English
The chickens come home to roost, by Luciano Nicolini
War, the climate crisis, a revolt by farmers, and still more war...
It has been four months since I last mentioned a world war in this magazine.
Reflecting, in particular, on something Bergoglio said ("For me, today, World War III has been declared), I wondered if it had really already begun, and if there is a relationship between what is happening in Ukraine and what is happening in Palestine.
Leggi tutto: The chickens come home to roost, by Luciano Nicolini
Berlusconi is dead, down with Berlusconi! by Luciano Nicolini
"Le roi est mort, vive le roi!" (The king is dead, long live the king!). This was the phrase used in France, before the great revolution of 1789, to inform the public of the king's death and the appointment of his successor. The aim was to reaffirm the uninterrupted continuity of the monarchy.
Leggi tutto: Berlusconi is dead, down with Berlusconi! by Luciano Nicolini
The year ahead, by Luciano Nicolini
Last year opened in Italy with the imposition of mandatory anti-covid19 vaccination on all people aged 50 and older (Decree Law no. 1 of 7 January 2022). By that date, official statistics attributed Covid-19 to an average, calculated on a weekly basis, of 185 deaths per day: and this was all that was talked about in the country.
On 4 February, this average reached a peak of 376 daily deaths, and then gradually declined.
The crisis in the Italian left, by Luciano Nicolini
The Italian left began to decline at the end of the 1970s. After profoundly transforming the country (today’s youth can’t even imagine what Italy was like in the early ‘60s – clerical-fascist on the one hand, Stalinist on the other), the radical left began to lose ground to its enemies. They had been taken by surprise: no one foresaw the student protests, the reawakening of the workers movement, the feminist wave of the ‘70s. But about ten years were enough for the ruling classes to recover and launch a counterattack.
Leggi tutto: The crisis in the Italian left, by Luciano Nicolini
Offshorings, firings and overbuilding by Luciano Nicolini
A cry of pain
Not a day goes by without hearing about companies (especially manufacturers) closing their plants in Italy and transferring their operations abroad. Newspapers, television, and now members of parliament are talking about it. But most of all, it’s talked about by conflicting unions, which, now that it’s hard for them to win better living and working conditions for workers, are committed mainly to defending people who are at imminent risk of losing their salary and, therefore, practically everything.
Leggi tutto: Offshorings, firings and overbuilding by Luciano Nicolini
"Vaxxers" vs "anti-vaxxers": why all the fuss? by Toni Iero
An analysis that attempts to explain the bitterness of the social conflict triggered by Coronavirus
One of the most striking aspects of the "vax" – "anti-vax" antinomy is the level of violence (fortunately mostly verbal) between the two sides, as demonstrated by the fact that, including at a personal level, the cooling of friendships, the breaking up of groups, and people no longer talking to each other are now commonplace.
Squid Game, di Luciano Nicolini
The series
For some reason that I cannot fathom, films are no longer in fashion. Series are now the latest craze. The truth is that they have been around for a long time in the world of television: older Italian viewers will remember Italian classics such as “I giacobini” (1962), “I grandi camaleonti” (1964) or “Odissea” (1968). Younger viewers will remember more recent, never-ending, Italian series such as “Un posto al sole” (from 1996 to the present day). Meanwhile, at the cinema, sequels became commonplace whenever a film was a hit with producers rushing to release the next instalment as soon as possible.
The Social Dilemma, by Luciano Nicolini
“Crocodile tears” or “wolves in sheep’s clothing”?
As everyone knows, “crying crocodile tears” means a false display of sorrow after gaining advantage from harm caused to someone else (deriving from the ancient belief that crocodiles shed tears after eating their prey).
Leggi tutto: The Social Dilemma, by Luciano Nicolini (n°237)
COVID-19 and illiberal democracy, by Luciano Nicolini
Governments of industrialised countries are taking advantage of the health emergency to change many things: and not for the better
In my view, the photograph chosen for the front cover of this issue of Cenerentola, taken by Maria Elisabetta Luciani in Dubai, is significant: camels and skyscrapers, invisible workers (someone must have built those skyscrapers) and holidaymakers in the foreground.
Leggi tutto: COVID-19 and illiberal democracy, by Luciano Nicolini (n° 235)
A Debate on Socialism and Immigration
Italians First? by Luciano Nicolini
(from Cenerentola No. 224, June 2019)
On 27 May 2019, as I was beginning to write this article, I received the following message from Davide Milanesi:
«The Left is dead, that 19th-century Left based on solidarity: among individuals, classes, peoples; without need there is no solidarity: Henry Ford has won. As that anti-Semitic, Nazi, genius industrialist predicted, over the decades the possibility of accumulating wealth has taken the oxygen away from any idealistic impulse.
Tax Evasion
Italy Is Sinking: Fault of the "Self-employed"? by Luciano Nicolini (n°225)
In the May issue of this magazine, Toni Iero explained that “Italy’s public debt is no longer sustainable.” Continuing to cut public spending indiscriminately won’t save us from disaster. On the contrary…
I think that even the people who govern us (and those who’d like to replace them) are aware of this. So, they’re back to talking about fighting tax evasion.
Why do we yawn? by Luciano Nicolini (n°149)
The idea at the basis of this article came to me fifteen years ago. I was on holiday at a seaside resort in the south of Italy and, as I had at my disposal a terrace overlooking the sea, I decided to invite for dinner a couple friends of mine who lived in a city approximately fifty kilometres away.
Hervé Le Bras and the Critique of Demographic Reason, by Luciano Nicolini (n°104)
(translate by Coopit)
The book by Hervé Le Bras “Addio alle masse. Critica della ragion demografica”(1) (“Goodbye to the Masses. The Critique of Demographic Reason”) has been published in Italian, six years after its publication in France.
Leggi tutto: Hervé Le Bras and the Critique of Demographic Reason, di Luciano Nicolini (n°104)
Camillo Berneri and the Racist Delirium, by Luciano Nicolini (n°103)
(translation by Coopit)
An essay, “The Racist Delirium”, edited by Alberto Cavaglion, has recently been published. It appears in a collection of articles by Berneri entitled “Mussolini grande attore. Scritti su razzismo, dittatura e psicologia delle masse”. (1)
Leggi tutto: Camillo Berneri and the Racist Delirium, di Luciano Nicolini (n°103)