Benvenuto Benigni! Abbasso la politica dei cannoli!
Posted by fcb on April 12, 2008
Oscar-winning film director, script-writer and actor Roberto Benigni will be visiting Malta for four days next week. He will be honoured with a doctorate honoris causa for his contribution to the humanities. No doubt the propagandists of Gonzi PN’s government will not dwell long on Roberto Benigni’s full support for Walter Veltroni and the Partito Democratico (PD), Italy’s equivalent of the Malta Labour Party. The picture above shows the great Italian actor together with Walter Veltroni yesterday(Friday, April 11), effectively the last day of the campaign. Italians will go to the polls tomorrow Sunday 13 and Monday 14. The PD’s principal opponent is Berlusconi’s centre-right party Popolo della Liberta’ (PDL). Veltroni, who feels politically close to Barack Obama and wrote the preface to the Italian translation of the latter’s book The Audacity of Hope , is 19 years younger than Silvio Berlusconi.
Veltroni broke with a tabu of all Italian politicians since the Second World War and attacked the Mafia head on throughout this campaign. “We’re coming to get you, ” he told them, “we’re going to destroy you once and for all!” Rumours about Berlusconi’s links to the Mafia, on the other hand, have circled since the beginning of his business career. Two of Berlusconi’s closest allies have been found guilty of dealing with the Mafia. Salvatore Cuffaro, Sicily’s former governor, was given a five-year sentence but is running for a seat in the senate, Italy’s upper house. So is Marcello Dell’Utri, who helped to co-found Forza Italia, now part of Popolo della Liberta’ (PDL) together with the far right Alleanza Nazionale called, and headed his advertising company, Publitalia. According to several pentiti, Bernardo Provenzano, the Mafia Godfather arrested on the eve of the last election in 2006, instructed his followers to support Forza Italia.
On the 20 January 2004 Salvatore Cuffaro was made Honorary Companion with Breast Star of the National Order of Merit of the Republic of Malta as approved by Legal Notice No. 162 of 14/11/95. Cuffaro’s decoration was dished out like a hearty serving of cannoli to a dozen others including Silvio Berlusconi, to mark the occasion of the state visit to Italy by the President of Malta in January 2004. Cuffaro’s best known picture shows him holding a tray-full of mouthwatering cannoli. The photo was taken soon after he was sentenced by the court. Cannoli-politics has now become synonymous with corrupt politcs in Italy. We can think of a couple of local candidates for Honorary Companion with Candied Fruit of the National Order of the Cannolu. Can’t you ?
Photo courtesy of PD Network http://www.flickr.com/photos/pdnetwork/
April 15, 2008 at 6:19 pm
DEAR READERS, ALTHOUGH YOU ARE PERFECTLY FREE AND WELCOME TO PASTE YOUR COMMENTS ON ANY SECTION OF OUR VIRTUAL TAZEBAO, MAY WE SUGGEST THAT YOU DO SO IN THE SPACE PROVIDED UNDER THE LATEST POST “A bow in the cloud: unity, diversity and the Movement”. WE ARE ASKING THIS OF YOU BECAUSE WE WOULD LIKE TO CHANNEL THE NEW COMMENTS IN ONE SECTION FOR EASY READING AND CROSS-REFERENCE. YOU ARE NOT, OF COURSE, LIMITED TO THE THEME OF THE POST BELOW WHICH YOU LEAVE YOUR COMMENT, AS LONG AS IT IS IN SOME WAY RELEVANT TO THE ISSUE OF THE CHOICE OF A NEW LEADER.
THANK YOU
THE CARETAKER
April 29, 2008 at 10:19 am
WE HAVE BEEN RECEIVING INCREASING QUANTITY OF SPAM. SPAM-SUSPECT MAIL IS AUTOMATICALLY DIVERTED TO A SPAM FOLDER PENDING VERIFICATION. WE FILTER MATERIAL IN THIS FOLDER NOT LESS THAN ONCE EVERY 24 HOURS TO RELEASE NON-SPAM ITEMS CAUGHT IN THE NET. WE APOLOGISE TO THE SEVERAL CONTRIBUTORS WHOSE COMMENTS WERE THUS DELAYED.
THE CARETAKER