Italian Election Game - ROUND 3

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'll take United Left.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'll try to get something out tomorrow, but I'm really busy these days, so I might need an extension. I promise to do my best.

[Antonio the Sixth]

United Left
Round 1

Results of the September 20, 2015 primary to choose SU's PM candidate:

Maurizio Landini (FIOM/Coalizione Sociale): 57%
Pippo Civati (Possibile): 16%
Gianni Cuperlo (L'Ulivo*): 13%
Marco Furfaro (SEL): 9%
Paolo Ferrero (RC): 5%


Maurizio Landini will lead SU in the 2015 elections:



Landini's victory speech at the SU Congress in Terni, Umbia:

Comrades, Citizens, Friends,

I come before you honored by the mandate I have received, but humbled by the task that lies ahead. Holding a political office has never been a career goal for me. I am, and will always be at heard, a metalworker. But if I am here today, it's because the every worker, every citizen of this country face a threat more terrible than any threat I have faced in my decades of militantism. This threat is the threat of seeing politics confiscated, taken away from them, by the powerful forces that lie behind our modern leaders. The forces of money. The forces of greed. The forces of corruption.

These forces have been behind every government of the past four years, forging unnatural coalitions to prop up governments never elected by the people. And these forces have a clear agenda: they want to take away the basic rights that workers have earned through years and years of relentless struggles. The right to be protected against unjustified firings, protected by Article 18, is already a thing of the past. The right to strike is under permanent attack. The right to a dignified employment, enshrined in our very Constitution, has long been gutted of all of its substance.

Can we accept that one in two of our modern young people is out of work? Can we accept that the rich keep getting richer, while the immense majority of Italians slide further and further into misery? Can we accept that politicians, rather than serving the people, work to undermine it on behalf of lobbies and bosses? No, no and again no! We will not go back! We will not surrender any more rights! We will reclaim politics as something that belongs to all of us, not to a caste of politicians and financiers!

To defend our rights against the ruthless assaults of moneyed interests, we need to fight every days, with all the tools that our democracy and out Constitutions gives its citizens. We must organize, we must strike, we must spread our message, and, eventually, we must vote. The current government has worked hard to reduce the opportunities for citizens to express themselves through the ballot box, making of this election one of the only remaining safeguards against the absolute dominance of the caste. Let us not waste this opportunity, let us use it to stop the butchering of labor, and to promote a new political project!

If Sinistra Unita wins these elections, we will work together - not as a leader and his followers, but as a group of equals - to forge this project. We will restore and expand labor rights. We will invest in our own future, by repairing our decrepit schools and providing teachers will a stable employment. We will guarantee a basic income to all our citizens. We will stop the dismemberment of Italian industry, and protect jobs. We will end sectional privileges and the impunity of big business. We will fight corruption and criminality wherever they nest, starting at the very top. We will make politics inclusive, rather than reserving it to the elite. Such is our mission.

This is the project I believe in. I have decided to dedicate all my energies to it, for as long as it will take to make it a reality. If you, too, believe in rights, in equality, in citizenship, then you too must throw all your efforts into this struggle. In a little more than two months, we have the opportunity to prevent the dire future that some have prepared for us. This might be our last opportunity. Together, we will prevail, and reclaim our rights and our dignity!

Campaign Strategy:

Slogans:
- "La politica è di tutti" (Politics belong to everyone)
- "Lavoro - Giustizia - Diritti" (Labor - Justice - Rights)
- "Cittadini a testa alta" (Citizens holding their heads up high)
- "Insieme per il lavoro" (Together for labor)

As the above speech highlights, Landini's message focuses on a passionate defense of worker's rights and on the need for common citizens to reclaim their place in the political process. It forcefully denounces the elite groups that have controlled the governments of the past and have pushed forward neoliberal policies. It is directly in continuity with Landini's uncompromising style as leader of the metalworkers union FIOM, when he led the fight against efforts to restrict the workers' benefits. At the same time, he seeks to expand beyond the boundaries of industrial workers. He hopes to rally the unemployed and precarious workers whose livelihood has been destroyed by the crisis, and who have largely lost hope in politics.

