Italy’s Berlusconi government racked by scandals and growing tensions

By Marianne Arens

There has been a steady stream of protests in Italy in recent weeks against the so-called manovra—the austerity package proposed by the government of Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, aimed at saving €25 billion over the next three years. The Italian parliament, in which the Berlusconi coalition parties form the majority, is due to ratify the package in August before the annual summer holidays.

Demonstration in Rome last October against Berlusconi’s decree muzzling freedom of speech (PHOTO: Silvia Marinelli)

The government plans to slash 60,000 jobs in the public sector alone. All workers currently with temporary contracts will be made redundant. Only one in five new vacancies will be filled. In the health service, 156,000 jobs are at risk and similar waves of redundancies are expected in other areas of private industry and public service.

A series of days of action have followed the one-day general strike on June 25. The trade unions have gone to great lengths to ensure that the protests are limited to individual occupations, thus thwarting the development of a mass movement that could threaten the government. There have been successive, isolated protests by public servants and social workers, teachers, lecturers, students, rail workers, bus drivers, doctors and nurses, farmers and even policemen, judges and public prosecutors.

The protests against the cuts also coincide with broad discontent against another reactionary draft law—the so-called bavaglio—Berlusconi’s new proposals for surveillance legislation. Amongst those joining a series of rallies, media and Internet protests have been prominent publishers, directors, journalists and artists, such as the dramatist and Nobel Laureate Dario Fo.

[more...]

Related posts:

1. Berlusconi must resign: Italy’s Dems
2. Anti-Berlusconi rally held in Italy
3. Thousands in Rome rally against Berlusconi government
4. Violent clashes erupt in Italy after Berlusconi survives no-confidence vote
5. Italy: day of protests in 200 cities against Berlusconi
6. Silvio Berlusconi Faces Nation’s Women as a Million Protesters Take to Streets