ing from one unresolved crisis to another, they are simultancouslrntransforming their electoral system and flounderingrnaround in a hopeless effort to find competent leaders. Therncommunist government of Massimo D’Alema has been a totalrnflop, and if many Italians once believed that the communistswhateverrntheir faults —held out the promise of effective, honestrngovernment, they know better now. Their prime minister (whornlooks like an organ grinder dressed up for a funeral) has donernnothing to save the Italian economy, much less the lira, andrnwhile a communist might have been expected to stand up tornNATO, he caved in and allowed NATO’s murderous airstrikesrnon Yugoslavia to be carried out from Italian bases, contentingrnhimself with whining.rnWliat is the result? An influx of Kosovo Albanian criminalsrnwho are robbing, raping, and murdering their way across centralrnItaly. The Sicilian Mafia was like a pack of wolves, pickingrnoff weakened animals and reshng when their bellies were full;rnthe Albanians are more like piranhas who never seem to getrnenough. The Italian ministry of justice, commenting on thernrash of robberies and murders, remarked that respect for humanrnlife is not part of the Albanian mentalit).rnMost Americans do not want to know that recent immigrantsrnare far more likely to commit violent crimes than nahve-bornrnAmericans, but Italians must not watch as much television. Arnrecent European poll revealed that Italians were more concernedrnabout immigration than the cihzens of any other countr)’.rnVliat was their primary concern? Not the loss of jobs orrntheir nahonal identity, but the loss of their lives. In fact, almostrnhalf of all Italians believe that their lives and safetv’ are direatencdrnby immigrants.rnIn the past few years, the only major party to make immigrationrnan issue was the Lega Nord. In recent months, however,rnUmberto Bossi has made another rapprochement with SilviornBerlusconi, the media/investment magnate who startedrnForza Italia. The last coalition that joined the Lega with ForzarnItalia and Berlusconi’s right flank, the post-fascist AlleanzarnNazionale, ended in a debacle when Bo.ssi and the Lega votedrnagainst tlieir own government. Rossi’s “ribaltone” enabled thern”cx”-communists to come to power, and in the interveningrnvears, the Lega has more than implied, on many occasions, thatrnBerlusconi is connected with the Mafia.rnIn a bold political move, Berlusconi has decided to adopt hisrnonce-and-future partner’s position on immigration, and thernthree parties have proposed fairly radical immigration reformrnlegislation. Despite the technical language and gestures of concessionrn(more aid for refugees, an automatic citizenship planrnfor immigrants who hae been legal residents for ten years), thernproposed law would represent a revolution in tiie Italian postfascistrnmindset.rnIn a comitrv where patriotism is a thoughtcrime, nothingrncould be more radical than an immigration reform proposalrnthat recognizes Italy’s right to exist and to control its own destiny.rnArticle three, for example, stipulates that, twice a year, thernregions of Italv will define the numerical limits and types of employmentrnneeds, and on that basis, the country’s openness tornimmigrants will be determined. Article 11 provides for the expulsionrnof aliens who enter illegally, exceed the term of theirrnpermit, or con.stitute a threat to public order and safety. Thatrnlast clause is clearly meant to address the growing problem ofrnAlbanian immigrants, who have displaced the Sicilian Mafia,rnill much of the peninsula, as the masters of drugs, prostitution,rnextortion, and violent crime.rnThe reaction of the Italian press lords has been predictablyrndishonest, and Berlusconi is being compared with Le Pen,rnHaider, Hitler, and any other villain that their limited imaginationrncan conceive. On April 3, La Stampa (the Italian WallrnStreet journal) led off with a predictable hissy fit: “The immigrationrnproposal is superfluous and in contrast with the centerright’srnbasic values, particularly the free market, imity of thernfamily . . . e cosi via.” Giampaola Pansa of L’Espresso, in hisrncolumn ”Adesso mi arrahio” (“Now I’m mad”), concedes thatrnthere may be too many illegal immigrants in Italy, but does notrndissent from the official opinion: “E stato detto, giustamente, cherne folle, antidemocratica, antieuropea, razzhta, simil-Heider, regressh’ornin .senso culturak e storico, inchiodata sid concetto superatorndi nazione etnica” (“nailed onto the outmoded concept ofrnthe ethnic nation”) and so on and so forth — why bother to translate?rnWe know the hine all too well.rnIn a country where patriotism is arnthoughtcrime, nothing could bernmore radical than an immigrationrnreform proposal that recognizesrnItaly’s right to exist and torncontrol its own destiny.rnAmericans sometimes think theirs is the only “nation of immigrants”rnbeset by ethnic conflicts and bound together by thernflimsy cords of a national ideology. According to our officialrnjjropaganda, America is a nation “dedicated to the proposition”;rnaccording to their official propaganda, the varied regions andrncultures of Italy were miified in the Risorgimento, a glorious uprisingrnthat unified Italy and culminated (after a few disgracefulrndecades in the middle of the 20th centur)) in a nniersal nationrnmore or less like tiie United States.rnItaly’s Great Lie is taught in schools, but even a casual visitorrncan smell the difference between the real Italy of farming villagesrnand small workshops and the massive industrial projectsrnthat have polluted the air and water and hinied much of NorthemrnItaly into a down-market replica of Cleveland. Even byrnAmerican standards, Italian “democratic” politicians of the leftrnand right are a pack of strutting clowns who strike attitudes forrnthe television cameras, fill their own pockets, and —at theirrnbest—do nothing.rn1 saw a microcosm of the Italian miracle in early June. I wasrnasked to go to the village of Consonno (about ten miles fromrnLeceo) and to evaluate its possible use as a site for foreign .students.rnI had driven this way before, climbing up the steep hillsrnthat rise above the Adda River from Olginate to Garlate to Galbiaterntoward Colle in Brianza, leaving behind the crowdedrnstreets and pestilent niotos and finding the ancient farms andrnpastures where some part of the real Italy is preserved.rnThe day was hot and humid, but as we rose above the smog,rnI could forget Hie endless traffic jam that Lombardia has be-rnAUCUST 2000/11rnrnrn