A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI, #202 - Creating a Region (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

Let me start by saying that, at the moment, regional affairs seem truly 
a world away. However, considering that these are issues that carry a 
certain weight in everyone's lives (obviously, net of the overwhelming 
external constraint that has now become a religion and therefore 
unquestionable), let's try to briefly consider what awaits us in the 
coming days.
A small but interesting aside also comes to mind, concerning Tuscany. 
After a long, and presumably not innocuous, skirmish, under pressure 
from the national level, Eugenio Giani has assigned the responsibilities 
to the new councilors.
Not only did this fail to quell the ire of a segment of the Tuscan 
Democratic Party (specifically, that of the Empoli Valdelsa area, where 
the most obtuse segment of the PD probably governs, assuming that it's 
still a party and not an assembly of RAS, each at war with the other), 
but it also reignited a bitter controversy over Giani's choices. 
According to the champions of the Valdipesa and Valdelsa regions (first 
Bersaniani, then Renziani with a bang, then absolutely Bonacciniani), 
Giani did not represent the mythical "territories."

A few decades ago, it was still common to vote en masse. Voting was 
simple: you marked your party name and, if necessary, cast your 
preferences. The proportional system ensured that the outside world was 
at least represented within the halls of "public affairs" (the old, 
obsolete, representative democracy). Voting didn't require a degree in 
mathematics, and if anyone had spoken of a "split vote," they would have 
been considered a lunatic, to say the least.
Then, some became convinced that the halls of public administration-at 
any level-should be more like a business than a place where "civic 
virtues" were practiced. So, out with proportional representation, in 
with majority bonuses, and the "bosses" were appointed by those who now 
resembled boards of directors rather than public bodies.
Two aspects characterized this change (which was anything but 
disinterested):

The typical fanaticism of neophytes, who, smelling the scent of free 
market money, thought it really worked like the books they'd read; 
guaranteeing a social and economic leap.
The press hype did the rest. It seemed as if we had lived up to that 
point under Kim Il-sung.
Direct elections, "mayors of Italy," reductions in the number of 
parliamentarians, second-tier votes-in recent years, we've seen 
everything to dissuade voters from participating (a mission almost 
accomplished, and no one even pretends to be disappointed).
Having said all this, it's hard to understand why those who received so 
many votes would be upset if they weren't appointed to the Board of 
Directors. If it's been decided that appointments are the responsibility 
of the "boss," if it's been decided that those on the Board of Directors 
must resign from the assembly, it's hard to see what that role has to do 
with the number of votes received.
"Territorial" representation, as defined in this way, seems less like a 
response to the voters' mandate than an act of support and pressure on 
behalf of various lobbies to bring their profit-driven demands to the 
Regions (and to the most important, operational, part of the 
government). That representation exists in the assemblies and could also 
exist in the government if the religion of corporate efficiency hadn't 
separated the two aspects, in the name of a post-democratic "democracy" 
that reduces the role of councils to a kind of quality control office. 
As if political choices could be camouflaged under a (white?) powder of 
nonexistent objectivity.

So what are the former comrades from the Florentine suburbs complaining 
about?

Let's return to the Regions with another general point.

It seems clear that the regional institution, born "with the best 
intentions," has yielded, to put it mildly, terrible results. More than 
an element of decentralization or even "federalism," the region has 
become a decentralization of centralism, combining the worst aspects of 
both. From the perspective of financial appetites, being closer to the 
interests of the ruling class; from the democratic perspective, through 
laws that have effectively transformed the Regions (like the 
municipalities) into an updated re-edition of the regimes Podestali. The 
state-smashing reform, which rewrote Article 5, then transformed them 
into fiefdoms managing enormous resources tied to fundamental aspects of 
citizens' lives. All this is compounded by a personalism that truly 
undermines the true meaning of participation in a representative democracy.
Probably, rather than closing the provinces (through administrative 
means, as was done, a sort of "white coup"), it would have been more 
necessary to eliminate the Regions.
If we look again at the elections underway in the various regions, it 
seems to me that two things stand out first and foremost (which is 
probably also linked to what has been written so far): the total 
disinterest of citizens and a very low profile not only on the part of 
the media, but also of politicians.
Where they win, they claim alliances that are perhaps also beneficial at 
the national level; where they lose, they don't even talk about it. This 
demonstrates that these elections are now more like territorial 
divisions than elections, where the fewer people vote, the better. 
There's only one ideology. The rest is bullshit, like the Department of 
Happiness, and if things are working better in some areas of the country 
than others, it's thanks to positive legacies that have been improperly 
claimed.
On the left, a left now totally incapable of mounting even the slightest 
opposition at the national level, they're still trying to maneuver 
within a broad field devoid of any appeal. But how can they still bring 
on board figures like Renzi and Calenda? (who have ridiculous electoral 
results, but are overblown in the media due to the interests they 
represent). Tactical alliances that should be strategic but lack any 
plan. Everyone against everyone, and with a Democratic Party where the 
farce of the "long knives" is enacted every day.
Today's Italy seems to have returned to the 19th century, with a 
division between north and south that reappears with characteristics 
that were thought to be overcome, but which the enormous dose of 
hyperliberalism has completely revived. Regional federalism will finish 
the job.
Meanwhile, in Veneto, Campania, and Puglia, no flood or "epochal changes."
In previous episodes, the only notable news was the candidacy of Tridico 
in Calabria, the last and only president of the INPS who had at least 
attempted to establish a countercyclical reasoning. It was impossible 
for him to win, whether in the broad or narrow field.
In Campania, the recalcitrant De Luca, who would have wanted a third 
term, has put together a list in his son's favor. In Veneto, we have the 
Northern League's stronghold, but above all Zaia's, and the outcome has 
been more or less confirmed.

In short, compared to the pressing national and international issues, 
these elections reveal above all a depressing stagnation and an 
increasingly marked weakening of citizens' willingness to vote.

As Renzi would have said, "Get over it," or rather, a Region.

Andrea Bellucci

https://www.ucadi.org/2025/11/30/farsi-una-regione/
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