http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/en-EUMokoFeed10http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/http://data5.blog.de/design/preview/57/daecffccafb19553976bf523acd766_160x200.jpghttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/11/15/cgil-demo-14-november-7378793/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2009-11-15:/2009/11/15/cgil-demo-14-november-7378793/Sun, 15 Nov 2009 19:18:07 +0100 <p>On Saturday 14 November the biggest Italian trade union federation, CGIL, held a national demonstration in Rome. While I guess that's a good thing, the slogan, 'Labour and the crisis: we demand answers', was vaguer than vague. What answers? Surely they might have some to suggest? But apparently not.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010029/4111758" title="P1010029"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/758/4111758_85456915f0_s.jpeg" alt="P1010029"></a></p> <p>The turn-out, announced from the platform at the start of the speeches, was 70,000 - three trains and over 700 coaches from across the country. By British trade union standards, that would be pretty respectable, but in Italian terms it's not particularly impressive. But when your demo's essentially pitched as a general show-of-strength day out in Rome, with no strategy attached, that's not really surprising.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010030/4111759" title="P1010030"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/759/4111759_45a07d1a1a_s.jpeg" alt="P1010030"></a><br> This campaigner wanted Berlusconi to think about people's pay-packets, not just his own troubles with magistrates. Fair enough point, but note the home-made banner: even that sort of minimal message didn't make it onto the official ones.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010031/4111760" title="P1010031"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/760/4111760_567b796b9e_s.jpeg" alt="P1010031"></a><br> This local section highlighted an anti-mafia campaign.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010036/4111762" title="P1010036"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/762/4111762_a210ba5218_s.jpeg" alt="P1010036"></a><br> Rifondazione Comunista and its former left current Sinistra Critica, now going it alone, had stalls at the main rally. Both made some reasonable demands in response to the crisis in terms of stopping sackings, defending contract workers and improving welfare benefits; Sinistra Critica differentiated itself by calling for a general strike.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/11/15/cgil-demo-14-november-7378793/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>trade-unionscgilitalyhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/11/15/cgil-demo-14-november-7378793/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/italian-schools-demo-saturday-3-october-7147650/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2009-10-11:/2009/10/11/italian-schools-demo-saturday-3-october-7147650/Sun, 11 Oct 2009 18:45:21 +0200 <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010037/3992089" title="P1010037"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/089/3992089_148a7d0ff3_s.jpeg" alt="P1010037"></a><br> Italian teachers gather on Saturday 3 October to protest against job cuts. Fifty-seven thousand teachers employed on fixed-term contracts, many of whom have worked in the same job for years, have been sacked in a government 'reform'. The total cuts are expected to increase to 150,000 jobs in the next two years. Class sizes have soared, school hours have had to be cut, and students with special needs no longer have teaching assistants.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010040/3992090" title="P1010040"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/090/3992090_84d655f097_s.jpeg" alt="P1010040"></a><br> The demo was organised by a network of co-ordinating committees of the sacked teachers. They were keen to make sure that they - and not the organised left or trade unions - led the demo. Union and party banners were kept to the back. While some hostility to the major unions is understandable given their limited support for the teachers' dispute, I suspect it also reflects some anarcho-syndicalist influence.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010045/3992092" title="P1010045"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/092/3992092_904b471ef5_s.jpeg" alt="P1010045"></a><br> The front of the demonstration: the banner says 'dignity and a future for state schools'. It was hard to judge the size of the demo, but I'd say ten thousand at most.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010044/3992091" title="P1010044"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/091/3992091_c181e1c165_s.jpeg" alt="P1010044"></a><br> Here Sicilian teachers say 'No to zero hours contracts'</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010048/3992093" title="P1010048"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/093/3992093_441edb5b08_s.jpeg" alt="P1010048"></a><br> Here fixed-term contract teachers in Rome describe the cuts as a 'fraud'.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/media/photo/p1010050/3992094" title="P1010050"><img src="http://data6.blog.de/media/094/3992094_8618b9c92e_s.jpeg" alt="P1010050"></a><br> This big demonstration for freedom of the press, supported by the mainstream 'centre-left' Democratic Party, should have been held two weeks earlier, but was moved to the same day as the teachers' protest. The formal reason for the change of date was 'out of respect for troops killed in Afghanistan' (there'd been big casualties around the original day). But it also had the effect of marginalising the teachers' protest. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/italian-schools-demo-saturday-3-october-7147650/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>italyprecarischoolshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2009/10/11/italian-schools-demo-saturday-3-october-7147650/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/21/get_your_priorities_right~745175/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-04-21:/2006/04/21/get_your_priorities_right~745175/Fri, 21 Apr 2006 16:45:43 +0200 <p>Italy's supreme court has now confirmed that the centre-left won the elections. So far, so good. And what are the centre-left doing? Launching a job-creation programme to tackle Italy's massive unemployment? Cracking down on the Mafia? No... they are squabbling about who is going to be President of the Camera (Chamber of Deputies). It's between Massimo d'Alema of the Left Democrats and Fausto Bertinotti of Rifondazione Comunista. