Vem är egentligen ‘komikern’ Beppe Grillo som marscherar fram i det italienska parlamentsvalet? Vad som verkar stå klart är att han populistiskt slår vilt omkring sig:
”For a long time, Grillo was anti-technology: his show would end with him smashing up a computer. But then he embraced the internet. He understood, before almost anyone else in Italy, the political potential of the web and its ability to undercut the country’s stifling and boring media monopolies and party-controlled news outlets. Thus, via his incredibly popular blog, and latterly through Twitter, he began to spread a potent anti-political message. This linked up with both a long-running hatred and distrust of politicians among many Italian voters, and the exacerbation of these deeply rooted tendencies during the Berlusconian era (1994-12), a time of almost obscene levels of corruption, patronage, clientelism and cronyism at all levels.
Grillo railed against all this, and he did his homework. He documented absurd levels of state contributions for nonexistent political newspapers, for example, and drew on widespread disgust concerning parliamentary pension rights and payoffs. He attacked both left and right, almost equally. Berlusconi was ‘a psycho-dwarf’, Pierluigi Bersani (the leader of the centre-left Democratic party) was a ‘zombie’ and ‘Gargamella’ (a character from the Smurfs cartoons).
His language was violent and straightforward, and he organised a number of ‘fuck-off days’ of protest against the governing parties (and in fact against all parties). He also attacked big business and called for more shareholder democracy”
Frågan är hur han och hans hårt populistiska anti-elit ”5 star movement” mer utkristalliserat ställer sig när den nu vunnit reell politisk makt, till t ex Berlusconi:
”Grillo’s followers, as far as we know, tend to be young and idealistic. Most of his candidates have no political experience. Many, if not all, have grown up with the internet and use it almost exclusively to communicate and obtain information and news. Grillo’s party is both postmodern and post-political. But the Five Star movement combines these new elements with old-style, anti-political populism.
Anti-politics has a long history in Italy, going back to fascism itself, and moving through short-lived movements like the Ordinary Man (L’Uomo Qualunque) which briefly emerged in the 1940s. In the 1990s and 2000s, the Lega Nord used a highly successful brand of regionalist populism and gained access to power structures at a national and local level as a result.”
Ingenting nytt under solen således, endast interface förändrar inte innehåll även om virtuell iklädnad och ny tekonologi kan få det att verka ‘nytt’:
”What does Grillo’s success mean for Italy? It is interesting to look at the Five Star ‘programme’, which is almost entirely negative. The manifesto consists largely of a series of existing laws that will be abrogated on taking power, plus a bit of ecology (Grillo is almost messianic about the environment) and a good dose of euroscepticism. It is not a programme for government. Grillo has nothing at all to say to Italy’s 5 million immigrants, and very little to say to Europe. His message is for Italians only, and his violent and anti-institutional language has attracted occasional accusations that he is a ‘web fascist’. Others have seen him as an internet-based version of Berlusconi. There are also questions about his control over the ‘movement’, which appears to be absolute, and perhaps somewhat similar to the power structures that he is so quick to criticise in others.”
Berlusconi har uttryckt sin beundran, sägs det, för denna tornado till anti-politiskt, anti-medialt hypermediala naturkraft:
”Grillo himself does not run for office, having been convicted for manslaughter after three passengers died when the jeep he was driving skidded off the road in 1981.
He never appears on political talk shows and also bans his movement’s candidates from doing so, to avoid them being associated with the ‘zombies’ representing traditional parties.”
Se tidigare bloggpost: Berlusconi är ingen pajas och SD är inga clowner, Tänk analogt
Läs: The Guardian – Beppe Grillo: A comedian to be taken seriously, SVT – Valet som blev en ny revolution, SVT – Valet blev en rysare, The New Yorker – Beppe’s Inferno, La Republica – Bersani attacca Grillo – E i fascisti del web, Wikipedia – Beppe Grillo, Der Spiegel – Beppe Grillo shakes up Italian politics, DN- Italienskt drama sänkte Wall Street, 2, SVD – Oklart resultat efter Italiens val, SR Ekot – Orolig börskväll efter osäkert val, AB – Mellins råd till Alliansen: Skaka av er dammet och våga släppa loss, DN – Centerns ledare tappar stödröster, AB, SVD – Nya besparingar för försvaret igen, SR Ekot, SR Ekot – Detta riskerar småpartierna, SVD – 9 av 10 som stoppas är oskyldiga, Expressen, AB – Alliansen lovar konvent 2014, GP, DN – Näthat drabbar företag, SVD – [Tysk] minister: Ge hästlasagne åt fattiga, SVD – Caremaägarnas årslön: 900 miljoner kronor, AB – Syftet med Reva är en mer effektiv avvisningsprocess, SR Ekot – Politiker rasar mot kontroller av papperslösa, Chicago Tribune, DN – Låt gränsen förbli öppen, DN – Nej till människojakt, Wolodarski,
Läs mer: SR Ekot – Nej till centraliserad köttkontroll, AB – Hästkött i IKEA-köttbullar, The Guardian – Horsemeat scandal linked to secret network of firms, GP – Vapenhandlare kopplas till hästköttskandalen, SVT Dokument Utifrån – Smutsiga pengar, SR Ekot, 3, Expressen,
Nemokrati 
