A few special words

A few words struck me from President Obama's inaugural speech:
Humbled
Grateful
Trust
Mindful
Ideals
True
Hope
Unity of Purpose
Enduring spirit
Choose
Carry forward
Nobel idea
Action, Bold, Swift
Purpose, Courage
Move forward
Strength
Principles
Change, change, change
Challenges
New
Values
Honesty
Courage
Fair play
Hope and virtue

Our inner conversations create a picture of who we are. The words we use to talk about ourselves, our past, our future, are important defining factors as we create our reality.

I like these words above. They are words that inspire and create a vision of something I would like to be as an American.

Actually they brought tears to my eyes as I listened the other evening, along with another 500 people at a gathering organized by the Democtrats Abroad. Some of us were a bit embarassed at how emotional we had become, but it has been a long hard eight years to be an American abroad.

a domani and a new beginning,
E

Unfortunate adjectives

Oh dear. Now that I can hold my head back up as an American, I must hang it down once again as an Italian.

Berlusconi did it again -- mouth before brain.

Oh well.

I believe his unfortunate comment that Obama is, "young, good-looking and suntanned" came from a place of unconsciousness not of malice or racism. He is just clueless and unfortunately not alone.

I know a few Asian-Americans here in Rome who are struggling with the constant assumption that they are someone's maid. One is a lawyer and recent arrival to the city. The innocent yet disturbing comments of her new Italian husband's friends leave her confused. How should she react? The children of another Asian-American / Italian couple are referred to by their friends at school as the "cinesine", although they are not even of Chinese origin. It is not with a mean intent, just unconsciousness.

So, at the top of the heap, Prime Minister Berlusconi refers to President-elect Barack Obama as, "suntanned" and continues to insist that he was just being "cute".

There is a long way to go. Wake up Italy.

a domani,
E

Moving forward

I have been pouring through article after article, enjoying the energy of forward moving change.

I am a personal fan of the Italian journalist Vittorio Zucconi who has been in the US for many years and carries a particular insider/outsider voice to his reporting for La Repubblica newspaper. True to form, his front page article highlighted unique characteristics of the American people. In this case, their ability to come down from the electoral high and get on with daily life, while both political sides shake hands and wish each other well. A new day is dawning and we had better get some rest. A spontaneous group formed in front of the White House to sing, "Bye Bye George." There was no need to cry victory and denigrate the other side. In any case, they will be back, when the time is right. American's pragmatic civility in politics is what catches him off guard from his European perspective.

In my readings, my favorite comment on Barack Obama was from Henry Louis Gates Jr, a Harvard scholar of African - American history,

"People don't see him primarily as black, I think people see him primarily as an agent of change."

and that is the way it should be, seeing people for who they are and what they stand for.

God bless America.

a domani,
E

Obama-mania

As I finally got to the bottom of my emails, I found a stack of NY Times op-eds forwarded by my mother. She continues to send fed-ex envelopes full of article clippings, highlighted and covered with notes, but recently discovered the NY Times online service. Yikes, what will this team bring!

The article that adds to our cross-cultural understanding is by Nicholas D. Kristof, entitled, "Rebranding the US with Obama" "". He suggests that, "Barack Obama’s political success could change global perceptions of the United States, redefining the American “brand” to be less about Guantánamo and more about equality." "

Perceptions" is the word that caught my eye.

In his endorsement, Mr. Powell stated that an Obama election “will also not only electrify our country, I think it’ll electrify the world.” You can already see that. A 22-nation survey by the BBC found that voters abroad preferred Mr. Obama to Mr. McCain in every single country — by four to one over all. Nearly half of those in the BBC poll said that the election of Mr. Obama, an African-American, would “fundamentally change” their perceptions of the United States."

There it is again, "perceptions". In Europe, these new perceptions have been already translated into "Obama-mania".

"Steven Kull, director of the Program on International Policy Attitudes, which conducted the BBC poll, said that at a recent international conference he attended in Malaysia, many Muslims voiced astonishment at Mr. Obama’s rise because it was so much at odds with their assumptions about the United States. Remember that the one thing countless millions of people around the world “know” about the United States is that it is controlled by a cabal of white bankers and Jews who use police with fire hoses to repress blacks. To them, Mr. Obama’s rise triggers severe cognitive dissonance.

