Back to "reality", Italian-style

The behaviour of the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, is once again international news (although he is on the front pages of the Italian papers almost every day). It's not for telling fellow Italians "don't pay your taxes" as he did in a recent interview abroad. It's not for conflict-of-interest charges because he owns several private media stations and also has control over many state ones. It's not for countless corruption, fraud or embezzlement scandals. It's not even for passing a law guaranteeing immunity from prosecution for a prime minister in office. It's something else. For those who don't know, B. has been ordered to stand trial on charges of paying for sex with an underage prostitute. (Prostitution isn't illegal in Italy but sex with a minor is.) There are also disgusting stories of wild parties at his villa with various Italian politicians, as well as international figures, where apparently young women were paraded before the groups of aging men, who were told to "pick one for the night."

Last Sunday, millions of people, but above all women, demonstrated against this excuse for a man and his treatment of women. There were gatherings in over 230 Italian cities as well as others around the world, including Paris and Tokyo. Here are some photos I took at the march in Genova (where approximately 40,000 people showed up).

"in defense of women, let's come out of silence"

just a small representation of the crowd

"Berlusconi, a total mess, goes to whores and is taking the country there too"

interesting juxtaposition, I thought, this very powerful female figure dominating the fresco behind, and modern women demanding rights

"Berlusconi is the man turning Italy into a brothel [complete mess]"

I realized that marches are much more powerful with drums

"if this is a man..."

there are many that say there is something psychologically wrong with him

"there's more than what you see here"; the sign behind reads: they deposed Ben Ali and Mubarak and there's never 2 without 3

what summed up the whole movement for me: this elderly woman joining the march with a homemade styrofoam sign saying "ENOUGH"

It's hard to describe the mood in the air that day. As I left my apartment and joined my friend Daniela, we were joined by two more people, then there were more people behind us, and more in front, and then there were more streaming from every direction down the streets toward the main piazza.

It's not often that I feel the kind of solidarity I felt there, as we swelled in numbers and waited for the march to begin. This unity of purpose within huge groups of people has always been inspiring to me...and yet it took the actions of a truly reprehensible man and his cronies to rouse us from our normal individual Sunday afternoon activities and gather together.

Later, the rain started, but we didn't stop marching. Some even began chanting "Piove, governo ladro!" -- It's raining, you thief of a government!

These ads have recently gone up all over Italy. The gist is, Berlusconi, get lost. You've dishonoured Italy, you don't have credibility, and you've stopped governing. Italy needs to look beyond to grow and have a healthy democracy (I accidentally wrote "democrazy", which perhaps is better). The last part invites everyone who agrees to go online and sign the petition against B. The organizers are shooting for 10 MILLION signatures (one sixth of the population of Italy).

National strike of workers and students for protecting workers' rights, including the right to strike.

This strike is not to be confused with the bus strikes which happen every couple of weeks, which are against -- well, it's hard to get a straight story. Talk to some and they'll say it's because the employees have been without a contract for months. Talk to others and they'll say it's because the employees don't feel like working.

And why should they, if their elected leader does anything but?