ashamed

Today, I'm really ashamed to be italian. I was happy, you know?, happy that finally 76 years of jail had been asked (in total) for those fascist policemen who tortured protesting people at Diaz school in Genoa during G8 meeting in 2001.

For those who don't know what I'm talking about, let say that instead of looking for the black blocks who destroyed shops and streets in Genoa, policemen found much easier to charge and beat students, old people and many other pacific manifestants. And to enter in a school where a lot of people was sleeping, to beat all the people they could (journalists among them), to bring all of them to the police station, to beat them again and to humiliate them in ways that would have probably met the approval of Pinochet's soldiers during dictatorship in Chile...

But it happened in 2001, not 40 years ago. And it happened in the middle of Europe. Now after 7 years (and 2 governments which did nothing to clarify responsibility and punish who ordered the use of violence), we're finally coming to a judgement....

Except that NONE of them will do a single day of jail: in Italy there exists no law against tortures, probably because they were assuming nothing like this could have ever happened, so they're accused of minor things (abuse of their official position). as a result shorted condemnation will be condoned, and longer one will probably be canceled because the process has taken too much time.

Welcome to the banana republic and to the sleep of democracy...

I cannot believe this. Period. But it's true. And I fear it can happen again.


TRY NOT TO FORGET
UPDATE: and if you're italian, an interesting article from Repubblica

and...

...don't forget it's March the 8th...

freedom (?)

Well, I should be working right now (even if it's saturday), but I was always curious about press freedom in the world and the general lack of it in Italy. Since I finally found the source of the annual worldwide press freedom ranking, I wanted to share it.

The website is Reporter sans Frontiers and the 2007 ranking still shows a very sad situation for Italy (after the 40th position in 2006): we are 35th, last among western European countries, even after (but no offence is intended towards these countries) Costarica, Ghana, Namibia and Taiwan!
And the worst part is that in Italy no one seems to know or care about... But, of course, if there is incomplete press freedom how could the news be reported?

It's really a bad moment for my native country, especially in view of next elections with opposite parties which seem to have the same approach to the social and economical problems.

happy birthday (1 day late)

yesterday Master of Puppets had its 22nd anniversary. I discovered it when I was 15 (and it was 7) and it helped me to survive to long study sessions at high school (what a pleasure to translate from latin with some good trash metal in my ears)...

shame on me to have forgotten its birthday yesterday

but better late than never (as we say in Italy)!!!

sanitarium (welcome home)

STUPID FLU!!! I was supposed to go to ski today. Instead, I woke up with fever and had to stay home... It will end up that I spend 2 years in Norway without going to ski once :(

To fight the bad mood, I slept, worked a bit, skyped [*] a lot and tried to find new music that I like. Of course I failed, on the musical task. Maybe I already know all the bands I could like.

But, at least, I decided that I hate emo (or emo rock, or emo hardcore, or whatever is the correct definition)... And I hate My Chemical Romance (I'd maybe save I'm not OK, but the rest of the songs are crap): they sound too clean and they left no trace in my mind after the end of the songs. Definitely disappointing (compared to the success they seem to have).
If I need something alternative in my playlists I'll keep listening to Gods of Blitz (The Rising [**]) and Metric (Monster Hospital). No need of additional bad songs in my ears.

After dinner I'll listen a bit of 30 seconds to Mars, but I don't have expectations... we'll see.


UPDATE: I was right. 30STM aren't that better than MCR... They can at least play good here and there (e.g. the beginning of The Kill and of Capricorn), but as a whole thy're nothing special to me. thumbs down. Anyway I came to few conclusions about new young bands: you cannot sell a lot of discs if you don't:

1. have a stupid hair fringe,
   
2. use a touch of eyeliner,
   
3. have a name made of many words you can contract in an acronym!
   

Thanks god, in April we'll have a new record from R.E.M.


[*] which is not a real word yet, but I know that, so I keep using it for pleasure
[**] which I discovered on Flux, the very good MTV spin-off which now has changed in qoob, losing the alternative/electronic music part (now only present in MTV Brand New). R.I.P. Flux: you lasted few months, but I won't forget you!

sitting still

sleepy day... instead of writing up my thoughts about italian politics (a thing I'll do soon, anyway :P ) I put here a couple of songs... so that I don't need to look for them on youtube anymore





quite different songs, but who cares? it's not that we could only like a single kind of music