11 February 2009

Network

Dear readers,
today I would like to talk about the tube. No, not the London Underground! "The tube" can also mean television, the TV set. TV is or has been the most important means of communication, one of the most common mass media, maybe the most powerful tool ever. Fortunately, with the Internet boom, TV has lost a lot of its influence and power, but I guess it is still the most common means of communication.
The following text is taken from the film Network, a film made in 1976 about the power of TV. While you follow the text, you can watch the extract here but I suggest you watch the entire film. You can find it here: Google Video: Network. The film is fiction, of course but just change a few names and sentences in the text and it will perfectly fit the Italian context. Here is the text:


Edward George Ruddy died today!! Edward George Ruddy was the chairman of the board of the Union Broadcasting Systems and he died at 11 o'clock this morning of a heart condition, and woe is us, we’re in a lot of trouble!!!

So... a rich little man with white hair died. What has that got to do with the price of rice, right? And why is that woe to us? Because you people and 62 million of other Americans are listening to me right now. Because less than three per cent of you people read books. Because less than 15 per cent of you read newspapers. Because the only truth you know is what you get over this tube. Right now, there is a whole and entire generation that never knew anything that didn’t come out of this tube.

This tube is the gospel! The ultimate revelation! This tube can make or break presidents, popes, prime ministers. This tube is the most awesome goddamn force in the whole godless world and woe is us if it ever falls into the hands of the wrong people and that’s why woe is us that Edward George Ruddy died.

Because this company is now in the hands of CCA, the Communication Corporation of America. There’s a new chairman of the board, a man called Frank Hackett, sitting in Mr Ruddy’s office on the 20th floor, and when the 12th largest company in the worid controls the most awesome goddamn propaganda force in the whole godless world, who knows what shit will be peddled for truth on this network.

So you listen to me. Listen to me. Television is not the truth. Television’s a goddamned amusement park. Television is a circus, a carnival, a travelling troupe of acrobats, storytellers, dancers, singers, jugglers, sideshow freaks, lion tamers and football players. We’re in the boredom-killing business.

So if you want the truth, go to God. Go to your gurus. Go to yourselves. Because that’s the only place you’re ever going to find any real truth. But, man, you’re never gonna get any truth from us. We’ll tell you anything you wanna hear. We lie like hell. We’ll tell you that Kojak always gets the killer, and that nobody ever gets cancer in Archie Bunker’s house and however much trouble the hero is in, don’t worry, look at your watch, at the end of the hour he’s going to win.

We’ll tell you any shit you want to hear. We deal in illusions, man. None of it is true. But you people sit there, day after day, night after night, all ages, colours, creeds. We’re all you know. You’re beginning to believe the illusions we’re spinning here, you’re beginning to think that the tube is reality and that your own lives are unreal. You do whatever the tube tells you. You dress like the tube, you eat like the tube, you raise your children like the tube, you even think like the tube. This is mass madness, you maniacs. In God’s name, you people are the real thing! We are the illusion!

So turn off your television sets. Turn them off now. Turn them off right now! Turn them off and leave them off. Turn them off right in the middle of the sentence I’m speaking to you now. Turn them off.

10 February 2009

Die Wahrheit

Hallo zusammen,
ich habe gerade einen Zeitungsartikel gelesen, der die Wahrheit sagt. Natürlich, nicht in der italienischen Presse. Das würde fast ein Wunder sein. Nein, diesen Artikel habe ich in der Webseite des staatlichen öffentlichen deutschen Fernsehens, ARD tagesschau.de. Der Journalist Stefan Troendle schreibt einen Kommentar über Berlusconi. Die meisten Artikeln über Berlusconi sind normaleweise entweder nur ein Bericht ohne Kommentare (oft auch nicht der Wahrheit entsprechend) oder witzige Sprüche, lustige Bemerkungen usw. Sehr selten kann man ernste Kommentare oder richtige Zeitungsartikeln lesen, die die Wahrheit sagen. Lesen wir mal:

