{"id":3846,"date":"2011-03-07T05:23:43","date_gmt":"2011-03-07T05:23:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/monochromist.com\/2011\/03\/07\/on-putin-berlusconi-and-chimpanzees\/"},"modified":"2011-03-07T05:23:43","modified_gmt":"2011-03-07T05:23:43","slug":"on-putin-berlusconi-and-chimpanzees","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/07\/on-putin-berlusconi-and-chimpanzees\/","title":{"rendered":"On Putin, Berlusconi and chimpanzees | openDemocracy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href='http:\/\/www.opendemocracy.net\/od-russia\/augusto-come\/on-putin-berlusconi-and-chimpanzees'>On Putin, Berlusconi and chimpanzees | openDemocracy<\/a><\/p>\n<div class=\"link_description\">\n<p><a class=\"tumblr_blog\" href=\"http:\/\/ontologicalterrorist-deactivate.tumblr.com\/post\/3695806695\">ontologicalterrorist-deactivate<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p><span>Putin and Berlusconi are two of the most powerful political leaders in the world. Connected by their close friendship, which goes well beyond their institutional relationship, the Italian and Russian Prime Ministers also have much in common. Both have shaped their national political scenes by asserting themselves as new leaders completely disconnected from the previous national standard. Berlusconi\u2019s brilliant image popped up in the early 1990s, in a political scene profoundly dominated by the old and grey bureaucrats of the Christian Democracy party and by the severe and austere members of the Italian Communist Party. Always prodigal of smiles and colourful expressions, Berlusconi started to charm Italians with his irreducible optimism, in part thanks to his successful personal business success story. In a somewhat similar way, Putin succeeded in captivating Russians by building his image in contrast to Yeltsin. Yeltsin\u2019s second mandate drew a painful picture of a country led by an old, sick and alcoholic man, who even had difficulties standing without falling and speaking comprehensively during official meetings. In Putin Russians had a young and vigorous leader.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span> <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"a\"><strong>Vitality and virility<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">What appears to be clear in both cases is the fact that Berlusconi and Putin both profited from their vitality, or at least, from the image of vitality the public attributed to them. Of course, vitality, describing a state of being active and full of energy and willingness to take initiative, is a common characteristic of many political leaders, from Gandhi to Charles de Gaulle, vitality being the\u00a0<em>sine qua non\u00a0<\/em>condition for undertaking action. Nevertheless, in the case of Putin and Berlusconi, vitality translates itself into a quite particular form. In Berlusconi &#8211; the\u00a0<em><span><a href=\"http:\/\/en.wiktionary.org\/wiki\/sciupafemmine\">sciupafemmine<\/a><\/span>,\u00a0<\/em>and Putin &#8211; the\u00a0<em><span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.rferl.org\/content\/article\/1078785.html\">silovik<\/a><\/span>,<\/em>\u00a0vitality is often associated with virility. The latter could be defined as a characteristic of a male in his manhood and it is associated with physical strength, forcefulness and vigour.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">As vitality, virility has been a central element of politics from time immemorial. Virility is closely related to power, in the sense that it is enrooted not only in the sexual domination of women by men, but also in the domination of other men by the most virile one. Frans de Waal, in his well-known book<a href=\"http:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Chimpanzee-Politics-Power-among-Apes\/dp\/0801863368\">\u00a0<span>\u201cChimpanzee politics: power and sex among apes<\/span>\u201d<\/a>\u00a0, explains that \u201cthere is a definite link between power and sex; no social organisation can be properly understood without knowledge of the sexual rules\u201d, pointing out how, in the chimpanzee community, sex proves the monopoly of power enjoyed by the male ape.\u00a0 Animal communities aside, virility has always been a central element of leadership in pre-modern societies, like ancient Greece, where it was the principal trait of Homeric heroes like Ajax or Achilles, as well as in anti-modern societies. For example, virility was discovered again during fascism when it was deliberately exacerbated as a powerful political tool.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">In a quite unexpected way, Berlusconi and Putin discovered the power of virile behaviour and rhetoric in a time when the concept of virility seemed to be outdated.