This rhetoric is thus addressed primarily to the categories that plan to abstain or vote for M5S. These voters must be convinced that SU is the real solution to their difficulties, and that it can only triumph if they fully mobilize. In addition, Landini also target disgruntled PD voters. He argues that Renzi has betrayed the left (including his own 2013 primary voters) by coopting the agenda of Berlusconi and Monti. However, he will avoid mentioning Renzi's name directly unless the circumstance really calls for it, because he wants the campaign to be focused on ideas rather than people. He will continue to vehemently criticize the Job Act, the constitutional and school reforms, and the rest of Renzi's policies.

Landini will tour Italy, with a preference for industrial sites where he can be among his fellow metalworkers (the choice of Terni for the party's congress was already done in that spirit). In the South, he will also talk about legality, and organize events with people like Roberto Saviano or Luigi Ciotti (if they accept). To better connect with young voters, he also plans to make use of the social media, and will launch a website which will work as a public forum where people can submit their policy proposals.


Full campaign schedule (rallies, TV appearances and interviews) to be published tomorrow.


*Note: L'Ulivo is the name chosen for the party formed by PD dissidents led by Bersani and Cuperlo, in reference to the name of past left-wing coalitions.

[Antonio the Sixth]

United Left
Round 1 (Cont'd)

Campaign Schedule:


09/21 - TV Appearance at Otto e Mezzo



- Focus: Introducing himself and SU to the Italians, exposing his ideas, responding to attacks.
- Highlights: "I don't want to talk about Renzi. One of the problems of this country is that everybody is talking about Renzi and nobody talks about the real issues. I want to talk about the fact that one in 8 Italians is out of work! I want to talk about the fact that most workers have barely enough to feed themselves! And you ask me to talk about Renzi? Renzi doesn't give a damn about workers, just like Letta before him, just like Monti and just like Berlusconi! They all followed the same neoliberal policies dictated by bankers and bosses, stripping away the workers' dignity! That's what I want to talk about!"


09/22 - Rally in Torino, in front of the FIAT industry of Mirafiori



- Focus: Denouncing FIAT and other companies that have been laying off workers to increase profits.
- Guest Speakers: Paolo Ferrero, Susanna Camusso
- Highlight: "Marchionne, whom the current Prime Minister so often praises, has made the fortune of his shareholders, but has ruined the lives of countless workers in Italy! I have stood up to him and his antisocial policies when I was the leader of the FIOM, I am standing up to him now as SU's candidate, and be sure, comrades, that I will stand up to him and his corporate friends when I am Prime Minister!"


09/22 - TV Appearance at Ballaro'



- Focus: Laying out the basics of his economic and social program, criticizing the government for its anti-worker politics.
- Highlight: "We will undo the damage done by decades of assaults on worker's rights. If SU wins a majority this November, I can make the promise today that Article 18 will be reestablished in full, as it was before Monti and Renzi gutted it of its substance."


09/23 - Launch of the "Citizen Assemblies" in Rome

The Assemblee Cittadine (Citizen Assemblies) are conventions that will be held by SU in every major cities in the country, where everyone, by paying 3€ and adhering to left-wing values, can come to propose and discuss the policies that will be incorporated into SU's platform. The process will last for about a month, with the official SU platform (no more than 20 proposals) to be unveiled on October 19). The proposals will be selected by a vote of the participants (though the party's leadership reserve the right to veto proposals that go against the party's core values). People can also participate online, through the website assembleacittadina.it (which will be severely moderated to prevent trolling). Pippo Civati will coordinate this project.

- Highlight (by Pippo Civati): "We in SU believe that democracy goes beyond voting every once in a while, that it requires a direct participation of citizens in the decision-making process. The time when policies were decided through backroom deals is over! With the Citizen Assemblies, each of our supporters will have a voice in determining SU's political program. No party, not even M5S, has ever gone so far in promoting direct democracy. This is nothing short of a revolution, and if SU leads the new government, we will extend this revolution to the political system itself!"


09/23 - Interview with Il Fatto Quotidiano

- Focus: explain how the Citizen Assemblies will be organized and why they are an essential component of SU's agenda.
- Highlight: Q: "Aren't you afraid that SU will lose focus and end up with an incoherent program?" A: "One should never be afraid of democracy. The people are much smarter than what the caste thinks. They know what they want, and what they need. Through the power of civic deliberation we will get an agenda that is much better and more faithful to the people than anything I or my colleagues could have come up with alone. Of course the leadership has an important role in coordinating the deliberation, but the ultimate decision belongs to our followers."


