A different kind of Europe is indeed possible
(15:00)

"If we were truly obliged to respect the agreements signed with the Fiscal Compact and the European economic stability mechanism, and to comply with all of the stipulations contained in these pacts then we, and perhaps another two generations of Italians to come would find ourselves battling to stay afloat.
I repeat, however, that this may be one way of approaching the reading of this book.
I do not believe that I am the only euro sceptic out there in this Country or elsewhere for that matter. These days there are many people out there, including those who continue to believe that there is a genuine need for the Euro, who are however ready to admit that the manner in which the introduction of the Euro was managed was totally wrong, also from an economic point of view." Paolo Becchi

The Passaparola of Paolo Becchi, Full-time lecturer in the Philosophy of Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Genoa.

Better to go out with a bang than to live in never-ending fear
"My name is Paolo Becchi and I would like to say hello to all the friends of Beppe Grillo’s Blog. Perhaps some of you already know me since I have had the pleasure and the honour of writing some articles for the Blog in the past.
I am a professor, I lecture in Philosophy of Law at the University and I specialise in the field of bio-ethics, more specifically medical bio-ethics.
I think I was the first person to talk about a calculated coup d’état here in Italy, the one that occurred with the fall of the Berlusconi government and the installation of a new government, the one led by Monti and so earnestly desired by the State President. In other words, a presidentially inspired government, so much so that it is referred to as the President’s government.
I say “calculated” coup d’état because, if the truth be told, our Constitution does not actually allow this kind of thing.
Please understand, I am not implying that the limits of compliance with the Constitution were actually officially exceeded but they were definitely substantively exceeded, in other words not in terms of the law but in terms of legitimacy. Certain things have occurred in this past year that hold serious consequences for our Constitution and I began to talk about these firstly by writing articles for the few newspapers that were willing to publish my stuff. Then one of these articles landed up on a Blog and although at the time I did not even know what a blog was, a whole new world suddenly opened up for me, but what did I discover in this new world, this Web? Well, thanks to that Blog I discovered a movement that was born on the Web, the MoVimento 5 Stelle, a movement of young people, mainly the activists of the MoVimento who wrote to me to ask for information, to ask for explanations, particularly as regards economic aspects, which are strictly speaking .... my field of expertise because, as I said, my field of specialisation is actually philosophy of law.
But I nevertheless tried to answer as best I could. They wrote to me because I had strongly advocated the idea that the only way to resolve the problem would be for us to abandon the Euro.
Now, I understand that if we simply talk about Italy abandoning the Euro, it immediately raises the spectre of a total catastrophe and the annihilation of our Country, we have been told this often enough, in fact on a daily basis by the newspapers and the press. I however continue to view the situation differently and even thug the spread may well have declined slightly, the structural situation has not changed a bit and I was trying to point out that the only way in which our Country could recover was if we were to reclaim our monetary sovereignty and that this would necessarily mean getting out of the Euro.
Getting out of the Euro would undoubtedly be difficult, as I wrote in my book, but it would not be impossible and I think that for us to continue living in this situation won’t get us very far at all in the long term.
Hence the subtitle of the book: “Meglio una fine spaventosa che uno spavento senza fine” (“Better to go out with a bang than to live in never-ending fear”).
I believe this book may be useful, even as a book of doctrine, in the day-to-day political efforts of the MoVement’s many activists, something that could provide some food for thought let’s say not only as regards the economic dynamics but also the legal dynamics, which are equally important. If we were truly obliged to respect the agreements signed with the Fiscal Compact and the European economic stability mechanism, and to comply with all of the stipulations contained in these pacts then we, and perhaps another two generations of Italians to come would find ourselves battling to stay afloat.
I repeat, however, that this may be one way of approaching the reading of this book.
I do not believe that I am the only euro sceptic out there in this Country or elsewhere for that matter. These days there are many people out there, including those who continue to believe that there is a genuine need for the Euro, who are however ready to admit that the manner in which the introduction of the Euro was managed was totally wrong, also from an economic point of view.
With the Euro being as strong as it is, it is highly unlikely that manufacturing could ever recover again in this Country and that’s a major issue because there is no way that the world can even think of making a living from fictitious capital alone, in other words only from financial capital or financial operations. A real economic base is always essential for development.
The book is also an account of what happened in our Country in this last year.
We essentially raped our own Constitution. Of course, it goes without saying that we are free to amend our Constitution but these changes have been imposed on us from outside! We have gone ahead and included the duty to balance the accounts in our Constitution because we were effectively forced to do so by the powerful forces in Frankfort, Brussels and Berlin! It is utterly outrageous for any nation to have to endure this kind of situation. It is utterly outrageous that the entire Parliament, with a Bulgarian majority, approved this, even denying us the opportunity to hold a referendum on this amendment.

