Women in 2008 elections: Italy and US

(Photo source)

This week I’m going to discuss 2008 elections again! To tell you the truth, I’m getting more and more involved in this matter because, while learning English, I can increase my intercultural competence and keep abreast of the latest political developments in both Italy and the U.S.A. For example, during my last English class before the Easter break, my group mates and I were thinking about analysing if and how women are considered in the platforms of the Italian and American candidates. For this reason, I decided to get some information on this issue. Instead of reading articles from newspapers, this time I chose to watch some videos taken from the candidates’ official websites:

- a video about a convention, “Donne per l'Italia. Protagoniste del cambiamento”, that Berlusconi hold in Rome on March 29;

- a video about a meeting of the Democratic Party (PD) which took place in Mestre on March 8^th and was dedicated to women.

- a video published on Hillary Clinton’s official website, under the page “A Champion for Women”, where the candidate talks about women's rights.

After listening to these speeches and quickly reading through the platforms, I can say that Italian candidates are more concerned with women role in society than the American candidates. As a matter of fact, only Hillary quotes women among her platform issues; McCain and Obama talk about family in general or children, rather than women. In Berlusconi and Veltroni’s platforms, on the other hand, women play a key role. Both candidates put the accent on their intention to increase women representation in Parliament and women participation in the socio-political life of our country. Veltroni stated that, if he won, there would be 130 women in Parliament (three times as much as in Prodi’s government). PdL (People of Freedom) wants women to be central figures of the next government – above all in fields such as economics, defence, security, foreign policy, etc. – because women politicians in Italy still suffer prejudice and poor support; they’re often victims of gossip or considered as recommended people.

Both Italian parties aim to valorise women not only in politics, but also in society, for example, by encouraging firms to hire women workers (one of Veltroni’s proposals is to benefit businesses that respect gender equality and to oblige state enterprises to have effective women representation in their boards) and by preventing women from choosing between professional career and motherhood. In addition, PdL and PD agree on the need to build public nurseries, and Veltroni supports women’s possibility of choosing flexible and part-time jobs as well. The two candidates share the same opinion on motherhood too: families have to be supported by giving them the so-called “baby bonus”, that is a benefit for every child born; finally, big families should be backed through significant tax cuts. Veltroni (who in my opinion provides more concrete examples of how he wants to achieve his goals) says that he will give families 2.500 euros for each new child, that he will introduce additional paternity leave, and that low-income families will get 100% of their wages for 12 months while on leave.

Hillary Clinton, on the other hand, is totally involved in fighting against pay disparities between men and women. Actually, US women still suffer pay discrimination. In the speech I listened to, Hillary said that full-time women earn 77 cents for every dollar that a man makes and that for women of colour is even less: 67 cents for African American women and 56 cents for Latinos. If she wins the elections, she will close the pay gap between men and women by toughening the penalties for those who violate the Equal Payment Act, ensuring equal pay laws, and prohibiting employers to fire employees who share salary information to find out if they are treated unfairly. Moreover, she wants to raise funds for the research on breast cancer.

Comparing Hillary’s platform to that of Berlusconi and Veltroni made me reflect upon the fact that none of them has taken unequal pay practices into account, although this is a big problem that affects Italian society as well.

Happy Easter :-)

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Let's compare U.S., U.K. and Italy's press!

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This week I want to discuss the way the news on American and Italian elections is presented in the online version of three newspapers from three different countries:

The New York Times (U.S.A)

The Guardian (U.K.)

Il Giornale (Italy)

First of all, I’d like to give a general description of the three journals – political alignment, coverage of political events, location of the news, differences and similarities. Let’s start with the NY Times.

The New York Times is a daily newspaper published in New York City and distributed internationally; it is the largest metropolitan newspaper in the United States. According to a 2007 survey of public perceptions of media, "40% believe the Times has a liberal slant and 11% believe it has a conservative slant” (Wikipedia).

