"Although several of its members tend to speak strongly against illegal immigrants (in 2003 Umberto Bossi himself suggested opening fire on the boats of illegal immigrants from Africa, whom he described as bingo-bongos, and Giancarlo Gentilini, at the time Mayor of Treviso, labeled foreigners as "immigrant slackers", saying "we should dress them up like hares and bang-bang-bang"), the official line of the party is much more moderate. In a 2010 interview after some riots in Milan between South American and North African immigrants, Roberto Maroni, then minister of the Interior, stated that "the police state is not the solution" to integration problems and, calling for a "new model of integration", he maintained that "we should think that, other than a permit of stay, a job and a house, there are further conditions that today are missing for integration to succeed".Bossi soon endorsed Maroni's words and his will to calm down the party's hardliners" Yeah no racists in that mainstream party at all then... And for the record I never said Lega Nord wasn't mainstream; it's just that fascism and racism have always been a lot closer to the mainstream in italian politics than they have in british politics. And isn't an "idiosyncratic and ambigious" political system "which makes alliances and deal-making almost mandatory" [from your other post] a political system extremely exposed to potential corruption? Aren't these old boys networks and behind door handshakes that go on in Italian politics; which you seem to see as pragmatic and sensible; exactly the same as the old etonians running the show over here? And as for that polite and clean bullshit try getting some sleep in Milan. Windows closed and it's hotter than a bitch; open the window, even at 3am and all you hear is constant car horns, loud traffic, and shouting and all you smell is the smog.
Good wiki usage there. Bossi and co were/ are rednecks who lack big city polish and duplictitousness, which is what they owed much of their original appeal to. An electorate, often rural and simplistic but also affluent and hardworking, got tired of being squeezed for taxes by Rome and the 'corrupt' South, and targeted by immigrants. The failed Padania initiative is a truer reflection of their mindset than Italian fascism: they actually wanted their own flag not the Italian tricolor. There isn't an old boys network in Italy as such, just no shortage of parties and politicians willing to do deals to get themselves into power. I have tried getting some sleep: I lived there.
Regardless of whether their views are fully representative of the party as a whole or not (they're not); that hardly excuses the fact that the entire political party just shrugs or turns a blind eye to such comments. Imagine if such a thing came from the mouth of a UKIP member, it would be all over the news and they would get hounded out of their own party. I'm also very cautious about anti-immigration rhetoric as although often people's concerns are genuine and well-meant they can sometimes harbour more sinister intentions and beliefs. I don't have a problem with the party other than that really; I have no issues with Padania as a prospective country/autonomous region/whatever; borders are just borders and we all still live on the same planet regardless of how you carve it up on a map.
Italy is a very old culture but a very immature country. They have a Communist Party, a Cicciolina and every shade of political party under the sun. They don't have the same grey politically-correct politics as we do, but also a much more politicised media with the Left and the Right regarding certain national tv channels as their own. The newspapers too are also politicised. It's not like Britain at all. You very rarely get a British journalist who understands why Berlusconi gets elected. They just see 'bunga bunga' and think what a clown, and how dumb are the eye-ties for voting him in. A typical 'anglo-sassone' over-simplified approach. Yes we all live on the same planet, but we all have different tax rates, pensions and quality of government.
I'm not knocking Italy and I'm not knocking even really knocking Italian politics! No more than I would knock British politics, or any other politics for that money. It is, for the most part, a dirty game played by power grabbing ne'er-do-wells.
Ban Italian teams from the Champions League, ban Italy from International tournaments and make every guilty person feature in a video with each one saying "I failed Italy.".
And these pompous London journos conveniently forget they live in a city that elected someone to represent purely because he was a 'humourous' bumbling fool on a TV programme. Honestly, if another city elected a mayor that way they'd mercilessly mock. I bet the same jounos had a field day when Hartlepool elected Angus.
Boris may be a little eccentric, but he's certainly no bumbling fool, he's been an excellent mayor, that's how he won a second term(many of the changes he made at the mayors office were inspired).
Why do you think he was elected in the first place? Prior to the first election 99% of Londoners would never have heard of him if it wasn't for Have I Got News For You and I refuse to accept he wouldn't have even stood if it wasn't for his 'performances' on there.
You underestimate him, as a London resident I voted for him, I did so because he bought and sold the opposition in the election debates and he continues to do so. It's easy to claim he's a bumbling buffoon, in some ways he lives up to that role, but when it comes to what he actually achieves, it's impressive. Binning ****ing ridiculous bendy busses, scrapping the mayors promotional budget completely and spending all the budget on additional London Transport Police, fantastic improvements in the capital. He might be a little bonkers, but his common sense approach to problem solving is more than a little refreshing.
You misunderstand my point. Im not talking about anything he has done since he was elected, his achievements nor his failures. I am saying his entire public profile prior to being Mayor of London was down to HIGNFY. Prior to that he was only famous for being sacked by The Times.
