Beppe Grillo's end of year address
(08:36)

The only certainty that we have for 2013 is that the economy will be even worse than it was in 2012 and that those responsible for Italy’s political and economic collapse will not want to leave. The whole garbage heap, from Berlusconi through to Bersani, Fini and Casini will undoubtedly be back for more. The decision to hold early elections was taken around the table explicitly in order to exclude the M5S, not only because of the whole issue of required signatures but also because it leaves very little time available for preparation. If we hadn’t prepared ourselves in good time, since last summer to be precise, we would already be effectively excluded from Parliament. In order to get people onto the ballot forms you need to have two official delegates for each voting constituency, you need to have your election lists ready, containing all the names of the nominees for each constituency and without any mistakes whatsoever, and note that the forms are different for the Senate, the Chamber of Deputies, the Special Statute Regions and the foreign constituencies. Then you need to have a public official present at each desk to scrutinise the signatures and then take them to the municipal offices of each individual signatory to confirm their residence in that municipal district. Once all that has been done, the delegates must then submit the nomination lists to the specific Courts within whose jurisdiction the constituency falls. When the mini-coup took place, in which Rigor Montis tabled a motion of no confidence against himself without even feeling the need to do so in the Chambers, the time available to us was so short that we only managed to send off the forms to the delegates by 4 in the morning. That was a Saturday morning in mid-December and we began to gather signatures that very same afternoon. I undertook two exhausting tours over two weekends in a camper van, one to central and northern Italy and the other to southern Italy, where I held thirty meetings in just four days. Only later did the government lower the number of signatures required to one quarter of the original number, just to favour Monti’s election lists, and the election date was delayed by one week. It’s like playing against the card-sharps of democracy. In this crazy signature gathering exercise, from which the existing Parliamentary parties and their hangers-on are of course exempted, I got to know something about another world, namely the Italian Consulates abroad. They are actively boycotting us so as to prevent us from gathering signatures from our Italian emigrants. When these guys arrive at the consulates, they almost always find the offices closed and if they phone the offices they are told that it’s not within the consulate’s competence. No one answers the intercom. This is an absolute scandal for which someone will have to answer and we will be looking into instituting legal action against a number of the consulates. I am launching an appeal particularly to those cities with the highest number of Italians in each of the four constituencies, namely London, New York, Buenos Aires and Sydney. Go and sign. To their relatives and friends in Italy I say “Tell them what’s happening”. The future of democracy in Italy is at stake in this obstacle course designed to prevent the M5S from getting into Parliament. If they succeed in keeping us out by means of bureaucracy or some other means then we are headed for a new kind of fascism, an Italian-style Alba Dorata (literally Golden Dawn). Without some sort of democratic change, Italy is doomed. These guys must get out. If not in orderly fashion through the M5S then there will be someone else who will use far more unpleasant means. In reality, the M5S is like a life insurance policy for these guys. This political class has destroyed this Country and they now have the gall to make out that they are the cure. People like Monti, former consultant to Cirino Pomicino, the then Minister of Finance that made our public debt explode, like Bersani, who governed this Country as part of the centre-left for ten of the last twenty years, like Berlusconi the professional liar or like Napolitano, who complains about the problems of these politics from which he has made an excellent living since way back in the ‘50s. They must get out and take their newspapers and their television lackeys with them. The early elections enable Napolitano to choose the next Prime Minister. He wants Monti and Monti it will be. Yet another little government coup. If the elections had been held in April then the next Prime Minister would have been appointed by a new State President, who would have been elected with the M5Ss votes and that would have spelled the end of Monti, Merkel and the European Central Bank. More than one year on, Rigor Montis has broken all his promises, the public debt has risen by 100 billion notwithstanding a bunch of new taxes, unemployment has risen to the highest levels since the Second World War and Italy’s industrial production has nosedived. Monti has failed and must get the hell out of here together with his supporters, namely the Pdl, the Pd and the Udc, all of which voted in favour of all the abominations of 2012. Italy must take back its sovereignty and its future. What this Country needs are citizens who are honest, capable and that cannot be bought by the old System. In 2012 the M5S became the second strongest political grouping and censure the election of young and able councillors, like in Parma, and the Movement became the biggest political force in Sicily. Scrutinise our programme on this blog and tell others about it. If the M5S becomes the new Government, we will propose a Basic Income Guarantee, as occurs in other more civilised Countries. No one should ever be left behind. In 2013 our objective is to win the elections and bring democracy back to this Country. A Prosperous New Year to you all. 2013 is going to be a special and undoubtedly difficult but truly unforgettable year. The important thing is to take action in order to bring about change in Italy.