\u00a0 Of course, in looking to attract consensus among a large portion of the male and female population, they have had to adapt virile rhetoric and behaviour to\u00a0 their audience, since the concept of virility is far from universal. Writing in \u201cMasculinity as Homophobia\u201d the American sociologist\u00a0<span><a href=\"http:\/\/www.berea.edu\/convocations\/events\/2010-2011\/michael-kimmel.asp\">Michael Kimmel<\/a>\u00a0<\/span>noted, \u201cManhood is neither static nor timeless; it is historical. Manhood is not the manifestation of an inner essence: it is socially constructed. Manhood does not bubble up to consciousness from our biological makeup; it is created in culture. Manhood means different things at different times to different people\u201d. Culture and social construction have meant that Berlusconi on the one hand plays with the myth of the women\u2019s man, while Putin refers more articulately to the strong male model. Both, as we will see, converge into the synthesis of a fascist model of masculinity.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\"><strong>Berlusconi: the virility of the macho lover<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Virility is one of the peculiar aspects of Berlusconi\u2019s colourful image. Despite his age, Berlusconi\u2019s virility mostly has a sexual connotation: Berlusconi likes to play the role of a powerful lover. Yet, the celebration of his virility is systematically detrimental to women. (In analysing his image, we will focus exclusively on his public behaviour and statements, and not on sexual scandals, which were not supposed to be made public).<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Berlusconi has systematically adopted a degrading attitude towards women, offending their ethical value, image and human dignity by courting them, paying unrequested compliments and making sexual allusions. Women are chiefly portrayed as subordinate objects whose sole purpose is to satisfy the needs of men.\u00a0 In many of his public statements, they are represented as an object subordinated to the pleasure of the male. In both Italy and beyond, the recurrent imagery in his speeches is of the pleasant woman, who supplements the country but is not \u2014 contrary to the Italian man \u2014 an integral part of its economic, social or political structure.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Berlusconi never fails to miss a single opportunity to feed into this macho image by relying on his preferred means of communication: jokes. In his opening address to the Milano Med Forum 2010, he informed delegates that whilst his \u201cplayboy\u201d days were over he remained a \u201cplay-old\u201d. He invited Mediterranean leaders to \u201cbring some good-looking girls over some time\u201d, telling them: \u201cWe would appreciate them because we\u2019re Latins.\u201d Berlusconi is unable to resist the temptation of boasting about his alleged skills as a lover even in the most official of situations. In 2005 he stated that he had brushed up on his playboy skills and had used a series of tender pleas in order to convince\u00a0the Finnish President to have the European Food Safety Authority based in Parma. Finland immediately convoked the Italian Ambassador asking for official apologies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Berlusconi\u2019s successful image is constructed from a troika of power, money and women, which in his mind are insolubly linked. At the congress of his People of Freedom Party he stated that \u201cwomen are lining up to marry me, because I\u2019m a nice guy, because I\u2019m loaded, because I know how to deal with women.\u201d He omitted the fact that many females prefer older and rich men in order to inherit their fortunes. During a TV show in 2008, Berlusconi told an attractive young voter who questioned his economic record that the best way to climb out of poverty was to marry a millionaire, \u201clike my son\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Money and power are tools of sexual domination. In April 2006, when Berlusconi presented the new MP Mara Carfagna, top model and show girl, to other MPs\u00a0 he said \u201cDear Mara, I have to remind myself that there is a rule in our political group: the\u00a0<em>jus primae noctis<\/em>\u201d. In his mind, the sexual domination of the male over the female is something natural, which is sanctioned by the social order. \u201cAnother reason to invest in Italy\u201d, he declared in an address to the New York Stock Exchange \u2013 \u201cis that we have beautiful secretaries\u2026 superb girls\u201d.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Such sexist jokes uncover Berlusconi\u2019s conception of women, who he perceives as objects or worse, in the words of the Democratic Party MP Paola Pellerini, as \u201cfresh meat to be consumed\u201d. This conception is confirmed by Berlusconi\u2019s lawyer Nicol\u00f2 Ghedini, who excused his client after a sexual scandal involving several escorts, as\u00a0 he was just the \u201cfinal user\u201d of a prostitute paid for by others, equating these women to simple commodities and Berlusconi to a consumer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Berlusconi\u2019s attitude towards women is often criticised. Berlusconi\u2019s wife, who divorced him after the umpteenth sexual scandal of her husband, expressed all her consternation in a communication to the Italian news agency ANSA: \u201cSomeone wrote that all of this is solely for the entertainment of the emperor. I completely agree: what comes out of newspapers is indecent rubbish in the name of power\u201d. Independent of the amount of criticism he receives, his behaviour fails to change, even when protesters are foreign governments, like the Spanish one (the Italian Premier said that the government contained too many women to be manageable). With his impenitent position, he incites everyone to express their disaccord.