Europeans, who tend to be obedient little sheep when it comes to the outrages of their governments, nonetheless show occasional signs of life. This profile of ultra-popular Italian comedian and activist Beppe Grillo, who lets lawsuits nor censorship efforts detract him from his mission to expose the outright corruption of Italy's ruling classes, is heartening.
Grillo's blog (in Italian and English) is apparently the eighth-most-read in the world. Here, courtesy of the New Yorker, is a clue about why so many Italians love him.
In 1981, Italian magistrates had discovered the existence of a Masonic lodge called P2 — the “P” was for “propaganda” — whose members included prominent politicians, judges, industrialists, and secret-service officers. Several were later implicated in financial frauds, Mafia-related murders, or right-wing terrorist bombings. The discovery of P2 was one of the greatest scandals of postwar Italy, and RAI executives warned Grillo not to speak about it on television. So he wrote about it instead. In 1983, he brought a blackboard and a piece of chalk onto the set and composed an elaborate “P2 theorem,” which demonstrated the existence of the lodge and the membership in it of Pietro Longo, a leading politician.
In 1986, Bettino Craxi, Italy’s Socialist Prime Minister, made a state visit to China, and on TV Grillo imagined an aide asking the Prime Minister, “If everyone’s a Socialist down here, who do they steal from?” Craxi protested to RAI, and Grillo was effectively banned from television until Craxi resigned as the leader of the Socialist Party, in 1993. (Craxi was indicted on corruption charges and accused of taking billions of lire in bribes. He escaped prosecution by fleeing to Tunisia, where he died in exile in 2000.)
Really sweet, and thanks for sharing, I had no idea of this guy. The image of a hundred thousand giving the finger to those in power is quite an inspiration.
Vaffanculo! indeed!
One little quibble, though... Like Michael Moore, who the article compares to him, Grillo is making a name for himself by calling out and challenging corruption in government. Bravo, encore, for what it's worth.
Stepping back a bit, though, as I did some time ago, it seems rather to me that eliminating corruption from government is a challenge as great -- and as futile -- as eliminating feces from defecation. Corruption is the very nature of government. If there's any place or any time today or in history where this wasn't or isn't true, I've yet to see it. Oh we may draw distinctions between the various degrees of corruption and choose at the end of the day a weak self-defense when our masters permit us the selection of one supposedly lesser evil over the greater, but when we do so we still end up holding that nasty, stinking turd.
Love your blog.
Posted by: Mike | Tuesday, July 22, 2008 at 05:33 PM