If the opposition agrees, are they really the opposition?
The Minister of Justice in Italy has given prosecutors permission to use a Fascist-era law to punish a comedian for mocking the Pope.
Sabina Guzzanti is accused of “offending the honour of the sacred and inviolable person” of Pope Benedict XVI.
The satirist and comedian, during a routine at a rally in Rome in July, condemned the Vatican‘s interference in issues such as gay rights.
“Within twenty years the Pope will be where he ought to be, in Hell, tormented by great big poofter devils — and very active ones, not passive ones,” she said.
So, that’s censorship, racism and troops on the streets of Rome. Mussolini would be proud. The Catholic Church, as in the 1930s, is perhaps the only force strong enough to challenge the government in Italy. Berlusconi knows this well enough to enforce laws designed to appease the Vatican without actively diverting from his own purposes; social authoritarianism already forms part of his platform. When the government and its most active public critic share a desire, the very concept of opposition fails.
And so Italy suffers.