Berlusconi's contempt for democracy

The left-wing liberal daily La Repubblica condemns Berlusconi's reaction to the mass demonstrations as as contempt for democracy: "To describe the demonstration as an assembly of windbags and to advise the leader of the opposition to take a holiday and leave the government to get on with its work in peace is tantamount to showing contempt for the rules of fair play in a democracy and for the political opposition. ... His angry words conceal a totalitarian vision of political dialectics. It is not only impatience with any form of dissent, it is also intolerance towards what Antonio Gramsci called the democratic siege:  namely, that forces with ambitions to govern must rigorously criticise those in power and propose an alternative, and that is exactly what the party has done ... The 25 October has shown that a different policy is not only possible but necessary. That is the mission of the PD."

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