09/24 - Rally in Taranto



- Focus: Denounce the criminal activities of large industries that have exposed their workers to poisonous product and polluted the environment (such as Taranto's ILVA).
- Guest Speaker: Nichi Vendola
- Highlight: "The people can no longer accept the impunity in which these well-dressed criminals have lived! We will no longer let them destroy our lands, poison our lungs, and ruin our workers! For decades, every government has closed their eyes and looked away while the Riva family turned Taranto into a wasteland. I am not afraid to call these governments for what they are: accomplices in a criminal organization! But the time of impunity is over. Criminals will have to answer for their actions! And the State must show no mercy to these cold-blooded murderers!"


09/24 - TV Appearance at Servizio Pubblico



- Focus: Justice issues.
- Highlight: "The issue of legality cannot be separated from the issue of economic power. Corruption goes hand in hand with neoliberalism, because the bosses need the protection of their political cronies to preserve their privileges and allow them to continue exploiting workers and polluting our lands. This means that by attacking corruption, we can deal a fatal blow to the economic power structure, and protect workers from further abuses.


09/25 - Rally in Livorno

- Focus: Double down on industrial issues and workers' rights. Also talk about why the left needs to reconquer the workers' vote, which they lost in the most recent municipal election.
- Highlight: "The Left's role is to protect and defend the working class from the continuous assault of moneyed interests. The modern PD has completely forgotten this simple idea, and that's why it has lost a city like Livorno. I want to say to the workers and citizens of Livorno, that SU will never turn their back on them! Throughout Italy, workers need to know that there is a party that stands for them!"

[Antonio the Sixth]

United Left
Round 2

Campaign Schedule:


09/26 - Visit in Rome's Disfavored Neighborhoods, Meeting with Ordinary Citizens

- Focus: Reclaim an electorate that has been drifting toward the far-right.
- Highlight: [when confronted by an anti-immigrant crowd] "I haven't come here to scold you. I know how hard life is for you in these decaying areas abandoned by the State. I understand that criminality is a huge concern for you, that you want to feel safe and protect your families. What I want to tell you is that the Left will not ignore your pleas any longer. You deserve better living conditions, you deserve to live in a neighborhood that's safe and properly served by public utilities! I also want to tell you not to buy into the Right's lies. The foreigner is not your enemy! He is, just like you, the victim of crime, unemployment, and urban degradation. The Right wants to present you with a scapegoat because it doesn't want you to confront your real enemy: globalized financial capitalism and its political cronies!"


09/27 - TV Appearance at In Mezz'Ora



- Focus: Expand SU's message to a broader public, and respond to criticism.
- Highlight: Q: "Last Friday on Quinta Colonna, Prime Minister Renzi said you were 'very angry' and defended his Jobs Act, claiming it had contributed to reduce unemployment. How do you respond to that?" A: "If I'm angry? Of course I'm angry! How can I not be angry when I hear this sort of bullsh*t, while one out of two of our young folks is still out of work, when millions of people in Italy are out of work, when pensions increasingly don't allow our elderly people to live a decent life? I don't know in what fantasy world Renzi lives, but in the real world, each and every one of us should be furious at these facts! Q: "But the latest numbers show that unemployment is down, don't you think the Jobs Act contributed to that?" A: "It's mostly due to favorable international conditions, but even then, even if the Jobs Act reduced unemployment by a meager tenth of a percentage point, was it worth the sacrifice? Was it worth destroying the safeguard that protected millions of workers from being fired without a valid reason? Was it worth giving millions of taxpayers' Euros every year to the same greedy corporations who fire workers for profit? I don't think so!"