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/21/get_your_priorities_right~745175/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>bertinottidsrifondazionehttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/21/get_your_priorities_right~745175/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720562/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-04-11:/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720562/Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:32:20 +0200 <p>Well, barring disasters, it seems that Berlusconi has just been squeezed out of office here, though it was hardly a convincing win for Prodi. Rifondazione did well compared to the rest of the centre-left coalition. Still, there was not exactly a party mood in the local party office last night. Someone said it was a meagre victory, which was about right. The exit polls put the left well ahead, and I had visions of re-living 1992, but fortunately it didn’t end quite so badly. Here are some of the figures:</p> <p>Turn-out was very high – 83.6%, up from 81.4% last time round.</p> <p>Rifondazione was the only bit of the left coalition to significantly increase its percentage from 2001. It now has 27 out of 317 senate seats (up from 3) and 41 out of 618 in the camera (lower house), up from 11. However, it is hard to make direct comparisons because the electoral system has changed to become more proportional (Berlusconi hoped this would help him win).</p> <p>Here are some of the key numbers for the centre-left:</p> <p>Senate:</p> <p>Left Democrats (ex-CP, now social democrats) 17.5%</p> <p>Margherita (ex-Christian Democrats, Catholic liberals) 10.7%</p> <p>Rifondazione Comunista 7.4% (5% in 2001)</p> <p>Comunisti Italiani plus Greens plus Consumers in a joint list to get over the threshold (yes, really) 4.2%</p> <p>Camera:</p> <p>Ulivo (Left Democrats plus Margherita) 31.3% (30.1% in 2001)</p> <p>Rifondazione Comunista 5.8% (5% in 2001)</p> <p>Rosa nel pugno (secularists, liberals) 2.6%</p> <p>Comunisti Italiani 2.3% (the split from Rifondazione which stayed in Prodi’s last govt when Rifondazione left)</p> <p>How to explain the difference in Rifondazione’s vote for the Senate and Camera? Several possibilities. One: the franchise for the Camera is over-18s, for the Senate over-25s: the Communist vote is ageing. Two: ticket-splitting – people vote for Prodi’s coalition in the Camera then for Rifondazione in the Senate as a ‘conscience’ (Rifondazione made a big deal of the idea that a vote for them was a guarantee that Prodi would deliver a left-ish programme). Three: the united ‘Ulivo’ party made up of the Left Democrats and Margherita is more popular with voters than the two parties standing separately. Four: the Comunisti Italiani were on a joint list with the Greens, making Rifondazione the only straightforward Communist option for the Senate.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720562/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>prodirifondazioneberlusconihttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720562/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720561/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-04-11:/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720561/Tue, 11 Apr 2006 20:32:11 +0200 <p>Well, barring disasters, it seems that Berlusconi has just been squeezed out of office here, though it was hardly a convincing win for Prodi. Rifondazione did well compared to the rest of the centre-left coalition. Still, there was not exactly a party mood in the local party office last night. Someone said it was a mean victory, which was about right. The exit polls put the left well ahead, and I had visions of re-living 1992, but fortunately it didn’t end quite so badly. Here are some of the figures:</p> <p>Turn-out was very high – 83.6%, up from 81.4% last time round.</p> <p>Rifondazione was the only bit of the left coalition to significantly increase its percentage from 2001. It now has 27 out of 317 senate seats (up from 3) and 41 out of 618 in the camera (lower house), up from 11. However, it is hard to make direct comparisons because the electoral system has changed to become more proportional (Berlusconi hoped this would help him win).</p> <p>Here are some of the key numbers for the centre-left:</p> <p>Senate:</p> <p>Left Democrats (ex-CP, now social democrats) 17.5%</p> <p>Margherita (ex-Christian Democrats, Catholic liberals) 10.7%</p> <p>Rifondazione Comunista 7.4% (5% in 2001)</p> <p>Comunisti Italiani plus Greens plus Consumers in a joint list to get over the threshold (yes, really) 4.2%</p> <p>Camera:</p> <p>Ulivo (Left Democrats plus Margherita) 31.3% (30.1% in 2001)</p> <p>Rifondazione Comunista 5.8% (5% in 2001)</p> <p>Rosa nel pugno (secularists, liberals) 2.6%</p> <p>Comunisti Italiani 2.3% (the split from Rifondazione which stayed in Prodi’s last govt when Rifondazione left)</p> <p>How to explain the difference in Rifondazione’s vote for the Senate and Camera? Several possibilities. One: the franchise for the Camera is over-18s, for the Senate over-25s: the Communist vote is ageing. Two: ticket-splitting – people vote for Prodi’s coalition in the Camera then for Rifondazione in the Senate as a ‘conscience’ (Rifondazione made a big deal of the idea that a vote for them was a guarantee that Prodi would deliver a left-ish programme). Three: the united ‘Ulivo’ party made up of the Left Democrats and Margherita is more popular with voters than the two parties standing separately. Four: the Comunisti Italiani were on a joint list with the Greens, making Rifondazione the only straightforward Communist option for the Senate.