As for the U.S. elections, The NY Times website includes a section ("Politics") where all the articles about the election campaign are published and where the reader can find the link to “The Caucus”, the New York Times Politics Blog, and to another section, “Election Guide 2008”, which provides useful information about the elections in general (primary election results, candidate profiles, campaign finances, primary calendars, map of campaign events, comparison between the candidates about health care, abortion, Iraq, immigration and other issues). All in all, this newspaper offers a lot of information and data about the elections, though many titles regard the Democrats, Obama in particular.

Below there are the links to the most important articles (those in the upper part of the page with the biggest titles) that have been published during these last few days.

For Democrats, Increased Fears of a Long Fight (March 16)

Obama Denounces Statements of His Pastor as ‘Inflammatory’ (March 15)

A Free-Spirited Wanderer Who Set Obama’s Path (March 14)

Democrats Face Racial Issue Again (March 13)

Obama Wins in Mississippi (March 12)

The Guardian is a British newspaper; it’s published from Monday to Saturday. According to a December, 2004 survey, 44% of Guardian readers voted in favour of Labour, 37% for the Liberal Democrats and only 5% for the Conservatives, the lowest percentage of any large British newspaper. The paper's comment and opinion pages are dominated by centre-left writers and academics (Wikipedia).

The online version includes a section, “US Election 2008” (like The NY Times), where the news is presented in reverse chronological order. Like The New York Times, The Guardian gives extensive coverage of Clinton - Obama race, and here again the main focus is on the Senator from Illinois, Barack Obama.

These days, The Guardian has been giving particular attention on the potential damage to Obama's campaign after the sermons by his former pastor, the Rev Jeremiah Wright, who accused the governement of racism and describes black Republicans as sellouts. The Guardian has dedicated three articles – The Times only one – to the question (see the links below) and, for three days, the news Pastor's sermons could hurt Obama has covered the upper-left side of the “US elections 2008” page.

Pastor's hellfire sermons put Obama's campaign in hot water (March 14)

Obama forced to denounce pastor's inflammatory remarks (March 14)

Obama faces potential damage from his pastor's comments (March 13)

Il Giornale is a daily newspaper published in Milan, Italy. I think it’s worth quoting a short history of the paper I found on Wikipedia to better understand the reason why it’s “characterized from its birth by strong opposition to the left-wing parties”.

It was founded in 1974 by Indro Montanelli, who did not support the new progressive line adopted by Corriere della Sera, where he was one of the historic names. In 1977 Montanelli, in economical difficulties, accepted a financing offer by Silvio Berlusconi, who thus became the newspaper publisher. Indro Montanelli edited and directed il Giornale from its creation, until Berlusconi entered politics (December 1993). At that time he decided to found the new daily La Voce. In 1994, Berlusconi sold il Giornale to his brother Paolo and Vittorio Feltri replaced Indro Montanelli in the newspaper editorship (Wikipedia).

As far as the Italian general elections are concerned, I’ve noticed that Il Giornale often speaks about Silvio Berlusconi and carefully reports all the events that concern the leader of PdL. In other words, the viewpoint expressed in the articles is nearly always that of the right-wing candidate, mainly because they’re full of quotes from his speeches. When you read the articles is more or less the same as listening to Berlusconi’s speeches, such as when he attacks the left candidate, Walter Veltroni, or denigrates what the previous left government did.

On average, articles on Berlusconi are published daily and cover at least two pages:
Berlusconi: brogli, rischio grandissimo. Fisco, introdurremo il quoziente familiare (March 16)

Crescita, Berlusconi:"La crisi Usa mette a rischio il Paese" (March 15)

Berlusconi: "Convinceremo gli indecisi". Dal Ppe polemiche su Ciarrapico (March 14)

Berlusconi: antifascista la nostra identità. Politiche, ecco tutti i candidati del Pdl (March 13)

It’s significant that from Thursday March 13 up to now, only one article has been published on Veltroni, and it’s only one page long. In addition, the articles on Berlusconi are posted in the central part of the home page, at the top, so that they have a privileged position on the page. The titles are always followed by big pictures of the “Cavaliere”, who is often portrayed with a very sparkling and self-confident expression, such as here or here .

