Consilience Productions

« Memorial Day 2011: Total casualties in Iraq & Afghanistan Wars. | Main | The buying of Supreme Court Justice, Clarence Thomas »

Berlusconi Gets Slapped by Italy's Voters.
June 13, 2011 4:51 PM

Democracy matters:

Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi suffered a stinging political defeat on Monday when voters overturned laws passed by his government that would have restarted Italy's nuclear energy program, privatized the water supply and granted him immunity from prosecution.

Did you get that? Berlosconi was trying to shove past the voters two laws which by any standard of decency shouldn't even be on the agenda: water and justice. He wanted to turn the consumption of water into a for-profit venture AND he wanted to avoid a proper trial for his disgusting actions:

Without the immunity provision, Mr. Berlusconi himself is now expected to be forced to participate in several pending trials, including one in which he is accused of paying for sex with an underage woman, nicknamed Ruby Heartstealer, and then abusing his office to help release her after she was arrested for theft.

To make matters worse, Italian law states that for a referendum to pass, more than 50% of eligible voters must actually vote. What did Berlusconi do?

Before the referendum, Mr. Berlusconi had said he was not going to vote, a statement widely interpreted as discouraging turnout, and several government ministers said they would also abstain.

Thank god the Italian people were awake enough to reject this ridiculous power grab. Now let's hope that the opposition can force a vote of confidence, which should result in the fall of the Berlusconi government...finally.


Join the discussion: Comments (0) | TrackBack (0) | Email Link to a Friend
Permalink to post: http://www.cslproductions.org/democracy/talk/archives/001201.shtml
Receive an email whenever this DEMOCRACY blog is updated:   Subscribe Here!
Tags: , , ,

Share | | Subscribe


Add your comment

Name (required)
Email
Website
Remember personal info? Yes   No
Comments

home | music | democracy | earth | money | projects | about | contact

Site design by Matthew Fries | © 2003-23 Consilience Productions. All Rights Reserved.
Consilience Productions, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization.
All contributions are fully tax deductible.

Support the "dialogue BEYOND music!"

Because broad and informed public participation is the bedrock of a free, democratic, and civil society, your generous donation will help increase participation in the process of social change. 100% tax deductible.
Thank you!


SEARCH OUR SITE:

Co-op America Seal of Approval  Global Voices - The world is talking, are you listening?