Day of amnesia and wilful distortion

The Day of Memory is a moment when the world looks back on the Shoah. Most of the time the speeches are predictable; “never again” is the refrain even when Srebenica and Ruanda belie the exhortation. But in any case, of the world, Europe should be more conscious of what happened here during World War II and of the Europeans, the heirs of the perpetrators should be even more conscious.

Chancellor Merkel was very clear; she said this morning that Germany’s responsibility is “everlasting”.

Silvio Berlusconi has very different ideas. He made a surprise visit to the commemorations in Milan. A museum is being set up in the Central Station on the platform where the deportees left from and a very tired Berlusconi arrived for the photo opportunity. Instead of playing safe with some platitudes, he made a very unpleasant grab for the far right vote.

He tried to justify Mussolini’s 1938 Racial Laws arguing that antisemitism was better than being conquered by Germany. He obviously does not know that all the research on the Racial Laws(and there has been a huge amount over the last 30 years from Renzo De Felice to Jonathan Steinberg) shows very clearly that there was absolutely no pressure from Hitler for Italy them. It is true that Mussolini himself was lukewarm about them (he had had a long and important affair with Margherita Sarfatti, a Jew and some of his early friends had been Jewish) but the pressure for the laws came from within the Fascist Party.

But even Berlusconi knows that in 1938, a year before the war began, the French and the British were trying very hard to keep Italy neutral. In Munich in September 1938 more or less at the same time as the Racial Laws were promulgated, Mussolini acted as the peacemaker, the last time he could wear the mantle of “statesman”, brokering the deal that British prime minister Neville Chamberlain dubbed “peace in our time”. The “Pact of Steel” binding Germany and Italy together in a military alliance was not signed until May the next year and even then was not respected by Mussolini when war began in September.

Mussolini had every opportunity to get out of Hitler’s embrace.

But for Berlusconi the Racial Laws were the “worst thing that Mussolini did and he did a lot of good things” and then he and the other Italians “did not fully know what was going on”. There is a document in the Italian archives in which a carabiniere general asks whether he should hand over Jews to the Germans when he knew they were being gassed. Mussolini scribbled “nulla osta” and put his initials to it, explicitly telling the general to hand over the Jews.

Twenty years ago we showed this document to Gianfranco Fini (he had called Mussolini “the greatest statesman of the 20th century”). Later he began to change his position.

Berlusconi still has not learnt and tries to distort history and that is bad but on the Day of Memory, it is an obscenity.

As in previous election years, the American University of Rome will be hosting a two day conference covering election issues, parties, policies and personalities, with analyses from scholars, journalists and politicians. This year it will be on 8-9 March 2013 originally a month before the likely date of the elections, now two weeks after the 24-25 Feb elections. The keynote speeches will be given by Paul Ginsborg and Gianfranco Pasquino.

Follow me on Twitter: @walstonjames

Raul Wallenberg on the Day of Memory

Tomorrow evening the lights on the Colosseum will be turned out as part of Rome’s contribution to the Day of Memory. For almost 20 years now, turning off the lights has been the city’s gesture against injustice. Initially it was part of the campaign against the death penalty and in recent years, the scope has widened.

This year, the initiative is not only to commemorate the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945 but also to protest against “antisemitic acts and statements by the xenophobe Hungarian party Jobbick”.

The contemporary Hungarian connection is a reminder that last year was the centenary of the birth of Raul Wallenberg (left), the Swedish businessman turned diplomat who saved tens of thousands of Jews in Budapest in 1944 and then was detained by the Soviet authorities early in 1945. He disappeared and was killed, possibly in 1947, probably much later. The Swedish Embassy here in Rome organised ceremonies and conferences in October to commemorate Wallenberg and reprinted a biography by Domenico Vecchioni all very much part of the Day of Memory and today’s Hungary.

Wallenberg was doing business in Hungary, Germany and occupied France in the early part of the war. In the Spring of 1944, Germany actively occupied Hungary which had been a more or less independent ally till then. They began deporting Jews and enough news was available for President Roosevelt to take action. Because he knew Hungary well (and spoke Hungarian) Wallenberg was approached by Americans from the War Refugee Board and members of the Jewish community in Sweden to work on the protection and relief of Hungarian Jews.

