IFEX- Tunisia Monitoring Group
January 17, 2011
Back in June 2010, on its seventh mission, IFEX -TMG ( The International Freedom of Expression Exchange- Tunisia Monitoring Group), released a report with 18 recommendations against Tunisia situation on political freedom. IFEX is a global network, comprising over twenty different organizations worldwide, dedicated to denouncing violations on human rights and freedom of expression, statewide and international. IFEX HQ is in Canada and the Organization was launched officially in 1992.
According to their own website, the Tunisia Monitorig Group was the most successfull mission so far: Monitoring & Advocacy in Support of Independent Human Rights Defenders in Tunisia (funded by European donors).
After it was announced that the UN World Summit on INformatin Society was being hosted in Tunisia in 2003 for 2005, given the well known human rights violation historic on this country, immediately freedom advocacy groups started taking action.
The background scene is a country with a dictatorship that rules over 2 generation long, being the incumbent only the second head of State in power, after independence (now in exile since the day before yesterday, in Rhiad). There are only three opposition media sources (newspapers): Al Mawkif, Tariq Al-Jadid and Mouwatinoun.
And to get the state subsidies they need to submit their advertising publishing criteria to the States censorship. One editor tried to claim reparations through the courts on a slur campaign from one of the pro-government, aligned newspaper (the state controled media does not need to advertise), but none of the complaints followed through in the courts.
Other red flags included parliamentary sessions tv broadcast shut down right before the opposition poses their questions. Newspapers editions have been seized and their distribution is limited to a few controlled kiosks.
Drop all charges against journalist Fahem Boukadous (alledged guilty of public inciting riot in Jan 2010)
release detained political prisioners that did not use violence of force
end persecution on former politica prisioners and their families
end practice of indiscriminated prossecution for fabricated accusations on the cultural and intelectual elite
repeal any laws that criminalise the use of peaceful freedom of speech, assembly and association (including the right of defamation)
Review 2003 legislation o anti terrorist measures, according to the UN 2010 Recommendations, lifting sanctions on human rights
Ensure the prisoners treatment goes according to the ANti Torture Convention ratified already by the State
Grant legal registration to Tunisian legitimate non governmental organizations
Stop restricting access to the Internet (allow journalists and activists access to information, including traveling, regarless of their politcal color)
Grant the Council the means to manage the magistrates career.
New Websites and video sharing:
http://www.lematindz.net (Algeria)
http://www.elwatan.com (Algeria)
http://www.aafaq.org (USA)
http://www.kalima-tunisie.info
The Initiative for an Open Arab Internet http://www.openarab.net/
On its present edition, IFEX website expresses concern that the current martial law instate in Tunisia might undermine the freedom of access to the information on the internet that would otherwise be openly censored. Although two bloggers accused of reporting on the riots have been already released,the international community, namely the International Federation of Journalists, is calling on the imediate release of Fahem Boukadous, under arrest since 2008 for reporting protestes in Gafsa. Radio Kaima journalists are still arrested and the Tunisian Bar Association, peacefully protesting for freedom of the judicial processes, have been reported dispersed by brutal police action.
Altogether more than 60 killings have been confirmed over the the protests against government corruption.
The Egiptian Organization for Human Rights , representing over 25 human rights organizations in the region calls fro the European Union suspension of talks with Tunisia about the ongoing negotiations for preferential treatment in commercial transactions withing the framework of Euro-Mediterranean Association Agreements.
On a first analysis, freedom of expression has been used to ignite the social unrest, motivated by unemployment and the rise of commodities prices, through the informal use of online social networking tools, still under strong surveillance, as reported by IFEX, RSF (Reporters Without Borders) and IFJ (International Federation of Journalists), seconded by information divulged by CPJ (Committee to Protect Journalists):
CPJ research shows that the Tunisian Internet Agency is “modifying web pages on the fly to steal usernames and passwords for sites such as Facebook, Google and Yahoo!,” deleting or compromising accounts and even using the information to locate bloggers and their network of contacts…In response to the government’s heavy-handedness online, rival attacks organised from abroad by the “hacktivist” group Anonymous (tagged on Twitter as #optunisia), hit Tunisian state-run websites early in the year, including those of the President, Prime Minister, the stock exchange and several ministries, reports Index on Censorship. (in Ifex.org).
According to the EFF (Electronic Frontier Foundation) Slim Ammanou, cyber activist (now released) had been arrested for alerting the world to his whereabouts at the Tunisian Ministry of the Interior using Google Latitude
Ratified in 1969 the International Covenant for Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR). The ICCPR underscores in Article 14 the necessity of State parties to uphold the independence of the judiciary so as to ensure the proper administration of justice.
Tunisia leader thrown down by a mass protest started on Facebook
January 16, 2011
According to “Foreign Policy” online edition of January 14, the opposition formed from within the civil society in Tunisia, had no reported islamic presence. Unlikely as it might seem, considering that Ben Ali, who fled the country leaving the power with interim Head of Parliament, had since 1987, on its rise as head of State, oppressed and alienated all islamic presence from public life. Much like all his predecessors. Ben Ali refered to, by the title of a report in Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, online, as the “Arabic Pinochet”.
The Islamic Al-Nhada party, has most of his prominent leaders living in exile and in fact had to form an unlikely coalition with communists to prevail in the scene. Tunisia is rooted in a highly pan arabian patriotic yet secular regime, ever since Habib Bourguiba, the post colonial Tunisia’s equivalent of Ataturk, in Turkey.
The protesters that fled to the streets were mostly unemployed people, protesting against nepotism and lack of freedom of speech. Unions, Intelectuals and youth without any religious bias came to voice their concerns, from Sidi Bouzid to Tunis.
Ben Ali was forced to make concessions, such as promising to leave power in 2014 after 23 years ahead of the government. But after 70 were killed by the regime police, not even the further promise of stepping down in 6 months stopped the crowd, forcing him to flee to Malta.
When the protesters took the streets in Sidi Bouzid, the international community was focused on the celebrations of New Years Eve and after that on the shootings in Arizona. The Tunisian regime used that indifference of the media to label the movements as minor uprisings. This prompted a reaction of all the oppressed and organized to take a reaction to facebook, twitter and you tube to escape censorship by publishing and updating all their moves.
The significance of that new platform to promote the revolution is that internet was being especially censored since it had been used by anti-regime protesters to denounce the many shopping trips by the First lady to Europe.
Political prisoners are being finally released. The concern comes from other equally authoritarian regimes in the region, who start to question their security against freedom of speech on the internet versus censoring it altogether, like Iran did during their presidential elections, but hesitating between suffering the consequences of loosing ground to get any concessions accepted by the rebels.
