New words are needed. Important words. Solidarity, social participation, sense of community, sense of national identity. No one must be left behind. The entrepreneur who commits suicide, usually so as not to have to face his inability to provide for the family (how can you tell your wife?), is a curse that he doesn’t deserve and neither do we. The court of miracles, of beggars, that is thronging in our cities is getting even fuller of Italians. Even the people from outside the European Union are leaving Italy. One in four has gone back to their country or has gone elsewhere to seek their fortune.
We have lost a war for democracy. Many people fought for it on our behalf after the war and were killed for this. The list is never ending from Impastato to Ambrosoli, from Puglisi to Borsellino to Vassallo. The civil war didn’t finish in 1946, it’s been going on right up to the present. It has given rise to thousands of deaths, dozens of slaughters, the occupation of power by the P2, the end of the sovereignty of the State in the regions where organised crime reigns. And now the economic collapse of Italy. We have to create a social protection network to tackle the perfect storm that awaits us. We cannot tolerate the death of a citizen because of poverty, debts or loneliness. We either do things all together or the country will disintegrate into a thousand egoisms. A new dictatorship is possible. The citizen must feel protected by the State (and that’s not so), equal before the law (and that’s not so, it depends on his income and on the law firm he can afford), respected as a tax payer (not taken for a ride by an infinite series of amnesties and by the Fiscal Shield). The citizens must be able to recognise themselves in the State. It must be our mirror. We are the State. The time of carefully prepared desserts, of declarations of affection, of fabulous TV shows, has come to an end. The truth, that no one wants to say or even hear said, is that Greece will soon be in default and from that moment onwards, everything is possible. Meanwhile our politicians are entertaining themselves without making any real cuts and amassing useless costs for the citizens like the war in Afghanistan, the bomber planes, the parties, the newspapers, and the TAV starting from 22 billion euro. Those whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.

PS: Follow the tour "Ballottaggi 2012” {tour for the second ballot}. Participate using the hash tag #m5sTour on Twitter and on Youtube or using the tag "MoVimento Cinque Stelle” on your photos and Facebook posts.

Today, 16 May, I’ll be in via Milano, quartiere Quadrifoglio in Garbagnate Milanese at 9:00 pm.

source: Financial Times

Even Monti can do something right, the problem is that when he does, no one recognises its merits. So he gets demotivated, he gets sad and he calls in ABC for a game of snap at Palazzo Chigi (where it’s always Casini that wins). In April a law came in to forbid board members from having more than one position on the Boards of financial companies. A law against the conflict of interests and one that obliges people to give up 1,500 positions (that’s more than the locusts of the Nile), in the various Boards of the quoted companies as well as the unlisted ones. The Boards of directors are an orgy where it’s always the same people practising active sex, while the small shareholders restrict themselves to the passive part. This law, even though it’s a long way from being decisive, is at least a step forward in thinning out the ranks of the masters of the Stock Exchange. Quoted companies like Unicredit, Mediobanca, Generali, Mediolanum, IntesaSanPaolo were sharing some Board members among themselves. Bazoli, Bollorè, Doris, Nagel, and Palenzona have had to resign from multiple positions.
The Programme of the MoVimento 5 Stelle {5 Star MoVement} has other points relating to quoted companies including these:
- Abolition of the system of Chinese boxes in the Stock Exchange
- Abolition of multiple positions by the people on the Board of directors of a quoted company
- Introduction of structures that really represent people with small shareholdings in quoted companies
- Forbid the possibility of mixing up the holding of shares between the banking system, the industrial system and the news media system.
- Bring in the liability of financial institutions in relation to the products they propose with a share in the losses if there happen to be any
- Prevent the purchase of a company mainly using debt (eg. Telecom Italia) - Introduction of a ceiling for the salaries of managers in the companies quoted on the Stock Exchange
- Abolition of stock options
- Abolition of private “de facto” monopolies, especially Telecom Italia, Autostrade, ENI, ENEL, Mediaset, Ferrovie dello Stato
- Forbid the appointment of people with definitive criminal convictions (eg. Scaroni at ENI) as administrators in companies that either have the State as a shareholder or are quoted on the Stock Exchange
One of the problems of our economy is the lack of foreign investment. But who would play the game knowing that the cards are marked and the dealer is a cheat? Monti keep going. Bring in the Programme of the MoVimento 5 Stelle. As ever, advice is free!

