To paraphrase something which Oscar Wilde said in regard to America, we can refer to this united Italy as an entity that "has gone from Piedmontese barbarity to decadence without having grazed civilization". Just look around you, beyond the deceitful, hidden persuasions of the information media. In fact, let’s start with the information media (for those who may not know it, they are what today are called "mass media"). If you listen to the radio, not to mention television, there is no chance of finding a serious program beyond the gross nonsense and stupid shows that are served up to us. As for the press, we can only say that it has truly reached a state of paroxysm, inclined as it is to sing the praises of those in power who have just been touched by some idiotic satire or by falsely populist statements, but very careful not to exceed certain limits. With regard to schools, you don’t even know where to begin. They are in such continuous transformation that you have scarcely understood the last reform when already a new one has occurred. There is one thing that all of these reforms have in common though: indoctrination according to the canons of the reigning platitudes, and conformity – more idiotic than ever – to catto-communist and risorgimental ideologies. Not to mention Health, Transportation, Justice and Economy. I assume you all know how these are viewed. Health has become "unhealthy". Transportation is "chaotic". Justice is "unjust" and the Economy is "sick". Who do we blame for all of this? The question has no answer. Unless we look at things from en external point of view, that is from the perspective of something that is not within us but that nevertheless looms over us and conditions us without us being aware of the pressure – though everyone is always talking about it - namely, globalization, internationalization. Subtly, invisibly, but continuously and urgently we are all being homogenized toward a way of life that is not our original one, without however feeling propelled toward a new civilization because of it. It is indeed true that the world has become a "global village" as a result of the transportation and electronic revolution that has put everyone in communication with everyone else, overturning every tradition and every life style. For Italy, in particular, the (forced) participation in a united Europe has meant in addition the loss of national sovereignty, even though in actuality – and this is even more serious – it had not had sovereignty since the end of the Second World War insofar as it is in fact a satellite of the United States. The lack of sovereignty has made every government decision merely a way of dragging along as best it can, with results that are evident to all. Above all we in the South have had to endure the most deleterious effects of this country which has never been united, prone first and foremost to favor always and only that notorious "industrial triangle" constructed from every kind of rape perpetrated upon the South; it still takes advantage of us, exploiting us as though we were an internal colony in order to sustain "its" economy. Despite this fact, the famous "industrial triangle" has never been able to achieve substantial economic results in the international arena, except through continuous devaluation of the lira, or by securing more than 43,000 billion in funds allocated for international cooperation through the sale of (damaged) goods for "humanitarian aid". But we genuine southerners will never be a part of this sordid "global village". They may well force us physically and politically but we will never take part with our head, our heart, our traditions and our way of life. Besides we genuine southerners will certainly never be equal to those wretches on the other shore. I am referring to the Jacobin southerners, always the traitors, those who continue to sell us out for their own blind egoism, in exchange for a filthy 30 coins, a betrayal that today is disguised by globalism as in 1860 it was disguised by Italian unity. At that time they destroyed everything we had, even those things that were most sacred; today they are bringing us into this Europe and are trying to erase, perhaps definitively, our very identity as a people. With a united Italy, they made us become merely "southerners", no longer citizens of the Two Sicilies. With a united Europe what will we become?
Antonio Pagano / English translation by Anna Milano Appel
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