Newsgroup: it.politica.pds
Titolo: "Pacifism with ulterior motives doesn't pay"

Morando: "Pacifism with ulterior motives doesn't pay" di Elisa Cecchi
- Herald Tribune Italy Weekly, 
PACIFISM WITH ULTERIOR MOTIVES DOESN'T PAY
Senator Enrico Morando, 52, is a member of the minority liberal
faction of the Democratic Left Party. Morando started his political
career with the Italian Communist Party and was first elected to the
Senate in 1994 and then re-elected in 1996 and in 2001. He is the
deputy chairman of the Budget Commission. Morando was his faction’s
candidate for party leadership at the last Democratic Left convention
in November 2001 inPesaro. He came in third after the appointed leader
Piero Fassino and Giovanni Berlinguer of the left-wing correntone.
Positions on the war in Iraq differ widely, both within the
center-left coalition and your party. What is your view?
I consider this unilateral war a huge mistake, not only for the
suffering it is causing to the Iraqi people but also for its
consequences for the United Nations and NATO. I think that at this
point the ongoing debate here over whether it should be short or long
is embarrassing.We should hope for a fast conclusion and for the UN to
have an active role after the end of the military operations, to
eventually manage Saddam Hussein’s exile and Iraq’s transition into a
democracy. I am against ending military operations without a solution
to the Saddam problem, which should concern all of us and not just the
United States and Britain.
The pacifist movement has represented a political shot in the arm for
the opposition, but has worsened coalition infighting between the
anti-US left and moderate reformists. How could the opposition benefit
from the anti-war mood in the country while avoiding a split?
I think any pacifist stand that has ulterior motives will not pay off
in the end. What really matters is the problem of the post-war phase.
I criticized Tony Blair’s decision to participate in the war, but I am
in favor of his proposal that the UN handle it. I think the left
should find common ground in its push for a strengthenedrole for the
UN.
Some progressive politicians in the U.S. support the war in Iraq, but
nobody in the Italian left does. Why? 
Because all members of the left agreed that the military strikes
should have been decided on by the UN.The situation in Kosovo, where a
genocide was taking place, was different because the decision to
intervene was taken unanimously byEurope and NATO, and within the UN
only Russia and China were against a military intervention. The two
situations can’t be compared. However, I also believe that those who
ruled out military intervention in Iraq while Saddam was under
pressure to disarm weakened the possibility of a diplomatic solution
to the crisis.
The era of the "Third Way" for the European and U.S. left was a long
time ago. Do you think it will be possible to revitalize the old
friendshipbetween the Italian left and Tony Blair?
It’s essential – otherwise a European political union has no future.
Apart from the consensus it generated in the U.K., the idea of a New
Labor is extremely interesting for the entire European left, as it
combines socialist ideology with economic efficiency.
Do you feel closer to Tony Blair’s left or Gerhard Schroeder's? 
Until the war, I considered them both to be supporters of a new left,
striving for the radical innovation of social democracy. Their
political identity used to be the same before they were influenced by
the war and their domestic political situations.With the start of the
Iraqi crisis, Blair followed his country’s traditional Atlantic path
while Schroeder opposed the war, although he is now seeking to
reestablish good relations with the United States. If I had to pick
one of them, I’d choose Blair. But I think they could be on the same
wavelength again.
Do you think it will be possible for the left to reestablish a good
relationship with the United States without losing consensus?
We have to re-launch multilateralism, since Blair’s efforts to stop
Bush’s unilateralism have failed so far. Indeed, a united Europe can
rescue and strengthen Atlantic relations while working toward a
multilateral order. But in order to do this, we must involve Blair. I
also hope that the Democrats win the next presidential election in the
U.S. Had Al Gore won the last election, things would be different now.
What is the political platform that is tying the center-left together
these days, apart from pacifism?
There is one element keeping the left together: their opposition to
[Prime Minister Silvio] Berlusconi. Berlusconi is a leader who
succeeds in attracting both widespread like and dislike. However,
being against someone is not enough. We have been incapable of uniting
under a common domestic and international policy platform, and we are
very late in our efforts to devise a common platform.
What are you most missing as a coalition: new ideas or a strong
leader?
There is an open battle within the Olive Tree between reformists and
the traditional left, which is made up of the left-wing faction of the
Democratic Left, the Greens, the Italian Communists, parts of CGIL and
Sergio Cofferati. The real problem is that the reformists - that is,
the rest of the Democratic Left, the Daisy party and the Social
Democrats - aren’t able to build an interparty alliance. Such an
alliance would be the solution to the infighting. We have also had
difficulty in finding a leader. Since the 2001 election I have pushed
for primary elections as a way to choose a coalition leader.This would
guarantee the leader’s legitimacy and independence from the various
parties.
The liberal wing of the Democratic Left party, the one you belong to,
has so far failed to find much support from the people. Is there a
risk of ending up like the Republicans of Ugo La Malfa, that is, of
becoming a widely praised élite movement with no grassroots consensus?
At the last Democratic Left congress [in November 2001], the election
of the new leadership was widely perceived as a fight between just two
party factions, the majority and the left-wing correntone, and many of
our members ended up voting for the majority faction. Now we are
working to become a majority in the party and to create a reformist
majority in the progressive coalition. In the past year I believe
Italy has felt an increasing need for the liberal left we stand for.
Leftorium, Il blog Riformista
http://clik.to/leftorium

 becoming a widely praised élite movement with no grassroots consensus?
I don't think so. It's true, they don't have grassroots consensus, but 
they are not widely praised. :-)
Hi
Socius international