Olympics: the victories of Italy, the failures of Virginia Raggi
We hope that the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, can feel a mixture of anger and shame for his act of cowardice on the Olympics in Rome. Gianfranco Polillo's comment
We hope that the mayor of Rome, Virginia Raggi, can feel a mixture of anger and shame. Anger for the mistakes committed against his city and his country. Shame on that act of cowardice. Faced with a demanding challenge, which could be the organization of the Olympics in Rome, she simply passed her hand, but not before having humiliated Giovanni Malagò, forcing him to an undignified wait, while she, the Mayor, had breakfast in a small restaurant, a stone's throw from the meeting place, with its closest collaborators.
Had it been for Dante Alighieri, today it would have been placed in the third canto of hell, in the ranks of the sloth and next to "the one who made the great refusal for cowardice". Having delivered the palm of success to Tokyo after having stolen it from the a "great beauty". And then to Italy. An Italy that wins, among the great international sympathies, including those of the English, forced to admit, albeit through gritted teeth, "not Italy again", after the splendid victory for the relay and the aftermath of success in the European football championship .
The performances of the Italian athletes repay Malagó from the suffering that was inflicted on him. “The most beautiful Olympics ever”, as he himself had the opportunity to say, while the main officials of the state, from Sergio Mattarella to Mario Draghi, congratulated him and the architects of the various victories.
In this great sport festival there could therefore also be a great celebration of the Capital and of Italy, as host country, instead of being forced to turn our eyes so far. Towards Japan. It would have given rise to an almost magical conjuncture, taking into account the other positive elements. Starting from the economic data of the first half of the year which sees, for the first time in many years, Italy at the top of the European countries for economic growth rate.
And then the excellent figures, who excel both in sport, like Roberto Mancini, and in institutions, like Mario Draghi. The only European leader capable of mortgaging a future, in the face of the political vacuum that is being created in Germany, with the abandonment of Angela Merkel and the many difficulties of Emmanuel Macron, struggling with elections with an extremely uncertain outcome. Rome from this astral conjuncture could receive, as in 1960, an extraordinary impulse. Which would allow her, as indeed happened then, to overcome her historical weaknesses in one leap.
Of course, no free meals. There was some risk in deciding to nominate Rome. Managing the work necessary to host an event of that magnitude would have required great vigilance: both to avoid destructive interventions in such a fragile urban habitat, such as that of the capital, and to neutralize possible embezzlement attempts. But this is precisely the task of politics and administration. Otherwise what are they doing.
And instead Virginia Raggi has decided from the beginning not to play the game. Better not to expose yourself, so as not to show the world your weaknesses. Not only his, to be honest, but those of an administrative machine, such as that of the Municipality, which goes on by force of inertia, without anyone from the Executive being able to direct it in the right direction. This is demonstrated by the latest scandalous episode of the 36 million given as a productivity bonus to employees for their achievements in the field of transport and waste.
There is only little to add, other than referring to the philosophy of "one is worth one", as a key to understanding the reason for an otherwise incomprehensible attitude. Winning a few races, as indicated a few days ago by the Daily News , is useless. How it was useless to nominate Rome to the Olympics, then landed in Tokyo. What matters is only mediocrity, which is nothing more than the daughter of making a living. The only true virtue of the sluggish. Which according to the great poet are obviously not worthy of heaven, but hell itself rejects them.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/mondo/olimpiadi-i-record-dellitalia-i-fallimenti-di-virginia-raggi/ on Sat, 07 Aug 2021 17:34:36 +0000.