premier Berlusconi.

well it ended in a failure. sad as it is.

the party lost all elections since then, and lately too (june) it has witnessed a defeat that only its histrionic leaders could try to define as a "not bad" result in the tv political shows.
(our comedian actors complain here: many politicians are putting them out of their job with their surreality).

the bare truth is that a party is made of people meeting, talking and congregating, of people whose voices are heard and processed. at a local level, among the buildings, in the streets, on the internet - "glocally".

and what a big chance it was to get rid of old old 1st republic characters, style and behaviour. and instead there they are, the same mummies, the same style.

the same passion for shooting with a silencer, so to say.

what was buds everywhere in italy, 2 years ago, has been wasted away, killed from draught, murdered from starvation of attention and organization. the leading group of the party was so caught in its encircled masturbations that it did not get aware of the astonishment of the people who had shared this bold political project.

and the communist parties (we have 3 or four, here. haha :) - no kidding) even disappeared from parliament and largely from local administrations.

unhappy ending for the historical "left", in italy. it happens, when u go on with policies that take into no account the global dynamics.

the Italian Democratic Party does not exist locally, in towns, in neighborhoods. not really.
which is exactly what the xenophofic party of the Lega Nord is doing instead - talking and listening, house by house, family by family, man by man. and gets its success with this - because it listens. or pretends to do.

an amusing joke targeted D'Alema, one of the DP leaders here - though he says he's not: see how silly italy is?
he's known for being a sail-boat skipper.
echoing the most serious obama's one, the kidding slogan for our italian DP was: "YES, WEEKEND" - and the pic showed a sailboat happily sailing on the most beautiful sea ever.

that's how it is. the leaders worth more than 18,000 € per month sail blissfully.
and people drown, calling out for one like Berlusconi to come on the rescue.

next congress in autumn for the DP. it will be exhilarating.

ciao DUers ;)

[myrna minx]

1. Welcome back!

:hi: Don't give up--you'll get rid of the old guard one of these days. It took us 8 years to get rid of Bush/Cheney. :D

Ciao!

[demoleft]

4. hehe - thanx and ciao to u

well u know, unfortunately we're not as courageous as the US, politically - so i fear it maycost us 8 centuries to get rid of them ;P

ciao myrna - it feels good to be back.

[myrna minx]

6. Well, if it takes you 8 centuries, at least you will have divine food, wonderful wine

and great conversations for your very slow revolution. :D

[demoleft]

8. haha :)

well u're right.
and i'm having a drop of our wonderful wine right now, so i take advantage on time.
Montepulciano D'Abruzzo, red one.
cheers to u :)

[madfloridian]

2. Good to see you back, demoleft.

I remember your posts about the DP. Sorry to hear you seem discouraged. You know what they say, don't you? "The difficult we do now, the impossible will take longer."

Don't give up.

:hi:

[demoleft]

5. my dear madfloridian

nice to see u again ;)
oh yes, never give up. where's the fun otherwise?

ciao! i have to update on what's going on here!

[David__77]

3. It can only end in failure. Rifondizione would have my support.

PCI had a glorious tradition of progressive politics. Italians supported it because of this reason. It is unfortunate that its leadership committed organizational suicide.

I am confident that the left traditions in Italy will provide solid ground for the emergence of a new, viable leftist party with Rifondizione at the core.

[demoleft]

7. well, it was not doomed to end in failure...

...though it did, u're right.

Rifondazione is more words than actions. when it shared government responsibility with Prodi they voted for bills that they went to protest against the saturday after, on the street. ;)
pathologic, isn't it?

its former leader, bertinotti, at the time President of the Representative congress, questioned about workers working for the representatives in parliament and without contract (so without welfare contributions and so on) answered he did not know about it!, he would investigate.
isn't it funny? surreal, i'd say.

and so on and on, thousand cases like this.

yes, i hope with u that the left will find a new path and a new identity.
ciao and thanx for sharing.

[David__77]

9. Yes, they were opportunist.

They had a difficult decision to sit in left opposition to a "center left" government, or to give it critical support; they opted for the latter, and paid the price. But I see no other political force that can serve as the embryo for a new left-wing party in Italy. To be successful, the party will have to have a consistent ideology to the left of social democracy. That is a peculiarity of Italy's politics. Fascism of the right will crush social democracy any day.

