Ponte Vecchio view from the Ufizzi in Florence, Italy
Re-printed from Forum49:
I just spent a week in Florence Italy. After a few days there, my partner and I both agreed that Florence was a much safer city than Chicago. We also agreed that Chicago lives up to its reputation of cultural violence. While in Florence we saw many women late at night walking alone on quiet dark streets.
We didn’t see the kind of homelessness that Chicagoans find acceptable, and we didn’t see a single group of thuggish looking men loitering in working class neighborhoods.
Having just returned, we were quickly brought back to the reality of Chicago’s violent culture:
A Lyric Opera performer killed in his home, and a.....
.....husband and mother of a US Federal Judge also killed at home.
The BBC radio is currently reporting Chicago violent culture to the world, therefore extending our bad reputation.
Chicago's violent culture is real. It is not a perception. Daley is a thug. He gets what he wants by committing acts of vandalism - remember Meigs Field?
Moore, RPCC, and Fagus have been in denial and part of the problem by blaming us, the People for complaining and giving Rogers Park a bad reputation. Two years ago Moore told my partner that the gangs on Morse were harmless when she voiced her concern about safety. RPCC should disband since it has presided over Morse Avenue’s decay.
However, just this year Moore has finally checked himself in and admitted to being an Alderman of a ward sickened with violent crime.
It currently seems possible that our community might make a positive change, however it will take much longer to restore our bad reputation.
Joe on Estes
3 comments:
Here we call them HOOKERS...
Street crime is much higher in Chicago. This is new news?
Oh yeah and there is that other thing going on in Italy.........
LEADER
Old Italy, new facism
By Ignacio Ramonet
Of all the forms of hidden persuasion,
the most implacable is that imposed
by the way things are
- Pierre Bourdieu
In Italy "the way things are" has persuaded a majority of voters, successfully and inconspicuously, that the days of the traditional political parties are gone. This has its roots in a simple fact: since the 1980s the political system has degenerated at an alarming rate. Some speak of gangrene and rot. The scale of and extent of corruption astounds. The system of backhanders has cost the country more than 75bn euros. The clandestine bankrolling of parties has created fabulously rich politicians, particularly socialists and Christian democrats. The independent editor, Indro Montanelli, points out that "anyone who had eyes could see that the lifestyles of certain party officials bore no relation to their declared incomes" (1).
Already in 1992 the mani pulite (clean hands) campaign and Judge Antonio di Pietro were uncovering a huge network of corruption among businessmen and politicians. The former prime minister and Socialist party leader, Bettino Craxi, was accused of having amassed a fortune illegally and resigned amid scenes of chaos, with a crowd abusing him, almost trying to lynch him. Next came Giulio Andreotti, the leader of the Christian Democrats, also a former prime minister. He was charged and publicly vilified, accused of collusion with the mafia and complicity in murder.
The toppling of these two giants sent shockwaves through the political system. In the space of a few months hundreds of deputies, senators and ex-ministers were pursued by scandals, investigated by judges and lampooned by the media. The cumulative effect of these accusations of financial misconduct was that the political class was effectively rejected by the public and discredited. As Eric Joszef describes it, "There is such a vacuum and such a strong sense of panic that some people fear a coup d’état" (2).
But instead of a coup, the population was collectively hypnotised by television. Silvio Berlusconi, already allied to the post-fascists of the National Alliance and the xenophobes of the Northern League, emerged to win his first elections, becoming prime minister from May to December 1994. His first premiership came to an abrupt end, but that did not discourage him. Although he too was accused of financial irregularities, dubious dealings and graft, factors combined to enable his comeback in May 2001.
What were these factors? First, his immense wealth. He is the 14th richest man in the world, and the wealthiest in Italy (3) - a fortune built from nothing, thanks to initial protection from his Socialist friend, Bettino Craxi. Through a series of intrigues he achieved success in property; then in supermarkets and distribution; then in insurance and advertising; and finally in cinema and TV. Together with the Bertelsmann group, Rupert Murdoch, Leo Kirsch and Jean-Marie Messier, he has become one of Europe’s media moguls.
Berlusconi, with the wealth and the power that his TV channels confer in terms of symbolic violence (4), proves one of the truths of globalisation: when you have economic and media power, you acquire political power almost automatically (5). And triumphantly too, given that his party, Forza Italia, won about 30% of the vote in the May 2001 elections, making it Italy’s main political party.
As a populist and demagogue, Silvio Berlusconi does not let scruples stand in his way. In choosing his political partners he had no hesitation in doing deals with the ex-fascist Gianfranco Fini and the racist Umberto Bossi. These three men are Europe’s most grotesque and nauseating triumvirate. Before the May elections The Economist, commenting on the charges brought against Berlusconi, suggested that he was not fit to govern Italy and was a danger to democracy and a threat to the rule of law (6).
This gloomy prognostication has proved correct. After the pitiful debacle of the traditional parties Italian society - once a byword for sophistication - has watched supinely (only the film world has shown real resistance) as the political system founders and becomes further confused, outrageous, ridiculous and dangerous. With the air of a fairground huckster, and thanks to his TV monopoly, Berlusconi is setting up what Dario Fo describes as a "new fascism" (7). The question is to what extent this worrying Italian model is likely to spread to the rest of Europe.
Blog scoops: One guess is it's this guy who may be involved in the Judges family Murder's.
Another blog scoop: As for the Lyric Opera star, I have a gut feeling we have a gay serial killer on the loose.
FlorenceThe cultural and historical impact of Florence (or Firenze) is overwhelming. Close up, however, the city is one of Italy's most atmospheric and pleasant, retaining a strong resemblance to the small late-medieval centre that contributed so much to the cultural and political development of Europe.
Its striking buildings, formidable galleries and treasure-crammed churches attest to the Florentine love of display. Even long after it had set on the political and economic horizon, Florence upheld its elegant appearance: its skyline, all russet rooftops and lofty domes, is indeed picturesque.
The glory of Florence is rooted in its past. The Medicis commanded the city's fortunes for centuries and, as patrons, they encouraged the Renaissance's influence on the city. They are attributed in today's Florence: their family crest of six balls still adorns many public buildings and their support of many artforms is evident in the city's streets.Area: 3,514 sq km
Population: 374,500
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