A call from the Collettivo Bellaciao General election in Italy

On the 9th of April there will be the general election in Italy.

For the first time Italians living abroad can use a postal vote to participate in the election and vote for constituency representatives, and one of the constituencies is Europe.

In this election there will be a coalition of the parties in the left (DS, Margherita, Italian Comunists, Rifondazione Comunista, Democratic Socialist and Green) called UNIONE which has as the prime mininster candidate Romano Prodi. You will find the programm and all the information on www.unioneitmondo.it

Silvio Berlusconi is unfortunatly well known in Britain also for the recent scandal which involves David Mills, Tessa Jowell’s husband. He is accused of corruption having payed money to produce false evidences in his favour.

‘Berlusconi is the most dangerous political phenomenon in Europe. He represents the most serious threat to democracy in western Europe since 1945. It might be argued that the far right as represented by such openly racist and xenophobic figures as Jean-Marie Le Pen and Jörg Haider poses a more serious danger, but such figures remain relative outsiders in the European political scene. Berlusconi does not. During his two spells as prime minister there has been a very serious erosion of the quality of Italian democracy and the tone of public life’ The Guardian 16th March

For these reason is very important that Italians living abroad participate to the election with their postal vote giving theire preferences to l’Unione and choosing the candidates from the list who more represents the left.

What do we want?

Education project to value and promote the Italian language and culture abroad against the privatisation plan of the Italian governement
Pensioners having the minimum wage they would get if they were living in Italy in case their pension is lower
Equal tax treatment for retired people who go back to live in Italy
Promote an interaculture interaction policy to enable all the migrants, Italian included, to be politically and socially active in the country where they have chosen to live

The candidates we support and we invite you to vote are:
– Anna Picardi, Senato candidate, Rifondazione Comunista
– Alberto Sipione, Camera candidate, Rifondazione Comunista