Meet Italy’s answer to Boris
Gianni Alemanno, Rome’s new right-wing mayor, tells John Laughland that it’s time for the Eternal City to adopt a ‘zero tolerance’ approach
Like Sarkozy, Alemanno is pro-American and pro-Israel. But it is precisely here that his political discourse becomes radical for a British ear. He has made ‘zero tolerance’ his slogan and says the former New York mayor Rudy Giuliani is a role model for Rome. He also says that the fight against fundament-alism, and the defence of the rights of the individual, are key for Italy even though it has few Muslims. ‘We need a Right based on both tolerance and the protection of identity — national identity.’ He even chairs a body called Kadima World Italia, a friendship association for the political party created by Ariel Sharon. ‘Are you a neoconservative, then?’ I ask, and he replies that American categories cannot be applied to European politics. But he has multiplied his overtures towards Israel and the Jewish community in Rome (as well as receiving the Palestinian leader), and says, ‘To defend Israel is to defend the values of the West.’
So perhaps it is Italy which is showing the way for Europe, rather than following its model. At certain points in European his-tory, the apparent political backwater of Italy has in fact been in the avant-garde — without Cavour, no Bismarck. At the end of our talk, Alemanno takes me out on to the balcony next to his office, which commands a breathtaking view over the Roman Forum, from the Arch of Septimus Severus baking in the July heat hundreds of feet below, to the Colosseum and the Palatine Hill in the distance. ‘When you stand here, you feel that you are at the centre of the world,’ he says. He may well be right.
More articles from: John Laughland | this section
Post this entry to: del.icio.us | Digg | Newsvine | NowPublic | Reddit
Advertisement
Thank goodness we can have a run on the pound when we need one
Martin Vander WeyerMartin Vander Weyer looks ahead to next week’s Pre-Budget Report and reflects on George Osborne’s contentious remarks about the devaluation of sterling. It looks like Gordon Brown is getting away with his borrowing binge — leaving the Tories isolated
I loved Oliver Stone’s Bush film — and I know why the critics hated it
Rod LiddleThe movie W. did not provide the crude anti-Bush agitprop that the reviewers craved, says Rod Liddle. This was precisely its strength: we need to get inside the minds even of those we most deplore
The great Tory tax and spend battle: seconds out...
Fraser Nelson and Daniel FinkelsteinIn the wake of Cameron’s decision to drop his pledge to match Labour spending, Fraser Nelson and Daniel Fin kelstein of the Times trade rhetorical blows over the issue that is gripping and troubling the Conservative party as it adjusts to the transformed economic context
Where is our inspiration when we most need it?
Bryan ForbesBryan Forbes remembers listening to Churchill as a 14-year-old evacuee and now looks with envy at Obama’s capacity to galvanise hope. Where are his UK counterparts?
For a bit of perspective, try thinking Jurassic
Christopher LloydThe first takeaways originated about 150 million years ago, says Christopher Lloyd; global travel is pretty ancient, too. And as for democracy...
Brown must stop sounding like a sore winner
Irwin StelzerThe Prime Minister has triumphed for now with his grand rescue plan, says Irwin Stelzer. But that is no reason to blame the crisis on America. It may be a reason for an early election
The modern Tory hero should be Jefferson
Daniel Hannan and Douglas CarswellDaniel Hannan and Douglas Carswell unveil their plan for radical reform to decentralise power, make voting count and challenge apparats from Brussels to town halls
Slow Life
Alex James
Viaggio in Italia
The laureate of intractable conflicts
Clemency Burton-HillClemency Burton-Hill talks to the American playwright Christopher Shinn about his new play about a US presidential election night in the era of MySpace and YouTube
Never mind the Olympics — get set for the Jubilee
Robert HardmanFree and open to everyone, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee in 2012 will eclipse the London Games, says Robert Hardman — an unforgettable tribute to the monarch
Latest blog posts
sponsored links
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be amongst the first to have it - order now.
Free Sky Digital Offer - Order Now
Subscribe to Sky from £16 a month. Get free equipment and free broadband - Join Now. Sky HD - be...
ROME CENTRE
PORTA METRONIA, ROME Standing high on the top of one of the seven hills of Rome- the Coelian- this unique
City Breaks. ROME and PARIS
ROME and PARIS: over 350 holiday rentals apartments listed: visit www.romanreference.com and www.parisreference.com or call +39 0648 903612.
Jewellery. RUFFS (Estd. 1904).
Goldsmiths by Design Welcome to Ruffs! You have found a company of Goldsmiths that specialises in the manufacture, amongst other
Spectator Business | Apollo Magazine
Corporate | Advertising | Privacy | Terms
Spectator, 22 Old Queen Street, London, SW1H 9HP
All Articles and Content Copyright ©2008 by The Spectator | All Rights Reserved
Wilhelm
July 25th, 2008 9:37amlovely piece
carole chapman
July 25th, 2008 1:24pmHow refreshing to read a piece about Italy telling it like it is and without the mewling PC whinges of the majority of the UK press. I live in Italy and the lack of PC is so refreshing, as is the lack of CCTV, speed cameras, intrusive council busybodies. Italy may have its problems but it could teach New Labour a thing or three.
Richard Bates
July 27th, 2008 6:46pmAlemanno is actually one of the brighter members of the right-wing establishment, and one of the few ministers in the previous Berlusconi government to be even half-way competent. But your correspondent is being less than candid in describing him simply as the former head of the youth wing of the post-fascist party. I think you'll find he has a much more colourful past than that, and if the left tends to demonise its opponents, it has to be said that their opponents go out of their way to give them an easy job of it. If the same stigma does not attach to Gianfranco Fini that is mainly because of the unremitting blandness and banality of everything he says.
But there is nothing remotely normal about the political scene of a country with a Prime Minister whose past (and present) is even more questionable, and who would simply be unelectable anywhere else.
And can your correspondent really mean it when he says: "there is a liberty in Italian political discourse which is refreshing after the stifling political correctness of Britain"? To find equivalents in mainstream Brtish political life for many of the statements made by leading members of the Northern League, one would have to go back to the 1963 Smethwick by-election - though along with the relentless obscenities and insults addressed to the Roma, to Africans and foreigners generally, there is also the occasional variant of good old-fashioned anti-Semitism as well - which, in its way, is, I suppose, part of the European mainstream.
Chris Andersen
July 28th, 2008 5:27amWonderful article. Too bad such forthright reportage is so rare, and I have to access a U.K. publication to find it. The U.S. press, both right and left, are incapable of such a simple piece and must, instead, put an American slant on everything they write, appropriate or not.