Gianfranco Mascia
Il Libro Viola

I warn you right away: this is a non-impartial review about a non-impartial book written by a non-impartial individual (Gianfranco Mascia) penned by a non-impartial individual (Me). Therefore, I don't feel like rating it, because if I did, I wouldn't be rating just the work itself.

Even the way I got my hands on this book wasn't impartial. I received it directly from the young hands of Gianfranco Mascia's son and contributed to Mascia's wife. I was indeed at the family-run presentation of "Il libro viola" ("Storia del Movimento No B-Day" as the subtitle). Present were, besides the author obviously, various "prominent" figures (though I don't think it's the right term, seems "too political party") of Il Popolo Viola, journalist and blogger Alessandro Gilioli, satirical journalist from L'Unità Francesca Fornario and, after the presentation, I glimpsed Piotta (yes, him). "Why are you telling us this?" you might ask. Well, because this presentation was publicized online like every event linked to Il Popolo Viola since the famous No Berlusconi Day on December 5, 2009. Or rather via a Facebook event, where about 200 people confirmed their attendance if I remember correctly, even though in that tiny and charming room in the center of Rome, we were about fifty or so. After all, how many of you have clicked "will attend" on a Facebook event and then bailed spectacularly, driven by the waning sense of responsibility that the internet has instilled since its inception? ...ok, put your hands down. Well, among other things, Il Popolo Viola is also working on this problem, and looking at recent results, I’d say it’s doing quite well. But let's go in order.

Who is Gianfranco Mascia?

Gianfranco Mascia himself explains it in a dedicated chapter of his essay. Mascia was among the first to realize in the months preceding the imminent "entry into the field" (January 26, 1993) that something was amiss, that a person with three television networks, several newspapers, a football team, and other companies under his belt could not govern a country, moreover, Italian law didn't even allow it. "Conflict of interest!!!", yes, Mascia had shouted this almost two decades ago, when even today some opposition parties only whisper it, as something that exists but can be pretended not to. And so he founded the BOBI committees "BOicotta il BIscione" which promote various actions of playful and non-violent protest against the Berlusconian empire starting from the boycott of his television networks and his supermarket chain Standa. Without the internet, only with phones and fax to coordinate everything, his initiatives succeed, he manages to unite all the people who have been able to preemptively sense the bad wind blowing over Italian democracy. It's still a case of a flea against an elephant (or a horrible five-headed slobbering monster, take your pick) but something is moving. And this movement, some don't like. And to playfulness and non-violence, a brutal, terrible, untellable violence is responded to. However, Mascia, with evident effort, tells us about it in the most dramatic pages of the entire book. February 11, 1994. Two men (who remain anonymous and almost faceless, unfortunately) enter Mascia's office, tie him up, knock him out, and torture him. Stuff of films. Shame it's all true and very few know it.

And then?

Astonished by such a violent reaction, Mascia does not lose heart, he knows he must not lose heart, he simply cannot, especially after what has happened, however, he decides to aim lower and focus on more modest and immediate objectives regarding local politics. From then on, he will found the Greens in Emilia-Romagna, promote a netstrike against the site www.giustizia.it on January 10, 2002 (tenth anniversary of Clean Hands), participate in the Girotondi, be a freelance journalist for Arcoiris, a coordinator for Beppe Grillo's Vday and, yes, he finds himself in a couple of months from clicking "join" on the Facebook group "A national demonstration to demand Berlusconi's resignation" to speaking in front of a million people at Piazza San Giovanni for the No Berlusconi Day (December 5, 2009). And then off, in a purple whirl (the color chosen as the symbol of the demonstration, the color of the soul, symbol of civil society against the manipulations of the parties) here he is coordinating Il Popolo Viola, which is not a party but a movement of angry people against the anomaly of democracy in Italy, and organizing numerous more or less large demonstrations that all share horizontality, propulsion "from the bottom," from the Net, the same network that pushed a million people (no, not 90,000 as the police department said) into the square on December 5th. The Net, us, not television, not the press, not a party. Us, me, you. Tom, Dick, Harry, and even our friend Fritz.

