Photo: Illustration by theHand

From 14 January to 22 February, accompanied by Walter (driving the camper), Pietro (doing social stuff) and Salvatore (for direct streaming, in-depth research and interviews) The Tsunami Tour will whizz round Italy: covering the North, Centre, South and the islands and going to about 100 cities. Nothing will be as it was before. The tour will be covered by a dedicated web channel 12 hours a day. It’ll be called "La Cosa“, {the thing} like the thing from another world, the world of direct democracy. The MoVimento 5 Stelle {5 Star MoVement} is presenting itself in the elections with the whole of the System so blatantly and consistently against it, that information becomes grotesque, surreal, Soviet-like and like Pol Pot. Never fear. We won’t eat you. We just want to send you home. The newspapers and the TV channels are the final barrier, the Wall of Jericho defending what cannot be defended. By now they are telling tales of a fantastic, imaginary, Jurassic world of leaders and new fig leaves, of Casini and Fini, of Berlusconi and Maroni. A 1950s B Movie. Even Andreotti and Fanfani seem to be more up to date than these politicians. One world has finished. Their aim is to gain time. They’re putting off the moment of departure. Perhaps they will still succeed in the forthcoming elections, but not in the ones that follow after that and those will almost certainly be early elections. That ramshackle set up won’t last more than a year, maximum 18 months. From now to the elections, they’ll tell us a story every day about a perfect world, based on the Stock Exchange and the “spread”, a world in which the indexes will be manipulated. The real world of unemployment, of the highest taxes in the world, of the recession, of the destruction of the territory, they’re not saying anything about all this. They will tell us great fairy stories without happy endings, stories of frogs turning into princes, right up to the end of the voting. If you think you can do it, you can do it. If you think you cannot do it, you’re right. I am an optimist. In front of us we have 40 days, without time to take a breath. These can be the thirty nine days that will turn Italy upside down. I’m not stopping. The tsunami is arriving. Politicians, prepare the life boats. Your lies are reduced to nothing. See you in Parliament! It’ll be a pleasure.

Tsunami Tour:
14 January: at 5:00 pm Massa, piazza Garibaldi; at 9:00 pm Livorno, Piazza Venti September
15 January: at 5:00 pm Pistoia, Piazza Duomo; at 9:00 pm Pisa, Piazza la Pera
16 January: at 5:00 pm Perugia; at 9:00 pm Foligno
17 January: at 5:00 pm Teramo; at 9:00 pm Chieti
18 January: at 5:00 pm Foggia; at 9:00 pm Bari
19 January: at 5:00 pm Lecce; at 9:00 pm Taranto
20 January: at 5:00 pm Matera; at 9:00 pm Potenza
21 and 22 January: Campania
23 January: Lazio
24 and 25 January: Tuscanny
26 January: Emilia Romagna
27 January: Marche
29 January: Calabria
30, 31 January and 1 February: Sicily
2 and 3 February: Emilia Romagna
4 and 5 February: Sardinia
6 February: Veneto
7 February: Friuli Venezia Giulia
8 and 9 February: Veneto
10 February: Trentino Alto Adige
11 February: Veneto, Lombardy
12 and 13 February: Lombardy
14, 15 and 16 February: Piedmont
17 February: Liguria
18 and 19 February: Lombardy
20 February: Molise
21 February: Lazio
22 February: ROME