Surfing the internet in English, I read almost everywhere that Berlusconi is a mafioso and a dictator. I find that he monopolizes the Italian media, he’s danger for democracy, he’s comparable to Mussolini.

Ironically, that is exatcly the same impression one gets from watching the Italian media. Which fact, alone, demonstrates that the impression is false. If Berlusconi were a Mussolini-like dictator, the media would be on his side, not against him.

Actually, that may in fact BE what Berlusconi wants the media to say. The simple fact is that Italy doesn’t seem to have a problem with the fact that their leader is a mafioso and laughingstock.

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Anyhow, just watch one day of RAI3 transmissions and you’ll have no doubt that Berlusconi is not the media censor and monopolist that they say.

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Fifteen years ago, Italy had the PCI, the Italian Communist Party. Its symbol was the sickle-and-hammer. Its leaders used to travel to Moscow regularly, taking both orders and money from Soviet leaders. The KGB archives, now open to the public, list several personalities of the former PCI as paid agents.
After the fall of the Wall, the PCI changed its name into DS, Democratici di Sinistra or Left Democratics. (Don’t confuse them with Rifondazione Comunista, a fraction of the party which refused to abandon Marxism and still wields the sickle and hammer). But, don’t let the name change fool you – the DS, former PCI, have retained the old structure, supporters, leaders, possessions, network of contacts and allies, and above all the old mindset – which is all but democratic, being Communist and Soviet-inspired. And they are the leading, most powerful party of the Left. They, not Berlusconi, are the main threat to the Italian democracy.

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Dear Europeans, Americans, foreigners. Imagine what your country would know and think about George W. Bush if all they knew about him was learned from Michael Moore’s films.

Now, I hope I’m wrong, because I’m not completely into foreign media, but it seems to me that this is exactly what happens about Berlusconi. All the world knows about him seems to be filtered through Italian leftist propaganda.

Surfing the internet in English, I read almost everywhere that Berlusconi is a mafioso and a dictator. I find that he monopolizes the Italian media, he’s danger for democracy, he’s comparable to Mussolini.

Ironically, that is exatcly the same impression one gets from watching the Italian media. Which fact, alone, demonstrates that the impression is false. If Berlusconi were a Mussolini-like dictator, the media would be on his side, not against him.

Dear Roberto, dear Italian leftists who love to compare Berlusconi to Mussolini and complain about his control over television, please be honest and stop telling lies to yourself and others.

You say that Berlusconi controls the television. Have you ever actually watched the Italian television? Have you ever seen immensely popular Leftist satyrical shows like Zelig, Rockpolitik, le Iene? Political talk-shows like Ballarò and L’Infedele? Television news programs like… well, ALL of them, except for that of Fede?

Also notice that there is NO conservative equivalent to the shows I have listed – nobody in the television ever dares to defend the premier, not even implicitly (except for the lonely Fede who has a ridiculously little audience anyway).

Berlusconi stated that 80% of television journalists are part of Usigrai, the union of Leftist journalists. This is a fact. It’s so much a fact that none of his opponents ever tried to reply to this, even though they never miss a chance to speak against Berlusconi.

Not to mention the printed press. There is no major newspaper that doesn’t attack Berlusconi all the time (unless you count Il Giornale as a major newspaper).

Just an example. The banlieue episode in Paris. How would you describe it? An Islamic riot? You can’t deny that the protesters were mostly Islamic. You would expect a conservative media to underline or at least mention the Islamic character of the riot. This would be in Berlusconi’s interests. Now, all the newspaper articles and television services I saw in those days tried to conceal the Islamic thing. I asked around, and found that most of the people I know here in Italy, even conservatives, didn’t understand that the riot was Islamic. Doesn’t this mean that the Left controls the media?

All this may seem strange, since Berlusconi, in theory, controls the media. Yes, he personally owns three channels. In theory, he also controls the state television being the head of the government (but then the state television has always been government controlled).
However, he doesn’t do much to pull the media to his side, nor he could even if he wanted. There are many reason for this – one is that doing so would backfire in terms of popularity.

There are so many misconceptions about Berlusconi, both in Italy and the world. That he’s a dictator, a criminal, a Mafioso. None of those is true.

I would like to go on and on and on, explaining my point of views. But I don’t have the strenght, the patience, and even the fluency in English to do so. Sorry.

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To briefly describe my humble meeting with Mr. Berusconi would be fruitless, but I leave you with this question. How many other men would verbally assault a reporter after shoving a young woman (me) during a press conference at the European Parliament?

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I AM the real Silvio and so’s my wife. I further lay claim to the Silvio(TM) brand and any derived products.

I would like to take this opportunity to offer to pay your mortgage in exchange for one of those nice peerages apparently on offer in Britain.

I saw one in Brighton and decided it would look good on the end of one of my villas.

Silvio Burlesque-oni

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What’s worrying me at the moment is the increased use of the word ‘transparency’ in the context of party campaign ‘loans’. The problem with these loans is, surely, that they are already too transparent! To the extent that we can’t see them!

Maybe we’ll get some whitewash to cover the transparency up.

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Unfortunatley pubs outside East Anglia that sell the nectar often don’t have the same ambience, or perhaps lack of ambience.

Over to you Mark.

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Can we start talking about Abbot Ale again?

(Draws the bile, indeed…)

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