What is Il libro viola, then?

First and foremost, it's an "instant book" a book made in a hurry that deals, as you can imagine, with hyper-recent events. That’s for the form. Essentially it is the testimony of one of the protagonists at the forefront of an extraordinary citizens' movement that originated on the web, which then took the name "Popolo Viola". Not a leader, simply someone who, given his background, put his heart and soul into it and wanted to narrate his emotions trying to make those who weren't at the No Berlusconi Day feel them. The author indeed addresses a sort of alter ego, an imaginary companion with whom he has shared his political experiences from 1993 to now. As if having a reunion, he often exclaims, "do you remember that time when Berlusconi? Remember?" and then reminds us what the new man (as he sarcastically calls the premier of Arcore) did, just like an anecdote from the old days. Old days not so glittering, though. And the reader remembers with him as if they have lived the same things: the surprise, the indignation, the despair, the pain, the resignation (the "lazy thought" in the author's words), the hope, and, finally, the joy, yes. Because at Piazza San Giovanni, million or not, there really was a crowd, and regardless of where you were during the demonstration (in the throng, on stage, or at home) reading the impassioned lines that describe it, you (re)feel immersed in that fabulous crowd, in that purple sea, in that "open source web-demonstration" as Luca Telese defined it. Because for once a demonstration has breached the upper echelons, has rewritten the agendas of opposition politicians, has caused numerous existential crises (who said Bersani?). It doesn't stop here, in any case. Gianfranco Mascia is a "pragmatic theorist" and wants to imagine a future for the movement, or any other group born from the grassroots and managed by simple users through simple guidelines.

"Who acts, represents; who proposes, takes responsibility [...]; who knows, offers themselves [...]."

and again

 "Everyone can freely express their specificities without having to take membership cards, ask for permissions, or feel empowered to act".

Here, few but good, all without taking oneself too seriously. A flexible, multifaceted, varied movement with many projects, including a fundamental one: removing Berlusconi from office, putting him on trial, picking up the pieces, working to finally create a normal democracy. The end. Having done this, Il Popolo Viola can even dissolve. But until then, there will be, and there will be other damnably "phresh," determined, and damn well democratic movements. Yeah.

Il libro viola, for me.

"Still not leaving?!!" you must be exclaiming. Hey! I warned you it wouldn't be impartial, come on. Anyway, I'm getting to the acknowledgments. Happy? So, I must thank Gianfranco Mascia, who autographed the book for me. Since I started following Il popolo viola like a die-hard fan (still as active militant I must find the right momentum, we'll see), I've seen his face many times but didn't know his name, which I learned only at a recent demonstration. Emblematic fact: in Il Popolo Viola individualities matter but without hierarchies, there are no leaders (Mascia himself doesn't like being defined so, because he actually isn't), everyone has the same weight. And everyone can participate, I know for sure. Just before December 5, I printed about thirty flyers for No B-Day and stuck them with scotch tape around my neighborhood with joyous euphoria and even a pinch of childish stupidity by attaching one on the shutter of a PDL section (in the '70s, it would have cost me dearly, I know). And I had a heck of fun. I still have fun. I shout slogans at demonstrations and feel good. I am happy, I feel a hope pushing me to truly believe in a change. Of my twenty years, sixteen have been stolen by Berlusconi and his scum government: racist, incompetent, and dishonest. I told you I would be obscenely biased. I hope anyway to have encouraged you to read this little book, which is quite short. Or to have infused you with a bit of hope, because this time, I feel it, progress will save us but power is nothing without control. Or to have even made you damn angry.

I don't care, I have a fucking purple hope that makes me tremble and your 1s don’t scare me.

"Whoever doesn’t jump, is Berlusconi!!!"

Thank you very much, Popolo Viola, which by the way, would also be me. :D