The re-nationalisation of our National bank
A Brussels banker was brought in, appointed as honorary lifelong Senator in two ticks and then called upon to step in and take over the reins of this Country when this was not necessary. The man I’m talking about here is Monti, who was given the task of steering the Country through the crisis.
Since then Monti has gone into politics and we are now headed for a general elections, however, I repeat that this is merely the logical conclusion of a year that saw the advent of a technical interim government … and note that the technical interim governments of the First Republic were usually very short-lived and indeed were called “swimming” governments because their task was merely to bring together the left-wing parties, which then usually went on to form a new government, thus shifting the internal equilibrium.
However, here we have a technical interim government that has remained in power for longer than some of our past legislatures have lasted. So what we’re dealing with here is no technical interim government, but a government imposed on us by the stronger European powers in order to set up a social slaughterhouse right here in our Country. I believe that they did this with the help of the left wing, with the help of the Democratic Party and that they at least partly succeeded in their aim of setting up that social slaughterhouse.
I believe that the Italians have now realised that we are living in a world of lies, lies traded by the same people who created this social slaughterhouse in the first place and that will endure for generations and well into the future. Now they’re trying to tell us that things will change when the new government comes in, that there will be increased growth and lower taxes. We are living through some difficult times and we are witnessing what Hegel, in another era and a different situation and in the first few pages of the book entitled “Phenomenology of Spirit” called a slow breakdown, a slow disintegration of the whole, a complete breakdown of the entire political framework. Around Christmastime we witnessed the first resurrection ever in our entire national political history when Berlusconi, already a corpse, already dead and buried, rose up again, and it’s not even Easter yet. A man who supposedly would never stand for election again since the State President had said that it would be impossible for him to ever stand for election again and now Monti has intervened in this new political game.
The triangle made up of Monti, the Democratic Party and the PDL is now going to play the “needle of the scale” game, thereby putting paid to any assurance of a majority for the new incoming government.
What is there to say about all of this? I am disgusted by all of this! Cerebral vomit. Many Italians have decided that they will not be going to cast their vote and I can even understand why they feel this way. I must say that I would have done exactly the same, I would not have voted for them. They’re all the same, they steal each others’ election promises, they have absolutely nothing to offer the people of this Country and they no longer stand for anything at all. Any role they may be given is only guaranteed by the power of the media that they continue to control, the radio, television and newspapers that are well-paid for pushing the personalities, the people and the parties that have driven our Country to the brink of ruin.
I have no intention to play the crowd and you know very well that I am not an activist for the Movimento 5 Stelle but merely a sympathiser. I have openly stated that I will be voting for the 5-Star MoVement and I will do everything in my power to help the MoVement from now until election day. I will be doing this because I believe in the young people that I have met and those that have asked me to talk with them. I believe that the Movement already has its own election manifesto in place and clearly during the course of upcoming election campaign they will have to stand firm on issues such as the environment, public transport and healthcare. There are a number of important issues that are already contained in the manifesto.
On the economic front, perhaps we could insist on a number of issues, such as for example the re-nationalisation of our National bank, which has long since been privatised. It no longer has any links to the Ministry of Finance so one of the objectives could be to re-establish close ties between the National Bank and the Ministry of Finance, as was the case in the past.
What we have is a two-track Europe in which we, together with Greece, Portugal, Spain and Ireland are unable to keep up with other Countries. It is obvious that if we stick with this currency our public debt will do nothing other than continue to increase. Either these individual Countries must go back to their own currencies or the Union must establish a “second division” Euro that would allow for some sort of competitive devaluation in order to give our economy and our industries the opportunity to take off once again.
All our current policies are reliant on Ms.Merkel’s support for Monti or Holland’s support for the Democratic Party, but what we should do is to find common ground with those Countries that are in the same economic boat as we are, in other words with Spain, Greece and Portugal. Never before now, as we approach the upcoming general election, has the Passaparola been as important, so spread the word! Thank you."