He was given a job and cover as a Swedish diplomat and by the summer was at work in Budapest. He issued tens of thousands of false so-called “protective passports” which were accepted by the Germans and the Hungarian Arrow Cross. This was a ploy used by diplomats trying to save Jews in occupied Europe. The Italian consul in Thessalonika, Guelfo Zamboni (below left, in Joseph Rochlitz's documentary "The Righteous Enemy") issued Italian nationality certificates to hundreds, only covering himself by adding a handwritten “provisorio”, “provisional” just in case, as he said, someone might object to his breach of procedure.

Zamboni was a real diplomat as was Carl Lutz, the Swiss vice-consul in Budapest who along with the Swiss minister, Harald Feller protected Budapest Jews and saved thousands of them.

But Giorgio Perlasca (left) was not. He was a veteran of the Spanish Civil War who because he had volunteered in 1936 was not called up again in 1940. At the time, he was a not very successful businessman in Budapest. Because of the Spanish connection, he started working for the embassy which by 1944 along with the Swedes and Swiss was actively protecting the Jews of at least Budapest. When the real Spanish diplomats left Budapest in December 1944 as the Red Army approached, Giorgio became Jorge and for almost two months faced off the Arrow Cross armed only with courage and considerable nerve. In one episode, he threatened repercussions on Hungarians living in Spain if they touched the Jews under Spanish protection – he had no idea if there were any Hungarians in Spain and had no possibility of acting on them if there were; but it worked.

Rome has its own memory. There is a square close to the Tiber entitled “16 ottobre 1943”; it is site close to what used to be the gated papal ghetto where 1024 Jews were rounded up by the German authorities and send to Auschwitz. More than 200 were children none of whom returned; of the others 15 men and one woman came back. Over the next few months more than another thousand Jews were deported from Rome.

The need to remember is as important as ever. Last year there were antisemitic tweets in France and in Naples, this week the member of “soft” and would-be respectable neo-fascist “Casa Pound” were accused of planning to rape a Jewish woman. There is an Italian version of Golden Dawn which is also anti-semitic “Let’s just say that the banks are run by a gang of zionist vampires” And then there were moves by a Jobbick MP to register Jews in parliament which were the reason for including the party in tomorrow’s ceremony.

It is ironic, though, that Rome’s mayor, Gianni Alemanno is keen to present himself as close to the city’s Jewish Community when he has never publically condemned fascism and his own neo-fascist roots (unlike Gianfranco Fini who has paid the political price for his principles). The Rome community is mostly conservative and the mayor is up for election in May.

Alemanno was invited to the Wallenberg commemoration but cancelled at the last minute provoking open criticism from the outspoken Minister for Integration and Cooperation, Andrea Riccardi (left, at the Wallenberg commemoration) for Alemanno’s lack of concern for the city’s rom communities. Riccardi also wants to block racist websites; he was attacked by one of them, Stormfront.

Tomorrow is not just a day of memory – the issues are still very much with us.

As in previous election years, the American University of Rome will be hosting a two day conference covering election issues, parties, policies and personalities, with analyses from scholars, journalists and politicians. This year it will be on 8-9 March 2013 originally a month before the likely date of the elections, now two weeks after the 24-25 Feb elections. The keynote speeches will be given by Paul Ginsborg and Gianfranco Pasquino.

Follow me on Twitter: @walstonjames

Electionwatch 9 - Tactics as the game warms up.

The die is cast… at least as for the candidates.

Yesterday evening was the deadline for submitting names of candidates. All the parties presented their lists in good time except for Silvio Berlusconi’s Party of Freedom (PdL).

The problem was whether to include candidates who were either under investigation or who had been convicted in the court of first instance. Pierluigi Bersani and the Democratic Party (PD) had started the ball rolling by excluding three candidates, two from Sicily and one from Campania. They have either been indicted or convicted of crimes “against the public administration” (some sort of misuse of public funds). Some of the old guard like Walter Veltroni and Massimo D’Alema have also stood down, not for any misbehaviour but because the party wanted to present an image of renewal.

In the PdL, the situation was very different. Berlusconi’s poll mavens had told him that running equivocal candidates would cost the party up to a million votes though it is not at all clear how many votes those candidates can muster in favour of the party. Heavy pressure was put on a swathe of candidates; some jumped before they were pushed. Claudio Scajola is the veteran Ligurian Christian Democrat for whom someone paid €600,000 towards his flat “unbeknownst to me”. He has not been convicted of anything but said “I will not accept moral judgements from anyone” and stepped down . Berlusconi’s long time business partner, the Sicilian Marcello Dell’Utri has been convicted of various crimes including mafia association. He stepped down saying that he did not want to be accused of being the reason for the PdL‘s likely defeat.