Fall Englaro zeigt Berlusconis Gefährlichkeit
Von Stefan Troendle, ARD-Hörfunkstudio Rom

Auch wenn man manchmal daran zweifeln mag: Italien ist ein Rechtsstaat. Und in Italien ist gestern Recht geschehen. Die 38 Jahre alte Komapatientin Eluana Englaro ist gestorben, vier Tage nachdem künstliche Ernährung und Flüssigkeitszufuhr abgestellt wurden. Grundlage für diese Form von passiver Sterbehilfe war ein Urteil des obersten italienischen Berufungsgerichtes.

Was allerdings irritiert, ist das absolut unrechtsstaatliche Verhalten des italienischen Regierungschefs Silvio Berlusconi, der monatelang Zeit hatte, ein Gesetz zur Patientenverfügung auf den Weg zu bringen. Aktiv wurde Silvio Berlusconi nämlich erst am letzten Freitag, als er urplötzlich von der Dringlichkeit des Falles Eluana Englaro überrumpelt wurde. Dann musste plötzlich ein Eildekret her, das Staatspräsident Giorgio Napolitano aufgrund dessen Verfassungswidrigkeit nicht unterschreiben konnte.

Problem mit der Gewaltenteilung

Dass es sich hierbei um eine Intrige handelt, wird noch deutlicher, wenn man die Titelseite der Berlusconi-Zeitung "Il Giornale" liest. Die erscheint heute mit der großen Schlagzeile "Sie haben sie umgebracht" - und kritisiert offen den Staatspräsidenten. "Er hätte es verhindern können, herzlichen Glückwunsch Napolitano" heißt es zynisch.

Berlusconi hat ein Problem mit der Gewaltenteilung in seinem Land, das ist klar zu erkennen. Er schreckt weder vor einem Angriff auf das Staatsoberhaupt zurück, noch respektiert er Urteile des höchsten Berufungsgerichtes, wenn ihm diese nicht in den Kram passen. Er kommandiert das Parlament, das auf seine Anweisung nach Belieben Gesetze einbringt und wieder zurückzieht, wie im Fall Englaro geschehen. Und noch etwas wird deutlich: Der Regierungschef kontrolliert fast das komplette Fernsehen und viele Zeitungen und er nutzt diese Macht schamlos aus. Niemand spricht über seinen Interessenkonflikt, den er - obwohl versprochen - nie gelöst hat.

Berlusconi regiert das Land nach Gutsherrenart. Er verhält sich wie ein Vespa-Fahrer mitten im römischem Verkehrschaos: rote Ampeln ignorieren, bei Stau einfach über den Bürgersteig fahren, und im Zweifel sind sowieso immer die anderen schuld. Dieser Mann, der außer Scherzen über US-Präsident Barack Obamas Hautfarbe auch gerne mal in aller Öffentlichkeit KZ-Witze erzählt (zuletzt geschehen am 17. Januar, ohne dass die italienischen Medien darüber berichtet hätten), ist nicht nur unmöglich. Er ist vor allem gefährlich. Gefährlich für die Demokratie, gefährlich für das Ansehen des Landes. Er hat nicht die Interessen Italiens im Blick, sondern nur seine eigenen.

Höfliches Übersehen ist die falsche Strategie

Silvio Berlusconi wird im Ausland gerne als "nicht ernst zu nehmender Spinner" unterschätzt, der nur durch regelmäßige Ausfälle auf sich aufmerksam macht. Ich glaube, das ist ein großer Fehler. Friede, Freude, Eierkuchen und das höfliche Übersehen des einen oder anderen Fauxpas sind genau die falsche diplomatische Strategie. Diesen Mann muss man ernst nehmen, man muss ihm genau auf die Finger schauen, man muss ihn kritisieren. Nicht zu vergessen: Italien hat dieses Jahr die G8-Präsidentschaft inne.

