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Monday May 30, 2005 |
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LEVANT, MAFIA AND MINESTRONE
by Angelo Persichilli
THE HILL TIMES
(Versione italiana)
When Ezra Levant
published the childish “Libranos” poster, as a Canadian of Italian origin, I
was not offended at all. It was just a naïve way to attack the Liberals. I’m
not even offended by the column Levant wrote two weeks ago in the
Calgary Herald
headlined:
“Real-life ‘Libranos’ - Questions of criminal activity remain unanswered.”
In fact, I should thank Levant because in less than 600 words he was able to
capture all of the racial problems facing our country, but we usually
camouflage by using sneaky and sleek vocabulary called “political
correctness.”
When I say “racial
problems” I do not mean racism. Real racism is not tainted by cultural
ignorance and most of the time, this problem can easily be overcome by
administrating small doses of targeted cultural information and in this
case, Italian culture.
Mind you, I will not
dredge up names like Leonardo or Michelangelo because these bright lights
are so far away from us now. And I won’t even fantasize about Armani or
Ferrari because our wallets, at least mine, cannot handle them.
However,
just so we understand each other, I will introduce another “M” word that is
part of the Italian vocabulary, one we can all handle without risking brain
fog: minestrone.
It belongs
to the same food group as pizza and spaghetti, meaning that we all should be
able to culturally digest it.
To make it
easier, I quote the description of minestrone from Encarta: “A thick soup of
Italian origin containing assorted vegetables, beans, pasta such as
vermicelli or macaroni, and herbs in a meat or vegetable broth.” Basically,
when you don’t have enough elements of any specific ingredient in the house
to make a meaningful dinner, you resort to creativity by using all the
leftovers in order to come up with something presentable.
Of course,
you don’t serve minestrone during a state dinner. You serve it on a rainy,
stay-at-home day.
Now that we
all know what we’re talking about, you might ask yourself what minestrone
has to do with Ezra Levant and Canadian politics? Well, with Canadian
politics not much, but with the story written by Levant, and the Gomery
Inquiry, quite a lot.
Obviously
Mr. Levant was scraping the bottom of the barrel when he came up with the
idea of the “Libranos” and wrote his column in the
Calgary Herald
to justify it. He
talked about the Mafia and, in order to make his case, he resorted
to“minestrone” of events that proves only one thing: he doesn’t know what
the Mafia is all about. He uses the word only as a derogatory adjective
against individuals.
It is
ironic that some journalists and politicians are so sensitive about the
Mafia and organized crime but they have always ignored that Canada is one of
the few Western democracies where the Mafia is not considered an illegal
organization. In Italy and the United States, just to name a few countries,
the Mafia is considered an illegal organization. Anyone found belonging to
the organization ends up in jail.
But as far
as Canadian law is concerned, and, despite the request from many police
organizations, the Mafia doesn’t exist; and, if it does, it is not illegal.
However,
even if we don’t have a Mafia, we have Mafiosi.
In the case
of the sponsorship program, the temptation of some media and politicians to
wrap it around an Italian flag on the background of the organized crime and
Mafia is pathetically manifest.
So why was
Gagliano given $5,000 to name “Piazza Canada” in a small town in Molise? He
was just fostering his ego in his home town, right? Not quite. Never mind
that Molise has nothing to do with Sicily, the region where Gagliano comes
from.
So Joe Morselli points
his finger in the face of someone and that makes him the “real boss”? Never
mind that he comes from Venice and not Palermo.
The question is: if you
are born in Palermo or, worse, in the same hometown of a real Mafia boss,
how are you going to defend yourself? By saying ‘I
was never born’?
I believe that such an answer would be perfectly acceptable to the
questioners being recently paraded in front of the Gomery Inquiry, which is
starving so much for an answer from their witnesses, that whatever they get
is better than “I don’t remember.” In fact, the Montreal inquiry looks more
and more like the first national convention of “Amnesia International”.
By the way,
I’ve forgotten about the “finger,” not the one used by Pierre Trudeau,
instead the smaller one on the left, the “lethal weapon” used by Morselli to
threaten Daniel Dezainde. And, how are we going to deal with the dreadful
call from Gagliano to Benoit Corbeil? By the way, what about the call
received from Warren Kinsella a few hours before he appeared in front of the
House Public Account Committee? Never mind, that doesn’t fit the script.
I am not an expert of
organized crime and Mafia; however, I know that when the Mafia is involved
in an activity it is for one reason — to make money, a lot of money. The
Mafia is involved when they have to steal the meal, not the tip to the
waiter. The sponsorship program is a “tip.” If you want to find the people
responsible for this, let’s follow the money, and that’s exactly what judge
John Gomery is trying to do. If you really want to fight the Mafia, then
let’s talk to Giuliano Zaccardelli, Julian Fantino and Ben Soave: they know
what to do.
If we want, instead,
just to play politics and smear minorities, let’s eat the “minestrone”. |