09/28 - Rally in Rome

- Focus: Urban redevelopment and the fight against corruption.
- Highlight: "I walked through the poorest neighborhoods of this great city two days ago, and everywhere I saw houses that were falling into pieces, I saw extreme poverty, I saw vandalized buildings, I saw no public infrastructure to speak of. But first and foremost I saw a proud and strong people, who, in spite of these dismal living conditions, retained their pride and worked strenuously to get by and support each other. To these comrades I want to say, you deserve better than what the State has given you in the past decade! You deserve a State that invests in your neighborhood and gives you a chance to find a job! The past governments, whether on the right or the center-left, have ignored your problems, and their absence and complicity has allowed criminal organizations to take over your neighborhood. These organizations are parasites that need to be crushed with the full strength of the law!"


09/29 - TV Appearance at Di Martedi'

- Focus: Explaining the details of SU's economic program.
- Highlight: Q: "You have probably the most ambitious economic program of this campaign, promising major public investments in the industrial sector and an expansion of the Welfare State. How do you plan on financing these promises?" A: That's simple. Italy has a lot of hidden resources that get grabbed by various corrupt entities and special interests. Seriously fighting against tax evasion could bring billions of Euros to the Treasury, especially if we also introduce a wealth tax targeted at the super-rich. Many of our welfare transfers end up reinforcing inequalities instead of combating them, most famously with the 'golden pensions'. While SU will raise pensions for ordinary Italians, it will also put a hard cap on monthly payments at 5,000€. We will also end the many expensive and useless public work programs that only serve as a government handout to the mafia, and refocus them on more basic tasks such as repairing our schools and our streets. Finally, if necessary, SU will work on building a coalition in Europe to stop the disastrous policy of austerity and allow deficit spending to get us out of this recession."


09/30 - Rally in Milano



- Focus: Combating the Lega.
- Guest Speaker: Giuliano Pisapia
- Highlight: "Salvini wants you to believe that immigrants are the cause of all your problems, so that you don't revolt against financial powers that exploit you and the political cronies that enable it! War between the poor has always been the Right's strategy to prop up their corrupt system. I am not saying that Italy can welcome all of the world's immigrants. The current refugee crisis is a problem that must be solved at the European level, by ensuring that the burden falls on the richest countries rather than on the poorest ones. But the workers will not be fooled by bullies like Salvini, who stir up hatred against immigrants to distract them from the real issue, which is the injustice of the economic system!"


10/01 - TV appearance at Piazzapulita

- Focus: Inequality and poverty.
- Highlight: "Poverty is not something that can be swept under the rug with just a little economic growth. It's a structural problem whose roots are the neoliberal policies that all the governments of the past two decades have followed. We, at SU, think it's time to say stop to these policies, and finally work on lifting up the most vulnerable in our society."


10/02 - Op-Ed in La Repubblica

- Title: Sinistra Unita's Society: From Values to Action
- Highlight: "What we demand and merely that the Italian government finally abide by our Constitution, whose opening words state that 'Italy is a Democratic Republic founded on Labor'. Democracy and Labor, which are at the core of our Constitution, will form the basis of SU's political action, aiming to finally match reality with these ideals. This means lifting up Labor from a mere tool at the mercy of corporations to a factor of emancipation of the working class. This means expanding Democracy beyond the mere act of voting, and allowing citizens to have a direct input into the political process."


10/03 - Rally with the Youth Wing of SU in Terni

- Focus: Outlining SU's message for younger voters.
- Highlight: "You, the youth, have suffered more than anyone else from the methodical assault on worker rights. Many of you have never found a job. Most of you have never been into a stable, full-time employment that provided you with a living wage and the means to start a family. You are considered by corporations as a mere commodity to be used and then disposed of as soon as you're not needed. The governments of the past decades have sacrificed your entire generation on the altar of corporate greed. It's time we say stop! It's time we Italians come together and proclaim that young people are our future, and deserve better than what they have been given so far!"

[Antonio the Sixth]

Any news from Politicus and Intell?

Also, the guys in the picture above really look like they're enjoying raising their right arm a bit more than they should, if you see what I mean.

[Antonio the Sixth]

Yeah, it's hard to see the campaign continuing without M5S.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I won't be able to post my campaign schedule until Saturday. Hope that works?

[Antonio the Sixth]

Sorry Cris, I'll also need a bit more time. This week has been rough.

[Antonio the Sixth]

I'm so, so, so sorry Cris, I don't know when I'll have time to update this, but this weekend hasn't left me any rest so far, and it's only going to get worse. If you want to count me out and continue the game without me, I understand.