“It’s an anomaly, so contrary to their expectation that it makes them receptive to a new paradigm for the U.S.,” Mr. Kull said.

Now we find, "assumptions," and "expectations," "new paradigms," "what people know about another country," and "cognitive dissonance".

Maybe this election will force all of us to look again at our perceptions, assumptions, expectations, and especially what we think we KNOW about another country. A little cognitive dissonance may not be a bad thing after all -- gets us thinking in new ways.

Who knows, we may have a Chinese-Italian, Romanian-Italian or Albanian-Italian as prime minister some day. Hmmm, first we may need to find a few as doctors, lawyers, government officials or even teachers. Actually right now I would be happily surprised to find a few at my son's old liceo classico - venerable and oddly elite public school in the center of Rome.

There is a long way to go -- hopefully the Obama-mania will create a bit of cognitive dissonance when set side-by-side with the rise of xenophobia and its disturbing question, "what to do with those immigrants" that has been sneaking into the public sphere with increasing regularity.

a domani,
E

to your health

I have read quite a few newspapers since Friday between the train to Trento and a couple of days hanging around a hospital bed where my son has been recuperating from an appendicitis operation.

Between the never-ending Alitalia drama, the fall of Wall Street icons, glue in Chinese milk and the Islamabad Marriott tragedy, this little corner of beauty and efficiency seems almost surreal.

As the effectiveness of pure market vs. Keynesian economics is debated, I look around at the experiment of Trentino where the public sector works, including the health system. Maybe the disaster of un-regulated de-regulation in the financial sector will lead to some clearer and pragmatic thinking about the public/private balance in the US health system too. How about sending over a US delegation for a study?

a domani (from Trento for a few days),
E

On the good side

The Third Republic is born.

To be positive, lots of new and exciting things came out of yesterday's election results.
1. No more itsy-bitsy parties that looked more like interest groups/lobbies than real parties to me. None made the cut and they will not be represented in parliament.
2. No more parties for the extreme left and extreme right -- ex-communists, radicals, and greens on the left and ex-fascists on the right have disappeared. The socialist party didn't make the grade and, amazingly, the Vatican lost much of its insidious political power.
3. We are moving towards two major alternative powers made up of only a few parties. Not a bad thing. Actually a very good thing.

There were even civil discussions on the TV last night. Each side respectfully acknowledging both the winner and the opposition and their respective roles. That's a change.

Now the PDL and the Lega will have to govern and if they don't do it well, there is now, for the first time, a viable alternative finally free of the reformed communists and other more radical left-wingers.

And the game begins!
I think I'll stick around and see how it goes, hopefully for the best of the country.

a domani (and another day),
E

Election day reflections

Well, the deed is done.

Just before lunch, I walked up the hill to our local elementary school, got in line for my electoral section and watched the various posters that lined the school hallway go by with their lists upon lists of names and party symbols to sort out. All those lists and names got me nervous and when it was almost my turn, I followed the eyes of the elderly man in front of me and started reading what turned out to be the school menu posted on the door thinking that it might hold the key to the voting process. We agreed that the week's menu looked good to us, but then again it was almost 1:00 and we were hungry.

It was my turn, the first name in my "seggio" (Abbot tends to be at the top of any list). I gave them my voting card and my identity card and received in turn FIVE color coded sheets.
One for the Senate, one for the House, one for the Rome mayor, one for the president of the Lazio province and one for the municipal government.

The Senate and the House sheets contained respectfully 14 and 16 symbols -- the task was to put an X on one of them. The symbols were very pretty and colorful, Italian design at work, and if you put your glasses on, you could often find the name of the "list head" somewhere in the graphics to help you identify who was attached to which symbol.

The other ballots consisted of both party symbols and names -- between one and ten symbols supporting each name. Here you could either X a name (without a preference for which party 's support) or just the party list (which includes automatically the name), or, why not?, put an X on both the list and the name (which becomes redundant with respect of the second choice). (sorry--running out, will turn photo later..)

I folded up the ballots, placed each one in its color-coded box, picked up my ID card and voter card and skipped out.

At least I had done my duty, but not with a lightness of spirit. There is a sad state of affairs and I fear my vote will not stop the tsunami of Berlusconi and his impossible media-driven machine. What can I do, but vote.

