Iran is not so far from us as we may think. You may find disturbing similarities with the Italy of today. A significant proportion of the population cannot stand anymore to see re-elected a head of government that they don't consider at all a representative of the country, but rather a disgrace in the eyes of the world.
A portion of the population cannot stand anymore a national television that tells only the truths of the government and hides those of the opposition, while counter information circulate on the net despite the attempts of censorship. A portion of the population cannot stand anymore a government slave to religious powers that repress the civil rights of citizens keeping the country in the medieval age. A portion of the population doesn't want nuclear power, with all costs that it would entail. A portion of the population cannot stand anymore the propaganda against strangers used to distract the public from a severe economic crisis aggravated by internal structural problems never solved. A significant part of the country when goes to the streets protesting risks beatings by the police and is also accused by the government of being subversive. Who was at Genoa in 2001, recognizes many pictures of that time in what we see now in Iran. Meanwhile their supreme leader said that against him there is an international conspiracy and the opposition is operated from abroad. But in reality neither the Iranian nor the Italian opposion hope for an American intervention, nor they desire it. They just want to have a normal country.
Sure, there are significant differences. Ahmadinejad appears to be chaste as a monk, while Berlusconi sure isn't. Women in Italy have theoretically equal rights to men, but the image of women that comes out from the premier's scandals is certainly not a victory of feminism. Mousavi is a true leader of the opposition, while Italy is currently seeking one since 20-years. The level of political and religious repression is much greater in Iran, but here they are doing their worst to bring us to that level. They have basji, we will soon have the private patrols.
The basic problem is the same for both countries. It's hard to see if the part of the population that supports a leader undemocratic and dangerous for freedom is truly the majority of the country. Because at the end Italy and Iran are democracies in appearance but not in substance. Sure, there are elections in Iran, but most of the power remains in the hands of the religious men, while in Italy the control of media by Berlusconi is a serious prejudice to the real democracy. When a political group controls nearly all of the information is very easy to manipulate public opinion and thus the elections. Obviously it is assumed that Berlusconi has always won the elections regularly, but it makes sense to use the word "regularly" when a politician appears on national TV a lot more than others and his television conceal any information that might damage him? Would Berlusconi have won three elections, if the Italians had known the whole truth about him? Would he have won if he had a television space comparable to that of the others instead of continuous propaganda on his networks?
Now Ahmadinejad and Berlusconi are in danger, one for the doubts about the correctness of the vote and the fierce repression against the demonstrators, the other for his private scandals. There is the serious risk that the religious power drop them, or at least the religious men who do have a coscience. But will they fall? It's hard to say. The protests on the streets, which now are strong in Iran and near zero in Italy, aren't enough to bring down a government that completely controls the information and the police and still enjoys the support of many. A government falls when it loses part of those who supported it. So we must ask ourselves whether in Iran the boys and girls killed on the streets without any reason and any justice will be enough to affect the conscience of the Islamic clergy and the voters of Ahmadinejad. We must ask ourselves if in Italy the distressing spectacle of private parties and censorships will be enough to affect the conscience of the parliamentary majority and of Berlusconi's voters.
But the fear is that some leaders have been so successful with propaganda to bring their supporters to a degree of blind faith that no crime or scandal will ever be able to crack.
Francesco Defferrari
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Revolutionary Road, the blog from Tehran
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