The other intersting aspect of this civil uprising, somewhat relatable to the carnations revolution, in Portugal 1974, is the fact that the army and the army general refused to attack protesters on the street, as instructed by the government, which might have led Ben Ali to feel furthermore isolated and hurry over to exile. The Army general also declined interfering with the interim government, and stepped aside much like Salgueiro Maia in 74, the Special Unit Commander and principal head of the peaceful revolt on the streets of Lisbon.
Police, on the other hand, actually ignited the long lasting volatile situation when pressing a 26 years old, college graduate and vegetable salesman, to get off the streets until getting a vendors license. the salesman refused to comply and was seriously beaten by the police, which eventually led the victim to ignite himself on fire and die of self inflicted death by combustion. In Czech Republic there had been two prior examples of demonstrators, during the USSR invasion in 68, who submited their own lifes to the altar of sacrifice, to peacefully protest, against the complacency of the czech when against the Soviets intrusion.
This case of police abuse that led to suicide in public was the dynamo that lead protesters to come out on the streets. The popular protests took place in Sidi Bouzeid , Tunis, Qasrain, Qabis, Binzert, Sousa, BinQirdan , Qairowan, Gafsa, QarQena , elKaf, Baga and Qibly. Riots led to police repression.
Ma’An News Agency says that the Sharia and islamic forces all through the region are claiming the victry of the people against the tyrants. The Arab League and the neighboring countries governments express prudence by advising Tunisian authorities to work along the people to reestablish political stability and institutional normalization.
The Jihad says: “It is also a message to Arab and Islamic countries to pay attention to the aspirations of their people that are rejecting hegemony and tyranny before it is too late.”
The neighboring countries people have a different message for their accolade in Tunisia: In Egipt, people ran to the Tunisian Embassy crying “Listen to the Tunisians. It’s your turn Egyptians,” . In Jordan, Union members and employees soaring with the commodities rising prices, claim the revolution shall spread. Also the Media in Lebanon raised their voice in support of the Tunisian people. Algeria, Kuwait and Qatar echoed the same opinion. Saudi Arabia decided to give refuge to Ben Ali and so is reserving their position.
Future weeks will determine whether the Chief of Parliament shall be allowed to set up the new terms for new elections or whether the situation miight call for the intervention of the UN or the OUA.
Public Service at the roots
January 12, 2011
How is public service represented in the communities?
What are the traditional and also the unconventional ways in which public service manifests itself in the neighborhoods?
When did public service became forever changed and what changed it?
Who made public service an area of politics?
Its important to differentiate public service from civil service.
Civil service is the professional branch of government, from local to regional up to state in public administration.
This includes QUANGOS (in the UK and Ireland), or Quasi-autonomous (or not) non-governmental orgs. AkA NDPB (non departmental public bodies). In short, public funded orgs incorporated in the private sector.
The first two immediate distinctions between civil and public service are that one is inherently a bureaucracy and a professional governing elite.
The civil service bureaucracies dig deeper between the general interest and the interest of the elite in power through different systems of meritocracy across time:
1- historical institutionalism
2- self involvement
3- corrupting the natural state of men
5- inefficency adressing individual needs
6- disfunctionality (undermining its own goal of self perpetuation)
7- creates deeper economic and social disparities (struggle of classes)
Traditionally, Bureaucracies do not create policy but instead they exist to enact it. But in practice bureaucracies interpretation and execution of policy may lead to “informal influence” over the Leadership. Leadership that created the regulation and purpose for that bureaucracy and to whom the bureaucracy is directly responsible. Conversely the Leadership (Board, government or executive) answers towards the electorate or membership that the bureaucracy intends to benefit. In practice the bureaucracy is created to allow for the individual to interface with an organization, such as a government, without interfering directly with the Leadership. So, normaly larger organization or bureaucracies result in greater distancing the individual (voter, citizen, defendant) from the Leadership, which might be intentional.
The Baron Von Grim in Germany wrote in 1790: ” bureaucracy is not appointed to benefit the public interest, indeed the public interest appears to have been established so that offices might exist”. Or in other words, substitution of sectional interests for the general interest. The suggestion here is that, left uncontrolled, the bureaucracy will become increasingly self-serving and corrupt, rather than serving society. (In Wikipedia). Or in other words, The means justify the ends. Marx also talks about the transition from primitive egalitarian societies to a state of centralized authority by the State ” in civil society, forcing other people to do things becomes increasingly the legal right of the state authorities only”. The issue being the bureaucracy as a social stratum deriving its income from the appropriation of part of the social surplus product of human labor. Wealth is appropriated by the bureaucracy by law through fees, taxes, levies, tributes, licensing etc. (in Wikipedia).
Marx of course questions the very essence for a need of a bureacracy in case where the surplus allocated to the machine would go instead to internalizing the morality and self discilpine, so that people would make bureaucratic supervision in mediating conflicts of interests redundant since resources would be directly distributed among the labor force. Max Weber, less radical on questioning the purpose for the rule of law,a supporter of bureaucracy under the principle of rational organization, admits that bureaucracy is the aparatus for legal domination and that Bureaucracy is in fact inneficient when dealing with an individual interest as opposed to the general interest. Also to Weber the focus is on the authoritarian nature of bureaucracy but this time the author recognizes a leveling effect on social and economical differences by this unchallengeable system of authority. Weber recognizes two principal problems in bureaucracy:
– group thinking undermines critical thinking
-“Catch -22″ (Heller)- the more complex are the bureaucracies the less coordination there is, facilitating contraditction and recursive measures ” the bureaucracy is expanding to meet the needs of the expanding bureaucracy”.
Michel Corzier who wrote the “Bureaucratic Phenomenon” in 1964, launches the Theory of Disfunctional Bureaucracy. He says the bureaucratic system of organization is like a cycle and that the only way in which people are able to gain some control over their lives is to exploit ‘zones of uncertainty’ where the outcomes are not already known.
This raises the two central issues on the difference between civil and public service:
– Is there a need for both to co exist in a symbiotic manner
– whether the only possible approach between both is one of permanent conflict.
The conflict between civil and public service may actually stem from the inside of breaucracies.
Fiction author Jerry Purnell”
“…in any bureaucratic organization there will be two kinds of people: those who work to further the actual goals of the organization, and those who work for the organization itself. Examples in education would be teachers who work and sacrifice to teach children, vs. union representative who work to protect any teacher including the most incompetent. The Iron Law states that in all cases, the second type of person will always gain control of the organization, and will always write the rules under which the organization functions.”
In bureaucracies the organic structure aims for institutional perpetuation, meaning that its survival is its primary reason.