The foreign press is up in arms and truly bewildered this time around -- how is it that this man can come back for a third term. A true Italian mystery. If Italy is a county based on appearances, he is certainly the showpiece. Contrary to all logic and common sense, people believe his superficial slogans, youthful appearance and wildly improbable campaign promises.

Calls for reforms come and go but change does not take place. The country is too divided to agree on anything as overriding as constitutional and electoral reforms. So they are discussed but never come to form.

But I digress and all this has been said before and is being said again in the foreign papers. (the German paper Spiegel had this interesting article -- sent to me by a German blog follower).

What perhaps I can add is a few observations on the possible cultural roots of the Italian political system's morass.

Ministro Amato stated an important truth the other day, Italy was formed in 1860 as a state, but not a nation. It is still today struggling to find a common identity from the myriad of localized (and often historically feudal) realities. Anna Finocchiaro, leader of the PD in the Senate and a Sicilian by birth, has been given the task of preventing the whole of Sicily from going to Berlusconi. She states, "Voters here are as tied to the bosses as in the days of feudalism." The ties are formed through an endless network of favors and connections that feed on more favors and connections until this web becomes a voter block. This kind of intertwined relations and reciprocal connections does not favor nor facilitate change and this is the key to Italy's stagnation on many fronts.

Unwritten systems that have grown out of centuries of "si fa così," cannot be changed, because, on paper, they do not even exist!

While we all love and appreciate the distinct differences in Italian food from one region (and even one town) to another, this desire to covet interests close to home spills over into a need to defend small and local interests in the form of parties in the name of every imaginable sector of society.

The innate need to be particolare in all aspects of life also lends to the development of multiple parties. Everyone has to get on a particular bandwagon to achieve personal identity.

The only problem is that national identity behind a political system that works for the common good instead of defending localized and particular interests, is still to be achieved.

And reforms that would allow for such an identity to be formed, are resting in the wings, hoping to one day walk on stage -- to the applause of the rest of the world.

a domani,
E

Prof. Amato for lunch

Do you know where your Minister of the Interior was yesterday at 1:00?

I do.

Despite busy pre-election days and the hoopla that has been going in the news over ballot forms, from 1-2:15 he was enjoying a leisurely lunch of: risotto con zucchine, pollo al limone accompanied by mixed grilled vegetables and a slice of cake, followed, of course, by an espresso. He was scheduled to speak for the American Women's Association of Rome and the American International Club of Rome at their monthly luncheon.

I had assumed he would rush in (late) long after the lunch was over, escorted by blue-suited, blue-toothed body guard types, and instead he simply showed up at 1:00 and thoroughly enjoyed the ambiance of the Hotel Savoy, the company and the food before getting up to speak at 2:20.

He was delightful, witty and had many interesting and intelligent things to say -- just what I had expected and why I had paid for the extravagant mid-day meal. He had studied comparative law at Columbia University where he is now on the faculty and has spent enough time on both continents to have a good sense of both countries (and good English as well!).

He prefaced his talk by saying that he was more interested in the upcoming US elections than of those in Italy, but would not tell us his preferred candidate, noting that in any case, a change for the better was in the air.

To explain the tie that binds the US and Europe he drew a lovely analogy, "Although the US and Europe are different, America is like a daughter for me." We are different, indeed, and the daughter can grow up to be stronger than the father, but the tie binds, especially for the Italian family! In terms of the new world order, "This in not a time for empires, but in the context of global alliance, the Western world shares common values on which the battle of market forces takes place." Although we are different we are closer to each other when compared to the rest of the world.

Italy he described as, "A bizarre country" and "A summary of the world."

"Of course we have beauty, then we tend to be inefficient yet wonderfully efficient when we want to be. We present ourselves worse than we really are and we are very open to others while being scared of others at the same time."

"Italy is the problem and the solution. We lack a basic platform and a sense of common identity -- Italians had a state, but not a nation when it was formed. It was missing common values shared by everyone, instead tied to minor and localized identities.

But, he summarized, "somehow we always end up among the winners."

And its true! Now how do they do that I wonder...

a domani (for a special Italian election treat),
E

Left of the Church

My son threw up his hands as he got to page 10 of the newspaper over his post-pranzo espresso, "Why does the church (Church) always have its hands in politics!"

