Bali dancers, photo courtesy of FriskoDude

The trucks have brought Italy to a standstill. This is nothing new; after all, they bring Italy to a halt every day. We are constantly brought to a standstill on the overpasses, the ring roads and inside the tunnels. Trucks don’t travel, what they do is moving parking. Half of them are empty. Once they reach their destination, they return home without any new load. This is the triumph of Governmental sloth. There are tens of thousands of small proprietary businesses, is this a logical thing? If this were a proper Country, with effect from tomorrow there would only be half of the current number of trucks travelling on our roads, in keeping with the amount of goods being transported.
The Italian peninsula is a natural seaside platform. The concept of maritime republics was born here, yet our harbours are in a state of decline. Integrated ship/train/truck transportation does not exist here. More trucks, more motorway toll fees, more diesel, who is profiting from all of this? The State, Fiat, motorway management companies and fuel companies.
The truckers find themselves competing with each other on the roads, with no rest breaks and no official working hours, and all for a fistful of Euros. What about a national transportation plan, to be implemented over a period of three years and controlled by the citizens?
The truckers’ strike did, however, have a positive spin off and, thanks to the reduction in carbon monoxide emissions; today every Italian has gained an extra few days of life. The cities became more peaceful and the bicycles came out in force. Those living out in the country once again purchased their milk and eggs directly from the farmer. The motorcar remained parked and we saved on fuel. After many years, we once again spoke to our neighbour, to ask for some salt.
At this time, we are in Bali, together with the other nations of the world. Partly to catch some sun, I think. I saw a beautifully suntanned Pecoraro appearing live on TV. Partly also to talk shit. In our cities, there are no such things as electric taxis and busses, nor are there any cycle paths. We have exceeded the Kyoto parameters for CO2. We continue to build incinerators and waffle on about safe nuclear energy. Yet we are not even able to ensure that the trucks travel fully loaded. Only one word comes to mind to describe the current situation: “Fools!”.