Silvio's back: part III

If you were here in Pilcopata with me, living in a hostel on the main road, surrounded by the no more than 10 brick houses in a town made of tin-and-wood barracks, you’d also be wandering where does the wireless connection I’m using come from…

Through this (very slow) wireless connection, Simone and I found out that Berlusconi- Bossi, unsurprisingly- surprisingly, are going to lead the 64^th Italian government in almost 63 years of Italy’s history as a republic. People and countries get the governments they choose and deserve—but I am upset, and fear that at some point the Great Mystery of Italy’s functioning in spite of half a century of bad governments might end. The BBC is probably one of the most generous foreign media towards “Mr. Berlusconi”, defining him a “corrupt buffoon”. Most Italian voters have probably never read a foreign newspaper, and I have probably read too many (at least compared to how much I read Italian newspapers). It’s easy to be a foreigner everywhere, because it somewhat detaches you from the responsibilities of citizenship; it is also easy to emigrate (as a highly skilled immigrant at the top of the socio-economic ladder—which is the type of emigrants our badly-governed Italy is increasingly donating to the better-governed rest of the EU). It’s also easy to criticize your country from the opposite side of the world, when (for reasons partly beyond your control) you couldn’t even vote in the last election, and thus are fully responsible for its outcome.

The reason partly beyond my control why I didn’t vote: I am in Peru with a tourist visa, and all my efforts to get a work or missionary visa failed. As a result, I am working illegally, I cannot open a bank account, I can’t register with AIRE (the agency for Italians living abroad) and therefore couldn’t register to vote. And next week I’ll go to Bolivia to renew my visa (get another 90-day tourist permit): I’m going with Simone and we’re planning to go to Lake Tititcaca, the floating islands, La Paz and maybe Arequipa (in Peru) on our way back. It’s going to be a 5-day trip, we think, and it might be the holiday I need.