“In any bureaucracy, the people devoted to the benefit of the bureaucracy itself always get in control and those dedicated to the goals the bureaucracy is supposed to accomplish have less and less influence, and sometimes are eliminated entirely.” (Jerry Purnell)
Proof of that is that civil service actually pre dates greek citizen democracy, or any political state system. The first historical reference are the Sumerian Scribes, who had a tremendous power in manipulating the flows of information by having th monopoly of writing inscriptions and keeping the records. The Persian Empire was divided in provinces under the rule of “satraps” with a royal secretary to supervise troop recruitment and overseeing local conditions. The Chinese bureaucracy was oriented towards a “meritocracy” system of examinations to allow for poorer individuals to dispute places with established noblesse. From the Qin Dinasty 221–207 BC). During the Han Dynasty(202 BC–220 AD) the xiaolian system of recommendation by superiors for appointments to office was established. In the areas of administration, especially the military, appointments were based solely on merit. The following Tang Dynasty (618–907) adopted the same measures for drafting officials, and decreasingly relied on aristocratic recommendations and more and more on promotion based on the results of written examinations. the Song Dynastyy (960–1279) were eager to implement a system where civil officials would owe their social prestige to the central court and gain their salaries strictly from the central government. This ideal was not fully achieved since many scholar officials were affluent landowners and were engaged in many anonymous business affairs in an age of economic revolution in China. Nonetheless, gaining a degree through three levels of examination — prefectural exams, provincial exams, and the prestigious palace exams — was a far more desirable goal in society than becoming a merchant. This included the employment of a bureau of copyists who would rewrite all of the candidates’ exams in order to mask their handwriting and thus prevent favoritism. Ancient China efforts towards transparency in recruiting civil servants raises the modern issue of equal opportunity (institutions vs civil servants) and the issue of corruption and abuse of power.
Again, in the UK some non governmental institutes incorporated in the private sector also are covered by the statute of civil service. In India there is a national Union Public Service Commisssion that conducts civil service examination with alledged functional independence from the State, while in Brazil the University of Brasilia and the Instituto do Barao do Rio Branco do the same for the foreign service.
In the US until 1909 the civil servants jobs were used to support the political parties. The US includes the Competitive Service and the Excepted Service, the majority of civil servants being appointed under the first one, while the former being reserved to special categories, like security and diplomatic agents.
Are bureaucracies acting for the elected officials or even imposing on them? There is no record about civil service succeeding in public service.
If we wish to believe that we live in a democracy, then it must be true that appointed bureaucrats cannot act contrary to elected officials’ interests. (This claim is itself debatable; if we fully trusted elected officials, we would not spend so much time implementing constitutional checks and balances) (In Wikipedia).
Fear of bureaucracies: public spending cutbacks, privatizations.
The new currents of opinion about the effects of bureaucracy:
-The Congressional Abdication Theory (Theodore Lowi 1979) claims that implementation of policies in the public interest is not under elected public officials control in as much as it is by the appointed bureaucrats. The idea of iron triangles (iron hexagons and hollow spheres) taking over Congressional money allocations. Interest groups that would have more extreme views than Congress. Another author, Niskanen, who worked under the Reagan Administration actually promoted cutbacks of public spending and the introduction of privatization in the 1980s and ’90s through those same ideas, implementing oversight mechanisms of “police control” and “early warning systems”
Historical co-existence of civil service and political order or law
in the study of political science. One might say that political science is the study of the many forms of civil service and its institutional progressive, conservative or supra individual, “public choice” or “memetic”/ Darwinian (Mikael Sandberg)construction. Meaning that a political system (Aristotele cycle of sophiocracy to Tyrany) would be the result of how civil service regenerates or crumbles on a certain period over time. The status quo or political stability would be better established by securing or institutionalizing the civil service at whatever cost: State, Military and Middle Class (also the corporativism three bastians of social order, with the Vaticans “Rerum Novarum” and “Quadragesimo Anno” in the turn of the XIX Century to the 1940’s).
One might argue that both public service and civil service go hand in hand and that one could not live without the other, but that one is best represented when separate from the other.
Machiavelli already in the Renaissance said in his work that the Prince’s ultimate concern should be the common interest of his subjects, therefore the end justifies the means, or in other words it would be the enlighted ruler’s main concern to be objective and realistic in his political analysis over any situation and decide having in mind his perpetuation in power at whatever the cost might be. The hegelian paradox in this doctrine kind of neutralizes itself because if the Prince is a wealthy, powerfull leader by right of birth or military achievement, he could never really feel and understand the needs and demands of the populace beneath him and therefore he could never aim at anything else other than his self preservation which, as a consequence of the Prince’s isolated existence, could never last. The question would be whether the Prince would be replaced in power or thrown off by his people. Machiavelli focus more on the elite, considering the historical context, with the metaphor about the Borgias, for instances.
In the XVII century, Thomas Hobbes, anthropological pessimist, philosopher partisan to the Contractualist (Social Contract), proponent to the natural evil of man in his “state of nature”, it would be up to a strong state (Leviatan) to secure men natural egotistical and self destructive instincts, allowing for the preservation of private property through justice and a heavy government authority. Only through repressive behavior could men enjoy individual freedom. Which brings up an interesting point about the conflicting nature of public service (for example would the civil rights movement in the US had taken place in the Northern States had the Southern states aligned perfectly with the anti-segregationist policy proposed by Lincoln or even later by Roosevelt and Johnson?)
How civil service and public service work better together in opposite sides but under the same political and judicial freedom
Public Service is a reactive movement against the failures of civil service. Martin Luther King defended the “sitting in” protests by cafeterias or other segregated places and said that its the protester duty to respect the law by challenging it in an orderly fashion, and be willing to take the punishment (being arrested) and that no other way is a higher demonstration of respect for the Law. The Law, not in the sense of civil service and status quo, elite power, like in the thoughts of Hobbes and Machiavelli, but a Law for public service: one Law that manipulates but can also be manipulated.
So, public service regenerates or reinvigorates civil service, but it dependes on civil service to succeed. Public Service would not be usefull in societies where, people living deprived of dignity and liberty, the power could be reasonably picked up to the streets and used to destroy the government, like St Thomas of Aquinus defended, but instead public service is on a perpetual Marxian relation of production with civil service. This civil and public service relationship is not based on property (like Marx), but the theory does apply in terms of State brokered relations between both (intercepting with the theory of communicative action of Habermas, intercepting Karl Poppers intersubjectivity and Marx’s materialism). Unlike Proudhon’s “The Philosophy of Povery”, heavily criticised at the time by Marx and Engels, the general interest in public service cannot be attainable by rising above the rulling class (either through meritocracy or communitarism). Nor should public interest be achieved by reaching a perfectly egalitarian societycreating the means to end conflict, like scientific socialists Engels and Marx propose in the “Communiste Manifesto”.