Was besonders schmerzt: In Sachen Eluana wurde Berlusconis Kurs von der katholischen Kirche unterstützt, wenn nicht sogar angeschoben. Natürlich kämpft die Kirche gegen jede Form von Sterbehilfe - das ist ihr gutes Recht. Dass sie dazu aber auch Allianzen mit Berlusconi eingeht, anstatt diesen offen für seine gefährliche Politik zu kritisieren, ist sehr schade.

Beim deutsch-italienischen Gipfel in Triest hat sich Italiens Ministerpräsident hinter einer Säule versteckt und fröhlich "Kuckuck" gerufen, als die Bundeskanzlerin vorbeikam. Leider haben viele Italiener immer noch nicht begriffen, was für einen Vogel sie da eigentlich gewählt haben.


Quelle:
Fall Englaro zeigt Berlusconis Gefährlichkeit von Stefan Troendle für Tagesschau.de, 10. Februar 2008

09 February 2009

Democracy

Dear readers,
what is democracy? Being a language teacher, I believe in the conservation of the original meaning of words. The word "democracy" comes from the Greek and means exactly "government of the people" (demos = people; kratos = rule, strength). Actually, that is a bit too general. What does it really mean? Well, basically, it is a system where the people have the power to choose, to take decisions and govern. Taken literally, this system does not exist, it is just theory. In practice, it is totally different. What we have had in the world in everyday life since world war II can hardly be defined as "democracy", in any part of the world. I would like to show you what democracy really is. The following are the main principles of democracy. I took them and translated them directly from the website Officina Democrazia which is an appeal to all Italian citizens who believe in these principles. My previous post contains the same text in Italian but I felt I needed to translate it for the ones who do not speak Italian, as these are maybe the most important principles we should fight for. Here they are:

A - The sovereignty belongs to the people, who should be able to exercise it in a direct and appropriate way. The popular sovereignty can be delegated, provided the right of the people to the change or removal of the delegation. In particular, the legislators must not legislate on themselves, their powers, the ways they can be elected, the relations between their power and other powers, without going through the consent, directly expressed, of the will of the people.

B - Decisions taken under the will of the people, directly expressed, may be amended only by the will of the people.

C- All citizens should be encouraged and enabled to responsibly and effectively control the actions of the delegates.

D - Indifference and isolation must be fought by encouraging participation in all forms of aggregation and association. They are precious means in our society, because through them the people experience social life and democracy. All initiatives for the logistic and material support of all forms of association are therefore supported, provided they respect the universal human rights.

E- The powers of the state control organs in civil and economic life must be consolidated and made effective.

F - Free and independent information must be pursued and defended. The governing bodies of public media shall be appointed by popular election rather than through party nomination. The private monopolies should be prevented in all fields and particularly in the media.

G - The highest transparency in political life and in the sources of funding of political parties, associations, movements, and the media must be achieved.

H - Easy access to knowledge and the freedom of the Internet should be preserved and promoted.

I - The "collective good" must be pursued. The "collective good" is what corresponds to the greatest welfare of the community in respect of the environment in which that community lives.

L - The choice of candidates in elections is up to the citizens and not to parties or other organizations. The representatives should be and feel responsible only to the citizens.

M - No citizen can be a candidate if in a state of conflict of interests, or subject to prosecution for offenses affecting the collective or public interests or convicted for such crimes.

N - A constant attention and openness to new proposals, to criticisms, to competence and merit must be guaranteed within the political organizations in public institutions with attention to the rotation of office and setting limits to reeligibility and to the duration and overlapping of mandates

O - We must constantly look for consent and be ready to share, through the constant confrontation of wills and ideas while respecting the views of minorities, with the absolute commitment by all to pursue the common good and to see the vote as extrema ratio.
P - All fundamental human rights must be protected and respected.
Q - All of these objectives should be pursued only by peaceful and non-violent means.