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720561/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>prodirifondazioneberlusconihttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/11/bye_bye_berlusconi~720561/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/10/deja_vu~717739/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-04-10:/2006/04/10/deja_vu~717739/Mon, 10 Apr 2006 20:26:25 +0200 <p>It is election night here. The exit polls showed a clear win for the centre-left coalition L'Unione over Berlusconi's Casa delle Liberta. But after a few hours the right began to catch up and are now ahead in terms of Senate seats (though behind on votes). Having sat through the 1992 election in Britain I have a strange sense of deja vu. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/10/deja_vu~717739/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>berlusconielectionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/04/10/deja_vu~717739/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/03/19/anti_war_demo_18_march~659202/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-03-19:/2006/03/19/anti_war_demo_18_march~659202/Sun, 19 Mar 2006 22:13:50 +0100 <p>Saturday’s anti-war demo in Rome was well-attended despite the right-wing calls to stay away. After an anti-fascist protest in Milan the weekend before had finished in fighting between police and anarchists, the likes of Prodi and the DS had decided to stay away. That’s despite the fact that the L’Unione policy is to withdraw Italian troops from Iraq. The biggest trade union, CGIL, also refused to support the march. There's been a newspaper strike today in Italy so I haven't seen the figures for how many people marched, but I would say at least tens of thousands.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428444"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/444/428444_c36da3a7ec_s.jpg" align="" alt="1. anti-war demo 18 march 055" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>This was the banner at the front of the demo: “Peace First – Troops Out Now”.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428451"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/451/428451_773464b06c_s.jpg" align="" alt="2. fausto bertinotti 18 march 2006" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>This was Rifondazione leader Fausto Bertinotti at the start of the demo, looking serious.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428457"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/457/428457_11f998b267_s.jpg" align="" alt="3. peace flag" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Peace and red flags were the order of the day.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428461"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/461/428461_3d574f25d4_s.jpg" align="" alt="4. fiom-cgil" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>Despite CGIL’s decision not to back the march, the engineering workers’ union FIOM, which is linked to CGIL, did support it.</p> <p>.<a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428465"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/465/428465_1b6ec129ef_s.jpg" align="" alt="5. kurdish contingent" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>There was a sizeable Kurdish contingent.</p> <p><a href="http://www.blog.co.uk/srv/media/media_item.php?item_ID=428466"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/media/466/428466_332131b17c_s.jpg" align="" alt="6. US demonstrators" vspace="5" hspace="5"></a></p> <p>These are American demonstrators just in front of the Colosseum.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/03/19/anti_war_demo_18_march~659202/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>rifondazioneanti-war-demoiraqhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/03/19/anti_war_demo_18_march~659202/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/19/cartoon_minister_quits~575665/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-02-19:/2006/02/19/cartoon_minister_quits~575665/Sun, 19 Feb 2006 21:52:14 +0100 <p>Roberto Calderoli, the Italian Minister for Reform, has resigned after wearing a t-shirt with one of the Danish Muhammad cartoons on a TV show. Newspaper reports of his antics sparked protests outside the Italian consulate in Bengasi, Libya, in which 11 people died and dozens were injured.</p> <p>Calderoli is a member of the Northern League whose anti-immigrant position is well known and can be summarised without much caricature as ‘shoot first, ask questions later’ (the policy advocated by leader Umberto Bossi against boats suspected of carrying illegal immigrants to Italy). Clearly for him wearing the t-shirt was a way of provoking a reaction which then has allowed him to denounce fundamentalists and paint himself as fighting against ‘those who want to usurp western civilisation’ (as he said in the paper the other day).</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/19/cartoon_minister_quits~575665/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>northern-leaguehttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/19/cartoon_minister_quits~575665/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/16/rifondazione_shenanigans~568252/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-02-16:/2006/02/16/rifondazione_shenanigans~568252/Thu, 16 Feb 2006 21:06:55 +0100 <p>It looks very likely that tomorrow the Rifondazione majority will remove Marco Ferrando as a candidate for the Senate. Ferrando is in Progetto Comunista, the biggest Trotskyist minority in the PRC. His ‘crime’ was to have given an interview to the Corriere della Sera newspaper in which he implied that the suicide bombing against Italian troops at Nassiriya was justified, and made various criticisms of Israel, in particular describing it as an ‘artificial state’. (See translation of part of the article at end of this entry.)</p> <p>I don’t agree with Ferrando’s analysis of the situation in Iraq – in particular what he says about the ‘fusion of the the revolt against the foreign imperialist occupation and the social struggles of Iraqi workers’. He seems to have missed the fact that the so-called ‘resistance leaders’ are themselves attacking trade unionists, making fusion a tad unlikely. Nor do I agree with his views on Israel. However, it is wholly wrong for the leadership to exclude minority candidates from the party lists in this way.