Like a capitalist exclusive relationship to the capital and a wage worker consequent relation to the capitalist. Like a feudal land owner relates to a peasant and slavemaster relates to a slave. Like Marx said about relations of production – “The specific kind of participation in production determines the specific forms of distribution”. Public service is a Utopia.
The closest philosophical basis for public service is utopian socialism. Like most utopian socialists and anarchists, public service in the communities, neighborhoods, proposes a more rational society and economical system. Neither one feels the need for a political revolution or class struggle, such as the already mentioned Acquinus “regicide”. But public service does not undermine the system.
Robert Owen, a welsh businessman, attempted (in the spirit of Karl Popper experimentation scientific method), to introduce shorter working hours, daycare for children and renovated housing in the XVIII century. Hi view was that human social behavior was not fixed or absolute and that human beings are free to organize. Charles Fourier with his theory of turning work into play (inspired Marx theory of alienation and feminism through female liberation). Both Owen, Fourier and Etienne Cabet founded “intentional communities” (religeous socialism) in the US. The purpose of these were to share resources (team work/fellowship), create family oriented neighborhoods and crate ecological sustainable lifestyles. Communal focus on voluntary simplicity, provide services to disadvantaged and disabled populations (like war refugees and homeless). The best successful examples of such public service enterprises were ones championed by anarchists, such as Tolstoi and Kropotkin, right in the eye of winter during disturbing post revolutionary times of the Bolchevism in the former USSR. Or other in northern Spain pre counter-revolution civil war led by Franco in the 1930’s.
The Historical tries of Public Administration to lead public service in the US
Woodrow Wilson is considered to be the father of public service in the US.
He reformed public administration in the US in an 1887 article called ” The Study of Administration”. He was concerned with the separation of politics and public administration. Wilson was dedicated to the training of civil servants on merit based assessments and using models of private sector to externalize business-like practices.
Luther Gulick followed in the 1940’s with a new generation of organizational theories, inspired by the studies of Max Webber and Von Stein. Emphasized the scientific method, efficiency, professionalism, structural reform and executive control. One of the academics Henri Fayol drew upon private management tactics for administrative sciences. Politics-administration dichotomy remained in the center of the administrative theory vs governmental organizations.
In the 70s, the Vietnam war and Watergate self destructive government alienated citizens and public service. There was a general feeling that the wasteful public administration needed to be separate from government. So, the Hoover Commission chaired by the University of Chicago was charged with reorganizing government which spawned the Prof. Brownlow to found the Public Administration Service for consulting with the government.
In the 80s was born the “New Public Management” Theory (“Reinventing Government” by Osborne and Gaebler). The new model advocated the use of private sector-style models, organizational ideas and values to improve the efficiency and service-orientation of the public sector.
Al Gore, under the Clinton Administration used this model to reform Federal Agencies and it became the prevalent model throughout Canada and the UK.
NPM: Splitting large bureaucracies into smaller, more fragmented agencies, encouraging competition between different public agencies, and encouraging competition between public agencies and private firms and using economic incentives lines (e.g., performance pay for senior executives or user-pay models). NPM treats individuals as “customers” or “clients” (in the private sector sense), rather than as citizens. (In Wikipedia).
Criticism of the NPM includes treating citizens like “customers” or “economic units” instead of democratic participants. Notwithstanding, the NPM is widely accepted throughout most OECD countries nowadays.
In the 90s the successor to NPM was “The Digital Era Governance”: reintegrating governments responsibilities (e.g. not-for-profit eDemocracy project which invites politicians, senior public servants, academics, business people and other key stakeholders to engage in high-level policy debate).
Another current of thought in the 90s was “New Public Governance” empowering government to take on public service, by assigning political staff to civil service senior positions.
Decision Making Process in Public Administration
Niskanen model: “budget maximizing model” (already discussed previously) where he criticizes bureaucrats who will seek to increase budget expenditure for enhancing their own redundancy. This led to mass privatizations during the Reagan Administration to fight that tendency.
The goals of the field of public administration are related to the democratic values of improving equality, justice, security, efficiency, effectiveness of public services usually in a non-profit, non-taxable venue; business administration, on the other hand, is primarily concerned with taxable profit. For a field built on concepts (accountability, governance, decentralization, clientelle), these concepts are often ill-defined and typologies often ignore certain aspects of these concepts (Dubois & Fattore 2009).
The dichotomy of profit versus non profitable is center stage.
Summary: The formula for the evolution of public service in the political arena.
Bureaucracies influence political leadership (Elites).
Bureaucracies impose on political leadership and on their individual beneficiaries (“customers”) indifferently. The proof of that lies in History: meritocracy and civil service existed before the state system (citizenship). If bureaucracies (public administration) are not actual predators, why would we waste resources on oversigh mechanisms, like early warning systems, checks and balances, press and regulatory agencies, or simply privatize and cut public spending? Why would the government implement the New Public Management doctrine otherwise?
Public administration traditional and generally accepted “meritocracy” recruiting method. Why?
-fight against corruption? Or instead a way to convert the bureaucrats (“nature state”) to switch loyalties (rural, class, community) and change those for the unconditional cause of the civil service/public administration?
The civil service M.O in the political scene:
1- corporatisms and totalitarisms
2- pluralism
In corporatism/totalitarisms STATE and SOCIETY are mixed in. There is only one voice to protect and defend the status quo (regime). The only interest is to keep power, otherwise the whole system crumbles (Machiavelli’s Prince). OR SOCIETY is subdued by STATE (Thomas Hobbes). The only chance for public service rests on a post-revolution field of opportunities (“The End of History” -Marx)
In Pluralism, SOCIETY and STATE are two different realities. Public service works best when civil service is worst. Egalitarian societies or the public service actually rising over the political leadership (elite), Whether it be by “communitarism” (utopia and anarchism) or meritocracy (double-hatting or loyalty switch), neither one works well for public service. Egalitarian societies lack the tension of “relations of production” (Marx).
Also, any attempt to make civil service (public administration) more dependable to the political power and vice versa will only contribute to subdue SOCIETY to STATE and turn any pluralism closer into a Hobbesian Levitan. For instances “New Public Management” turns citizens into customers, alienating democratic participation of citizens from the public service process. The “Digital Era Governance” (reintegrating governments responsibilities through somewhat promiscuous mutual interference over internal affairs, between political leadership and civil service)..Both tend to step over the role of public service to try instead a sort of mutual code of good conduct and administrative practice.
