Tutti a casa –- Power to the People?

The Italian comedian and political activist Beppe Grillo has been banned from state television channels and he boycotts Berlusconi’s media empire. Instead, he moves onto the street, and more particularly, the Internet, to pursue his war on political arrogance and corruption. Movimento 5 Stelle (The 5 Star Movement) promises to send all the old guard politicians home and to hand power to the people. It wins an astonishing 25% of the poll, making it the largest single party in the country and returning 163 ordinary men and women to parliament.

But what happens when the inexperienced senators go about transforming political ideas and election slogans into parliamentary reality? Can you be unbending and democratic at the same time? Do the frequent online polls via Beppe’s blog constitute direct democracy or faceless mob rule?