494. Love Him or Hate Him – Berlusconi Revolutionized Italy

I first came to live in Italy in 1975 and arriving fresh from the British Isles, I felt I had dropped into a medieval stance.

Italy then was certainly different. The same political party had been in power since World War II and still would be until 1994 when Berlusconi changed the scene. He made an archaic, privileged, right-wing caste system into a modern, liveable democracy.

Back in the 70s, the only TV and communication system was that of the state, with two channels - yes, that was it!

Having made his fortune creating cosy villages in the outskirts of Milan, where Berlusconi  implemented, via cable, his own private TV system: he then set up, TV channels, first at a local level then national all over the country. Other entrepreneurs soon followed suit. For the first time, Italy was able to enjoy a multi-choice TV channel system.

At the time, one of the things that really rubbed me up the wrong way was the formal and informal way of addressing people. In other words if you were considered “inferior” to someone you were addressed by the simple “tu/you” form and you had to address someone “superior” to you in the “lei/thou” form. By his buoyant, non-conformist personality and the unconditioned material his communications transmitted, Berlusconi influenced the way society interacted, as many of those antiquated barriers were broken. I  clearly remember when attending a banquet at Buckingham Palace, Berlusconi got a ticking off from the Queen for speaking too loudly and no doubt also fraternizing among the guest with too much familiarity. But it was this attitude that brought a breath of fresh air into Italian society.

Like I said, when I first arrived, there was a privileged “caste”, and they were those who worked for the State – teachers, nurses, municipal and national government employees; nationalized electrical, gas and phone workers - even bus drivers – who after a mere fifteen years of employment could retire. So, by the time they reached their forties, they could well recline on the sofa and rest on their laurels for the rest of their life – while the private sector and factory workers were overburdened by taxes so that the state could continue to pay out these pensions. No wonder, tax evasion became a notorious element in the Italian way of life.

The irony is that the “underprivileged” would never get into those privileged positions because, they either had to be “recommended” by someone within the system or they paid a heavy bribe. Ah yes, the “bribe” was an inherent part of the system at all levels of Italian society. Nothing was had without a “favour” in return.

It was against this archaic climate of domination that the Red Brigades were formed. First they began by wrecking property and cars of designated targets, then they upgraded to physical violence, finally to murder. In reply to these attacks the extreme-right wing threw bombs in banks run by the left, train stations and Trade Unions. When I arrived I stepped right into this civil war that was tearing Italy apart – culminating in the kidnapping and killing of former Prime Minister Aldo Moro. It was precisely then in 1978 Berlusconi launched his Communications Empire giving work to thousands upon thousands of normal, “unrecommended” people who had to pay no bribe at all.

Berlusconi’s Communications and Financial Empire broke down many archaic, obsolete, traditional barriers in Italy and without firing a single weapon started the revolution. In less than four years the Red Brigades were snuffed out from society and the warring factions in Italy had ceased.

But it was in 1994 when Berlusconi became Prime Minister that the changeover became complete. The Party that had been in power unintermittedly since the war was finally overcome for good and replaced by Berlusconi’s policies of development, modernity and fair-play – a breath of fresh air to Italian institutions and life.

I for one, will not forget this. 

Thank you Silvio Berlusconi.

Credits Photos: Wikipedia