Insight: Beppe Grillo - Italian clown or political mastermind?

[Ghost Dog]

... International media describe Grillo as a comic, which on one level he is, but the man who jointly created and leads the party that in just three years has become the largest in Italy is much more than that...

... "The left and right will govern together on the ruins they've created, it will last a year at most, then our movement will change the world," Grillo said after his party's triumphant performance in last week's election...

... "A single man in command is not democracy," said Pier Luigi Bersani after his Democratic Party (PD) was beaten into second place in the vote. "Behind Bersani is the PD, I want to know what is behind Grillo."

The answer is Casaleggio, and his Milan-based firm Casaleggio Associates whose business is to create websites and web-based marketing campaigns for clients.

The two men met in 2004 and the following year Casaleggio's company created Grillo's hugely successful blog. Casaleggio has been running Grillo's public activities ever since. They are joint founders of the 5-Star Movement...

/... http://uk.reuters.com/article/2013/03/07/us-italy-vote-grillo-insight-idUSBRE92608G20130307

[NYC_SKP]

1. Neither, it's the name of a popular Italian Restaurant Chain.

Forgive me.

knr

[Fire Walk With Me]

2. Their portions and meatballs are enormous so "I'll allow it"

Considering that the last PM was a Goldman Sachs lackey (one of many positioned into banks and government across the EU), this is a very large potential for positive change. Crossing my fingers...

[muriel_volestrangler]

3. You might also be interested in this - a left wing analysis

Grillismo: Yet another right-wing cult coming from Italy

Some of you may have Italian friends who used to place themselves to the Left and recently chose to vote for the 5SM, or even become 5SM activists. We bet they didn’t tell you about the more right-wing aspects of the movement, because you’d certainly ask them: «I beg your pardon? You’re doing political work side by side with fascists? You’ve joined a movement that rejects the very notion of antifascism? A movement that wants to abolish trade unions?! You voted for a guy who praises Ron Paul and US-style ‘libertarianism’? Mate, what’s wrong with you?», and they’d have to scramble for self-justifications.

Your friends are probably aware of those aspects, but either underestimate them or instantly remove them, because they’re too disquieting. Such is the disgust toward «the old political system» that criticising a «new» movement is deemed as a manifestation of pedantry and intellectual luxury: «First of all, let’s give a shoulder push to the rotten political establishment, then we’ll talk about Grillo’s faults. We can’t afford that now!»
To us, this is a very dangerous approach.
...
The «Caste vs. People» frame was activated in the political debate slightly before the 5SM came into existence, and paved the highway for it.
What Grillo and Casaleggio did on their own was extending the concept of «Caste» to include almost all civil servants, whom the 5SM rhetoric turns into mere parasites. In one of his most infamous blog posts, Grillo demanded that «tens of thousand of public employees [be] laid off». As Rossana Dettori – a leader of CGIL trade union – correctly pointed out, behind the phrases that Grillo uses in an abstract way (eg «public employees») there are hospitals and emergency rooms, firefighters, schools and kindergartens, social services for the elderly and the gravely ill, «as well as democratic institutions which ensure that such services keep working».

Truth is, Italy’s public sector has the highest rate of union enrollment and activity. 78.79% of public employees take part to the election of their workplace union representatives (RSU). Therefore, the real targets of Grillo’s invective against public employees are trade unions. He called for the utter «elimination» of trade unions more than once.

http://www.wumingfoundation.com/english/wumingblog/?p=1950

[Ghost Dog]

4. We're all highly aware of the potential "Mussolini factor"

down here in S, Europe, of course.

(Spanish appear to be quite well innoculated now, however, although... it's their culture).

Mmmm.

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Edit: Mind you, I could almost foresee the same kind of thing coming to pass in UK... Ok, I'll shut up.