Frighten them to govern on them!

By Amin Wahidi

As a refugee resident in this country, I do not yet have the right to vote, nor in the parliamentary neither in municipal elections, as the citizens do. And therefore so far I was not sensitive to the recent municipal election results until I saw some provocative electoral posters by Lega Nord and PDL on the walls in Milan these days. Seeing these posters, I was encouraged to write a few lines on the issue “frighten them to govern on them.” The results in the first round of voting which took place in 16 and 17 May, showed how Berlusconi and his candidate for municipality of Milan, Letizia Moratti were on the edge by an unexpected vote result. The result was a shock for all their allies including the most radical new-fascist party, Lega Nord. Letizia Moratti supported by center-right parties such as PDL, and the radical racist parties such as Lega Nord got 41% of the votes while her rival Giuliano Pisapia supported by center-left parties such as PD, Sinistra Ecologica Liberta etc, received 48, 4 % of the votes. Letizia Moratti in the elections in 2006 had won 52% of the votes against her centre-left coalition candidate Bruno Ferrante who had 47 % of the votes.

This year’s first round result showed a great deal of people’s tendency to the leftist political parties in the recent years.

One of the reasons for Moratti’s loss may have been her negative approaches in her campaign; defaming her rival candidate Pisapia without any proves against him and then using the mottos that do not have anymore effects in the electoral campaign market. But in contrary having the support of many leftist parties, Giuliano Pisapia, the clever rival for Moratti in this election, did not defame his rival, instead he had presented his own alternative plans and programs for Milan through different gatherings.

Even though, if Pisapia wanted to use the defamation policy against his rival candidate and her party, there would already be many proves against Berlusconi, the on going cases against him in Milan Court would be enough material, but for Pisapia, it was more useful to be firm and steady on his position and suffice to presentation of his own programs. He instead had offered alternatives for the betterment of Milan especially in the period when Milan is getting prepared to host The World Expo 2015.

The other thing that helped him get more votes than Moratti was accompaniment of many famous artists, writers and singers in his electoral campaign.

In this election, Moratti’s weakness was relying on PDL and Lega Nord misleading policy of “Frighten them to rule on them” which showed they did not have any interesting and useful plans for the city to present to the citizens.

Moratti’s team instead of presenting their clear programs on what she will do for betterment of Milan if she wins the election; she relied on frightening the citizens with the issues such as immigration, the mosques, nomad camps etc.

They tried to show the people, the negative consequences of a center left mayor in the office but they seemed to be failed in their struggle.

They claimed if the centre-left coalition wins in this election, they will make mosques for the Muslims in the city, they will let more Roma Nomads in the city and they will give more opportunities to the foreign immigrants rather than the citizens.

Through a multi-million euro electoral campaign, Letizia Moratti had already prepared herself to win the election and stay in her current position, mayor of Milan but things did not go as she expected.

Her first weakness was the contradictions from one to the other of her electoral posters; in one she put the photos of different faces and different colors and said Milan would give equal opportunities to everyone, and then in another one she frightened the citizens from foreign immigrants.

This policy “using foreign immigrants as frightening puppets” which may have been useful a few years back, now seem to be expired and out of use. It is now some years that the People in Milan already live with the foreign immigrants and as time pass they get to know them better, so no need to have fear from them, it is what the foreign immigrants have proved so far. And obviously they have contributed to the multi-ethnicity and economic development of Milan, most Italian citizens in Milan admit it.

Seeing the baffle in Moratti’s electoral team after their defeat, they look like people drowning into a deep see who try to grab anything first comes in the hands just to rescue themselves and survive.

Moratti’s main supporter, 75 years-old Mr. Berlusconi based on many cases against him in Milan Court, is still accused of corruption, sexual affair with minors and misusing his media empire for his favor and that is why he does not seem to have the popularity anymore in Italy. So far there have been many demonstrations against him in different cities of Italy and millions of people have named a day as No Berlusconi Day in their calendar 5^th December 2009. After his disrepute for his sexual affairs with several beautiful young women including a minor girl, the women in Italy who make half of the voter population see him as a shameful figure who has insulted the feminine gender in this country. For them he is rather a playboy man than a political leader of the country.

Many famous Italian intellectual and writers have stated that Berlusconi has become a symbol of shame for their country. They think, Berlusconi has lowered the dignity of Italy which was once famous for its bright history, art and science. They have said; Berlusconi can not represent the Italian values.

Milan as the economic capital of Italy has a special importance for old Mr. Berlusconi, it is his birth place, and a great number of his supporters live in this city, therefore Municipality of Milano seems to be the last resistance front for him and his party PDL, thus he might do anything for Moratti to win in this election, even if through fraud and falsity, otherwise considering his trembling position in the government, losing in Milan will definitely weaken his political position more than before and his failure in the politics may affect his cases in the court and may cause his failure in his private business as well. Giuliano Pisapia may or may not win in Milan, but his candidature and people’s ovation for him showed that despite Berlusconi’s media empire propaganda, people judge the candidates and their parties based on what they see from them and experience practically in their daily lives, not through what Mediaset feed them on daily basis.

If Pisapia wins, people should not expect many great changes in overnight, he may only plant the seeds of some changes for the years ahead but the important thing is people’s awakening and their determination for such great changes in their city and in the country. The time has come for it now.