Anger amongst opponents of Silvio Berlusconi

PURPLE PEOPLE CHALLENGE BERLUSCONI

The purple people are planning their resistance and supporters of this anti-Berlusconi movement founded on the Internet last year are expressing their anger. The messages reflect the violence that broke out in Rome on Tuesday following the Italian Prime Minister’s victory in parliament.

Many web users are slamming the MPs who ignored their party’s orders and gave the government their vote of confidence. Numerous pages have been set up on Facebook claiming these politicians took bribes.

And as members of the opposition are accusing Berlusconi of buying MP’s support or threatening them, web users are circulating this video to illustrate the current situation. It’s a scene from 1963 film “The Members of Parliament”, in which we see a corrupt politician say that “three votes in Parliament can turn out to be crucial for a government”.

The collective Resistenza Libera has composed this track to share it’s exasperation with Italian politics. This rap song denounces the mafia style functioning of Berlusconi’s government.

And as they wait for the next mobilisation against Il Cavaliere, meaning the Knight, his opponents are condemning the government’s attempts at controlling the web, basing their argument largely on this memo from US diplomats recently revealed by Wikileaks. They then cried censorship when their Facebook page mysteriously became inaccessible for several hours on the eve of Parliament’s confidence vote.

TERRY JONES IN GREAT-BRITAIN?

« La venue de Terry Jones est un danger pour la cohésion sociale de notre pays. Sa présence en Grande-Bretagne présente un risque pour le dialogue entre les différentes communautés. La secrétaire d’Etat à l’intérieur doit donc agir et lui interdire l’accès au territoire britannique. » This was Mohammed Shafiq, chief executive of the Ramhadan Foundation, reacting to an announcement made by Terry Jones, the American pastor who sadly made headlines a few months ago for threatening to burn copies of the Koran. The pastor has said he will be attending a mass demonstration in February organized by British extremist group, the English Defence league. Web users in England are expressing their concern.

A petition has been set up, demanding the government stops Terry Jones coming to England. Launched by the organization “Hope not Hate” the document says that only extremists groups will benefit from Terry Jones’ visit and that The Preacher of Hate, as he is known should not be allowed in the UK.

Several Facebook groups like these ones are encouraging British citizens to campaign en masse and protest against his visit to the country.

In view of this outcry, even the organization that initiated his visit appears to be back tracking. The English Defence league, originally thrilled about Terry Jones’ visit has just announced in an online communiqué that he is no longer invited to speak at February’s demonstration, the reason invoked was that the pastor had reportedly recently made homophobic or anti-Semitic remarks.

Terry Jones meanwhile has not given up. On his web site, he says he will be coming to England no matter what and has already received other invitations, notably from a far right party.

CAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE

British web users are hoping “4 minutes 33 seconds”, a virtually silent experimental piece composed by John Cage will top the music charts in England. Every year, the BBC broadcasts the top selling chart single on Christmas Day. In recent years, song from reality TV show candidates systematically took the top slot. Last year however, web users campaigned, successfully for US heavy metal band Rage Against the Machine, and they are determined to claim victory again this Christmas.

WIKIPIZZ

In France, Wikileaks has been given the unexpected support of Speed Rabbit Pizza, a take away pizza chain. The company has launched a competition for new pizza recipes called “Wikipizz”. The web user who creates the best pizza will win 1 000 euros, and the same amount will be donated to Julian Assange’s web site.

VIDEO OF THE DAY

If you do not know Azo, then this video will show you some his amazing exploits. This Burmese acrobat lives in the US and practices parkour, the art of movement in urban spaces; he can also skateboard and juggle, amongst other things, diabolos. Azo has made this compilation to showcase his most impressive performances of 2010. The video is all the more mind blowing as he is not a professional stuntman, he’s just an ordinary old computer programmer from Washington.