Finally Italy went out of the crisis. The
agreement between the Democratic Party (PD) and the Five Star Movement (M5S) is
there. But it is not a complete good news. The green light came from the
internet, as the Movement put the draft agreement under referendum for all its
voters registered to the e-platform Rousseau. It means, in practice, that the
destiny of a country was put in the hands of 79,000 people, a bit more than
0.13% of the Italian population.
Now everybody, in Italy as in Europe, can breathe in relief. But let’s think for a while about the consequences of an eventual negative outcome of the e-referendum. An entire country had to experience a huge political crisis because few people rejected an agreement reached at political level. Direct democracy as meant by M5S is the end of politics.
Direct democracy, they say…
The Movement has the habit of asking citizens what to do when very important decision lie ahead. It could be argued that such an approach is nothing but a way to escape from its own responsibilities. Politics means to take decisions, and it is not a case if politicians are also called “decision makers”. But this is the M5S way of doing things. They call it “direct democracy”, but this expression is misleading and misguiding. There is no democracy in direct democracy.
Italy counts a bit more than 60 million people. In democracy decisions have to be taken by majority. Can the Rousseau voters considered a majority? The answer is no. 79,000 people out of 60 million people can’t be a majority. Nevertheless the country and its near future depended on a very tiny part of the society. This is not democracy. It is closer to aristocracy or oligarchy. It sounds funny, considering that the Five Star Movement built its political fortune by blaming the so-called “caste” and its privileges.
M5S conquered Italians by promising the end of restricted circles of people with huge powers and attributions. In the end the Movement did nothing but replace the caste. It looks funny, but it sounds dangerous, too. A democracy based on the principle that everything cab be decided by a click of the 0.13% of the population is not expression of direct democracy. It is, on the opposite, the end of the democracy.
Private democracy
Furthermore, the Rousseau platform is not property of the Five Star Movement. It is owned by Associazione Rousseau, association funded and controlled by Davide Casaleggio. Free and private elections for a very small group of people: is that the direct democracy? All this should ring as an alarm bell in Italy and in the EU, of which Italy is part.
Normal election are hold in polling stations set up in public schools, with officers responsible for the ballots and other for the ballot boxes. There is a model of State with precise and defined roles. This is not the case for the Five Star Movement. Who is responsible for what? Nobody knows.
Misleading information
The League and his leader, Matteo Salvini, keep going with misinformation. Salvini was able to state that the new government was formed with the input coming from Germany, France and the EU. He said that because no elections were called after the political crisis triggered by Salvini himself.
The new Italian government was born according to the prerogatives of the president of the Republic and the provisions contained in the Italian Constitution. It was nothing but a sovereign decision taken in sovereign way by a sovereign country. No interference occurred.
The problem is that Salvini, by feeding misinformation, is feeding hate and anti-European sentiment in Italy using fake news and the fake narrative on twitter and Facebook. But it is not compulsory to call for new elections at any political crisis. Elections must take place every five years and can’t take place in case of a no-confidence vote (in this second case new elections are not compulsory either).
Italians apparently ignore all this. They follow Salvini’s fabricated truths and wait for the next elections. Soon or late Italian will have to vote. In the meanwhile the League will continue in his propaganda and in its brainwashing activity. A storm is about to arrive, in Italy as in Europe. That’s why the second Conte government will have to deliver, in order to avoid the worst it has just avoided.
