José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero
On March 9, 2008 general elections were held in Spain, where he renewed the parliament and the presidency.
The two main candidates were the incumbent Prime Minister Jose Luis Zapatero (Socialist Party) and Mariano Rajoy (Popular Party).
The election campaign was marked by two things: the interference of the English bishops, who asked not to vote for Zapatero and, finally, the death of Isaias Carrasco, (member of the Socialist Party), killed by ETA, an organization terrorist who wants the independence of the Basque community.
In the end, to achieve a majority of the votes was the outgoing Prime Minister Zapatero, with a good percentage of votes (43.7%).
In these four years, the laws enacted by the English government gave rise to several controversies, especially on gay marriage, which has divided Spain and, in part, between secular Europe (partly in favor of the measure) and Catholics (quite contrary and almost shocked).
Zapatero has undoubtedly been a model for the Italian center, who has been fascinated by the "courage" of this politician.
In Italy, not only the ruling class was "dazzled" by the English Prime Minister, but also some actors and comedians, who have suffered eletto come loro idolo, basti pensare a Sabina Guzzanti, che ha intitolato un suo documentario “Viva Zapatero!” (anche se il leader socialista c’entra solo in parte con questo film) e a Crozza, che, durante una puntata di “Rockpolitik”, ha intitolato una sua canzone “Zapatero, Zapatera”, in cui, oltre a prender per i fondelli i maggiori esponenti della ormai ex “Unione”, elogiava Zapatero per il suo carisma e sperava di trovare anche in Italia un leader come lui.
Questi elogi sono da un lato comprensibili, se si pensa, ad esempio, che nel secondo paese più cattolico d’Europa, il premier socialista è riuscito a non esser “schiavo” di una Chiesa sempre more intrusive and bigoted, managing to introduce some rules on civil rights, never mind what he said to the Bishop of turn, which in Italy has not yet happened.
There are other good things done by the English Government, including the immediate withdrawal of troops from Iraq and the reform on the television system, which according to many experts is really good.
While acknowledging this, you can certainly do Zapatero a myth or a model untouchable, as he passed some laws frankly unacceptable, just think of the repressive policies that has put towards migration, border firing on non-EU or to a very questionable foreign policy, in which one side withdraw the army from Iraq, and the other increases in Afghanistan, or even to measure a bit 'funny and perhaps unnecessary for the protection of civil rights of the Apes (if Zapatero is really that sensitive to animal cruelty, So why not abolish, or at least take some serious action on a "sport" cruel and sadistic as the Bulls? Some economic interest, perhaps?).
The other question that arises is whether in Italy or not there is a political equivalent to Zapatero. My personal answer is clearly negative, at least among the leaders of the two major forces "progressive." In fact, we can certainly considerare Veltroni come il premier spagnolo, in quanto l’ex sindaco di Roma è troppo legato all’ex democrazia cristiana che è parte fondante del Partito Democratico, di cui è il segretario. Nemmeno Bertinotti può essere paragonato a Zapatero, in quanto le opinioni dei due leader sulla politica economica ed estera risultano abbastanza distanti.
La domanda che però è meglio porsi è la seguente: è un bene che in Italia ci sia uno Zapatero? Tutto sommato sì, ma non tanto per le grandi cose che ha fatto (come ho scritto prima, alcune risultano positive, ma altre invece lasciano alquanto perplessi e contrariati), ma piuttosto perché rappresenta uno dei pochi politici che mantengono le loro promesse, caring about the vetoes of institutions that has nothing to do with the state, such as the Church. Of course, next to the center-Zapatero, should be left shows a more "radical", which also support reforms on ethical issues, to propose social laws and helpful to the weaker, which unfortunately are always forgotten by any government, progressive or conservative it is.
Yuri Saito
0 comments:
Post a Comment