Unlike The New York Times and The Guardian, Il Giornale doesn’t have a section entirely dedicated to the elections in Italy – polls, campaign events, descriptions of the platforms –, and all the news about Italian politics are published under the “Prima pagina” section.

Do The Times and The Guardian follow the news about Italy’s general elections?

The Times doesn’t follow Italian politics a lot, and (when it does) the accent is on the elections in general, except for one article on Berlusconi: Berlusconi’s Long Shadow Casts a Chill Over Italian Politics (February 2). In fact, it only reported the major political events that happened in Italy in February, after the crisis of Prodi’s government (see the links below), and in these first two weeks of March no articles have been published on Italian general elections.

Italy: Rome Mayor Resigns To Take On Berlusconi (February 14)

With Flawed System Unchanged, Italy Sets Elections for April (February 7)

Mired in Crisis, Italy Veers Toward Elections (February 5)

The Guardian seems to be more interested in Berlusconi's candidancy rather than in the election developments, as can be seen in the links below.

King of the gaffe charms Italy again (March 16)

Berlusconi poised for comeback in general election (February 6)

However, the accent on Italian politics reached its peak in February, when Italy announced the snap general election.

Italy announces election date (February 6)

Italy heads for general election (February 5)

Does Il Giornale follow the news about U.S. elections?

This paper is mostly concerned with the Italian campaign; a few events about US elections are reported under “Esteri”. One article about US campaign was published last week, on March 13 (Usa, razzismo nelle urne. Tra i democratici è rissa); however, I found several articles dated from March 9 backwards. As can be seen from the links below, Il Giornale updates its readers on the American elections every two or three days, and stress is put on the Democratic candidates.
Usa, Obama vince nel Wyoming (March 9)

«Hillary è un mostro»: si dimette la principale consigliera di Obama (March 8)

Tra i litiganti Obama e Clinton il repubblicano McCain gode (March 5)

Obama in turbante: la foto-scandalo in rete (February 25)

Primarie Usa: Obama e Hillary divisi su Cuba (February 22)

Primarie Usa, i superdelegati lasciano Hillary per Obama (February 15)

I super-delegati gelano Hillary «Potremmo seguire Obama» (February 13)

Now, let’s compare how the three newspapers dealt with the Ferraro case!

An event which caught the attention of all the three newspapers is the resignation of Geraldine A. Ferraro, former vice-presidential nominee, from Hillary Clinton’s campaign finance committee. Ferraro made no apologies for citing Senator Barack Obama’s race as the decisive factor in his success, i.e. for stating that Obama could not claim the Democratic nomination if he were white or a woman (“If Obama was a white man, he would not be in this position. And if he was a woman of any color, he would not be in this position. He happens to be very lucky to be who he is. And the country is caught up in the concept.”). After being accused of racism, she wrote a letter to the former first lady saying that she stepped down from the fundraising committee because the Obama campaign had misrepresented her remarks to deliberately hurt Mrs. Clinton: “The Obama campaign is attacking me to hurt you. I won’t let that happen.” To be more precise, she accused Obama’s senior adviser, David Axelrod, of “using race as a tactical weapon and of implying that her remarks were racist”. Clinton said she disagreed with Ferraro’s statements, and Obama defined her comment as “divisive”.

By comparing the three articles, I realized that The New York Times (Ferraro Is Unapologetic for Remarks and Ends Her Role in Clinton Campaign) and The Guardian (Ferraro steps down from Clinton campaign role) are more factual and unbiased, though the former is more detailed than the latter. The article on Il Giornale (Usa, razzismo nelle urne. Tra i democratici è rissa), instead, is less factual containing very few facts and a lot of comments and opinions by the writer: “Doveva succedere: bianco-nero, il razzismo, la segregazione. La minoranza afroamericana e la maggioranza bianca. […] : la questione razziale entra di colpo nella campagna elettorale delle primarie. […] E non si sa se sia stata una gaffe o una scelta precisa per togliere lo sguardo dallo scandalo di Eliot Spitzer”, “C’è un mondo che ruota attorno al sentimento di rivincita che monta nell’ambiente nero”, “Con Obama potenziale candidato presidente e primo afroamericano della storia che può davvero arrivare alla nomination, è tornato l’orgoglio black”, etc.