So What is community organizing and how does it work in the communities? (to be continued…)
Life Magazine Cover. actress Paulette Goddard in back raising a glass hoping to get the reporters attention crowding Gary Davis arrival to the US right out the ship SS America.
Carnegie Mellon Pittsburgh Graduate. Gary Davis was a former combatant of World War II, B 17 Bomber pilot. in 1948, from the streets of Paris he solemnly declared to renounce to his US citizenhip to become a “citizen of the world” .
In November 22 1948 he decided to burst in and interrupt a United Nations General Assembly session calling for a Government of the World. He became and is credited for being one of the inspirations for the adoption of The UN Declaration of HR in 1948.
From that step on forward he founded the “International Registry of the Citizens of the World”, in 1949 also in Paris, and over 750.000 individuals ran to register and become members.
In 1953 Davis declared the World Government for World Citizens from his pulpit in the City hall of Maine, his hometown. And from the legitimacy granted upon him by that statement in U.S. territory he finally created the World Service Authority, with the executi ve power of issueing Passports and birth certificates to applicants.
Davis used the World passport for the first time on a trip to india in 1956 and invariably he entered the country legally. Over 150 countries in the world have both at one time accepted and rejected the passport as a legal document to go through customs. Many times davis got deported and detained for questioning..
Among other visionary ideas, Davis defended the world currency to be a solar power based killowatt per hour mean of currency exchange on the 1992 Rio Conference for the Environment.
in 1971, the State of Minesota subscribed to the World Service Authority campaign of “Mundialization”, recognizing the citizens right to extend their sovereign rights over their own citizenhip beyond the limits of State government and Federal Government. By doing so they display the UN flag alongside the US flag outside the States Capitol, encouraging other States to follow their example. Minneapolis officials voted and adhered to the World Chart of Citizenship.
Many intelectual leaders wrote to subscribe to the young idealist campaign:
December 3, 1948:
Institute for Higher Studies
Princeton University, NJ
ALBERT EINSTEINI AM EAGER TO EXPRESS TO THE YOUNG WAR VETERAN DAVIS MY RECOGNITION OF THE SACRIFICE HE HAS MADE FOR THE WELL BEING OF HUMANITY. IN VOLUNTARILY GIVING UP HIS CITIZENSHIP-RIGHTS HE HAS MADE OF HIMSELF A “DISPLACED PERSON” IN ORDER TO FIGHT FOR THE NATURAL RIGHTS OF THOSE WHO ARE THE MUTE EVIDENCES OF THE LOW MORAL LEVEL OF OUR TIME…….
Highgate Village, London
Lord Yehudi MenuhinGarry Davis is symbolically defending the right of a human being to exist as an individual, even if he or she is in so unfortunate a position as to be an outcast, an exile, a refugee, without the protection of nations, tribe or family. He is determined. single-handed if necessary, to test the sincerity, the validity and the reality of the great human and social statements.
Ambassador of Goodwill to UNESCO
Here is the Program and form copy pasted from the official web site:
Dear World Citizen,
How to register as a World Citizen
You will have to print this form to register, since it requires a signature. To have a printed form mailed to you, write to the World Service Authority in Washington, D.C. (See address below)All registered world citizens will receive the World Citizen Card, laminated and in 7 languages: English, French, Spanish, Arabic, Russian, Chinese and Esperanto. The possession of this card is evidence of a global political status allied with each and every other declared and registered World Citizen.
CREDO OF A WORLD CITIZEN
A World Citizen is a human being who lives intellectually, morally and physically in the present. A World Citizen accepts the dynamic fact that the planetary human community is interdependent and whole, that humankind is essentially one. A World Citizen is a peaceful and peacemaking individual, both in daily life and contacts with others. As a global person, a World Citizen relates directly to humankind and to all fellow humans spontaneously, generously and openly. Mutual trust is basic to his/her lifestyle. Politically, a World Citizen accepts a sanctioning institution of representative government, expressing the general and individual sovereign will in order to establish and maintain a system of just and equitable world law with appropriate legislative, judiciary and enforcement bodies. A World Citizen brings about better understanding and protection of different cultures, ethnic groups and language communities by promoting the use of a neutral international language, such as Esperanto. A World Citizen makes this world a better place to live in harmoniously by studying and respecting the viewpoints of fellow citizens from anywhere in the world.
AFFIRMATION
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Monetary Policy and Free Trade Part II
October 26, 2009
The 1973 Oil Crisis was a consequence of a series of events that illustrate the downfall of free trade whenever the governments take on expansionary monetary policies to tackle a deficit on the balance of payments, without having a strong monetary reserve to adjust parity purchase power between currencies.
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In the light of the Smithsonian Agreements, the European Economic Community (EEC) decides to self regulate, based on the Werner report of 1970.
Nicknamed by economists as the snake in the tunnel model, basically this meant pegging all EEC currencies to one other, through the coordination of macro-economic policies of the Member States. This trading model proposed a much larger bandwith than Bretton Woods, thus allowing currencies to go up or down 4.5% to the dollar. This allowed that one currency could go up 9% relative to the other.
It was then seen as necessary to improve on the permissive nature of the snake in the tunnel. The Basle Agreements of 1972 take place on the background negotiations for the Rome Treaty with its 6 Member States.
The new model of the snake in the tunnel limited the bilateral margins between European currencies to 2.5% with a maximum turn over of 4.5% and with all moving together against the dollar. This model killed the sterling pound monetary area, but eventually also collapsed when the U.S. dollar started floating freely. in 1977 the Deutsche Mark led as the reserve currency but only with Benelux and Danemark on its tail.
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The 1973 Oil Crisis had strong effects on the Monetary Policy.
The OAPEC proclaimed an oil embargo to sanction the U.S. support to the Israeli on the Yom Kippur war. Europe and Japan disassociated themselves from the U.S. and Kissinger had to negotiate an Israeli retreat from the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula right after the end of hostilities.
Right after Bretton Woods fall, started the free floating of the U.S. dollar, and most industrialized nations increased their reserves by printing more money , which resulted in a depreciation of the dollar and because oil price was indexed in dollars, oil producers were getting less value for the petro dollars, which made them issue the statement of pegging the oil barrel prices to the gold. OPEC/OAPEC were not ready to make the institutional adjustments from the volatility of the dollar after 1967.
With the Middle East hostilities, the West was increasing their energy bill by 5% per year and selling inflation priced goods back to the oil-producers countries in the Third-World. That led to the declaration of the Shah of Iran in 1973: “You increased the price of wheat you sell us by 300%, and the same for sugar and cement…; You buy our crude oil and sell it back to us, refined as petrochemicals, at a hundred times the price you’ve paid to us…; It’s only fair that, from now on, you should pay more for oil. Let’s say ten times more.”