> Discover the network of the people on the Boards of directors with "the Map of power"

There’s a famous painting by Goya that says that the sleep of reason produces monsters, however, what we have here is Goya in reverse, in other words the sleep of monsters, which is obviously the fact that the Caste has ruined this Country and has played a major role in denuding the Country of any point of view that is creating reason. The sleep of these monsters is in fact producing reason, which is manifesting itself in the form of protests and democratic intervention by the MoVimento 5 Stelle in the National public life, albeit purely at the municipal level at the moment. Oliviero Beha

Journalist Oliviero Beha's Passaparola

Upstanding people, average Joes
Hello to all Beppe Grillo’s friends. I am Oliviero Beha, but what do I do for a living? Well, for the time being I am merely trying to survive, given the current situation, but beyond that, I am a journalist, I write books and whenever possible I also present radio and television programmes.
What has been happening in recent days? Well, a lot has actually been going on, which I can summarise as follows: there’s a famous painting by Goya that says that the sleep of reason produces monsters, however, what we have Goya in reverse, in other words the sleep of monsters, which is obviously the fact that the Caste has ruined this Country and has played a major role in denuding the Country of any point of view that is creating reason. The sleep of these monsters is in fact producing reason, which is manifesting itself in the form of protests and democratic intervention by the MoVimento 5 Stelle in the National public life, albeit purely at the municipal level at the moment. This is it, a call for reason, saturation point, people saying enough is enough, no more drafts. In a book entitled “Il culo e lo stivale” (literally “The arse and the boot”), I spoke about these Italians and about the appropriateness and the resistance of these Italians. I believe that the MoVimento 5 Stelle has managed to capture the essential nature of public participation from below, something simple, normal, between upright people, average Joes, although the adjective “average” is no indictment and has nothing to do with the meaning that they assign to the term in an attempt to discredit everything. After all, the Caste is bound to defend itself.
To put a football spin on what has happened in the past few days, we could say that Beppe Grillo has played the role of attack centre-forward and has scored something resembling a goal, which is the main objective in any game of football, namely scoring goals. Now, in the case of the Caste, they very often score own-goals, but never mind that for now, let’s just stay with the MoVimento 5 Stelle for the time being.
For a number of years now, Grillo has been playing a tactical game, as he already did back in 2007 with the first Vaffa – day, and then? What have his actions been other than one man against the Caste, highlighting weaknesses, people, criminal records and all in all a frankly repulsive situation that would not be tolerated in any normal, decent Country. That is what he did, he tackled the man rather than the ball and, in a certain sense, he went after these individuals, so what happened? What happened is that the Caste defended itself, firstly by ignoring him, then by demonising him and continuously categorising Grillo and the MoVimento 5 Stelle as something that worked by tackling the man rather than the ball and playing off the back foot. However, in the past few years, while perhaps giving the impression that he was playing the man rather than the ball and playing off the back foot, the entire movement backing up centre-forward Beppe Grillo has begun to play inside the scoring zone and has occupied the territory as if they were on a football pitch. That’s how football is played, you cover the playing zones, you defend the various zones, the pitch is subdivided into areas and each player plays his part and does his duty. Tactically speaking, that’s precisely what the MoVimento 5 Stelle has done. The recent election results are telling us that the territory has been well occupied, whereas, because God always drives those that he wants to lose crazy, the Caste continues to treat Grillo and the MoVimento as if they were the only opponents in the game, playing the man rather than the ball and playing off the back foot, but they are not only nasty in every sense of the word, but they are also rather stupid and this is one of the main reasons why there are now some very real opportunities for change.

Genuine and honest occupation of the territory
Now I am going to use another highly political and highly cultural football analogy. In France, a second division team is playing in the cup-final, a team with no money, but how can that be? With all the money that does the rounds in the top French football league, here you have a team with little or no money making it to the Cup Final game, and the reference here is very clear indeed, namely that you don’t have to have lots of money to be a powerful force in politics. The MoVimento 5 Stelle is busy demonstrating just that at this moment. So, at this point I would be careful about worrying about the future as many are currently doing, dishonestly saying: “But what will become of them, what will they do, what are they going to propose?” and other such bullshit. Meanwhile, they are genuinely and honestly going about their business of occupying the territory with the aim of clearly revealing the other guys’ lousy politics, which is a form of vigilance over the Municipal Councils, Regional Councils and so on, which is the first point, but secondly, they already also have a policy platform in place. All of this with no money, which is the most serious indictment of all against the Caste that has always and only relied on money, our money above all - but not exclusively since they have also colluded with the banks and Foundations and have gotten up to all sorts of things that the Followers of this Blog know all about.
This is the first issue, but a further issue is that of the Internet. I don’t know whether or not you know this, but I believe that a few years ago, still in France, there was a soccer team that was being trained via the Internet, without any trainer on site. Now, I don’t know whether this example is perhaps a step too far as an analogy for Beppe Grillo who acts as a highlighter, a detonator, a resonance chamber or an attack centre-forward, but maybe it doesn’t really matter anyway. What is certain, however, is that the Internet undoubtedly has a major role to play. For some time already the Internet has made certain things possible, even in a country like ours that is somewhat backward in this regard, and not purely by accident either. The Internet must continue to improve and must become like the “meat and blood” of the man in the street so that it doesn’t just remain a technical tool. This is something that has to happen because if it doesn’t, they will continue to mess us around!
Oh, I almost forgot, please remember to spread the word!