Yes We Can - Barack Obama (Italian subs)

Yes We Can Lyrics by Will.I.Am

It was a creed written into the founding documents that declared the destiny of a nation.
Yes we can.
It was whispered by slaves and abolitionists as they blazed a trail toward freedom.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was sung by immigrants as they struck out from distant shores
and pioneers who pushed westward against an unforgiving wilderness.
Yes we can. Yes we can.
It was the call of workers who organized;
women who reached for the ballots;
a President who chose the moon as our new frontier;
and a King who took us to the mountain-top and pointed the way to the Promised Land.
Yes we can to justice and equality.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can to opportunity and prosperity.
Yes we can heal this nation.
Yes we can repair this world.
Yes we can. Si Se Puede
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

We know the battle ahead will be long,
but always remember that no matter what obstacles stand in our way,
nothing can stand in the way of the power of millions of voices calling for change.
We want change!
(We want change! We want change! We want change…)

We have been told we cannot do this by a chorus of cynics who will only grow louder and more dissonant.
We’ve been asked to pause for a reality check.
We’ve been warned against offering the people of this nation false hope.
But in the unlikely story that is America, there has never been anything false about hope. We want change!
(We want change! I want change! We want change! I want change…)

The hopes of the little girl who goes to a crumbling school in Dillon are the same as the dreams of the boy who learns on the streets of LA;
we will remember that there is something happening in America;
that we are not as divided as our politics suggests;
that we are one people;
we are one nation;
and together, we will begin the next great chapter in America’s story with three words that will ring from coast to coast;
from sea to shining sea - Yes. We. Can.
(yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can, yes we can…)

Will.I.Am - Yes We Can Song Info
“Yes We Can” is a song inspired by a speech delivered by Barack Obama following the 2008 New Hampshire primary, derived from the union catchcry “Yes we can”.

The song was released on February 2, 2008 by the Black Eyed Peas member will.i.am on Dipdive.com and also on YouTube under the username ‘WeCan08′.

Although the lyrics are entirely quotations from a speech delivered by Sen. Obama in New Hampshire during the 2008 campaign, his campaign had no involvement in its production.
The music viral video, shot in a sparse black-and-white, features Barack Obama’s image in collage fashion; the performers comprise a veritable Greek chorus echoing his words in a hip-hop call-and-response manner as his voice plays in the background.

source

Election campaign in the U.S. & Italian left wing: Clinton vs Veltroni

(photo source)

Hi everybody!

On April 13 and April 14, 2008 a snap general election will be held in Italy after the defeat of the government of Prime Minister Romano Prodi. Under Italian law, elections must be held within 70 days of the dissolution of the previous government so, in April, we have to elect our next Prime Minister. The major competitors are Silvio Berlusconi, leader of PdL (Popolo della Libertà) and of the centre-right coalition, and Walter Veltroni, leader of PD (Partito Democratico), who chose to run alone with its own platform. On the other hand, November 4, 2008 is the United States presidential Election Day, and this date will mark the 56th consecutive quadrennial election for president and vice president of the United States. The candidates for the presidency are John McCain for the Republican Party and Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama for the Democratic Party.

