On the eve of the last elections, Franco Ferrarotti, the father of sociology in Italy, gave an interview to the Belgian newspaper "Le Soir" entitled "A policy that ressemblè a un cabaret", a policy that resembles a cabaret. A prophetic title and interview. “But – Ferrarotti fends off – you didn't need to be a genius to understand where Italian society was and where it is going”. Yes, where is it going and what is behind such a bizarre vote that it seems like the antechamber of ungovernability or a return to new elections soon? Ferrarotti has always been used to scrutinizing Italy with the rigor and coldness of a social scientist and in this interview he recounts his conclusions to FIRSTonline. But no less intriguing are his caustic judgments on the main protagonists of Italian politics: from Bersani to Berlusconi to Grillo and Monti without forgetting President Napolitano.
FIRST online – Professor, you maintain that the vote was not a surprise but the pollsters didn't get one right and Renato Mannheimer justified himself by saying that many Berlusconi voters hid their preferences from those who interviewed them: how can you say that Was it all announced?
FERRAROTTI – Obviously no one could guess the percentages of approval of the individual lists, but the trend of Italian society and politics were clear and one should not rely too much on polls because, as Lubell wrote already in the 50s, polls are imperfect by their nature, because they take a snapshot of the situation but do not capture reality in motion.
FIRST online – And what is the deepest reality of Italian society in your opinion?
FERRAROTTI – It's what I described a year ago in my book "The Italian paradox" where I described Italy as an archipelago of cultures and as an increasingly fragmented country experiencing the paradox of being the mirror of a very ancient society of three thousand years in a relatively weak, recent and often detestable unitary state. To understand Italy and the vote in the last elections, anthropology and biology matter more than ideologies. Even the economic crisis counts but it is not enough to explain Italy. We live in a country that lives in the illusion of doing without power and that does not know how to distinguish between power and authority.
FIRST online – It may be as you say, professor, but the vote has reserved many new things: Grillo's boom, Berlusconi's recovery, Bersani's pyrrhic victory, Monti's disappointment. Shall we try to analyze them?
FERRAROTTI – All right, but are you really sure that Grillo's exploit is a real novelty? It would be enough to remember Masaniello and the commedia dell'arte which has a fundamental characteristic: it is a comedy without a plot where the masks are thrown onto the stage and improvise. It is not the substance that counts but the inconsistency and unpredictability. Grillo's moves on the political scene were already written in the commedia dell'arte and if Bersani knew it better he would not expect any government alliance from Grillo. Grillo is rapidity, ubiquity, delirium of omnipotence but in the end he doesn't hold anything tight, he never gets to the point.
FIRST online – Is Grillo's dream of a web-based direct democracy illusory too?
FERRAROTTI Web-based direct democracy is as illusory as democracy without parties. I was very impressed by the symbolic value of Grillo's swim in the Strait of Messina. It reminded me of Mao's or Mussolini's performance at the wheat festival. If the consecutio temporum is not accepted and the principle of contradiction is not accepted and if one thinks of enforcing the imperative mandate of the leader over the members of the 5 Star Movement, the risk that a political movement becomes a sect and enchantment as in the commedia dell'arte it is very high. However, having had Renato Curcio and Mara Cagol as students in Trento and having lived through the tragedies of the 70s and 80s, let me say that, despite its infinite defects, it is better that grillism rather than terrorism attracts the youthful discontent.
FIRST online – You attend universities and you know that the fascination of grillismo is strong on the new generations: how do you explain it?
FERRAROTTI – Yes, it is true, but I believe that the ruling classes and also the school must do some self-criticism. The new generations are fascinated by the new and by all that arouses wonder. As Giambattista Marino used to say: “The wonder is the poet's end” but here we are discussing politics and society. The vote brings to light the contradictions of a politically illiterate country, which reads newspapers little and makes uncritical use of new technologies. As I happened to write in a very recent book, we are "a nation of frantic, well-informed idiots". It is not enough to hack on the Internet to understand.
FIRST online – And did Berlusconi's recovery come to you?
FERRAROTTI – Unlike Grillo, Berlusconi draws from a deeper Italy and intercepts some congenital tendencies of Mediterranean culture: callida cunning, amoral individualism, inventiveness that deceives and seizes real power, tax avoidance, the charm of the great seducer and of the great Casanova who borders on prostitution but also of the great corrupter. However, be careful: there is charisma in Berlusconi, the charisma of wealth and a robust bank account that seduces many Italians.
FIRST online – And what do you think of Bersani?
FERRAROTTI - He seems to me a stubborn honest with streaks of sectarian bigotry. In my eyes, Bersani embodies laudable provincial virtues typical of his homeland but he doesn't have the charisma of a leader and, in the end, his virtues reveal insurmountable intellectual limits. As I said before, if he knew the commedia dell'arte better he wouldn't make the tactical mistakes he's making with Grillo: we've never seen a leader who denies having a plan B from the outset, giving his interlocutors an incredible negotiating advantage. The self-tornment of the left and the backwardness of the trade unions do the rest.
FIRST online - Did you imagine Monti's electoral flop?
FERRAROTTI - With the painful measures he was forced to take to save Italy from bankruptcy, it is already a lot that Monti has not been given hemlock like Socrates. He has collected just under 3 million votes which are not few. He certainly showed political limitations and had to fight in an unfavorable context but it is already a good result not to have disappeared from the political scene. Especially since during the electoral campaign he didn't promise Eden but told the truth, even when it was unwelcome. SuperMario Monti deserves great admiration and remains a reserve of the Republic that I would like to see at the Quirinale after the great King George Napolitano.
FIRST online – Professor, how, in your opinion, will the post-election match end?'
FERRAROTTI – Today no one can know, but I think that a prolonged period of stalemate and arrest of the Italian political movement awaits us. A few days ago a young student reminded me of the case of Belgium which lived quietly without a government for a year or two. But we are not Belgium because there is the Princely House which ensures continuity while here there is a vacuum. And if Napolitano hadn't been there, there would have been the abyss.