As Veltroni gathers consensus for his new Partito Democratico he must come to terms with the Catholic church to have any chance of winning upcoming elections. He has chosen a wise position that aims to include the left-leaning Catholics into his fold and distance the PD from the radical anitclericalism of the farther left. Although the PD needs the Catholic vote, he reminds them that the lay nature of the State must be also be practiced and not only preached. "We can't enter into the 21st century with a counterposition of Catholics and lay people. It would mean that Italy is condemned to a never ending Porta Pia*." He calls for a shift in language -- for example, in the place of "in the defense of values", a move towards, "promoting values", as a first step. As he walks a fine line, he asks his lay followers to be ethically senstitive to Catholic positions and to make a conscious effort to get away from name calling.

The division runs deep and the left has historically been on the other side of the divide from the Church. Now it is up to Super Walter to build a bridge to the other side, and I have faith that his pragmatic and personable ways will pave a way.

a domani,
E
* The conquest of Rome in 1870 that led to its integration into the newly formed Italian state (1860).

Up in smoke

I spent the morning between the doctor and the post office -- the first to liberate my (rather gruesome looking) thumb from its bandage (no cost) and the second to sign for a damaged Christmas package from a sister (items intact, just the envelope side ripped). Between one wait and another I read the newspaper where I found an analysis of Naples' current "garbage hell". Once again, Naples has managed to distinguish itself from the rest of Italy and the title reads, "Democracy Killed by Trash". Journalist Francesco Merlo expresses what many feel, that Naples is not capable of governing itself and that the State must intervene, even sending in the army, to confront the crisis. He says that we must finally do away with the idea that there is a soft way to govern and administrate the South, "The illusion that the whole county is like Tuscany has been trashed". Naples is controlled by organized crime and local politicians can't do much about it, even if they should want to. Money pours in and disappears. The problems remain and every so often go up in smoke as enormous mounds of trash alight.

Are Italians angry enough to actually do what one reader suggests? Eliminate all local political power and place Naples in the hands of the State. Maybe they are. A new level of indignation is in the air.

a domani,
E

Expat call to arms

Sunday, October 14 is your day to enter Italian politics. The Partito Democratico is holding its primary and you can vote if you are resident. You do not have to be a member of the party.

If you live in Rome, in the areas of Parioli, Pinciano, Salaria or Trieste, you can even vote for the "lista Partecipazione, Territorio e Solidarietà con Veltroni per Zingaretti." One of the six list members is my friend and fellow American long-term resident abroad (expat), Rebecca Spitzmiller.

How did she get involved in local politics? She had made a political name for herself a few years ago by campaigning for toilet paper and soap in her son's middle school and later for "dog-poop free sidewalks" -- complete with posters and fliers. Her name came up in a meeting to help bring in votes from the local foreign community and she accepted the challenge

Last Saturday I stopped by to visit and accompanied her to the first electoral campaign activity in a local piazza. The scheduled meeting time was 5:00. It was raining and the piazza was already occupied by another organization, S. Egidio. "Why", we wondered out loud, "hadn't someone checked that the piazza was free?" At 5:20 she finally got a fellow candidate on the phone who said, "We are deciding what to do because of the rain." Ten minutes later, two of the other candidates strolled in with a carload of fliers -- but they decided not to set anything up due to the rain, "People don't appreciate being approached with fliers when they are carrying umbrellas."
Rebecca collected a pack of fliers for a sunny day and we all exchanged good-byes.

The Italian democratic process in action -- a bit disorganized, but flexible. For the first time there is even a list made up of immigrants and citizens of Chinese origin supporting the candidate Piergiorgio Gawronski in the electoral college (collegio) for the Prenestino area of Rome. Marco Wong, the list spokesman, says, "The intent is to demonstrate that the foreign community is interested in contributing positively to Italian society; they are not just a separate enclave."

If the Chinese can participate in the democratic process in Italy, why can't we? The excuse, "I can't understand anything about Italian politics" is really not a very good one, especially if you live here.

So, jump in there, ask around, figure it out, and, if you would like some things to change, even vote!

a domani,
E

Anti-politics continued

The "Anti-politics" discussions continue on the front page of la Repubblica newspaper -- yesterday la Repubblica's founding father Eugenio Scalfari responded to his disciple and current Director, Ezio Mauro (Political Castes and the Race of Patrons).The day before, Luca Cordero di Montezemolo, head of the Confindustria (the industrialist's organization) put his word in too (under the title Italian Capitalism and the Waltzer of Anti-politics). Today the discussion was elevated to a European level with an editorial by Joaquin Navarro-Valls on, The Wave of Anti-politics in our Democracies. Just as Sandro Viola said it would, the discussion has evolved into one among the various powers to be, with little consideration for the audience.