These are undoubtedly the two biggest political events of 2008 in the U.S. and in Italy, and there’s a question that links American and Italian people today: “Who will be the next?”. In both countries these are days of long political campaigns: right- and left-wing candidates have been campaigning throughout the countries and giving speeches about the main planks of their policy in order to persuade people to vote for them. It’s interesting, therefore, to listen to their talks and debates and try to identify key words and expressions that they use and also observe how they differently interact with their audience.
In this post I’ll analyze the language of Hillary Rodham Clinton (candidate for the Democratic nomination in the U.S. presidential election and current junior U.S. senator from New York) and Walter Veltroni (leader of the Democratic Party into the April 2008 general election in Italy).

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Hillary Rodham Clinton
By listening to Hillary Clinton's speeches, I found out that her way of speaking is characterized by the use of key words and expressions (see in bold) that reveal some topics that are central to her campaign:

- UNIVERSAL HEALTH CARE
“health care, not for just some people or most people, but for every American”
- ECONOMY
”get the economy back on track”/ “for an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top, but every single hard-working American who deserves a shot at the American dream”/ “to turn our economy around”.
- NATIONAL SECURITY
“Protecting America is the first and most urgent duty of the president”/ “We're going to protect our country”/ “people need to take foreign policy and national security seriously”/ “strengthen our security”/ “to end the war in Iraq and win the war in Afghanistan”/ “safeguard our national security”/ “we need to keep our democracy strong and our nation safe”/ “Let's build a real coalition of allies to defeat terrorists in Afghanistan and other countries that provide a safe haven for al Qaeda. Let's make it clear that any terrorists who attack the United States, who have safe haven in any country, are putting that country at risk. That is one way for us to demonstrate that we will not be the aggressor, we will not engage in pre-emptive attacks, but we will defend our nation”.
- ENERGY
“We also do need to lead the world toward a sound energy policy that treats global warming as the crisis it is and not science fiction”/ “We need to demonstrate our commitment to home-grown energy”
- VALUES
“I will always protect and defend our nation and I will always advance the traditions and values that have made our country”
(the word values is repeated several times in Hillary Clinton’s speeches, and the values she wants to promote are usually presented in stark contrast to those of President Bush)

What are these values?

- diplomacy (not force/ military power)
- multilateralism (not unitaleralism)
- soft power (not hard power)
“Over the past seven years, we've seen what happens when the president presents the American people with a series of false choices and then is indifferent about the consequences: force versus diplomacy, unilateralism versus multilateralism, hard power versus soft”/ “our military power is absolutely essential but it cannot be viewed as the solution to every international problem.”/ “Yes, we must use force when necessary but as a last resort, not a first resort”/ “reviving old fashioned diplomacy”.
- moral authority & leadership
“I propose a new American strategy to restore our moral authority”, “re-establish moral authority and our leadership”
- honor
“Honor is important. It's important to our country. We are an honorable nation therefore we must do more to take care of those who sided with, protected and saved the lives of young Americans in Iraq”.

As for the way she interacts with her audience, she’s very smiling and friendly but also determined and resolute in her ideas. She usually starts her sentences by directly addressing her audience (“You know”, “You all know”, “This is your campaign and your moment and I need your support.”), or she uses the first plural pronoun we to involve the audience in her discourse (“we all know that…”, “We have two wars abroad. We have a recession looming here at home.”). However, she sometimes makes use of more impersonal forms such as they, Americans, people or America in general (“More and more people have joined this campaign”, “…they want their turn to help make history. They want their voices to count. And they should. They should be heard.”, “Americans don't need more promises”).

A significant instance is the speech she kept on March 4th after winning Ohio and Rhode Island primary elections (click here). In this video she is often interrupted by the applause of the audience, and she uses several expressions that are typical of propaganda speeches in order to encourage supporters to clap or sing “Yes, she will!”. Some examples are as follows: “The people of Ohio have said it loudly and clearly: we're going on, we're going strong, and we're going all the way”, “You know what they say, as Ohio goes, so goes the nation. Well, this nation's coming back, and so is this campaign”, “Ohio has written a new chapter in the history of this campaign, and we're just getting started”, “I believe I am the candidate most ready today to be that kind of president and commander in chief.”, “we're going to make history”/ “I have big dreams for America's future. The question is not whether we can fulfill those dreams, it's whether we will. And here's our answer: yes, we will.”