</p> <p>A second ‘left’ candidate, the no-global activist Francesco Caruso (criticised by the right as a “criminal” for being involved in occupations and other direct action), will probably receive a warning from the leadership to stay in line but not be removed as a candidate.</p> <p>A proposal to replace Ferrando with another Progetto Comunista candidate, Franco Grisolia, has been turned down by the leadership.</p> <p>This comes in the context of a slanging-match between the coalitions about who has the more ‘extremists’ in their ranks. The right has been pointing to the likes of Ferrando and Caruso (and also PRC candidate Vladimir Luxuria, but in his case just because he’s transgender not for any political reason that I can see). The left has been pointing to a deal between Berlusconi and the neo-fascists over candidates.</p> <p>Yesterday Francesco Rutelli, leader of the Margherita party (liberals, ex-Christian Democrats mostly) which is part of the Unione centre-left coalition, said in a newspaper interview: ‘It’s up to Bertinotti to show that – whoever is the candidate – he/she will be faithful and loyal and will support the programme of l’Unione for the five years of the parliament.’</p> <p>Now why does that remind me of all the times they said ‘don’t rock the boat’ in the run-up to 1997 in Britain?</p> <p>This is what Ferrando told the Corriere della Sera:<br> Asked about his criticism of non-violent resistance (the majority line in the PRC), Ferrando replied:<br> 41% of Rifondazione, not just me, criticise the non-violent method. Oppressed people have to fight for emancipation with methods that work and can’t build a future on the basis of an abstract philosophical prejudice. Also because on the other hand there are always great powers which use violence. But it should be clear: we are against forms of struggle like terrorism.<br> Intervierwer: Intifada yes, suicide-bombers no?<br> Ferrando: Are you joking? We support all intifadas, the great uprisings from the Middle East to Latin America. Intifadas which are naturally not gala lunches.<br> Interviewer: And the Iraqi resistance?<br> Ferrando: A more complex question. There’s a sacrosanct right to self-determination and to resist the forces of military occupation which are there for colonial interests. Then there are different conceptions, between popular resistance movements and fundamentalists. And armed popular resistance is a different thing from terrorism against the civilian population.<br> Interviewer: Terrorism against civilians? But against the military?<br> Ferrando: The armed struggle against the military occupation is just. We are for the fusion of the the revolt against the foreign imperialist occupation and the social struggles of Iraqi workers.<br> Interviewer: So it’s right to fire at Italian soldiers?<br> Ferrando: We are for the defence of the rights of the Iraqi popular uprising against our troops. All the incidents in which our soldiers have fallen are entirely the responsibility of a military mission in the service of Eni (Italian oil company). </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/16/rifondazione_shenanigans~568252/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>progetto-comunistamarco-ferrandorifondazionehttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/16/rifondazione_shenanigans~568252/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/03/new_blocking_tactic_on_abortion_pill~531246/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-02-03:/2006/02/03/new_blocking_tactic_on_abortion_pill~531246/Fri, 03 Feb 2006 15:47:52 +0100 <p>Okay, well, maybe I spoke too soon about the abortion row finishing. The Health Minister Francesco Storace, apparently furious that the parliamentary commission has failed to deliver the report he wanted, has decided to impose a new bureaucratic checking process in an effort to block regions from buying in the abortion pill.</p> <p>The regions which use the abortion pill do so thanks to a European free trade directive, which means that if a drug is licensed for use in one EU country, it can be used throughout the EU. At the moment the imports are simply rubber-stamped by the Health Ministry. But Storace says in future hospitals will have to provide a detailed account of the clinical reasons why in each case the abortion pill is more suitable than alternatives before the Ministry will agree to the import. Given the short time-period in which the pill can be used, this tactic could deny many women the choice of using it at all. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/03/new_blocking_tactic_on_abortion_pill~531246/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>ru486abortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/03/new_blocking_tactic_on_abortion_pill~531246/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/02/using_blair_to_attack_the_left~527723/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-02-02:/2006/02/02/using_blair_to_attack_the_left~527723/Thu, 02 Feb 2006 12:37:19 +0100 <p>We’re into full pre-election campaigning in Italy now.</p> <p>On the radio this morning, the Welfare Minister Roberto Maroni of the Lega Nord was doing a phone-in. A caller asked a question about job security and the increasing use of casual and fixed-term contracts in Italy. Maroni did the typical politician thing and replied that you had think what would happen if the opposition (i.e. Prodi and co) were in charge. Look at the situation in England, he said, where the centre-left is in government: there you can have two people doing exactly the same job, sitting at adjacent desks, but for the first six months the one on the fixed-term contract can be paid less. At least that can’t happen in Italy, he said.</p> <p>So, there you have it: Berlusconi’s allies attacking Blair from the left on employment rights. Great.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/02/using_blair_to_attack_the_left~527723/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>employmentblairhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/02/02/using_blair_to_attack_the_left~527723/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/30/abortion_row_ends_rather_quietly~520726/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-30:/2006/01/30/abortion_row_ends_rather_quietly~520726/Mon, 30 Jan 2006 21:27:10 +0100 <p>No change on abortion, for now, it seems. After all the fuss before Christmas, the commission set up to investigate the functioning of the abortion law (Law 194) has decided no change is necessary.