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# taz.de -- Spotlight Populism: Politicians should rediscover frugality
> A great deal of representatives of Italian people have adopted a
> redundancy lifestyle that reminds of football players or star system
> VIPs.
Bild: „All together tey are a caste.“ Italian Senate
How do we survive populism? Bringing back popular parties. In today's
Italy, demagogic movements capitalize on the elitistic politicians, who
regard their empoverished electors with a Queen Marie Antoinette's
approach: «Let them eat cake».
According to an Euronews report, the Italian members of Parliament earn
176.257 Euros a year. More than their european colleagues (the Germans earn
108.894). And way more than their fellow countrymen: 5,2 times more than
the average income (31.680).
But it is not only a question of money: it's a question of status. A great
deal of representatives of Italian people have adopted a redundancy
lifestyle that reminds of football players or star system VIPs: penthouses,
armed guards, false blondes, boats, brand-name dresses and handmade shoes…
Of course, they are not all the same. The former President of the European
Commission Romano Prodi, for instance, used to assemble by himself Ikea
furniture. Also a current minister used to go to Ikea. But accompanied by
three armed guards, pushing the carriage on her behalf („The one who pushed
the carriage was a driver“ she pointed out).
A venial sin: Italian politicians have accostumed us to much worse. Apart
from the countless corruption cases, in these last years one politician
appointed his son future secretary of his own party, another pretended that
somebody had paid him (behind his back) a flat with a view on the
Colosseum, another held «elegant dinners» with escorts and showgirls,
another one was filmed taking cocaine with a transexual…
## The „Casta“
All this in a country where an average labourer earns 43 per cent less than
his German counterpart. No wonder that Italian politicians have been
labeled as members of the «Casta» (caste, from the successful title of an
award-winning book). «Brahmins, here's what italian politicians have
become» write the authors Gian Antonio Stella e Sergio Rizzo. «Generated
not by Brahma (…) but by a ‚partitocratico‘ system affected by
elephantiasis (…) All together they are a caste. Who feels above the
society which it proclaims to serve».
It has not always been like that. In our recent past our politicians had
what we call «senso dello Stato» (sense of State). Till the Seventies,
italian lawmakers had a very low profile, with a hint of moral ascetism.
From the Communist party to the neofascist Movimento sociale, passing
through the Christian democrats, they all shared austerity of mores,
thinking that public money had to be «respected».
Enrico De Nicola, the first president of the Italian republic in 1946,
never touched the 11 million lire allowance that the State granted him: he
paid everything with his own money. Not to talk about Giuseppe Dossetti,
the vicepresident of Christian Democrats waiting to become a priest, and
Giorgio La Pira, about to be elected mayor of Florence: in Rome they lived
with other Christian democrats (including a minister with family, Amintore
Fanfani) in a sort of a catholic commune. In these two big apartments with
one bath only, they ate all together pasta and beans.
An austere life, where poverty was theorized. When our first prime minister
Ferruccio Parri took office in 1945, he installed himself in his office
eating bread and salami and sleeping in a camp bed. When his successor
Alcide De Gasperi went to the United States to meet president Henry Truman
in 1947, he had borrowed the coat from his right-hand man, Attilio
Piccioni.
«This was the anti-fascist ruling class who had just come out from prison
and exile, used to sacrifice and toughen up by adversity» comments Paolo
Zanini, a young researcher of contemporary History at Milan State
University. «But even later, that generation kept a similar approach. One
of the best examples of a popular politician was the socialist leader
Pietro Nenni. His tribunitian style allowed him to empathize with popular
wishes and needs, without sliding into populism. This is the secret: being
able to understand the people without pandering to the worst instincts».
That's the lesson our politicians should learn if they want to survive
populism.
Elisabetta Burba is an italian journalist specialized in international
affairs, holds a Master's degree in Contemporary history
26 Jul 2017
## AUTOREN
Elisabeta Burba
## TAGS
Spotlight Populism in Europe
taz international
taz in English
Populismus
Elite
taz in English
USA
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