By G. A. Dwyer Astaphan
Recently I have been reading about Italy’s Prime Minister, Mr. Silvio Berlusconi.
Standing all of 5 feet 4 inches tall, this 73-year old ladies’ man is Italy’s third richest person, with personal assets valued at US$ 9.4 billion.
He is always nattily dressed, and, thanks to generous applications of dye, not a grey hair can be found on his neatly groomed head.
He is the biggest television and newspaper mogul in Italy, controlling about 50% of that country’s media, the founder of Fininvest, which is a national top 10 media and finance company, the co-founder of Mediolanum, one of Italy’s biggest banking and insurance groups, and along with Saudi Arabia’s Prince Waleed bin Talal, he is the main shareholder in Mediaset, a publicly traded company. In addition, he owns the world-famous A.C. Milan Football Team.
Referred to as ‘Psycho Dwarf’, ‘Asphalt Head’, ‘His Emittance’ and ‘Wallet of God’, Mr. Berlusconi got his start in the building industry during the 1960’s, and in a matter of just a few years he developed a 3,500-apartment complex in Milan.
To this day, some 40 years later, the people of Italy are yet to get an explanation as to how he was able to raise the necessary finances for such a massive project.
And likewise for the other major investments which he was able to make in such quick time.
The key to Mr. Berlusconi’s secret seems to lie in a tangled web of holding companies and other legal entities that were woven through the world’s financial system, the handiwork of super-smart and highly paid lawyers, accountants and bankers, with support coming from indulgent politicians, in jurisdictions large and small.
On his way to the top, Mr. Berlusconi developed friendships and alliances with powerful people in both the public and private sectors of Italy, and elsewhere, making sure to maintain a well-oiled machine that would help him fulfill his dream to become and remain Italy’s most powerful man.
Present French President, Nicholas Sarkozy was one of his advocates, and also his good friend. Other persons whom he calls friends include former US President George Bush, former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair, and Russia’s Vladimir Putin.
You might also wish to know that he also has been the subject of many criminal allegations and investigations, including colluding with the mafia, false accounting, tax fraud, corruption, bribery of police officers and judges, and so on.
But thus far, he has managed to avoid the worst, perhaps to some extent because of a law that was passed by his own parliamentary majority shortening the statute of limitations in certain cases, and well exploited by his lawyers who have stretched and delayed the process as much as possible.
Interestingly, in Italy, the statute of limitations for those crimes apparently runs even during a trial, so it would not be odd if proceedings were stopped in the middle of a trial because the matter had on the day become statute-barred.
Another shield for him came through a law, thanks again to his parliamentary majority, providing him, as the Prime Minister, with immunity against criminal prosecution.
However, just over a week ago the highest court of the land ruled that law to be unconstitutional, stating that no person can be above the law in Italy.
So it seems that poor, old Mr. Berlusconi will now be facing a barrage of prosecutions, and that he, his Government and Italy will endure a period of possible economic and political impasse, and even embarrassment.
But I have not given you the full picture of the man.
He also is notorious for his distasteful and, at times, vulgar comments and behaviour, both in private and in public.
He has said that “If anybody reminds me of Mahatma Ghandi, it is me”, and “I am an equilibrated, reasonable and moderate man…I will be in history. So prepare a monument”.
Meanwhile, he has been heard uttering sexually suggestive and even explicit and crude comments to ladies in public places, ladies of all ages and stations in life, often dangling his wealth and power, and asking for permission to caress, fondle and more.
He disrespects his wife like crazy, engaging in dalliances with other women at his whim and fancy.
That is Silvio Berlusconi.
Yet, with all of that, and although he is a very polarizing figure, he is still the Italy’s single most popular politician.
And there are several reasons for this.
First, he is flamboyant and interesting, and Italians apparently like that.
Second, he has been able to get things done.
Third, he is a media mogul and he can shape and manipulate, which he does.
Fourth, he is super rich.
Fifth, Italians have long grown tired of, and cynical towards, politics and politicians and they feel that with Mr. Berlusconi, they see and know the demon that is in front of them, while other politicians try hypocritically to conceal their crookedness.
Better the devil they know!
It is for these five reasons that Mr. Berlusconi is the most powerful person in Italy, by a long, long margin, able both to gain influence and to gain by influence, able to get people elected or rejected, placed in jobs or fired, empowered or marginalized, and so on.
And all of this even before he ever got into government.
A juggernaut.
He has been able to construct a system of dependency with all lines leading to him, and millions of Italians looking to him to hold on to what they have or to make strides for themselves, making even sitting prime ministers, to a large extent, irrelevant and putting him in the centre of the game in Italy.
And it’s not because those millions of Italians are bad. Instead, it’s because they are human beings looking to get by or to step up. And in their quiet desperation, Mr. Berlusconi has taken both care and advantage of them.
That is real power, raw power, all vested in one man. And as his power has increased, the power of others around him has decreased into nothingness, to the point where they become mere cyphers and gophers, parasites and belly worms.
They, like the millions of ordinary Italians, are only incidental to the self-serving, Napoleonic mission of Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s only giant.
All 5 foot 4 inches of him.
But now, it seems that his end might be nigh, as his ‘shields’ are steadily stripped from him.
“Pharaoh, king of Egypt is but a noise. His appointed time is passed”.(Jeremiah-Chapter 46, at Verse 17).
Let me now bring this home. And let me start with the smallest.
If one of Calypso Reggie’s supporters thinks that he is a ‘St.Kitts Berlusconi’, then he must be regarded for what he is: “but a noise”. And the rest should be easy.
Likewise in the case of the Liamuiga Unity Party or the United Empowerment Party.
It could be different for the larger political organizations, whether in or out of government, in that the ‘Baby Berlusconis’ might be harder to spot while the ‘Big Berlusconis’ are likely to be more deeply embedded and more powerful.
In the case of the former, vigilance is the word, and as soon as they are spotted, they need to be flushed out. Prevention is always better than cure.
In the case of the latter, where a ‘Berlusconi’ is likely to be in a high leadership position, flushing out will require more tact, and peaceful patience, but also a strong backbone to face down the ‘Berlusconi’ machine.
It is these things which prevent the creation of a ‘Berlusconi’, and which position political parties with good policies and programmes to better and more sustainably serve, and save, a nation.
I say these things because I dearly want the supporters of our nation’s political parties to put nation, cause and party above any individual.
I have expressed my concerns with regard to my own party, Labour. I also see some extremely disturbing and distressing signs in PAM.
Yes, we must respect and honour our leaders. And we must appreciate the efforts of honest, dedicated people who step forward to serve our nation. But we must demand their respect as well.
Let us love and respect our nation and each other. And let us show that love and respect by being vigilant, elegant, fair and decisive, and by setting the highest human standards possible with regard to our political and other institutions, and to our society as a whole.
We have the potential to be a wonderful little nation and democracy.
That cannot happen if we allow the ‘Berlusconis’ of this world to have their way and their sway over us.