[demoleft]

11. a consistent ideology based on reality though...

...which is the problem with the historical left in italy.

for instance - it is not enough for a party to say "no to global economy", when it is existing and effecting the lives of people.
individuals, movements can do. a political party cannot. it must work on it.

what i mean is that a modern left party manifesto should find its starting point in reality as it is - as Marx teaches - and not in a reality imagined or fantasized.
actually, when i hear communist leaders talk of workers and thinking only of blue-collars i feel they're living in the middle-age.

i dreamt of a complex multifaced DP, like the american one. with many souls inside, many cultures - but a common target and unity when it comes to action.
the italian DP is a battleground for personal wars.
we won't go far like this.

i think the communists paid the price for their two-faced ideology. they never want to take responsibility in governments.
much easier to always stay on the barricades and shout - while earning more or less 20000€ monthly. (no more now, luckily)

ciao!

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

10. It is a lost opportunity...

but on the other hand I'm not sure how it could have worked. I have voted PD since its creation, but with very little enthusiasm.

First of all I don't trust the "progressive" catholics. They don't seem very progressive to me. I don't know if I want to vote for a party that has Paola Binetti in it. I would also like my party to be part of the European Socialist Party, just like every other left-wing party in Europe. But no, the centrists wouldn't have that.

I feel politically homeless. In the Democratic Party I see a lot of center and very little left. I like Di Pietro because he makes a lot of noise and pisses Berlusconi off to no end, but he's not a real leftwinger either. The Communists are useless, they talk a great game because they know they'll never have to back any of it up (they'll never have to actually govern on a large scale). So what to do? Where's Gavino Angius these days?

I don't know, we'll see how the summer plays out and the congress in october. Will it be Bersani of Franceschini? Will it make a difference?

Ciao da Livorno! :hi:

[demoleft]

12. ciao u there!

and hello from abruzzo. :)

well binetti yes. but there are very very moderate souls in the US Dems as well, we would call them centrists in italy.
binetti is a case apart - beyond my imagination even.

the DP in italy lacks identity on many topics. and its leadership lack the balls to fight the battles all the way through.
and this does not go unnoticed in a people scared of tomorrow.

catch u here then.
ciao form the coast :)

[LeftOfSelf-Centered]

17. You're exactly right...

when you say the Italian Democratic Party lacks identity on a lot of issues. But to me this problem is brought on by the combination of DS and Margherita. The ex-Margherita people are in the minority, and if party direction were decided simply by the majority they would lose out on pretty much all issues (especially the "ethical" issues). Therefore in order to maintain their identity Rutelli and Co. put up a fight on everything just to show that they're still there, but their message is out of sync with the majority of left-wingers.

And so for anyone in the party who says one thing, there's somebody else in the same party who will contradict them. And as long as the party doesn't give itself a clear line on some big issues thing's aren't gonna get any better. They may lose some votes by taking clear stands, but they may gain even more votes with the clear message.

My big question is: How many votes (if any) do the teo-dems bring? Is it really worth coddling them? Do they scare off more people (like me) than they attract?

How are things in Abruzzo these days? Were you affected by the quake at all?

[Javaman]

13. To my very distant Italy brother...

keep the faith, don't lose hope.

[demoleft]

14. oh hope and faith...

...i do not rely on much, due to my nature.
but a brother's embrace gives me trust - and yours is surely one.
thanx u there ;)

nice to be back here. feels like home.

[LeftishBrit]

15. Keeping fingers tightly crossed in Britain...

It's bad enough here, with the Labour Party (such as it is) imploding, and the near-certainty that short of some major upset, the Tories will get back next year. But Berlusconi is worse!

Here's to a victory for the Italian Left!

[demoleft]

16. cheers my dear :)

hehe, yes for sure - you're right.
an english tory would shudder at having our italian premier neighbor at table even.

he won with 60% more or less in general elections. he's somewhat right in saying many italians are like him or dream to be.
unfulfilled democracy.

my cheers to your labour party. clouds can't be forever.
ciao ;)