Urbanities,
Vol. 3
·
No 2
·
November 2013
© 2013
Urbanities
43
They try to adapt to the situation and use every possible opportunity to shout out their views,
which might explain why the current protests look like a ‘show’. Movements search for
opportunities to create an image and get ready to collect and concentrate in a single action the
existing malcontent. The activists of RNP have climbed up electric transmission towers, have
printed postcards depicting the Messina Bridge between the arms of the
Mafia
and of the
N’drangheta
9
and have produced calendars depicting the natural beauties of the Strait of
Messina. These actions are taken by people who do not have any alternative democratic space
for discussion of the information in their possession. The views of those who have lost their
trust in the traditional mechanism of a pluralist democracy are exemplified by an RNP
activist, who said ‘The Messina Bridge is an issue of extreme importance affecting the whole
of Italy. The allocated resources are enormous, and it affects one of the most beautiful regions
in the world. This is why a movement was born from the bottom, in a place where there is a
subculture, where democratic spaces do not exist, where only spaces guided by the worst
policy exist; and yet the movement has managed to do things like these [...] but is not given
the room that it deserves. That is incredible! We should have been on the front pages of all
major newspapers.’
The absence of a dialogue between institutions and local actors could be also
explained considering the expertise of some significant individuals in this conflictual context.
The case under study is emblematic. On the one hand, the chairman of the ‘Strait of Messina
S.p.A.’ merely performed the role of mediator between the Government and private
companies. He had high-profile managerial skills, important relationships with national
representative of Centre-right parties and was a board member in some important Italian
institutions (banks, the industrial association and so on). However, he did not have the
necessary ability to manage local conciliation procedures. His strategy of confrontation with
local actors was marked by his formal defence of the prerogatives and the responsibilities
assigned to him by the Government. On the other hand, the chairman of Eurolink established
relationships especially with local public actors (Town Councils, Provinces, Regions and
Universities) in order to organize the construction work and collect new information on the
social context. Also this chairman had top managerial skills but he, too, did not show any
ability or competence to mediate between different types of local interest.
10
Consensus and Ambiguity about the Bridge
Recently, despite the fact that members of the RNP are prepared to do anything to stop the
building activities, their actions seem to have encountered difficulties that are hampering the
diffusion. Moreover, both the company ‘Stretto di Messina S.p.A.’ and ‘Eurolink’ (the General
Contractor), communicated poorly with the local populations. Consequently, the latter tend to see the
decisions taken at national level as ‘imposed from the top’, and the multilevel governance system as a
system growing more complex and unclear.
9
These are two major criminal organizations in Italy. The
N’drangheta
is mainly based in the Calabria
Region.
10
On the relationship between the outcomes of public policy and individual competences, see Cerase
(2010) and De Vivo (2012).