Two others, both deputies and former members of government were not so accommodating. Alfonso Papa (who has already served time awaiting trial, one of the few politicians to see the inside of a prison) and Nicola Cosentino (left), both from Campania and both accused of links with the camorra refused to go quietly. All of yesterday there were furious rumours flying: party secretary Alfano and Cosentino had come to blows, Cosentino had walked off with the party lists and notarised signatures, they were in, they were out, and so on. In the end, they were out. Once out of the Chamber of Deputies, they lose their get-out-of-gaol-free card (Dell’Utri is too old to go to gaol) which is the main reason why they were so desperate.

The irony of the PdL clean-up is that Berlusconi himself, national party coordinator, Denis Verdini and outgoing president of Lombardy, Roberto Formigoni all have much more serious convictions or pending investigations but they are still very much in the running.

This is a battle between modern spin doctors, focus groups and opinion polls on the one hand and old fashioned clientelistic and machine politics on the other. Campania is one of the key swing regions and we will only see on 25 February whether Berlusconi’s clean-up has paid off in electoral terms.

He has increased the PdL’s share of the poll by more than 3% over the last month but only by dominating television and radio (his own and the public broadcaster). From now on parties’ and candidates’ will be regulated so we can expect a flattening of the curve. Nonetheless, his efforts have paid off – once again, he is the centre of attention and once again he has succeeded in setting at least part of the agenda with Monti promising to lower taxes and Bersani backtracking on a wealth tax proposal and promising to adjust the IMU property tax for lower incomes.

But for unacceptable candidates, it was the PD which made the running. Then, the queen of Italy’s spoof videos took a leaf out of the Nat and Natalie King Cole with her version of “Unforgettable” – “Unpresentable”.

Apart from Campania, according to a recent poll by Renato Mannheimer, there are another four marginal (using the British term) or swing (using the American) regions where the polls are too close to call. These are Lombardy, Venetia in the north, Apulia and Sicily in the south. There is a month to go before the elections and and in all five regions, most polls show less that 5% difference which between the margin of error and 25% saying they will not vote and 15% undecided . Over the next month the big parties, PD and PdL will fight hard to squeeze the smaller ones, at least in the centre, telling their lukewarm supporters to hold their noses and vote tactically rather than waste their vote on the luxury of an ideological vote of principal. In any scenario, Mario Monti and his “Civic Choice” will be crucial.

In Latium, the PD has a six point lead but that is due to Nicola Zingaretti, the popular candidate for the Regional and might not translate into a win in the Senate.
The Senate uncertainty conditions tactics. In Lombardy, the PdL and the Northern League (LN) came to an agreement last week despite having throwing brickbats at each for the past year. They had to if the LN leader, Roberto Maroni was to have any chance of winning the presidency of the region and if Berlusconi was to have any chance of winning the Senate premium.

The other tactical conditioning is a throwback to the so-called “First Republic” where the five government party did everything they could to differentiate themselves from each other in order to win more votes, knowing full well that within days of the election they would be negotiating government posts. It meant that they could not be overly rude about each other. This is happening with Bersani and Mario Monti’s “Civic Choice”. They are making great efforts to focus on what makes them different but they are being polite enough to allow a post-election coalition.

But this is only the beginning.

As in previous election years, the American University of Rome will be hosting a two day conference covering election issues, parties, policies and personalities, with analyses from scholars, journalists and politicians. This year it will be on 8-9 March 2013 originally a month before the likely date of the elections, now two weeks after the 24-25 Feb elections. The keynote speeches will be given by Paul Ginsborg and Gianfranco Pasquino.

Superhero Obama

Today Barack Obama was sworn in for his second term, a visibly older and, I would guess, politically wiser man than four years ago. He is still far from being an ordinary president but the world and more importantly the less tolerant parts of his own country have got just a little bit more used to having a black president.

Four years ago, he was so exceptional and not just for his colour, to reach superhero status. The Italian public broadcaster, the RAI celebrated the inauguration with a progamme about the comic book Obama and I was asked to help explain why.

Obama had already reached almost legendary status just by running in the primaries; his books, his oratory and his appearance made him someone very special and his conscious and unconscious emulation of that other American icon, Abraham Lincoln helped. This was a tall and lanky man from Illinois who didn’t emancipate slaves by decree but liberated black Americans just by doing what he did and being who he was. And to some extent he liberated all Americans by realising that American dream that anyone can become President and going a long way towards exorcising the ghosts of racism: that is a super power that no comic book character even dreamt of having.