Basta. It is a beautiful day. Summer has returned. I took the time for a coffee with my international friends from the pool following our early morning acquagym class -- a mix of American, British, Italian/American, South African, Russian/American, French Canadian and Belgian women that help me keep my sanity. We laugh, consult, listen, confide, advise -- isn't that what friends are for?

Today S. put forth her dilema. This time, it was not about men, but work. She teaches part-time and has been asked to serve on an ad-hoc committee that would take up tons of time over the next 4-5 months at no extra pay. In any other country, serving would eventually pay off, it would show interest, dedication, seriousness that would be taken into consideration in the future. Here, she would be used as slave labor, lose out on freelance opportunities and kick herself when they shake her hand and say "thank you so much for helping us out" before turning their backs. As they say, "da cosa nasce cosa" -- HA! I know several university adjunct professors at the Univerisity of Rome (lettori) that get asked to do things like translate 500 page documents for the barone at hand, at no pay and with no reward down the road (career advancement). It takes them awhile to figure it out -- all work, no reward. The rewards go to the league of raccommandati.

Which takes me back to the old Antipolitica discussion.....

a domani,
E

Anti-politics

Everyone is talking about the big A, "L'Antipolitica". It started with Beppe Grillo's "vaffa" day and doesn't seem to go away.

Today, Ezio Mauro, the Director of la Repubblica newspaper wrote an editorial entitled, "Anti-politics, for Whom the Bell Tolls", which is a bit rhetorical as it goes on about the "decadence of the country...and the loss of cultural identity" before exploring how this has led Italians away from change and towards rebellion, as if,"Changing Italy was an impossible task, or worse, a useless one." He cites the static quality of the political class as leading Italy into, "An atelier of the West, or a home for its elderly." The Antipolitica is just "an outward sign of a diminishing public and national spirit, a lost sense of citizenship, identity, cultural reference point."

Not an uplifting editorial and really not a very thoughtful one either. I think I have already heard all this. Blablabla.

Instead, a few days ago, I read another editorial -- train rides are condusive to this kind of activity -- one by Sandro Viola, called "What Feeds Anti-politics." This was more interesting. He first acknowledged that while there has been lots of talk, no one wants to dig deeper to the roots of the problem. He instead addresses the role of the media in the Italian people's growing sense of nausea at all that smells of politics. At the top of the list are the TV news programs, so full of comprimises, starting with the practice of "the sandwich" (they actually call it "sandwich" as the practice has Anglo-saxon roots). First politicians from the governing party speak (or have their declarations read) for a pre-set number of minutes, followed by those from the opposition, finishing up with a summary by the governing party's spokesperson. The end result, Sandro Viola calls, "fried air, an avalanche of words." So we see the same faces, every evening, year in and out, that do nothing but repeat the same empty phrases. "The Italians need air," he concludes, "they can't breathe anymore. They don't want to see or hear these people anymore."

The newspapers are not much better as they put out an average of seven or eight pages dedicated to internal "news", of which only one or two pages are of any pertinence or interest to the public. The rest is a repeat of the TV news programs -- detailed analysis of every empty phase pronounced the night before, long declarations, interviews that go on and on. In other words, a dialogue between journalists and politicians with no distinction between what is relevant and what is not. The Italian people are exasperated by this deluge of nothing and have developed an allergy to all that tastes of politics.

The Italian people, he concludes, are no longer divided between "us" and "them" (as in left and right political leanings) as had been the case for over a hundred years. Now, previous enemies march together in disgust of what they see on both sides, while chanting Bebbe Grillo's slogans, abandoned not only by the political system, but also by the media.

Anyone want to rally Italians to a nation-wide TV strike? Maybe for a week or even a month. Where is Beppe when we need him? I know you don't get to hang out in the piazza with your friends or throw a walking street party as you do with a normal style strike and demonstration, but you would get to read a few good book. I read Suite Francese by Irène Némirovsky for the September meeting of my book club and I am halfway through Terrorist by John Updike for the October meeting -- both qualify as a good read. Why not just turn off the traitor and tool of political jibberish and cuddle up with a book.

a domani,
E