The responsibilities of the intellectual

Roberto Saviano’s letter to Berlusconi

What are the responsibilities of the intellectual? It’s an old question. Writers and journalists have often been called upon to act as defenders of free speech, for example, and sometimes have had to pay for their words with exile or with their lives. But their role is vital, especially in rousing opposition to dictatorial or otherwise illegitimate regimes. It is the job of the intellectual to give a voice to those who are unable to speak.

One thinks, for example, of Azar Nafisi, exiled from Iran, or the murdered Russian journalist Anna Politkovskaya, or else the hundreds of writers and reporters jailed in China. We should also think of ostensibly democratic Italy and Roberto Saviano, author of an explosive book about organised crime, Gomorrah: Italy’s Other Mafia.

Something is rotten in the state of Italy these days: while the deputy secretary for economy and finance is suspected of long-lasting collusion with the Neapolitan Camorra, Saviano, threatened with death by that same gang, is one of the few voices openly denouncing the latest legislative travesty to be put before the Italian people.

A new piece of legislation, misleadingly named the “short trial”, has just been approved by the Italian senate. The law, which will apply retrospectively, states that each stage of a trial should last no longer than two years. In an open letter published in the newspaper La Repubblica, Saviano directly addresses the Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, asking him to rescind it.

Saviano argues that the act “destroys the law”, transforming it into a “tool useful only to the people in power”, not least the premier himself. “Those who have nothing else than the right to defend themselves will no longer be able to hope for justice.” Indeed, if approved, the law would fortuitously erase all of Berlsconi’s pending trials. Thousands of other lawsuits would also vanish, in a country where the average court case lasts seven and a half years. As the Independent wittily put it, “Silvio Berlusconi is so far above the law he’s practically in orbit.”

Saviano’s letter has struck a chord, however. It has already been signed by more than 240,000 people, including the Nobel prizewinner Dario Fo and a number of other Italian intellectuals.