First of all,i want to thanks iampunha who helped me translating this diary from french to english (i'm french italian mother tongue)..
Watching CNN yesterday, I saw a journalist after having transmitted the interview with Berlusconi with Medvedev where Berlusconi declared :
Obama is young, attractive and even suntanned
say that Berlusconi is very funny ...
personally, living in Italy since 2001, and lived through two Berlusconi governments, I assure you that this "joke" is anything but funny and is in reality a way for the members of the Italian coalition government to show their contempt vis a vis blacks in particular and, in general, of all those who do not subscribe to their ideology.
Obama must ask for official apologies from the Italian government. It's a government composed of fascists, of xenophobes, who don't have any respect for anything that isn't like them. Gianfranco Fini number 2 of italian coalition government , current president of the National Italian Assembly and ex vice premier minister of Berlusconi , a neofascist, said in March 2008,
The United States is not ready for the Obama presidency, and even if he wins the primary elections against Hillary, several Democrats will vote for McCain because the American society is not ready to elect a black president, an Afro-American.
http://www.repubblica.it/...
Another prominent member of italian coalition government is Umberto Bossi the leader of LEGA LOMBARDA
http://en.wikipedia.org/...
The lega is a xenophobic party that advocates for the secession of northern Italy and Umberto Bossi, in an interview suggested that the Italian navy bomb the navies with illegals immigrants on the Italian coasts
http://www.corriere.it/...
Another member of lega, Borghezio, went to clean the train cars that had black passengers...
The first member of the Berlusconi government to have used this "joke" (suntanned) is named Calderoni. Calderoni belongs to the LEGA LOMBARDA. Calderoli was Berlusconi's minister from 2001 to 2006, and is again minister since Belusconi's victory in march of this year elections. In 2006, he was calls for his resignation after having worn a T-shirt with a caricature of Mohammed during an interview on Italian public TV. This T-shirt was the cause of the riots in Libya with the Lybians who were threatening to burn the Italian embassy and the Lybian government, which threatened to interrupt trade agreements with Italy (Lybia is one of Italy's principal energy suppliers) at the end, Calderoli was forced to resign. This same Calderoli was invited to an emission on italian TV where he had to confront with Palestinian black journalist, Rula Jebreal, when said
But she, that firm woman, that suntanned woman, she of the desert and the camels there, if she called herself Maria Rossi, that would be something else
."
Today Rula Jebreal, in the Italian journal LA REPUBBLICA, said:
"
Until about two years ago, they called me suntanned, Berlusconi (then prime minister and Calderoli his minister) excused himself on Calderoli's part" and she added "I would never have thought that the president of the council of ministers (prime minister) would repeat the same phrase when speaking of Obama, after he excused himself regarding Calderoli, when Calderoli had said that very phrase a few years before"
.
http://www.repubblica.it/...
You could take this kind of joke from a friend, but Berlusconi is no friend of Obama. He is one of those rare European leaders who supported the war in Iraq, sending Italian troops, and he is one of the rare world leaders who went to the U.S. to say goodbye to Bush. Maurizio Gasparri, ex defense minister for Berlusconi, current president of the senators of Berlusconi's coalition, recently said that
"al-Qaida with Obama will be happy."
http://www.unita.it/...
Obama must come forward and ask for official apologies from the Berlusconi government; if not, they will believe this is acceptable and will continue with their tasteless jokes.