</p> <p>The commission – headed by a Forza Italia MP – concluded that the lack of family planning clinics was a problem, particularly in the south. Its report called for an improvement in family planning services, with the aim of preventing the need for abortions to take place. It seems that abortion is not an issue which the government here wants to push up the election agenda.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/30/abortion_row_ends_rather_quietly~520726/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>abortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/30/abortion_row_ends_rather_quietly~520726/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/23/alitalia_work_to_rule_grounds_flights~499498/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-23:/2006/01/23/alitalia_work_to_rule_grounds_flights~499498/Mon, 23 Jan 2006 20:26:26 +0100 <p>Unofficial action by Alitalia workers has forced the cancellation of hundreds of flights over the weekend. Despite an official strike being called off by the union leaderships, when the government agreed to a meeting, at the airports workers have caused chaos by applying to the letter the rules of maintenance and inspection for every flight. There is a permanent workplace assembly and despite management’s efforts to substitute Alitalia strikers with workers from other companies, they have been unable to stop dozens of flight cancellations. The unions say about half of Alitalia’s planes are now grounded. The action is expected to continue until Wednesday, when the meeting with ministers takes place. Alitalia, like many national carriers, is in financial crisis. Despite cutting over 2,000 jobs it is still on the verge of collapse, putting 20,000 jobs at risk.</p> <p>And more strikes: on Thursday-Friday rail workers are due to strike over staff shortages, train cancellations and government cuts in Trenitalia’s subsidy, which has been slashed from €7.5 billion last year to €1.5 billion in 2006.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/23/alitalia_work_to_rule_grounds_flights~499498/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>alitaliastrikehttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/23/alitalia_work_to_rule_grounds_flights~499498/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/22/metalmeccanici_win_100_pay_rise~495102/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-22:/2006/01/22/metalmeccanici_win_100_pay_rise~495102/Sun, 22 Jan 2006 13:50:57 +0100 <p>Italian engineering workers have won a pay rise of €100 a month. More than a year after their old contract expired, and after five one-day strikes and numerous demonstrations, management finally agreed to the unions’ pay demand. However, the downside to the deal is that the unions have made big concessions on conditions, agreeing to the piloting of a ‘multi-week’ system for working hours.</p> <p>The €100 rise will apply to workers, as far as I can tell, mid-way up the pay scale. Others will get proportional rises, although the lowest paid will get a rise of €130. When you consider that back in September management’s best offer was €60 (then the unions were demanding €130 for all), this looks like a pretty good result.</p> <p>Like any deal, though, it comes with strings attached. Management will be allowed to introduce, on a pilot basis, a ‘multi-week’ work schedule, i.e. workers can be contracted to work, say, 220 hours a month, but 60 of these might fall in one week. Alongside this new system there will be a commission to discuss the percentage of workers who can be employed on fixed-term contracts. If there is no agreement on the latter, the multi-week experiment will be abandoned. There will also be a new joint commission on competitivity, productivity and related issues. Although there is no doubt that the pay rise (about 9%) is very good indeed, the changes to conditions are not (although they do not seem nearly as bad as the annualised hours systems that operate in some places).</p> <p>The deal will now be put to the union memberships, with a ballot in mid-February. The general secretary of CGIL, the biggest of the union federations (and the one historically linked to the CP) has said that a key factor in winning the deal was the unity between CGIL and the other federations CISL and UIL. Although there were a few wobbles along the way, for the most part they do seem to have stuck together pretty effectively.</p> <p>I think this dispute has some quite interesting lessons. The unions’ unity is obviously important, but there are other issues too. For one thing, there is often a tendency on the British left to say that one-day strikes don’t win. What the Italian unions did with their one-day strikes, though, was not just to organise a picket line and stop production, but to demonstrate and to go and occupy roads and railway stations (and not only on strike days), creating huge disruption way beyond their own industry, which in turn raised the pressure on the employers to settle. As the final negotiations took place, workers in Naples blocked a railway and a major road; in Trent, Turin and Molise roads were also blocked, creating in some cases kilometres of tailbacks.</p> <p>I’m sure that one of the things helping the unions in this situation was the unwillingness of the government to pick a fight with them in the months running up to a close general election – and equally the seeming unwillingness to send in the police to stop the protests. Perhaps if the dispute had happened in a year’s time things would have looked rather different. It’s hard to say.