He was also able to bridge the gap between high and popular culture, something that Bill Clinton did expertly but Clinton hardly had the physical appeal that Obama has. Obama moves easily between Clark Kent and Superman without having to duck into a phone box to change.

Certainly he will need all of those superpowers in order to achieve his political agenda in the next four years.

For a analysis of comic strips and presidents, I turned to an expert, Ian Rakoff, an old friend who I hadn’t seen for many years. This was his reply:

James

Most American Presidents get a look-in and appear in comics now and then. In 1938 Roosevelt and his Secretary of State were drawn into the Joe Palooka comic strip to help get Joe out of the French Foreign Legion. Letters were exchanged between the creator and the White House in all seriousness. That was a big deal, after all Palooka was arguably the most popular strip in the history of comics followed by Little Orphan Annie. Generally though real-politick hardly entered the comics except under their own titles, plenty Real and Truth comics especially in the forties.

However Obama stirs a distinctive note probably matched only by Abe Lincoln, historically. Both those presidents posses decidedly super heroic qualities. Obama even has the look. Clean-cut, sleek, charming and truthful, unflinchingly brave. Who else could have proceeded against Osama bin... with such flawless efficiency but the first black president. Conceptually he has appeal across the board - a great superhero quality. When tragedy strikes he doesn't dilly dally, he flies to spot to comfort the bereaved. He earns plenty of Brownie points in all directions.

In the eighties there was a superb superhero, Brotherman, which though brief, made some impact. The wit and ingenuity of that black superhero probably set the scene for Obama to fly in. I'm sure that in the coming election term some wit in the field of comics will step to the fore proclaiming the greatest living superhero. Possibly the New Yorker might venture into that kind of fiction.

As in previous election years, the American University of Rome will be hosting a two day conference covering election issues, parties, policies and personalities, with analyses from scholars, journalists and politicians. This year it will be on 8-9 March 2013 originally a month before the likely date of the elections, now two weeks after the 24-25 Feb elections. The keynote speeches will be given by Paul Ginsborg and Gianfranco Pasquino.

What is the Italian for “dash” and “baksheesh”?

There is much talk of corruption in Italy and for the last year and more, we have been bombarded with accounts of kickbacks, bribes and embezzlement by civil servants and above all, elected politicians.

But as with many other serious issues in the country like the pollution and health questions surrounding the massive ILVA steelworks in Taranto, remedies only seem to come from the judiciary. Only in the last few days have the political parties decided that they would look better if they didn’t put up candidates convicted of serious crimes.

So it was with sardonic amusement that students in the American University of Rome’s field trip to Ghana (which had a brief stopover in Casablanca) noted a couple of billboards, one Moroccan,

the other outside the Constitutional Court in Accra. One is an ideogram and very explicit, the other uses words equally explicitly.

Certainly, posters like these are not going to stop corruption any more than road signs stop motorists speeding but it does indicate an awareness on the part of the administration that corruption is not just a matter for the courts.

It is significant that while there are colloquial words for a bribe in both countries – the Arabic baksheesh and the west African dash, Italian has no similar word for bribe. Pizzo, the Sicilian word means an extortion payment to mafia; mazzetta and tangente are words for kickbacks, a percentage on payments rather than a bribe. The lack of words is not so surprising as the open bribing of policemen or civil servants is unusual; I would feel more secure slipping a large banknote into my driving licence when stopped in parts of London or New York than in Italy and the normal way round troublesome bureaucratic procedures is more effective through friends (where the “payment” will be delayed and in kind) than through an explicit bribe.

Still, corruption is a major problem, one which needs more than magistrates to deal with. We could do with some public information campaigns here too.

For the record, Transperancy International’s Corruption Perception Index for 2012 rates Morocco 88th with a score of 37/100, Italy is 72nd and scores 42 while Ghana is 64th, scores 45 (Denmark, Finland and NZ are joint first with 90. Joint last at 174th and a score of 9, Afghanistan, North Korea and Somalia).

My thanks to Margherita Gabrieli for the photos.

As in previous election years, the American University of Rome will be hosting a two day conference covering election issues, parties, policies and personalities, with analyses from scholars, journalists and politicians. This year it will be on 8-9 March 2013 originally a month before the likely date of the elections, now two weeks after the 24-25 Feb elections. The keynote speeches will be given by Paul Ginsborg and Gianfranco Pasquino.