The Italians are going through the same experience. They have a general election on the way, and will be voting on 24 and 25 February. The difference is that the Italians, in spite of all the political confusion they have had in their system since the country became a republic after World War II, remarkably came to terms on passing the budget for 2013 before they called it a day.

Here the Opposition voted against, with the result that none of the good measures that were announced in the budget, including tax cuts, have been implemented. This happened in spite of the Labour Party saying that it endorsed them and will execute them if elected. It is a strange situation indeed.

The Opposition could have easily found another way to show its lack of confidence in the government, but it chose to go against the national interest. On the one hand it accuses the government of eating away at people’s purchasing power, and then on the other it votes against measures that would have meant more money in people’s pockets.

But I speak of Italy for another reason which has nothing to do with the budget. The electoral process there has started as well, and, as usual, political parties are mushrooming and allegiances are changing by the minute. Politicians who said they would not contest are now putting their names forward. Others who were with one party have joined another, and some who did not see eye to eye with each other have joined forces.

It’s true that one does not know what to expect in Italian politics. It’s no wonder that they’ve had more than 60 governments since 1946, nearly an average of one per year.

There is one thing, however, that stands out in their system. This is the ability they have to laugh at themselves and to take politics with a pinch of salt – something that is quite lacking in our way of doing politics. Yes, we do have the occasional witty poster or a joke that is passed around on the social network, but generally speaking we take politics too seriously.

In Italy, for example, among the parties that have registered their participation in the election are two that have brought smiles all around – because their intention is simply to make fun, and certainly not because they stand a chance of making it through to Parliament. Perhaps I should be careful about saying that, however, considering that most Italians have had enough of the current state of affairs, and might choose to express their vote in favour of such movements as a sign of protest.

The two parties I am referring to are the Bunga Bunga Movement and the Democrazia Natura Amore Movement. The first is named after a phrase that became popular in the ongoing sex scandal involving former premier Silvio Berlusconi. The second, linking democracy with nature and love, has a photograph of porn star Ilona Staller, known to many as Cicciolina, on its emblem.

Seeing these parties in a list of more than 100 that will be taking part in the Italian election brought a huge grin to my face, and I started to wonder why we do not have this kind of humour in our politics. We do not have it in political movements set up to make fun and neither do we have it in our own media, which is probably worse.

We did have it in the past, but political fun and satire have been almost washed away from our system, and perhaps it is already too late to bring them back.

The never-forgotten Ahn’ahna jew m’ahniex TV series in the late 1980s was the first and best effort that has been made. Since then, there has been too little on the matter, and the little there has been was too weak to make an impact.

The seriousness with which politics should be considered has become too ingrained to possibly reverse. Politicians take offence too easily, and immediately threaten libel for anything they consider defamatory.

We seem to be going backwards, not forward, in this regard. For one thing, the Broadcasting Authority’s decision not to allow applause during the televised debate between the two political leaders last Friday was another step in the wrong direction.

We had a surreal situation during Xarabank, and even Dr Gonzi and Dr Muscat were affected by the silence that reigned in the studio, as neither in my opinion performed to their usual standards. A little bit of clapping here and there would have done no harm, and in fact the best moment of the show was when the two leaders shook hands towards the end with the whole audience putting their hands together, and Peppi Azzopardi sarcastically remarking that any fine would have to be paid by the two speakers.

We will not see this happening again, because the Labour Party has chosen not to participate – the PN is saying that the PL has withdrawn – in the second debate scheduled for 1 March after the conditions the PL set were not met. I cannot understand this line of thinking. The perception out there is that Labour is way ahead but a decision like this can only harm the PL’s credentials.

But, to return to the main argument of this piece, we take politics too seriously. Of course, politics is important for our well-being, and the decision we will take on 9 March is vital because it will shape our future. But we do need some more fun to spice up our days.

We need our bunga bunga and Cicciolina politics to have a good laugh.

 

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