Its MPs are different from the classic image of politicians. They are young (37 years old on average, as against 55 in the previous legislature), highly educated (88 per cent are graduates) and, most importantly, none of them has ever served as an MP. They are students, nurses, small entrepreneurs, common people. They will voluntarily renounce up to 50 per cent of their salary. The money saved will be used to finance various kinds of activities modeled on Five Star representatives in Sicily’s legislative assembly, where the party created a fund for micro-credit to small local enterprises. The movement is promoting a completely new idea of democratic representation. First, all candidates were chosen by movement activists through primary elections held online rather than by the party’s high command. Second, the MPs do not see themselves as people’s representatives, but rather as their spokespersons. Elected members will subject all important policy decisions to online referendum and will explain and justify all votes in parliament through daily broadcasts on YouTube. Third, all MPs will be allowed to contest elections only once and they will propose a bill to make ineligible whoever has served for more than two legislatures. There was little else the exhausted Italian electorate needed to hear. The challenge, now, is to turn from a protest movement into a governing party. Important shortcomings in terms of internal democracy and Grillo’s absolute power in terms of non-appealable sanctions (expulsions) might constitute a serious constraint in the political arena. The genesis of the movement was the 2007 V-day — V for vendetta, V for “vaffanculo” (an Italian expletive) — which was attended by many citizens. By unhinging the Italian political system, it seems they have had their vendetta. Now it is time to stop saying vaffanculo and rule the country.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Jun 2013 01:57:03 +0000
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