15 February 2008

Rubbish Journalism

Today something incredible has happened in politics. I have read in the newspapers (Corriere della Sera) “De Magistris out and Tonino accepted” Do you know what that means? That in the agreement that Italia dei Valori has made with the Democratic Party, and above all in the relationship between Di Pietro and Veltroni, in order for these two political formations to be able to unite their strengths to stop a Berlusconi government, for this reason we should not speak about justice and we should not reopen the issue of the independence of the magistracy and the rule of law within the institutions, and in order to give out this "subliminal" message, someone has given out the word that I had apparently been asked, before entering into this relationship of political dialogue with Veltroni, that I had been asked not to put forward the name of De Magistris as a candidate.
On this blog, and also on the Internet and even De Magistris has on the telephone and in writing denied that he wanted to be a candidate with us. In fact he has denied that he wanted to be a candidate, because he wants to continue to be a magistrate because he has ongoing investigations, but above all because he wants to defend his honour in relation to the Superior Council of the Magistracy (CSM) because he must and because he wants to demonstrate that his only fault is to have done his duty, and this is the reason why they are trying to stop him.
It is true, a few weeks ago I asked De Magistris if he wanted to be a candidate and I said that the doors of Italia dei Valori are open to him. He thanked me, he felt honoured, but since the Superior Council of the Magistracy thinks that he has not behaved well, he first wants to show that he has been right and since he is carrying out investigations he wants to continue to be a magistrate. A party leader, wanting to create a list of people in whose values and civic commitment they believe, turns to those people. In recent days that is what I have been doing with many other people, in the world of the media, in the world of justice and in civil society. But with Veltroni, there was no mention of De Magistris or of the name of any other possible candidate. In fact we talked about and signed up to the ideals of a programme that he himself spoke about on Porta a Porta, in which we will not put forward as candidates anyone with criminal convictions, even those whose appeals have not been finished. If there is an agreement it is in fact to have transparency and to give a good example with the candidates.
To imagine that someone could have said that it was not possible to have De Magistris and that otherwise we could apparently not do this, is offending the truth and common sense. Above all we must ask why this news item has come out so false and non-existent that even De Magistris himself has denied it? Because we are starting an election campaign, and there is a fear, a bit across the board, that the new reality that sees Veltroni, Di Pietro’s party of the rule of law, civil society that is breathing a wish, a desire and hunger for the rule of law and transparency in information above all, is fearful that all this can come together and can get the consensus of the majority of citizens, stopping Berlusconi on one side and giving a message to the institutions of justice and the rule of law.
There’s an activity of disinformation, a first attempt to delegitimise, and that demonstrates that in the next election campaign, rather than about its contents, there is someone who wants it to go on by trying to discredit the opponent. For every delegitimisation, we will respond, not lamenting the fact but with what I am doing now, that is not to crying over it but with a programme proposal. Italia dei Valori., one reason to vote for us is precisely this: we will go to Parliament and we will be committed to a law that gives transparency and independence to information, because information is like the magistracy. If it is not independent it does not guarantee justice and democracy to anyone.
This is the commitment that we take on so as to avoid your being treated as subjects, to avoid your being disinformed and drawn into error.

Posted by Antonio Di Pietro in Information