All's well in the mother-land. With the election of Italian-American Bill De Blasio as mayor of NYC, the people here are ecstatic. De Blasio is the first Democrat to win the mayor's seat in New York in 20 years. His folksy yet forceful style has intrigued Italians, and his inter-racial family has, to a large extent, delighted people in Italy where an increase of immigration (both economic and political refugees) from Africa, the Middle East, Asia, Latin America and poorer areas of Europe, is making Italians confront racial issues for the first time in 152 years.
But that is only part of it. De Blasio is an Italian-American, and he seems to speak with conviction and style. His gestures speak even louder (Italian papers carried photos of him doing his own shopping, and carrying laundry to the laundry mat -- things that the Italian political class would never be caught doing). His election it seems to make up for the Espionage Scandal of last week (what they called the 007 Phone surveillance) and the abduction of two Italians by the Indian government, and the total disarray of the Italian House of Deputies, and the 11% increase in joblessness in central and southern Italy. So everyone was toasting NYC today. As one colleague told me: "Things are so bad here that when an emigrant or the son of Italians abroad does well, we re-adopt him as our own, and have the courage to go forward with a sense of relief that we'll get out of the present difficult time."
Makes me smile, actually.
But that is only part of it. De Blasio is an Italian-American, and he seems to speak with conviction and style. His gestures speak even louder (Italian papers carried photos of him doing his own shopping, and carrying laundry to the laundry mat -- things that the Italian political class would never be caught doing). His election it seems to make up for the Espionage Scandal of last week (what they called the 007 Phone surveillance) and the abduction of two Italians by the Indian government, and the total disarray of the Italian House of Deputies, and the 11% increase in joblessness in central and southern Italy. So everyone was toasting NYC today. As one colleague told me: "Things are so bad here that when an emigrant or the son of Italians abroad does well, we re-adopt him as our own, and have the courage to go forward with a sense of relief that we'll get out of the present difficult time."
Makes me smile, actually.
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