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/22/metalmeccanici_win_100_pay_rise~495102/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>cgilengineeringhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/22/metalmeccanici_win_100_pay_rise~495102/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/15/everybody_in_pacs~472553/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-15:/2006/01/15/everybody_in_pacs~472553/Sun, 15 Jan 2006 12:36:23 +0100 <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/arcigay-flag.jpg" title="arcigay flag"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/arcigay-flag_small.jpg" border="0" alt="arcigay flag"></a></p> <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/flags-flying.jpg" title="flags flying"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/flags-flying_small.jpg" border="0" alt="flags flying"></a></p> <p>So, yesterday I headed off to the ‘Everybody in PACS’ demo. It had been the subject of huge polemic in the papers: denounced by the right and by the pope. And not just by the right: Prodi too declared himself ‘upset’ at the fact that there were to be (symbolic) gay weddings, and one Margherita politician described it as the way to lose the election.</p> <p>In the piazza you had, on the one hand, the accoutrements of your typical British gay pride event: a giant sound system pumping out DiscoPartyRemix, an impressive drag queen and some particularly well-turned out coppers. But what was strikingly different was the number of political banners: lots of Young Socialists (the DS youth section); Rifondazione; the PdCI; Greens. I’d say the majority of people in the piazza were with one party or another. And the weddings were between, mainly, long-standing out gay party politicos – not major national figures, but members of regional or local councils and the like. For all the TV crews and all the polemic, PACS is not – at least it wasn’t yesterday – an issue which is pulling in the punters.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/15/everybody_in_pacs~472553/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>gaypacshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/15/everybody_in_pacs~472553/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/13/scarlett_o_what~467135/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-13:/2006/01/13/scarlett_o_what~467135/Fri, 13 Jan 2006 14:57:42 +0100 <p>The latest DS (Left Democrats) posters feature the the wishy-washy slogan ‘Domani è un altro giorno’. Translated – ‘Tomorrow is another day’ – this has the unfortunate effect of conjuring up the incongruous image of gangly DS leader Piero Fassino dressed in a Scarlett O’Hara frock. Surely not what was intended. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/13/scarlett_o_what~467135/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>dshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/13/scarlett_o_what~467135/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/09/hello_from_rome~455021/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2006-01-09:/2006/01/09/hello_from_rome~455021/Mon, 09 Jan 2006 16:32:50 +0100 <p>Happy New Year. I have moved to Rome - bigger, louder and generally very unlike Bologna.</p> <p>Slightly puzzling political start to the new year - two national demos, one in defence of abortion rights and one in favour of civil partnerships, have been called for the same day (next Saturday, the 14th). Don't quite know why. The partnerships demo is in Rome, and there are loads of Rifondazione flyposters around for it. The abortion rights demo is in Milan. I went to an organising meeting for the latter yesterday, which was frankly chaotic. There's no transport fixed yet and not much co-ordination that I could see. We'll see what happens later in the week.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/09/hello_from_rome~455021/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>romeabortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2006/01/09/hello_from_rome~455021/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/22/merry_christmas_and_some_statistics~407097/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-22:/2005/12/22/merry_christmas_and_some_statistics~407097/Thu, 22 Dec 2005 11:16:13 +0100 <p>Nearly the end of the year, and I’m leaving Bologna to go to Rome. The news in Italy: after several months of banking scandals, the governor of BankItalia has finally resigned. China has overtaken Italy in the ‘World’s Richest Country’ classification. There’s a bit of a feeling that everything’s on hold until after the elections.</p> <p>But until the New Year, here are some statistics from La Repubblica’s survey on the state of Italy. 53% of people think that life’s worse than five years ago. The most important political issue is unemployment, they say, followed by the cost of living and rising prices. The latter has risen in the rankings compared to three years ago. Third on the list is common (as opposed to organised) crime.</p> <p>The survey also asked people which public institutions they most trusted. This is interesting. The figures put together say: 80% trust the President of the Republic (i.e. Ciampi, not Berlusconi); 69.8% the armed forces/police; 61.3% the Church; 59.8% the school system; 52.4% the European Union. Parliament comes in at 22.5%, the government 18% and the political parties 8.7%.</p> <p>However, if you divide up the statistics between left/centre and right/centre voters they change rather dramatically. Among left/centre voters the armed forces and police – bizarrely – still come out top after Ciampi, at 65.6%; next is the European Union with 62.2%; then schools, then the magistrature, then CGIL, the most left-wing of the trade union federations, which gets 54.5%. The Church, even among left/centre voters, still gets 48.6%. The biggest divisions between right and left voters are, as you might expect, on the trade unions and the Church. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/22/merry_christmas_and_some_statistics~407097/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>statisticshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/22/merry_christmas_and_some_statistics~407097/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/13/football_fascists~383663/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-13:/2005/12/13/football_fascists~383663/Tue, 13 Dec 2005 17:26:41 +0100 <p>Footballer Paolo di Canio is in trouble for doing what’s called a ‘Roman salute’ – that’s a fascist salute to you and me – at the Lazio/Livorno match the other day. Lazio’s notorious for its fascist fans – they wave swastika flags on the terraces. Livorno, on the other hand, is a ‘left-wing’ club. Most of Italy’s football hooliganism divides on supposedly political lines, although whether the fans know or care what they’re shouting for as they throw flares across the pitch and beat up their other side must be doubtful. In theory the ‘Roman salute’ is banned here, though that doesn’t appear to bother di Canio. You can, however, freely buy a 2006 Mussolini calendar from the newspaper stand. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/13/football_fascists~383663/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>paolo-di-caniofootballhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/13/football_fascists~383663/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/12/all_legal_now~379896/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-12:/2005/12/12/all_legal_now~379896/Mon, 12 Dec 2005 10:59:20 +0100 <p>Well, as of this morning I have my official permit to stay in Italy – notwithstanding the supposedly free European labour market, there’s still a three-month wait to get the paperwork done. As far as I can tell, a lot of people from western Europe just don’t bother, and no-one particularly cares. It’s if you’re from eastern Europe, or outside the EU, that you really need one of these things. The immigration office is crazy – it’s open 9-1, three days a week. You have to go in person. The bloke behind me in the queue was going to be late for work, but couldn’t do anything sensible like, say, make an appointment or send a letter. And all he needed was a replacement photo on his permit. Another man was having his application loudly turned down because his partner’s permit had, apparently, run out. ‘The two of you need to come back on Wednesday,’ said the woman behind the counter, cheerfully ignoring the fact that, perhaps, they might need to work. I’ve always read stories back home about how bad the immigration system is, but doing it in person you really see the double standards. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/12/all_legal_now~379896/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>immigrationhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/12/all_legal_now~379896/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/04/condom_craziness~359662/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-04:/2005/12/04/condom_craziness~359662/Sun, 04 Dec 2005 14:18:19 +0100 <p>First crazy thing: a member of Berlusconi's government, the Equal Opportunities minister, has made a sensible suggestion. She says that in order to reduce the number of women having abortions, perhaps the government should give out condoms for free.</p> <p>Obviously this has upset the church, quite a bit, not to mention the rest of the governing coalition. But what's more surprising is that the left has been so dismissive of the suggestion: Rifondazione, for example, saying that it's not the point, what's needed is better sex education in schools. Similarly the DS and Margherita parties have hardly given the proposal a warm welcome. I'm sure that better sex education's a good idea too, but the idea that free contraception is somehow a bad thing, or beside the point, is clearly ridiculous. It's hard to escape the conclusion that with elections approaching the centre-left is keeping its head down in the hope of attracting some floating Catholic voters. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/04/condom_craziness~359662/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>abortioncontraceptionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/04/condom_craziness~359662/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/02/metalworkers_strike~354225/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-02:/2005/12/02/metalworkers_strike~354225/Fri, 02 Dec 2005 09:43:52 +0100 <p>There's a national strike of engineering workers (metalmeccanici) in Italy today, and a demonstration in Rome. You can read their demands <a href="http://www.fiom.cgil.it/eventi/2005/man_021205/v_021205_eng.pdf">here</a> in English on the Fiom/CGIL union website. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/02/metalworkers_strike~354225/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>engineeringfiomhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/02/metalworkers_strike~354225/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/01/bishops_and_abortion_latest~351916/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-12-01:/2005/12/01/bishops_and_abortion_latest~351916/Thu, 01 Dec 2005 13:07:50 +0100 <p>Latest on abortion – in a concession to the bishops, the government has announced a parliamentary inquiry into the functioning of the abortion law (Law 194). This was proposed by the Union of the Centre (ex-Christian Democrats, mostly), and backed by the other parties of the Berlusconi coalition.</p> <p>The bishops are making their big push against the law on the basis that when it was passed it included a provision to offer support to women who found themselves pregnant in difficult circumstances in order to make it easier for them to have a baby. The church is saying that this isn’t happening – which is probably true. However, their real agenda is to get anti-abortion activists the right to go and offer this ‘help’ to women in abortion clinics.</p> <p>With an election due in the spring and the government scrabbling for every vote possible, it can’t be ruled out that the church will get its way. On the other hand, though, the commission of inquiry has no power, and there’s a vocal campaign to improve provision of abortion services – led by those regions which are allowing the use of the abortion pill. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/01/bishops_and_abortion_latest~351916/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>abortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/12/01/bishops_and_abortion_latest~351916/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/30/back_to_whinging_bishops~349386/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-30:/2005/11/30/back_to_whinging_bishops~349386/Wed, 30 Nov 2005 14:51:26 +0100 <p>Back in Italy this week - and back to cardinals and bishops banging on about the 'grave problem' of abortion. Not, that is, the grave problems facing women who decide they need an abortion. No, according to the bishops, women are taking the whole issue far 'too lightly'. In fact, to read the reports, you'd think that the female population of Italy was just dashing off for abortions like they might pop out for a coffee. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/30/back_to_whinging_bishops~349386/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>abortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/30/back_to_whinging_bishops~349386/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/18/taking_a_break~317434/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-18:/2005/11/18/taking_a_break~317434/Fri, 18 Nov 2005 13:06:53 +0100 <p>No bellaciao until the end of the month - I'm taking a break. Back in late November. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/18/taking_a_break~317434/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/18/taking_a_break~317434/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/17/bologna_immigrants_evicted~314552/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-17:/2005/11/17/bologna_immigrants_evicted~314552/Thu, 17 Nov 2005 10:45:27 +0100 <p>Dozens of Romanian immigrants are being bulldozed out of their camp in Bologna today, after the mayor Sergio Cofferati (Left Democrats) got his new 'law and order' policy through the council here.</p> <p>In the process, the Greens walked out of the governing coalition. But Rifondazione Comunista stayed in, claiming Cofferati had made enough concessions to satisfy them. The Greens also cited Cofferati's decision to suspend the congestion charge as a factor in their decision.</p> <p>If Prodi and L'Unione win next year's elections then presumably this sort of thing will be replayed on a national scale.</p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/17/bologna_immigrants_evicted~314552/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>cofferatigreenshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/17/bologna_immigrants_evicted~314552/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/13/another_europe~304433/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-13:/2005/11/13/another_europe~304433/Sun, 13 Nov 2005 15:31:12 +0100 <p><a href="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/charter-meeting-nov-05-001.jpg" title="charter meeting"><img src="http://data1.blog.de/blog/b/bellaciao/img/charter-meeting-nov-05-001_small.jpg" border="0" alt="charter meeting"></a></p> <p>Went along this weekend to the ‘Assembly on the Charter of Principles of Another Europe’ in Florence. This is a meeting of various individuals and groups involved in the European Social Forum, who are drawing up the said charter for presentation at the next ESF in Athens in May 2006.</p> <p>It was one of the more bizarre meetings I’ve been to. Most of the people in the room, as far as I could tell, were from one or other left-wing organisation. But with a few exceptions they did a very good job of pretending not to be. The document for discussion on workers’ rights, for example, managed not to mention a) capitalism, b) the working class or c) exploitation.</p> <p>There was a bit of debate around the question of pacifism, but for the most part the discussion was incredibly woolly. There was a real reluctance to express disagreement. Okay, once, when a Rifondazione Comunista MEP started criticising social-democracy in Europe, citing Peter Mandelson as an example, there were a few shouts of ‘what about Prodi’ (with whom Rifondazione are planning a coalition). But that was it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/13/another_europe~304433/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>esfhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/13/another_europe~304433/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/11/end_of_rockpolitik~299388/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-11:/2005/11/11/end_of_rockpolitik~299388/Fri, 11 Nov 2005 13:38:30 +0100 <p>Last edition of ‘Rockpolitik’ on TV last night – no shortage of controversy still. Sabina Guzzanti (whose own show was taken off air a couple of years ago for being too anti-Berlusconi) was a guest. She was only allowed on air by the RAI management on condition that she didn’t impersonate Berlusconi. The PM himself appeared in the form of a cardboard cut-out and a surreal discussion with the presenter Adriano Celentano ensued. Looks unlikely that there’ll be any more Rockpolitik on RAI, at least before the elections. But I think Celentano has done what he set out to do – i.e. show up the miserable state of the Italian media and the people running it. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/11/end_of_rockpolitik~299388/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>berlusconirockpolitikcelentanohttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/11/end_of_rockpolitik~299388/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/journalists_more_strikes~289559/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-07:/2005/11/07/journalists_more_strikes~289559/Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:54:16 +0100 <p>More strikes this week - newspaper journalists tomorrow and Wednesday; TV journalists Wednesday and Thursday, over the breakdown of contract negotiations. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/journalists_more_strikes~289559/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>strikehttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/journalists_more_strikes~289559/#commentshttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/abortion_pill_trial_back_on~289550/tag:bellaciao.blog.co.uk,2005-11-07:/2005/11/07/abortion_pill_trial_back_on~289550/Mon, 07 Nov 2005 16:51:46 +0100 <p>And a small piece of good news - earlier on I wrote about how the Health Minister had suspended a pilot project to offer the abortion pill at a hospital in Turin. The project is now back on (with not much press coverage of the fact). It's not clear from the coverage I've read why exactly the change of heart - possibly because the initial ban was imposed for 'reasons of safety' which didn't stand up to scrutiny. Still a long way to go until the abortion pill is generally available, though. </p> <p> <small> <a href="http://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/abortion_pill_trial_back_on~289550/#comments">Comments</a> </small> </p>abortionhttp://bellaciao.blog.co.uk/2005/11/07/abortion_pill_trial_back_on~289550/#comments