With the demise of Bretton Woods, the world financial system fell into a recession of inflationary prices until the 1980s, while the oil prices continued to rise up until 1986.
The 73 oil crisis marked for that same reason the very beginning of alternative energy sources research, so popular in our days.
The Oil Producers immediately started accumulating a vast wealth and pipe lined some of those monies in the form of aid to other under developed or developing countries. The International Monetary Fund also created the “Oil Facility” instrument (1974-76) destined to help most affected nations to tackle their balance of payments deficit. The IMF loans were subject to one of two pre-conditions: a petro-dollar international payment deficit or a general balance of payments deficit.
in 1975 the European Economic Community also joint efforts and approved a regulation (law) on European Community loans.
The International community first instinct was to provide support first to the industrialized countries, those who supported Liberal Capitalism in the form of free trade and financial cooperation. The other support was made available, in the form of a special line of credit, to the Developing countries, whose economies had been caught between higher prices of oil and lower prices for their own export commodities and raw materials amid shrinking Western demand for their goods.
Those Non Alignment countries more often than not, with the exception of a few remarkable cases, ended up appropriating that structural adjustment financial loans and deviating it to their ideological programs, such as rearmament and cosmetic public spending infrastructures.
That meant that the credit institutions loans, like the IMF, The Paris Club of Creditors, the London Club of Creditors, were never repaid in full, while in debt nations spiraled into consecutive loans, that were granted simply to pay for accumulated interests in the short run, in the long run they could never fully regain international confidence, simultaneously degrading their future access to credit line. A few of the final consequences over this matter were moratoriums over the payments, regime nationalizations of oil wells and even civil wars. On the other side, International Creditors even went as far as forgiving outstanding multi-billion dollars debts just to prevent another collapse of the status quo, but unwillingly legitimizing corrupted regimes in the process and preventing reform.
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in 1979 is born the European Monetary System, in the veils of the II oil shock crisis. Back then, the dollar was floating freely and the Deutsche Mark had limited adhesion from other European currencies. The European Monetary System created a central reserve currency, called the ECU (European Currency Unit). With the ECU it was also created an European Exchange Rate Mechanism (ERM), an extension of European credit facilities and the European Monetary Cooperation Fund (precursor of the European Central Bank: that allocated ECUs to Member States in exchange for Gold and U.S. dollar deposits).
The European Exchange Rate Mechanism created a `Parity Grid` of bilateral exchange rates based on the fixed currency exchange rate margins of the ECU (a semi pegged system where fluctuations were contained within a margin of 2.25% on either side of the bilateral rates, 6% to Italy and enlarging to 15% in 1993 to sustain speculation against the french franc). The ECU fixed exchange rate was based on a weighted average of the participating currencies.
There were two ECU’s: The Official ECU (mostly an accounting unit for reference, circulating among banking institutions), and the `private` ECU (used in international financial transactions). The ECU was regulated by the European Monetary Cooperation Fund (Brussels Resolution of 1978), that would manage the `snake in the tunnel` trends, issuing currency against the deposit of 20% of gold/dollar reserves of the Central Banks of the Member States, with a trimester review of the divergence indicator.
In the 1980’s most economists began to stand for a nation’s central bank independence from the executive to ensure a smoother monetary policy (avoid its manipulation over party politics and electoral fault moves).
The debate over the European Economic Monetary Union, was again launched by the Delors Committee in 1988 (The Member States Central Banks Governors met around the President of the European Commission). And in 1989 the Delors Report set up a 3 stage plan to roll out the EMU, including the creation of The ESCB (European System of Central Banks):
-Stage 1 (1990-93)- exchange controls were abolished, thus capital movements were completely liberalised in the European Economic Community
-Stage 2 (1994-98)- The European Monetary Institute replaces European Monetary Cooperation Fund and is later baptised European Central Bank, setting up the conversion rate for the 11 participating currencies to the EURO; The Stability Pact gets approved at the European Council of Amsterdam to ensure budgetary discipline after rolling out of the euro, and a new exchange rate mechanism (ERM II) is set up to provide stability above the euro and the national currencies of countries that haven’t yet entered the eurozone.
-Stage 3- (1999)- single monetary policy is introduced under the authority of the ECB. A three-year transition period begins before the introduction of actual EURO cash.
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In the 1990s, central banks started to adopt formal, public inflation targets with the goal of making the outcomes, if not even the process, of monetary policy more transparent. This is to say if a targeted inflation is not achieved then the central bank will typically have to submit an explanation.
The Bank of England exemplifies both these trends. It became independent of government through the Bank of England Act 1998 and adopted an inflation target of 2.5% Retail Prices Index (now 2% of Consumer Prices Index).
The underlying point is about whether monetary policy can soften up business cycles or not. Keynes principle is that the central bank can stimulate aggregate demand in the short run, because a significant number of prices in the economy are fixed in the short run and firms will produce as many goods and services as are demanded.
Nowadays most economies in the world have an inflation targeting (Conumer Price Index) type of monetary policy. These include the U.S. ( a mix model), the European Union and the single currency (EURO), Australia, Brazil, Canada and India, UK. The great exception is China.
The inflation target is achieved through periodic adjustments to the Central Bank interest rate target. The interest rate used is generally the interbank rate (ex: EURIBOR) at which banks lend to each other overnight for cash flow purposes.
To achieve inflation targets, Central Banks resort to open market operations (sales and purchases of second hand government debt or changing reserve requirements: If the central bank desires to lower interest rates, it purchases government debt, therefore increasing the amount of cash in circulation; A central bank can only operate a truly independent monetary policy when the exchange rate is floating. If the exchange rate is pegged or managed in any way, the central bank will have to purchase or sell foreign exchange).
Changes to the interest rate target are made in reaction to many market indicators in an tentative to forecast economic trends and thus keeping the market on track towards achieving the defined inflation target.
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in 1998 the ECU exchange rates of the Eurozone countries were frozen and the value of the EURO, which then superseded the ECU at site, was therefore established. In 1999 the ERM II replaced the first ERM. A currency in ERM II is allowed to float within a range of plus or minus 15% with respect to a central rate against the euro.
The characteristics of an Economic Monetary Union are free circulation of capitals in a free market area , where member states join in common commercial policy (competition), adopting a series of convergence criteria in the macro economic sphere (budget, fiscal, monetary). Within the monetary union, there is an assurance of absolute convertibility of the currencies between each other in a fully integrated banking and financial unitarian system. Elimination of fluctuation margins and an irrevocable determination of parities.
