Coming back from Brussels I was reading francophone papers. I could tell you about my petty successes with the European Comission but you just need to follow me on Twitter. The case of Mitterand – the French Minister of Culture accused of pedophilia and sex tourism – is much more inspiring.
By the way, would you class paedophilia as intercourse with a 20 year old guy?
Frederic Mitterand has been in all media in the last few weeks accused of paedophilia and sexual tourism by Marine Le Pen, the daughter of the famous French right-wing leader, in a very popular TV show. She read paragraphs of his autobiography La Mauvaise Vie in which he allegedly confesses the crime.
The scandal started when the Minister defended Roman Polansky ,now in jail in Switzerland waiting for extradition in the US. His defense of a suspected rapist of a minor gave Ms Le Pen to publicly ask for the resignation of the Minister. His book would prove that the decision might be motivited by shared interests… I read the news on the BBC for the first time. Mitterand was named a paedophile. I later discovered that it was about a young person of 20 years old. A garçon in French is not the equivalent of a boy in English! The guy was young but not a minor. Poor but capable to decide about his life. Not all poor people are rentboys. Otherwise the market would be inflated and prices would plummet.
It was the choice of 2 adults. We might not agree but everybody is free to do whatever he/she likes as long as he/she doesn’t break the law. This is the fundamental of a free society.
A few days ago, Francesco, a friend of mine, wrote an email following an electronic discussion on Islam and Europe that has gone on for weeks. It’s part of the same wider discussion about what society we want in a globalizing world which forces us to change.
He complained about our tolerance towards Muslim families who impose the Sharia on women. He wants us to stop them or stop them contaminating Europe and migrating here. It seems he’s right. Sharia is taking over Europe and the public sphere is invading private life, even distorting the truth if necessary. However, this is not Muslim Sharia. This is our Sharia: intolerence to diversity. I remember when we laughed about Clinton in trouble for a fellatio – i.e a blow-job – and now we are falling in the same trap – the trap of moralism: We know what is right and wrong, and impose it on everybody well beyond the rule of law, even in their home. Is Robespierre back with his Comité de Salut Publique? Today the guilottine made another victim: Piero Marrazzo, President of Lazio Region, resigned because he had been blackmailed for having fun with a tranny.
The best book I read on the topic is Murder in Amsterdam: The Death of Theo van Gogh and the Limits of Tolerance by Ian Buruma. The Dutch academic transferred what the US describes a society – it’s the Dutch society but his conclusions could be extended to the rest of Europe – where we must choose between our freedom and tolerance towards diversity.
There isn’t a third way.
We single out Muslims for their intolerance, but what’s happending to our tolerance towards individual freedom in private life? Is a nostalgia for the old times of order and morality rising again? On the other hand, it seems to me that the intolerance for public vices is worringly decreasing. Without mentioning Papi or politicians’ expense claims I would mention a more petty episode. I spent the last 2 days at the European Development Days in Stockholm: the largest gathering of aid industry bureaucrats which combines the bla bla bla of the World Social Forum with the straight jacket of Davos – don’t miss the caustic comments of Sandra, leader of the real NGO of Africa&Mediterraneo… in Italian.
Isn’t real pornography spending millions just to talk about poverty and perpetuate a system which generates waste, corruption and dependency?
If moralism, hypocrisy and ineffectiveness are the marks of the new elite what can we expect in the future? Let me remind you the old Fable of Bees by Mandeville. The bees lived in a wealthy hive but full of vices. fed up with the situation bees asked Zeus to impose morality in their community and get rid of sinners. Zeus listened their prayers and wiped out every bad habit together with all related productive activities related. The hive impoverished quickly and bees reviewed their decision asking Zeus to restore the previous situation. Virtue was gone again but freedom, innovation and prosperity were back. The subtitle of the novel was: Private Vices and Public Benefits.
The lesson I learnt is tolerance in private life accountability and delivery in public life… considering that what is vice in the closet can turn into innovation for society – social innovation. The third sector must be very careful to not fall in to the trap. I can see its inclination towards moralistic intolerance. The sector has to deliver on social justice, not lecture on morality. It has to promote an open society not the best of the worlds.
