Category: Politica

Being a little gear

January 29, 2011 / / 1 Comment

Sul fattoquotidiano c’è un canale seguito da Andrea Valdambrini sui cervelli in fuga, dove si raccontano le storie di esuli italiani fuggiti dall’Italia, molte volte non per scelta, ma per necessità.

Molti di questi sono scienziati, la cui capacità non vengono valutate secondo criteri meritocratici, ma secondo criteri di conoscenze e parentele. Ok, same old story fino a qui.
L’unica cosa interessante è che di queste cose bisogna parlarne e siccome è appena uscito un articolo che proviene da Cambridge, dove momentaneamente risiedo, e visto che il contatto tra Chiara ed Andrea sono stato io, pensavo che era interessante linkarlo.

Lo trovate qui.

Come ha scritto un commentatore sul fatto, questa non è una storia isolata, ma un’atteggiamento sistematico del sistema Italico verso persone brave e competenti, che vengono scartate a favore di qualcuno che invece non è capace di fare quel lavoro. O a favore di un depauperamento della ricerca, chiudendo i finanziamenti alla ricerca di base che è appunto di base, e senza la quale la famosa applicata non esisterebbe.

I would like to speak with Salvatore

January 23, 2011 / / 0 Comments

On the guardian there is an article about about Berlusconi, where also Rocco Siffredi is questioned about the RubyGate and the possible effect on the number of votes.

If I get the article correctly it seems that Rocco is saying that Berlusconi will not loose vote for this behaviour. I’m always amazed when people can predict how and what people will behave in an election that is not yet issued, basing their judgement on one fact.

More over, in a youtube video, I remember that Rocco said that Berlusconi is ill and that he can help him. So I don’t know if he changed his opinion or the article is a bit imprecise.

However the number of voters for Berlusconi is a straw argoment.

Berlusconi has a pack of voters whom will vote for him no matter what. This is more like a cult problem than an actually political judgement of what the govern has achieved. This people exist and it will be stupid not to acknowledge that, however this is a fraction of all the voters in Italy.

A third of the country didn’t vote at the last elections. They didn’t vote neither for the right wing or for the left wing. Lack of proper representation it seems to be more the cause of this then not being interested in the politic of the country. What I would like to make clear is that there is a huge pool of possible voters, which could be called to get rid of Berlusconi.

But this is not what I wanted to write about. I would like to comment this sentence:

Salvatore, a blacksmith, said: “I would give my daughter a slap if she went to a party at Berlusconi’s, but I still vote for him since I approve of his politics.”

I really would like to understand what is this politics that he his talking about. The Berlusconi’s politics, in the last 14 years, was only escaping from the law using the power to create new law that will favour him (ad personam), or to change existing law. That’s not politics, that’s tilting the table.

So the number of people that actually vote for Berlusconi are either thinking he is a model or they are convinced he is doing good the job. The last part are completely recoverable because it will be easy to demonstrate that the government is unable to do its own job and its completely stopped.

There is a massive amount of people that could throw away Berlusconi. The only trouble is that the left wing did not yet find the way to organize those people in a coherent way and be able to challenge him.

Several different way are being tried, like http://www.prossimaitalia.it/. We will see.

Appeal for Berlusconi’s Resignation

January 17, 2011 / / 0 Comments

1. Resignation.
We call upon Silvio Berlusconi to resign immediately from his post as Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri. In no other democratic country would a Prime Minister, faced with such serious legal accusations, remain in office longer than a few hours. All Italian citizens, of whatever political persuasion, must realise that the image of their country is profoundly tainted if Berlusconi remains in office.
2. Attendance in court.
We call upon Silvio Berlusconi not to defend himself on television, using his substantial mediatic power to discredit the magistrates, but to present himself in court and seek to defend himself there, as would any normal citizen. Once in court, he can in any case hope to benefit from the services of the highest paid lawyers in the country. We sincerely hope, for his sake and that of the country, that he is able to demonstrate his innocence. If he and his supporters reply that the judges are irremediably biased against him, we would like to point out that on more than one occasion in the past he has been given the benefit of the doubt by the courts. In the Mondadori case, for example, the court judged in 2001 his position as Head of Government to be part of the ‘extenuating circumstances’ which in his case alone allowed the crime to be prescribed.
3. The role of the President of the Republic
In a situation in which two of the principal powers of the state – the magistracy and the executive – are on a head-on collision course of considerable danger for the future of the Republic, we call upon its President to observe closely the situation and to be prepared to intervene actively, naturally within the limits of the powers ascribed to his office by the Constitution.
4. The opposition parties
We call upon all the parties of the opposition to put aside their differences and to abandon any jockeying for position, uniting instead their voices in a single request of a single word: RESIGNATION.
5. Civil Society
We invite the many associations and the hundreds of thousands of members of civil society to do the same, pooling their resources and joining hands on a single line of action. We would particularly appeal to Catholic civil society to deplore the hesitations and silences of the Vatican on so important an issue of public ethics.
6. The friends of Italy in the world
We have written this appeal in English as well as Italian in order to reach all those abroad who are friends of Italian democracy. Do not despair of Italy! The country needs your solidarity and help.

Gustavo Zagrebelsky, Paul Ginsborg e Sandra Bonsanti per tutta Libertà e Giustizia

I completely agree and I repost it here. Original on the “Libertà e Giustizia” website.

Il treno è partito

November 7, 2010 / / 0 Comments

Ho seguito, in streaming, la tre giorni alla stazione Leopolda di prossimaitalia con molta curiosità. Devo dire che a caldo sono estremamente contento dei contenuti e degli interventi. Civati e Renzi sono riusciti a creare uno spazio di confronto, dove il punto focale è sempre stato sugli argomenti e sui contenuti.

Innanzitutto la possibilità di seguirla in streaming ha fatto si che si potesse essere presenti anche grazie la bacheca virtuale di Facebook.

Il formato 5 minuti con vari video intervallati (quando partivano ehm..) credo che sia stato un buon compromesso. Gli interventi che ho più apprezzato sono stati quelli sulla riforma fiscale, sull’importanza della meritocrazia , sull’integrazione come contaminazione e non come assimiliazione e sul respiro europeo che alcuni hanno avuto.

La cosa più importante forse è che il lavoro non si conclue ma inizia, ed il sito prossimaitalia.it sarà quello che verrà utilizzato come contenitore e strumento per elaborare nuove idee politiche, per vagliarle e per votarle.

In pratica uno strumento a disposizione per disegnare la prossima italia. Ed io una piccola mano la voglio dare, quindi mi sono già registrato.

I contenuti ci sono, il PD c’è e le persone sono pronte. Morbidamente traghetteremo la Nazione nel terzo millenio.

Update: Piccolo video sulla Leoopolda