Monetary Policy and Free Trade- Part I
October 22, 2009
After the II World War, monetary policy was quickly addressed by the world leaders who proposed to reaffirm it against the governments regulatory control. They argued that it was not to be used anymore by national governments to artificialy regulate trade deficit.
This international initiative sustained that the market economies should uphold their inherent competitive nature (supply and demand), by discouraging countries to depreciate their currency in order to obtain commercial bilateral and temporary advantages.
According to the theories of uncovered interest parity (Fisher Hypothesis) and parity purchasing power (Cassel 1918): two currencies have different purchasing power, which differential may be overcome by inflation rates. An example of one measure of PPP is the Big Mac Index made popular by the Economist magazine which looks at the prices of a Big Mac burger in McDonald’s restaurants in different countries.
This pictoresque illustration serves to show that a dollar should buy the same amount in all countries. Thus in the long run, the exchange rate between two countries should move towards the rate that equalises the prices of an identical basket of goods and services in each country.
The Big Mac PPP is the exchange rate that would mean hamburgers cost the same in America as abroad. Comparing actual exchange rates with PPPs indicates whether a currency is under- or overvalued (The Economist.com).
In other words, both imports and exports would balance one another and exempt governments from imposing strong expansionary monetary measures. There would be market regulation over policy increases in the size of the money supply, or decreases the interest rate, such as expanding currency production and restraining foreign currency exchange.
Global monetary affairs came about after the shock effect of the Great Depression in 1929, when international trade was largely restricted to currency blocs, like the sterling area and the British empire. the US State Secretary Cordell Hull (1933-1944) was a strong believer in a `Economic Security` concept based on the premise that the fundamental cause of the wars lay in economic discrimination and trade warfare.
The regulatory effect would be introduced to prevent wild fluctuations in exchange rates and sudden currency depreciation, those could disastrously stall international trade from flowing freely (like was happening in the 1930s).
The key note was convertibility of currencies. In Bretton Woods is born the system of `adjustable parities` for international payments, returning to the gold standard as it was before the war, only this time using $U.S. as the world’s new central banks reserve currency. Ongoing only until the world’s gold supply could be reallocated via the international trade ways.
The U.S. dollar became the currency with the most Parity Purchase Power and the only one backed by gold. The other countries would buy and sell dollars to keep market exchange rates within plus or minus 1% of the value.
It was a system of fixed exchange rates regulated by newly created intergovernmental financial authorities: The IMF and World Bank. The debate that ruled the discussion was between UK’s Maynard Keynes, worried about England’s post war deficit defending the deflationary measures of a world `bancor`that could issue money and mediate trade between deficit and superavit countries. While on the other side stood Dexter White for the U.S. concerned about inflationary countries.
The IMF represented a pool of national currencies and gold, subscribed by quotas issued to the member states. This institution was in charge of managing the countries deficit and overview national currency devaluations that could trigger a decline in imports. Each country’s quota would represent their relative economic power and they would pay a credit deposit of 25% in gold or dollars, that the IMF would use as loans according to size of each country’s quota. This is to say a chance for the country with a structural deficit on their balance of payments to buy their loan in foreign currency or gold, eliminating any PPP differential (maintaining stable currency exchange rates, instead of inducing a cut on the imports).
The Marshall Plan didn’t come about until the IMF reserves proved to be insufficient and only when the funds of the U.N. affiliated World Bank turned out to be over-tightly managed in securities by Wall Street. That left zero margin for European countries with deficits and no guarantees of liquidation to access loans. The GATT also was created later. Both outside the scope of this policy.
For the adjustable parities regime of Bretton Woods to work, gold had to have a fix price, each country had to decide their own parity to the dollar when declaring it to the IMF, and countries could not go over the 1% oscillation in currency exchange rate, except in a long run deficit in the balance of payments, otherwise, if temporary, they had to resort to IMF loans.
The IMF decadence however came about the end of the 50s, when its political goal, of security economics took over its fundamentally sensible and strictly macro economic inspiration. Within the context of Cold War, under pressure of keeping developing countries economies open, The World Bank relaxed its loan policies, supporting unstable regimes in South America and even contributing to what would be called the Green Revolution in the 60s.
The U.S. final attempt to rejuvenate the IMF was to create a system of triangular trade, profiting from raw material trade with under developed nations, using the surplus to sell dollars to Europe that would repay by making the U.S. the market for their products.
The U.S. internal struggle to keep gold at $35 an ounce turned sour when gold was rated higher in the open market in comparison to its fixed quote by the central banks, especially when the U.S. had to force a deficit in its balance of payments to keep the system from loosing its triangular liquidity, while at the same time a long term deficit would erode the systems confidence in the dollar as the reserve currency. European loyalty to U.S. military protection in the Cold War prevented a gold rush and kept the dollar as the reserve currency, until a reform of the system could no longer be postponed.
After the war, the U.S. produced half of the manufactured goods in the world and held half of its monetary reserves. Through the 50’s the U.S. held a balance of payments deficit in order to finance loans and troops abroad. in the 70s, the U.S. already had less than 15% of the world reserves. The U.S. commitment to fix exchange rates and compromise to convert dollars in gold upon demand was no longer sustainable. in 1967 the IMF replaces the U.S. dollar as reserve currency by the famous special drawing rights in parity with the U.S. dollar exchange rate, but non transferable except between banks and the IMF.
Each Member State would be given SDR in a 1 to 3 proportion of their quotas and these accrued interest of 1.5%.
The SDR were created to stop nations from selling dollar-pegged gold to the open market and keep the dollars instead. The European Nations owed American defense policy protection and took upon them a voluntary loss by holding on to the dollars. The SDR were created as a benchmark to put a value on the allies relationship but with no commodity/equity market to go along with that. With Vietnam war the western loyalty was put to trial against the dollar and in 1970 the U.S. gold coverage of foreign reserves were depleted down to 22%.
Nixon finally put an end to dollar-gold conversion, except on the open market. Nixon also adopted restrictive measures to American imports. First a more flexible clause was introduced to allow for a 2.25% margin of devaluation on agreed exchange rates, but eventually in 1976 currencies were back to floating and exchange rates were no longer in the center of governments monetary policy.
To rescue the system there were the Smithsonian Agreements in 1971 which devalued the dollar down to $38/ ounce and allowed for trading bands or margins in exchange rates to up or down 2.25% , continuing in exclusive with the special drawing rights. Ultimately the Agreements failed to discipline the pressure of gold against dollar.
in 1972 the gold became a floating asset and during the following ten years all the nations abandoned the currency peged exchange market. in 1973 the market opened one morning as a floating currency regime.
