12 Sep 11 | Uncategorized
A German TV show depicting a marriage between two men is being prevented from being screened by Italian state broadcaster Radiotelevisione Italiana (RAI). The ARD series “Um Himmels Willen” (literally “For Heaven’s Sake”) has been shown in Italy since 2004, yet episode 125, entitled “Romeo and Romeo” and due to screen on RAI Uno on Tuesday, will be left out of the 10-part season in order to “avoid controversy”, according to the broadcaster.
Gay marriage being if not universally accepted then at least legal in Germany, the TV show itself concerns the struggle of two men to see their marriage and sexuality accepted by the society around them. Ironically given the normally religious basis of anti-homosexual activity in Italy, this particular episode sees the couple seeking advice from regular “Um Himmels Willen” character, Sister Hanna, a nun.
Anna Paola Concia, Italian parliamentary lobbyist for the opposition Democratic Party and the only openly gay person in her profession, was quick to underline the hypocrisy of RAI’s decision. “RAI have pushed for censorship of reality itself here,” she said “especially when you consider that there have been several films showing homosexual relationships on TV here.” Concia told Tagesschau, the news-channel from the ARD network (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlich-rechtlichen Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, since you asked), that reactions to her marriage to her wife in the German town of Frankfurt am Main proved that RAI is working on the false assumption that the Italian public will be angered by seeing a gay relationship on TV. “We received thousands of letters from ‘normal’ Italian people; Catholic, non-Catholic, heterosexual, in order to congratulate us and wish us well,” she said. “There is an enormous gap between the beliefs of the government and the people in this country, and it’s getting wider.”
Italy, with its prime minister Silvio Berlusconi known for his promotion of traditional values, also recently banned an IKEA advert depicting two men shopping in the store with the strapline “we are open for all families.” State secretary for families, Carlo Giovanardi, stated in response: “While homosexual marriage is legal in maybe three or four countries worldwide, here it remains unconstitutional.”
Um Himmels Willen also screens in Hungary, which explicitly banned gay marriage in its new constitution of April 2011.
Ruth Michaelson is a freelance writer based in Berlin, Germany
16 Feb 11 | Index Index, minipost
The Italian police have seized the Savona e Ponente blog after it ran a satirical piece entitled “I want to kill Berlusconi”. Journalist Valeria Rossi heavily criticised the Italian prime minister, writing that: “You can’t feel guilty of wishing him death, because he’s not human: he’s an alien with incredible psychic powers.” The article condemns Berlusconi for his sexual affairs and abuse of power. He has been repeatedly accused of restricting press freedom in Italy.
13 Dec 10 | Uncategorized
This morning 350,000 Facebook users vanished into a black hole. Facebook banned Popolo Viola’s page (Purple People), the organisers of the biggest anti-Berlusconi protest, only to reverse its decision this afternoon.
One of the pages administrators expressed his suspicions about the page’s closure, noting it happened “just as the Purple People was organising the protests tomorrow, December 14, during the vote of confidence to [Italian Prime Minister Silvio) Berlusconi,”
The Purple People movement, born and bred on the web, has attracted hundreds of thousands of keen followers. After the first No Berlusconi Day protest, which took place just over a year ago, its popularity spread. Now the grass-roots organisation has a huge network of local organisations in Italy and abroad (there is even a London branch).
The reasons for the Facebook blackout are still unknown. The page’s administrators say “We are waiting to get to know the motivations of what happened. We will keep you informed about the developments”.
The activists themselves speculated that the outage could be linked to tomorrow’s vote of confidence in the Italian parliament. A vote that could cost Berlusconi his presidency. Last week, leaked Wikileaks cables revealed that Berlusconi was worried about the activists, whom he defined “extremists to be kept under control”. Although others, including a reporter at Fatto Quotidiano newspaper, suggested that internal quarrels within the Purple People caused the temporary suspension.
08 Dec 10 | Uncategorized
Lucia Annunziata, one of Italy’s most renowned TV journalists, who famously took on Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi during a heated interview, took part in a lecture organised by the Italian Society of the London School of Economics last night.
Questioned about the future of freedom of expression in Italy, she disputed the widely held assumption that Italian journalists are limited in their power of speech. Annunziata argued that “being a journalist is deciding day by day what to write and what to say. Nobody ever prohibited me from doing that.” About the Italian national broadcaster she declared: “RAI have always been linked with politics and always will. When Berlusconi’s government will be replaced with a new one, they will have plenty of people who will sing for them just as well”. “There is no lack of freedom of expression in Italy”, she concluded.
RAI Berlin Correspondent Marco Varvello, who attended the event as well, took an altogether different stance on the issue. “Editorial policies have changed for the worse. You can say what you want, that’s true. But if you do it, you don’t know whether you will be asked to write or speak again next time. As a foreign correspondent, I can tell that there are some issues which are being totally ignored by Italian media”. Asked how long will it take for the media scenario in Italy to change: “I don’t know”, he stated. “Even if we take Berlusconi out of the picture, we now have this stigma. It will be very difficult to get rid of it.”