Furthemore, Hillary Clinton often puts the accent on how the next U.S. President should be, i.e. on how she would behave as President of the United States: someone who turns “promises into action, words into solutions, and hope into reality”, “Americans are looking for answers and they're looking for a president who will be a champion for them and start solving their problems”, “a president who will be a fighter, a doer and a champion for the American people again”, “ a president […] who will be ready to act swiftly and decisively in a crisis, who will pursue strategic demands of hard diplomacy to re-establish moral authority and our leadership, “a president who is tested and ready” (“also when that 3 a.m. phone call comes to the White House because an unforeseen crisis has erupted without warning. In that split second the president has to respond and make a decision that could affect the safety and lives of millions of people here in our country and around the world.”).

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Walter Veltroni
By listening to Veltroni’s speeches, I realized that he repeats words like change, new force, energy, growth, and simplicity several times in order to point out the need of our nation for reform, innovation and for becoming a freer, simpler and more open society. This idea seems to be a key concept in his campaign; as a matter of fact, with different words, he stresses that it’s time for Italy to change, breathe new and fresh air and put an end to its old-fashioned conservatorism and its static and frozen politics (“Il nostro paese è paralizzato dalla paura del futuro, dal demone del conservatorismo”, “Potere è mettere veti e bloccare il nuovo”). Veltroni’s commitment as next Prime Minister seems to go exactly in this direction: to build “a new, young and dynamic Italy”. Because of the different socio-political problems that affect Italy and America nowadays, Veltroni’s speeches – compared to Hillary Clinton’s – are less oriented towards terrorisms, the war in Iraq, and national security. On the other hand, special attention is given to topics that are particularly relevant to our national policy:

- protecting the ENVIRONMENT & developing alternative ENERGY from sun, wind and waste disposal (= SUSTAINABILITY)
- supporting the ENTERPRENEURSHIP by cutting down unnecessary BUROCRACY, i.e. by making the starting up simple and easy (“the less burocracy, the less corruption!”)
- assuring INDUSTRIAL SAFETY
- encouraging the ECONOMIC GROWTH of the country by making the demand rise again, in other words by increasing wages and pensions.
- assuring a “compenso minimo legale” (a minimum wage) of at least 1000-1100 euros/month to CASUAL WORKERS and discouraging JOB INSECURITY
- enhancing WOMEN’S EMPLOYMENT by doubling nursery places within 5 years
- helping FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN through a tax allowance of 2500 euros per child and building houses to be rent at no more than 300-500 euros a month
- building 100 UNIVERSITY campus within 2010 to avoid rooms being overrent to students on the side
- scientific RESEARCH as the key to innovation
- adjusting PENSIONS & WAGES to take inflation into account
- promoting SOCIAL MOBILITY by putting talent and merit in the front line so that “the son of a worker can become a lawyer”
- NATIONAL SECURITY means more policemen in the streets and “certainty of the penalty”
- TAX REDUCTION & fight against TAX EVASION (“everyboby pays taxes, everybody pays less”)

As for his way of interacting with his audience, Veltroni shows a good knowledge of rhetoric (he basically says what people want to listen to…) and makes use of a lot of encouraging and promising expressions: first of all “Si può fare!” (from Obama’s “Yes, we can!”), but also “Comincia un tempo nuovo. Tempo del coraggio e del cambiamento”, “Bisogna unire l’Italia e restituirle forza, ritrovare energia vitale, rischiare di nuovo, tornare ad avere voglia di futuro”); perhaps he aims at instilling a feeling of hope and confidence in his audience. He usually speaks in a deliberate and serious manner, and the handclaps of his supporters are rarer and more moderate in comparison to those of Hillary Clinton’s. In addition, he prefers canvassing by personally meeting people from different Italian towns to presenting his political plan through mass media and television debates as the American candidates and Silvio Berlusconi have been doing these days.