Oy Gevalt! (Part One)

[Francesco Spagnolo <yuval.italia...>]

Dear list members, dear friends.

I just returned to Italy one week ago, after a long stay in the US, 
to find that the political and cultural situation of the country is 
rapidly, every day, becoming more and more of a black hole. 
Summaries of the situation and specific events can be found in 
various languages all over the Internet -- I highly encourage you to 
seek them out -- so, instead of repeating this information, I would 
like to direct my cry to all of us in Jewish music.

I apologize for writing so much (and in such an unrevised English), 
but this has all been stored inside me for some time, and it is only 
now that I feel like letting it surface in our public discussions.

On May 13, 2001, a new government was elected in Italy. It is a 
coalition led by Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, a media tycoon who has been 
in trouble with Italian and international justice at various stages 
of his career. He owns three national TV channels, holds several 
newspapers (which are owned by his financial empire and/or by various 
members of his immediate family), advertising agencies, 
soccer/football teams, movie theaters, department stores, and a lot 
more. Interesting depictions of Italy's new Prime Minister can be 
found in the archives of "The Economist", which is notedly not a 
left-leaning publication. Mr. Berlusconi leads his own political 
party, which he created -- similar to how he shaped his financial 
corporations -- in the early 1990's in the wake of the corruption 
scandals that overthrew Italy's political system.  Members of his 
government coalition include the post- fascist party "Alleanza 
Nazionale" (National Alliance), the direct political heir to Italy's 
Fascist party, which was politically active before WWII, and as an 
army was allied to the Nazis during the war. Over the past years, the 
National Alliance has publicly renounced its political ties with 
Fascism and condemned anti-Semitism. The "official" positions of the 
party, however, are not necessarily reflected in the beliefs of its 
supporters, who, on many occasions, throughout the country, openly 
celebrate Fascism and its history. Another frightening member of 
Berlusconi's coalition is a movement called "Lega Nord" (the Northern 
League), which is openly, publicly, xenophobic and anti-Semitic, in 
ways that are very close to the actions of France's "Front National", 
led by Jean-Marie LePen, who is now running for the Presidency. Lega 
Nord members have been expounding upon the traditional "Protocols of 
the Elders of Zion" rhetoric, accusing Jews of owning and 
manipulating media, finances, and even (quite innovatively) the genes 
of the local population.

As we all know, Italy is the country that -- among many other things 
-- "invented" Fascism in the early 1920s. Its political right wing is 
not, alas, immune from history. Alleanza Nazionale has tried in past 
years to shape a political ideal that can be seen as emancipated from 
Fascism, although its attempts seem doomed by the present situation.

Over the past year, things have changed in this country. I will not 
go into the details of the political changes. What I would like to 
point to are the effects that the political situation has had upon 
what I call the "public language". Basically, Fascism and its history 
are becoming "fashionable" once again in the public arena. History is 
slowly being rewritten, and the disasters of the Second World War do 
not seem anymore to be connected with the local political crimes. On 
TV, but also in the streets, Fascist symbols, stories, songs, are 
reappearing here and there. Fascist (and anti-Semitic) intellectuals, 
who were famous during Mussolini's regime -- such as Julius Evola, 
and a few others -- are being rediscovered and publicized once more. 
I have personally heard, in the streets, people whistling or singing 
Fascist hymns, referring to each others as "camerati" (the local 
version of the German "Kamaraden", members of the Party), selling and 
buying calendars with photos of Benito Mussolini and other Fascist 
paraphernalia, setting up stands in the street inviting people not to 
eat "couscous" (= Arab foods)... all out in the open. It used to be 
an underground pattern, but now all of this is becoming an integral 
part of every day public life.

One of the first events in the life of Italy's new government was the 
police oppressions of last summer's "anti-global" demonstrations 
against the meeting of the G8 in Genoa. As the international press 
has reported, police activity was brutal, young demonstrators were 
arrested, beaten, mistreated, and in some documented cases forced to 
sing Fascist and anti-Semitic songs during their detention. 
Misconducts are currently being legally investigated, and no other 
similar episode has occurred since then, but the event was generally 
perceived as a "warning" to the opposition.

Finally, it can be said that there is no serious political opposition 
in the Parliament and in the other institutions. The Center-Left 
coalition, which last year lost the elections, is not cohesive 
enough, has no real theoretical impact, although it succeeded in 
organizing a mass demonstration last month and a general strike last 
week, which have been extremely successful in terms of participation, 
with millions marching in the street against the government and its 
politics.

So, how does this affect the Jews (and Jewish music)?

(TO BE CONTINUED IN PART TWO)



-- 


- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
YUVAL ITALIA      Centro Studi Musica Ebraica
the  Italian Center for the Study of Jewish Music

via della Guastalla,19            20122 Milano Italy
tel/fax +39 02 55014977    yuval (at) powerlink(dot)it
            http://www.powerlink.it/yuval
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

---------------------- jewish-music (at) shamash(dot)org ---------------------+