Berlusconi Everywhere

While visiting an art show in Philadelphia yesterday, I found a familiar face from Italy: Mr. Berlusconi. The prime minister of Italy, who is mostly considered a joke abroad, is one of the featured world leader picture shapes to use to assemble a politically-loaded art work currently on display at The Print Center. The image recalls December's assault to his face, using a souvenir of Milano's Duomo. He has the expression of shock and only look of weakness I have seen in Italian media in the over 15 years that I have seen him in power.

Pictured below are the instructions for how the public should help create the art, choosing from various shapes, colors and themes. Then they leave their part of the creation on the table and more come to add on.





Even in the US, I can't get away from Silvio.

A Portrait of Berlusconi

Berlusconi, a sculpture by the Kosovar artist Sisley Xhafa, currently living and working in New York, but who started his career in Italy in the '90s. This gigantic "thinking buddha" is made of sand. While living in Italy several years ago, the artist was already concerned about the mounting xenophobia bubbling in the country against the new immigrant population.

The work was commissioned by the Roda Sten gallery in Goteborg, Sweden.

Berlusconi Meets a Vicious Statuette

President Berlusconi's encounter with a Duomo statuette yesterday evening was quite violent. While at a Popolo della Libertà (his political party's) rally, a member of the public in Milan's Piazza Duomo threw the souvenir at him. It hit his face causing a gash on his lip, breaking some teeth and hurting his nose. For the Financial Times article and video, click here. He has been in the San Raffaele hospital in Milan for 24 hours already and his next doctor's check up will be announced at 10 a.m. tomorrow. At the moment he is mostly tired and shocked, according to reports.

This said, violence is horrible.

I can't believe this is organized terrorism, as some people are stating. The assailant, Massimo Tartaglia, has been taken to a hospital clinic inside of a Milan prison for psychological testing and interviewing. He supposedly has a history of being mentally imbalanced. Tartaglia has declared to authorities that he acted alone.

Honestly, I can believe that even a sane person would want to hit Mr. Berlusconi up-side the head with his idea of governing the country in many aspects. But that's not the point.

Needless to say, this has caused a political uproar in the country.

But it also sounds like a joke if you tell the story: What happens to the premier when he's signing autographs? He gets hit by a figurine.

Yes, in the US, the secret service would probably not let the president get so close to the public. But isn't it Berlusconi who loves to be in the middle of his adoring public as often as possible? He's not just a politician. He's a celebrity over here.

I would like to just say for the record that I know an Italian citizen who withstood violence of the kind several years ago. He was attacked by a man who ended up biting him in the face which bled just as much, if not more, and required 6 stitches to repair the damage done to his cheek. Unlike Mr. Berlusconi who has his man behind bars immediately, this person saw the police actually arrive on the scene over 1 hour after the attack and waited 5 years for the trial to come to court. This is how the justice system works for "normal" people. Will Italy's president wait as long? Of course not.

Meanwhile, under the recent law that was passed just weeks ago, all trials that don't get tried within 2 years will be absolved automatically. So this means this common man's case would never have gotten to court. The current Italian system is slow for many and mostly bureaucratic reasons but let's allow people to see their day in court, please.

I wonder how truly shaken up Berlusconi is today.

Italy Hosts the G8

In several hours, Italy will host the 2009 G8 in L'Aquila, the city devastated by April's earthquake. The conference of the world's wealthiest nations was moved from its original destination of La Maddalena on the island of Sardinia, once the earth violently struck the Abbruzzo region. Berlusconi wanted to bring more international attention and possible funding to this ill-stricken area of the country.

As Mauro Biani's vignette shows, tension remains about just how helpful the G8 can be for the city and its people. At the moment, citizens cannot move freely to and from their houses/tents for safety reasons. The summit is actually located in a type of fortress provided by the buildings and walls of the Guardia di Finanza, situated outside of the dilapidated city center. Just about no one is allowed near G8's official borders. It is most likely that everything will take place inside of those walls, in isolation, as is customary for this kind of summit.

Meanwhile, the people of L'Aquila are waiting for temporary housing to be built with in the form of wooden houses. Many cannot re-inhabit their own houses because the earthquake damaged their structures too much. So they are living in the hot and cold, depending on the season, of blue emergency tents with 8 or 9 people sharing a single one. They hope that the government's promise of funds and housing will bear its fruits before winter falls, which is early in this high-altitude area: a late September deadline.

According to media sources, it seems that only Onna, the most tragically destroyed town in the earthquake area, has just 2 houses which are almost complete at this July date. That area will be visited by the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel, who has taken special interest in the town.

Looking in other directions, the traditional fear of G8 demonstrations is mounting. University students around the country have begun their actions. The police are beefed up around L'Aquila to deter whatever resistance against the G8 status which may occur. Politicians are on edge.

The nerves this year are not coming from just this summit and the possibility that even frustrated Aquilean grandmas will muster when faced with big politics. They also originate from Berlusconi's ongoing sensational press, which is both national and international. He has failed to explain his relationship with an aspiring 18-year-old model, Naomi, and the reason for inviting several escorts to his house in Rome.

Let's watch what will unfold in the fortress, L'Aquila and for Berlusconi, as he hosts the G8 for the fourth time in his career as leader of Italy. This should be old hat by now!