Bettino Craxi

Bettino Craxi (born Benedetto Craxi in Milan, Italy on February 24, 1934) was an Italian politician. The diminutive of Benedetto used to be Benito between revolutionary Italian families, as a Spanish and South American reference, until Benito Mussolini made it inexpedient, imprudent and offensive to use that form.

Downfall and Disgrace

Mani Pulite

The last main turning point of his career began taking place in the early nineteen-nighties.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

A team of Milanese judges began investigating the affairs of party financing; Milan was then stronghold of the Italian Socialist Party, and for some time Craxi's own son-in-law, Paolo Pillitteri, was the mayor of the city. This initiative came to be called Mani pulite (Italian for clean hands). No party was spared, but in some parties corruption had become more commonplace than elsewhere (either because of more available occasion, or because of internal culture). To this day, some people (especially those who were close to Craxi) argue that some parties (such as the Italian Communist Party) were left untouched, while the leaders of then ruling coalition (and in particular Bettino Craxi) were wiped-off the political map.

Related Topics:
Milanese - Milan - Italian Socialist Party - Mani pulite - Italian Communist Party

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

The judges in Milan were put under scrutiny several times by different governments (especially Silvio Berlusconi's first government in 1994), but no evidence of any misconduct was ever found. It was also alleged that the Communists could "afford" not to resort to corruption because of financing from the Soviet Union. While this still remains unproven, such a fact would anyway have been covered by a previous amnesty. Furthermore, the public opinion was much less concerned about foreign financing than about the misappropriation of "their" money by corrupt politicians.

Related Topics:
Silvio Berlusconi - 1994 - Soviet Union - Amnesty

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

In the end, his party fell from 14% of votes to virtual nonexistence. An ironic note was that the shattered remnants party were excluded by seats in the Parliament due to a minimum vote requirement of 4% on national basis, that Bettino Craxi himself had called for when his party was well above that level; the quota was actually lowered from 5 to 4% on the Socialists' request, but this was however not enough.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

During the "Mani pulite" period, Craxi tried to use a daring defense tactic: he maintained that all parties needed and took money illegally, however they could get it, to finance their activities. His defense line was therefore not to declare himself innocent, but everybody guilty. While this may have been true to a certain degree, most citizens had anyway a bad feeling toward most politicians, and Craxi's "defense" met no sympathy in the public opinion, if it did not enrage it even further.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

See also: Tangentopoli (Italian for bribeville, used to indicate the corruption-based system that ruled Italy; Craxi is seen by many as the symbol of it)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

"Midgets and Dancers"

Craxi's lifestyle was perceived to be unjustified for the secretary of a party with so many alleged financial problems: he used to live in an expensive Hotel in Rome's centre (Piazza Navona), the Raphael, and had a large villa in Hammamet, Tunisia. As the Mani Pulite investigations were to uncover in the nineties, personal corruption was endemic in Italian society; while many politicians, including Craxi, would justify corruption with the necessities of a democracy, many political leaders at many levels enjoyed a lifestyle that should have been well out of their reach, while most parties continued having financial problems. Rino Formica, a prominent member of the Socialist Party in those years, wittily stated that the convent is poor, but the friars are rich.

Related Topics:
Rome - Piazza Navona - Hammamet - Tunisia - Mani Pulite - Nineties - Endemic

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Furthermore, his arrogant character won him many enemies; one of his most condemned actions were blaming corruption in the socialist party on treasurer Vincenzo Balzamo, just after the latter's suicide, trying to clear himself of any accusation. He had also controversial friendships with Siad Barre, dictator of Somalia, and Ben Ali, dictator of Tunisia. The latter provided protection to Craxi when he escaped from Italy.

Related Topics:
Siad Barre - Somalia - Ben Ali - Tunisia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craxi's entourage was sharply defined by a critic as a court of midgets and dancers, indicating the often ludicrous and immoral traits of a system based on personal acquaintance rather than own merit. Among the friends of Craxi's to receive smaller and larger favours, Silvio Berlusconi is perhaps the most known: he received many favours, especially regarding his media empire, and had a decree named after him ("Decreto Berlusconi") long before he entered politics. Other figures were Craxi's mistresses Anja Pieroni, who owned a TV station in the Rome area, and Sandra Milo, who had a skyrocketing career in the state TV conglomerate RAI.

Related Topics:
Silvio Berlusconi - RAI

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

He was also known for never apologizing, as a matter of principle; whereas some did like this autocratic trait in his successful years, most Italians expected an apology after the corruption system had been exposed. Craxi never apologized, stating he had done nothing that everybody else had not been doing, and that he was being unjustly singled out and persecuted.

Related Topics:
Autocratic - Apology

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Escape to Tunisia

All this resulted in him being considered the symbol of political corruption, and for a time he was probably Italy's most despised man. This was clearly visible when he, coming out of his hotel, received a salvo of coins that students threw to him as as sign of loath. Some of the students waved 1,000-lire bills, singing Bettino, take these too! to the tune of Guantanamera.

Related Topics:
Political corruption - Lire - Guantanamera

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Understanding that the risk of being jailed was growing very real, Craxi escaped to Tunisia in 1994, and there remained, protected by Ben Ali's government, until his death from diabetes complications. He repeatedly declared himself innocent, but never returned to Italy where he had already been sentenced to a number of years in jail because of corruption charges.

Related Topics:
Tunisia - 1994 - Diabetes - Italy

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craxi's figure is currently subject of experiments of rehabilitation by supporters of Silvio Berlusconi, who draw a parallelism between how Craxi and Berlusconi were "persecuted" by "red judges" (toghe rosse, lit. "red robes"). Many of his supporters in the socialist party moved to (an Italian pejorative expression is often "recycled themselves into") Berlusconi's right-wing coalition, among others his former foreign minister Gianni De Michelis, political TV journalist Giuliano Ferrara, and former priest Gianni Baget Bozzo, suspended a divinis (forbidden to celebrate mass and suspended from clerical duties) when he was elected to the European parliament with Craxi's socialist party.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Craxi died on January 19, 2000, at the age of 66 from complications of diabetes in disgrace and exile in Hammamet, Tunisia.

Related Topics:
January 19 - 2000 - Hammamet - Tunisia

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~