Habet color, substantial true alteration. Cremona’s electoral campaign, although emphatic, lacks substance. It’s a sleight of hand. Of second rate illusionists. The Copperfields and Houdinis are missing. In their place the interpreters of Please don’t touch the old ladiesbut the choice of the new government of the Republic of Marubino is too important to reduce it to an entertaining film.
This doesn’t stop us from judging the film screened in the city in recent weeks. Two stars and off you go.
On a moving train, on tracks without switches, regardless of emergencies, the electoral journey does not include detours or stops.
It does not foresee stops due to unexpected events. For Cesium 137. For the «collection tank for 28,000 tons/year of sewage 50 meters from the houses of Gerre Borghi and on the border of Gerre de’ Caprioli» (Cremona eveningMay 20): from the much cited and universal shitstorm to the brand new and local shitsea.
This is no small thing: «We live in Gerre Borghi, a hamlet in the municipality of Cremona, without sewerage and without methane but with the nightmare of a sewage tank of 30 thousand tons per year for biomethane». (Cremona eveningMay 25).
It does not include pauses for reflections on air quality. On the above-average incidence of some tumors.
It does not include slowdowns due to discussions on the appointment of the Centro Padane board of directors.
Launched around 8 and 9 June, the electoral Frecciarossa risks crashing into the wall of indifference and disaffection. Of abstention. Who cares. Nothing changes in that much. Del are all the same.
The botched plot does not promote hopes of a blockbuster,
The moldy script, built on outdated patterns, has its Achilles’ heel in casting. The protagonists and supporting actors, botched and poorly defined in their roles, favor the possibility that a follower overshadows the designated leader.
The mainstream of liquidity and fluid confines politics to the subscale. In the tasteless minestrone. In the slop. In Noah’s ark. In all together passionately and then let’s equally divide the places in the subsidiaries and in the institutions.
Modest controversies mark a predictable and boring electoral debate, polarized between two coalitions. The law of the strongest forces the other teams to gasp in the limbo of anonymity. The Lilliputians might stir things up, but stirring things up is risky for the Godzillas holding the deck.
Debate and discussion are reduced to argent de poche, inadequate pocket money to shift the votes of the undecided.
The candidates’ statements, monotonous, convoluted, impersonal, flat, obvious, unimaginative class assignments, stress the male private parts. Plats and approval are equally distributed between the sides.
The interviews broadcast by the regime’s information, press releases interspersed with questions, evoke the showgirls of Galeazzo Ciano.
The centre-left – the Democratic Party and its galaxy – is paying for an original sin. A fundamental misunderstanding. A misunderstanding fueled by masochistic spin doctors of the coalition, incapable of suggesting a more linear and intelligible communication. Less confusing.
An ambivalence of name Luciano Pizzetti, former Piddino parliamentarian, the top gun Maverick. Not just any quack. But a man of weight. He can make a difference. Both positive and negative. Recognized by all as a prominent politician, star of the electoral campaign and added value for the coalition to which he belongs. At the same time he can be the shadow that eclipses the image of Andrew Virgil, its candidate for mayor. And his is no coincidence.
Virgil is his student. His pupil. His protégé. His intern.
Virgilio, the youngster raised with care and imposed at the helm of the centre-left coalition and of a Democratic Party without a secretary-steward. Of a commander capable of successfully steering the ship in the swells of the electoral campaign without crashing on the rocks.
A Democratic Party that pays the price of an absent provincial secretary. Apparently unrelated to the competition. Taken out of context, Alice in Wonderland.
Virgil is the jackpot.
Leader of a pro Virgilio team, Maverick took the spotlight. The establishment media unsparingly publish statements, interviews and photos concerning him.
It is a Pizzetti across the board, a representation ofman of destinytitle of a comedy by Bernard Shawwith Napoleon as the protagonist.
And it is Virgil himself who fuels this perception. «His (by Pizzetti, ed.) experience – explains – of government and its high-level relations will be very useful for a Cremona that wants to connect with the major development guidelines» (The provinceMay 23).
Underlining the centrality of the former parliamentarian is a fair and correct recognition of the skills and commitment of one’s mentor.
But is it functional for a team game? Is it a strategy that pays off? If Virgil’s communicators adopted it, probably yes. But the choice does not avoid two questions. «Why didn’t Pizzetti run for mayor and delegate Virgilio?». «If Virgil wins, who governs? Him or Pizzetti?”.
Then there is the continuity-discontinuity relating to the participation of Maverick’s student in the current administration. Ten years during which Virgil never went out of time. A conformist in flannel, he once would have said, he has always shared and defended the mayor’s choices Gianluca Galimbertiof which he is still deputy.
Sore point, the continuity-discontinuity problem cannot be resolved by the interested party with an explanation in political jargon (The provinceMay 23).
Erase history with the promise that, if elected mayor, he will play another score and Let’s forget about the past it’s a difficult task, even for an aspiring top gun.
«And the girl went oh-there one evening. And it was a no-brainer to get pregnant». On the contrary, an op-là is not enough for Virgil to return to being a field Virgil. To present himself to the voters as virginal. In a political sense. And he has even less use for morning pilgrimages to breakfast bars and an exchange of views with the citizens (Virgilio, tour of Cremona bars begins, Cremonaoggi, May 17).
But it is not useless effort, in fact it can be meritorious: customs clearance bar politics, so disliked and ridiculed by jocks and hammers. Those of tastings, of tweed jackets, of intellectual conventicles, of fuchsia red less impactful than communist red.
The center-right coalition also has its own problems. All that glitters is not gold. To speak of whitewashed tombs would be unfair. Writing about normal political dialectics would be excessive condescension.
The more undisciplined it is Marcello Ventura, provincial coordinator and regional councilor of Fratelli d’Italia. Massive physique and attitude like a Folgore paratrooper, he does not hesitate to enter with a straight leg in opposition to the allies. And so he was with the appointment of the board of directors of Padania Acque. He aligned himself with Pizzetti and, together with him, emerged defeated. Almost like a coat.
There is no time to lick the wounds that the film has violently repeated itself for the appointment of the board of directors of Centro Padane. Ventura clashed with his centre-right allies and with some of his party brothers. He won, but the rags flew: «Revolt against Signoroni in the Province” (Vittorianozanolli.it, May 23). Ventura defended his choice (The province May 23). The storm has not subsided. «Influence between PD and part of FdI: favors and background” (vittorianozanolli.it, May 25). Another episode is not ruled out.
Political suicide during the election campaign. Parachute jump without first checking its efficiency. Kick in the balls ad Alessandro Portesani, centre-right mayoral candidate. An excellent result.
Habet color, substantial true alteration. It appears one way, but the substance is another. But is the substance there? There’s no shortage of deals. The new hospital, biomethane, the Cremona Mantua motorway. There is no shortage of gamblers and lone horsemen: Paola Tacchini, Maria Vittoria Ceraso, Ferruccio Giovetti, Angelo Frigoli. They won’t strike, but they deserve the applause. For courage. And they could be the grain of sand that breaks the gear of the system. Why not vote for them? An alternative to abstention.