Parma is our little Stalingrad. If in this city the one to become the mayor’s spokesperson is a respectable person, a disinterested citizen who as a child wanted to make the world a better place, like Federico Pizzarotti, then everything is possible in this wretched country. Direct democracy will be able to get established in each Italian town and in the institutions. Parma “Caput Mundi”. For some astral coincidence, it seems that in the last few days, everything has been happening in this beautiful and proud city. The conclusion of the Parmalat trial, the biggest financial collapse in Europe, with Calisto Tanzi reduced to a shadow, and Bernardo Provenzano’s mysterious suicide attempt in prison. Both are symbols of the sunset of the Second Republic and its connections with the Mafia and with the economy. "Night is the only way to reach dawn" This particular night, that has lasted for decades, is about to end. Parma, a city at the end and at a new beginning.
Parma is a city in debt with a serious budget deficit. The {5 Star MoVement} is a leap into the unknown, into tomorrow. The others are the continuation of the past, the certainty of assisted suicide. Vincenzo Bernazzoli, the PDminusL’s candidate is the current President of the province of Parma (but shouldn’t the provinces be abolished?) (so if he loses he still hangs onto his job) and a supporter of the incinerator (that causes neoplasias), has explained that the future of Parma lies in getting Parma into greater debt with the banks and that (never fear) his men know how to deal with the bankers. “The banks have stopped providing credit transfers for the City authorities and associated bodies. They are no longer supplying money as they fear that the City is insolvent ... Without liquidity it’s not possible to pay suppliers and already in June, a lot of stuff is at risk of going wrong. And even salaries could go up in the air: basically Parma is on the brink of bankruptcy. People need to know that. To get out of this mess, what’s needed is to convince the banks to provide a bridging loan to make it possible to overcome the risk of collapse. And we have people who are both capable and members of civil society who can ask for this money .... people who are competent and able to negotiate with the banks.” I have no doubts. Banks and parties are Siamese twins.
Friday 18 May at 9:00 pm in Piazzale della Pace, the list of the MoVimento 5 Stelle {5 Star MoVement} will conclude its election campaign in Parma. I’ll be there for a brief introduction, but you should listen to them and their proposals. If you vote for them, vote for yourselves. However, anyone who votes for them, has to put something on the line, to participate in the improvement of their city. The time of giving “carte blanche” to the parties is over. The time of participation has begun.
If it can be done here, it can be done anywhere.
It’s up to you, Parma ... Parma...

The international news media are following the growth of the MoVimento 5 Stelle {5 Star MoVement} with great interest. Below is part of the article in TIME:

“It says something about Italian politics that the most potent political figure to enter the arena since scandal-ridden former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi is a frizzy-haired bombastic comedian named Beppe Grillo, best known for organizing nationwide protests against government corruption called "Go F Yourself" days. And what it says is this: that as a desire for change sweeps the European electorate, Italians are feeling starved for choice. Indeed, with the exception of Grillo, Italy doesn't have a single national leader who wasn't already in politics in 1994, the year Berlusconi first came to power.

...

The money for the reimbursement of election expenses has already been spent by the parties, this is why they cannot cut the next instalment of 138 million euro. The banks have “securitized” the money. Violante has explained that the idea of cuts in electoral financing is propaganda, hypocrisy. “It’s impossible to cut that!” He’s not hiding behind a finger: “The annual public funding is necessary.” The solution is simple, if it’s not possible to cut the illegal financing, illegal because rejected by a referendum, then the parties have to be cut. Tertium non datur. There’s no other solution. Giuliano Amato the super pensioner, 32,000 euro a month, a reservist from the First Republic, has discovered Columbus's egg, public/private mixed financing: “The best solution is to create a system of private financing that allows the citizen to donate in relation to a particular “public service” that a party guarantees for him. With that aim I’m thinking of associations in which the citizens discuss, debate and control.” What would be the substance of this “public service” to be paid to the parties? I haven’t got this or perhaps I have.
The parties already receive mixed public/private financing. Each year, up to 100 million euro (in the years with national and European elections the contributions increase) from companies, cooperatives and private citizens. In one legislature that comes to a total of about half a billion euro, comparable to the amount from public financing. In exchange for what services? Because they like them personally? Because of closeness in ideology? Details of the private donations with the name of who has given the money, are published by the Treasury to the Lower House, but only for amounts greater than 50,000 euro. Below this figure the financing is hidden in accordance with the 2004 law that Tremorti wanted. For reasons of privacy? In the list of patrons, there are private citizens like the President of the Monte dei Paschi di Siena bank, Giuseppe Mussari and red cooperatives for the PDminusL, private construction companies for the PDL, Caltagirone for Casini and Benetton for everyone. If public financing is abolished, so also must private financing for two categories: the State concessionaries and those participating in public tenders, for obvious conflict of interests reasons. Get money out of politics! They will never give up (but is it in their interests?). Neither will we.