Officina democrazia

Cari lettori,
volevo informarvi su qualcosa che ritengo sia molto importante: sono venuto a sapere dell'esistenza di un appello per la difesa e lo sviluppo della democrazia sul sito Officina Democrazia con l'intento di riunire tutti i cittadini che condividono lo scopo di salvare e difendere la democrazia. Qui vi riporto i punti principali. Vi pregerei di leggerli attentamente e di andare sul sito per ulteriori informazioni e, se siete d'accordo con i punti e gli intenti dell'appello, per apporre poi la vostra "firma". Ecco i principi fondamentali:


PRINCIPI FONDAMENTALI:

A - La sovranità appartiene al popolo che deve poterla esercitare in modo diretto, per quanto possibile ed opportuno. La sovranità popolare può anche essere delegata, fermo restando il diritto del popolo di modifica o revocabilità della delega. In particolare va impedito che il legislatore possa legiferare su se stesso, sui suoi poteri, sulle forme della sua eleggibilità, sulle relazioni tra il suo potere ed altri poteri, senza passare attraverso il consenso, direttamente espresso, della volontà popolare.

B - Decisioni prese in virtù della volontà popolare, direttamente espressa, possono essere modificate solo dalla volontà popolare.

C- Tutti i cittadini devono essere incoraggiati e messi in condizione di svolgere responsabilmente ed efficacemente la funzione di controllo dell’operato dei delegati.

D - Vanno combattuti l`indifferenza e l`isolamento tramite l`incoraggiamento alla partecipazione ad ogni forma di aggregazione e di associazione. Esse, infatti, rappresentano una ricchezza per la società, in quanto per il loro tramite le persone fanno esperienza concreta di vita sociale e di democrazia. Vanno, pertanto, promosse tutte quelle iniziative volte al sostegno logistico e materiale di tutte le forme associative, purché non in contrasto con il principio del "massimo bene aggregato" e dei diritti universali dell`uomo.

E- Vanno potenziati e resi efficaci tramite poteri effettivi tutti gli organi di controllo dello stato, della vita civile ed economica.

F - Va perseguita e difesa l'informazione libera e indipendente. Gli organi dirigenti dei mezzi di informazione pubblici vanno designati mediante elezione popolare e non attraverso nomina partitica. I monopoli privati vanno impediti in tutti i campi ed in particolar modo in quello della informazione.

G - Va conseguita la massima trasparenza nella vita politica e nelle fonti di finanziamento dei partiti, delle associazioni, dei movimenti, e dei mezzi di informazione.

H - Va favorita la facilità di accesso al sapere, va conservata e favorita la libertà di internet.

I - Va perseguito il "bene collettivo" e va affermato che esso non è il « vantaggio del partito », del « gruppo » o del « movimento » e tanto meno quello personale. Il "bene collettivo" è quello che corrisponde al maggior benessere della comunità in rispetto dell'ambiente in cui quella comunità vive.

L - La scelta dei candidati alle elezioni, spetta ai cittadini e non ai partiti od ad altre organizzazioni. I rappresentanti devono essere e sentirsi responsabili soltanto verso i cittadini.

M - Non devono poter essere candidati cittadini in stato di "conflitto d'interesse", oppure soggetti a procedimenti penali per reati lesivi degli interessi pubblici e collettivi o condannati per questi reati.

N - Va garantita all'interno delle organizzazioni politiche nelle istituzioni pubbliche, una costante apertura ed attenzione a nuove proposte, alle critiche, al ricambio dei ruoli, al limite temporale dei mandati, al limite alla ripetibilità degli stessi, alla loro non sovrapponibilità, e l'attenzione alla competenza ed al merito.

O - Occorre costantemente mirare al consenso ed alla condivisione, mediante il costante confronto di volontà e di idee nel rispetto delle opinioni delle minoranze, con l'irrinunciabile impegno da parte di tutti a perseguire il bene comune e ad intendere il voto come extrema-ratio.

P - Vanno difesi i diritti fondamentali dell'uomo.

Q - Tutti questi obiettivi vanno perseguiti con soli mezzi pacifici e non violenti.