Berlusconi, il cavaliere
October 13, 2009
The Prime Minister of Italy is again under the spotlight, after last week, when the Supreme Court overturned a law that granted him immunity from prosecution, for as long as he held on to power. Law which had been initiated by Berlusconi himself first in 2004 and later in 2008.
Berlusconis tactics to stay in power resemble the methods of Cesare Borgia, the infamous character portrayed in Machiavelli’s book.
Cesare Borgia, son of Pope Alexander VI, was ordained in the ecclesiastical career, as was meant to be in 1494.
Borgia slipped his younger brother’s throat aiming to inherit his secular titles, by sucession in lineage. The King of Spain, Ferdinand of Aragon, however opposed the practice of releasing a cardinal from his office for political purposes. The rule of law had been broken and as a consequence the Borgias alienated their most precious ally. In the meantime Cesare bought some support from a deal cut by the Pope with the french, alienating all the italian baronial families in the process. Borgia downfall came with his fathers death and betrayal by his successor in the Vatican, Julius the II. He ended up exiled under his family protection and dies in batlle fighting his only ally, the french.
Berlusconi rise to power:
in 1994 Berlusconi’s push forward for reform of the electoral law turning the popular referendum in 1993 around which supported “The First Past the Post” system, and instead replaced that by a proportional representation with a majority prize for the winning coalition. Returning the system to the old regime.
With the end of the Cold War, also the dismemberment of the Christian Democrats came about in 1994, which had been the predominant party since 1945, giving place to the Popular Party, influenced by the Catholic Church; the neo-fascists and the left wing were re-enacted as well. The Ist Republic had been under the auspices of the U.S. since 1945, begining with the reinstatement of the mafia in local government in Sicily and ending with formal resistance against any active participation of the communists in national government. This paved the way to the political instability in Italy, by supporting a catch all parties system to isolate the communists by what the US perceived as the major ideological divide in Italy, in the context of the Cold War and the Truman Doctrine.
Historically however, the Federalists vs Centralists was the background political conflict de facto between North and South.
This interference by the U.S., intended to prevent a single party (communist) dictatorship led to a quasi-totalitarian regime: the voters had no chance to turn out a badly performing government and put in the opposition.
Bettino Craxi, socialist and last leader of the coalition had to flee the country under acusations of mafia led corruption.
This is the background for the upsurging northern separatist parties, against the corruption of the status quo (the perpetual coalition has led to immobilism)
The Northern League calls for a division of the country, in a federation like model, complaining against the misappropriation of northern taxes by the mafia in the south. The Network, another party based in the south, calls for an end to the mafia rule.
Berlusconi shows up in this context, a media tycoon, friend of Craxi, former member of Masonic lodge P2, chosen to head a coalition full of contradictions (the neo fascists centralism and anti european integration side by side with federalistst successionists).
Berlusconi sees the coalition fall in 1994 and CHANGED THE ELECTORAL LAW BACK TO BEFORE 1993, reuniting again in 2000, staying in power until 2006.
Berlusconi’s Legal Framework:
The` Gaspari Law` in 2004, comprising new media reform legislation, allowing Berlusconi to retain control over his three national tv networks , while denying favoring competition distortion. Had to go around a presidential veto.
Berlusconi was indicted in Spain for charges of tax fraud and violation of anti trust laws regarding TV network Telecinco but his mandate at the European Parliament granted him imunity from prosecution until 2005. All accused were acquited in 2008.
According to journalists Marco Travaglio and Enzo Biagi, Berlusconi entered politics to save his companies from bankruptcy: Feninvest costed Paulo Berlusconi (Sylvio’s broher) an arrest for charges of police bribery.
Reduction of the Statute of Limitations for most crimes. Under fire from the opposition, a personal friend exemption was staged (“Case Previti”) but just to be predictably overtaken by the constitutional court on grounds of “that all are equal before the law”.
The “Jowellgate”/ David Mills bribery case
Berlusconi lawyer Mills, married to british Sec of Defense, Tessa Jowel, was accused by italian prosecutors of money laundering and bribery from Berlusconi in return for perjury. Jowell resigned and got a divorce from Mills in February 2009. Mills was found guilty but is appealing to a sentence of 4 1/2 yeards in prision. Pending accusations over Berlusconi will expire in 2010 under `his` new statute of limitations.
The passing of laws by Berlusconi during ongoing trials effectively delayed the outcome (reducing punishment on all cases for false accounting: ex- law on `legitimate suspicion` where the defendant could move the trial to another court if believed the judges were bias).
Suspention of criminal trials against the five highest officers of the state during their terms (“Loddo Maccanico”). Declared insconstitutional in 2004; altered and again vetoed by the court in 2009- lifting the veil over Berlusconi and casting doubts over his future ability to ilude justice any further.
Decriminalization of false account statements (acquited both on AC Milan and Fininvest trials due to expiration under statute of limitations).
Penal code reform forbidding the prosecutors to appeal against the acquitals– declared insconstitutional.
In sum, Berlusconi brings down the judicial power in the name of perpetuation in government, digging deeper on Italy’s historic political devide, with the use of cunning and deceitful tactics.
Berlusconi most recent embarassing gaffe is that he claims to have spent millions of euros on judges , later correcting his mistake and saying he spent over 326 million dollars in lawyers and consultants dealing with investigations in which he has been involved.
Berlusconi, like Borgia alienated the people’s support, but in Italy that doesnt necessarily go against the ruler. in Fact Machiavelli had already written in his work `The Prince`, in 1513, that public morality needs to be inforced and if needed be, even by `acceptable cruel action` that requires the (ruler) to be a public figure above reproach, while privately acting ammoraly to achieve state goals.
If we consider that Italy has been called a democratic dictactorship since 1945, with the support of the US, we may very well assume that the people could not effectively be involved in the state public affairs, much like Austria. Therefore state and statesman personal affairs could be easily embroiled. Musolini himself said that Italy can be ruled, but who actually wants to do it?
in `Discourses of Livy` Machiavelli said ‘for government consists mainly in so keeping your subjects that they shall be neither able, nor disposed to injure the ruler’
Italy s a profoundly devided country, starting with the city states of The Holy Roman Empire, ruled by the Habsburgs, up to the republics under Napolean. Unified under the kindom of Sardinia, looked at by the south as an alien force, growing separatism, muffled by Musolini and release again by the allied troops.
On the other hand, the neo fascists in Berlusconi’s governmenet even demanded re opening the Traty of Osimo of 1975, which awarded the Istrian Peninsula to Yugoslavia (now Slovenia and Croatia).
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