the master and who the servant in this alliance? There havernbeen persistent rumors that Salvo Lima, the DCs power-brokerrnin Sicily and longtime friend of former party secretaryrnGiulio Andreotti, was connected with the Cosa Nostra leaderrn”Ibto” Riina. Despite Andrcotti’s frequent denials, Lima hasrnbeen named more than once by Mafia pentiti (informers) asrntheir ambassador to the DC.rnSeveral years ago, wlien Umberto Bossi declared that a voternfor the DC was a vote for the Mafia, his critics cried “forrnshame,” because he had slandered the greatest statesman inrncontemporary Italy, the fox who had b- his own machinationsrnkept Italy in the Western alliance and prevented a Communist-rnSocialist takeover. If the allegations are proved, thev willrndo nothing to diminish Andrcotti’s accomplishments except tornreveal him as one more great man who learned to value powerrnfor its own sake.rnWhat rcalK’ offends Northern Italians about the Mafia is thernhold it appears to exereisc over DC politicians and the casernwith which it extorts millions out of government contracts.rnIn the new Mafia, drugs and prostitution arc small potatoes.rnThe big-ticket items are highwa}s, office buildings, and welfarernfraud. I spent an afternoon touring a great citv in the Northrnaccompanied by a Sicilian lad’ of great charm and erudition.rnAlthough she has spent her professional life in the North, shernremains a Sicilian patriot, and as wc drove by a great newrnbuilding, she explained, “It makes me so proud. A Sicilianrncompany got the contract. To get work done of this quality,rnthey had to go all the way to Sicily.”rnIt is, in fact, a magnificent building, and the contract mayrnwell have been on the level, but none of the natives I spokernwith would even concede the ])ossibility. (If the lady readsrnthis, I hope she has forgotten her promise to come to Americarnto kill me if I say anything bad about Sicily.) The Sicilians dornhave their own story to tell, of how they were conquered byrnNortherners who have been complaining e’er since about thernproblem of the South, but it is time to give up those resentmentsrnand to acknowledge that a federal system will ultimatelyrndo as much for the South as it does for tlie North. Asrnit is, by depending heavily on the largesse distributed by Rome,rnsome Southern Italians have become like the Quebecois inrnCanada: impotent and resentful. Autonomy would force themrnto address their own problems.rnWhen I made this statement to a member of the I .ega Liguriarnin Genoa, he was very skeptical. Federalism will work inrnthe North, he insisted, because Northerners are capable ofrnself-government, but only a strong central government canrndo anything about the Mafia. But Italv has a centralizedrngovernment, and it appears to be under the Mafia’s thumb.rnThe polemics of the leghe against Southerners caused fewrnproblems so long as they were strictly regional movements,rnbut with the chance for national power in sight. SenatorrnBossi, it has been predicted, will have to tone down thernrhetoric. Paul Piccone, in a special issue of ‘i’elos deoted tornthe Icghc (Winter ’91-’92), notes that “ethnicity was officiallyrnabandoned with the launching of the Northern League. . . .rnI’he radical decentralization and federalization of the presentrnunitary state . . . should . . . allow the populations of bothrnSouth and North to put their ov’n houses in order.” Piccone’srnanaKsis—and predictions—were borne out at the end of October,rnwhen Bossi suspended a local secretary in Trent forrnholding demonstrations telling Southerners to go home.rnAlthough the power center of the Lcga Nord continues tornbe Lombardia, its strength is growing in other regions: thernVeneto, Emilia (where the Reds are deserting the Communistrnparties for the Lega), the Piedmont, and even Liguria.rnIn the North as a whole, one recent poll gives the Lega 22rnpercent (which would be up from 10.3 in the last communalrnelections), just behind the DCs 25.4 percent (down fromrn33.4).rnIn broadening their base, the leghe may run the risk of losingrntheir regional identities. In Liguria, for example, the emphasisrnis almost strictly on economic and political reform. Irnspoke with a Ligurian Leghista, a lawyer, who was faintlyrnamused by the Lombard mvths and symbols—the carroccio,rnthe oath of Alberto da Cuisanno, the songs in dialect—andrncast the Lega Nord’s program in terms that would appeal tornstudents of Austrian economics: an end to corruption andrnwelfare fraud, the deregulation and privatization of banking,rncommerce, and industry.rnIn fact, he described himself as liberalista in economics andrnagainst the current indmtria dello stato, which means interventionrnof politicians into all levels of business. It was such interventionrnthat led to the great bribery scandal—the so-calledrn”tangenti”—in which leading members of the Socialist Partrnhave been implicated. In September, one of the most-belovedrnSocialist leaders shot himself, rather than face the music. Thernresponse of part’ chief Bcttino Craxi has been to denounce thernjudges. Bets are being made on how long Craxi can remainrnthe Socialist capo dei capi, and the smart money is sellingrnshort on Craxi and long on his chief critic, Claudio Martelli,rnthe best friend of Italy’s illegal immigrants. Despite his personalrncharm, Martclli’s hip Third-Worldism may make Socialistsrnlong for the old-fashioned crook.rnOf the Lega I .ombarda’s original program, decentralizationrnremains an important issue, even in Liguria. The communi,rnI was told by my friend in the Lcga Liguria, hae lost thernpower to control taxation because of the “need” to drain resourcesrntoward the South. As a result it is impossible to havernbalanced local budgets, no matter which partv is in power.rnThe North/South problem is really a difference in the “inodorndi pensare” (way of thinking). The Sicilians are not sornmuch lazy as aristocratic and disdainful of manual work. This,rncombined with their refusal to see government in any butrnpersonal terms, has meant the persistence of feudalism, albeitrnin distorted forms. From one perspective, at least, this descriptionrnmakes the Srcilians seem much more attractive thanrnthe hardworking and responsible borgesia of the North, whosernregional and local identities have been homogenized, my Genovesernfriend observed, by television.rnA few days after leaving Genoa—my kind friend from thernLcga had to drive me to the station because of the strike—Irnhad the chance to speak with Dr. Elia Manara, a distinguishedrnphysician in Como and one of the Lega’s newest senators.rnSince Dr. Manara, the Lega’s point-man on health care, isrnunusually well-informed on practical matters of economiesrnand technology, he is a far cry from the sentimental regionalismrnof the early days. I asked him if the leagues were in dangerrnof losing their regional identities. I le explained that whilernmaintaining their local attachments, the leagues were alsorndiscovering a common unity in a larger Northern ecosystemrnthat A4iglio and others call Padania. 1 le derided the notion ofrnthe universal citizen and went on to reject Italian nationalismrnas a fascist idea. As a metaphor for the whole movement.rn14/CHRONICLESrnrnrn