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Building his virile image, Berlusconi plays the homophobic card without any hesitation. In June 2009, whilst visiting a building site, he shouted at some workers asking them why they did not have any woman with them. \u201cAre you gay? Next time I\u2019ll bring you some\u00a0<em>veline<\/em>\u00a0(showgirls)!\u201d In November 2010, Berlusconi justified his most recent sexual scandal- which allegedly involved an underage Moroccan escort- by asserting that it was always better to like pretty women than to be gay.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Such vulgar jokes are often considered gaffes, especially by foreign observers. Yet Berlusconi is one of the most successful communicator in the world; the gaffe interpretation is mistaken because it underestimates the political meaning of those messages. Berlusconi deliberately surfs the macho and sexist wave, rooted in the common sense of the Italian society, caching sympathies in overlapping social classes and political identities.\u00a0 That is the reason why his sexist and macho attitude played in the omnipresent \u201ctheatre of virility\u201d must be interpreted as a political communication strategy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\"><strong>Putin: the virility of the strong man<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Putin\u2019s virility is quite different from Berlusconi\u2019s because it is based on other grounds than sexism. Of course, women are part of the mosaic composing his image of the virile man. He enjoys high popularity among Russian women. Indeed, in the beginning of 2002, a sociological survey found 3500 of 5000 women considered the then-President to be the \u201cnew sex-symbol of Russia\u201d. Putin does not, however, personally promote this image. It is rather through the initiative of others that his sexual virility is highlighted. This was the case of the erotic Happy Birthday calendar named \u201cVladimir Vladimirovich, we love you\u201d, which contained 12 journalist students in lingerie, with provocative messages, such as \u201cyou put out forest fires, but I\u2019m still burning\u201d. It is of interest to note that one of the rare times Putin embraced the lover strategy, saying \u201cI love all Russian women, (\u2026) the only ones who may compete with them are Italians\u201d, was in response to an embarrassing question, during a joint press conference with Berlusconi in Italy. On that occasion, there was an amazing role switch with Putin playing the\u00a0<em>Casanova<\/em>and Berlusconi the\u00a0<em>silovik<\/em>, pretending to shoot down the annoying journalist with a machine gun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Much more than sex and women, what characterised Putin\u2019s virility communication strategy is his image of a strong man, based on elements such as health and physical strength, courage and dynamic action.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Putin enjoys the image of a strong and healthy man. He is a judo-black-belt and this fact is well publicised in the media. He published a judo manual and proposed, in 2009, at a special coaching session broadcast\u00a0on state television, to join the Olympic team: \u201cIf you need direct help, you can count on me\u201d Putin told the trainer. Besides showing himself in his white judogi, Putin is frequently pictured practicing other sports. In 2007, several pictures of him appeared during his holidays in Siberia. Those photos show him armed and topless while fishing, hiking and horseback riding. The tabloid Komsomolskaya pravda subsequently published an article-guide called \u201cBe Like Putin\u201d enumerating the required exercises to build up a torso like that of the Russian leader.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Another important element of Putin\u2019s virile strategy is his image of the brave action-man, who does not fear weapons, speed and death. Besides practicing judo, which after all remains a fighting sport, Putin is often captured executing dangerous activities. One of the first\u00a0<span>pictures<\/span>, shows him in March 2000 in the SU-27 cockpit, dressed as a Russian military aviator, before his flight to Chechnya. Since then, he has never stopped flying aircrafts, testing new bombs, or dropping water on burning Russian forests. Recently he drove a Renault Formula 1 car, wearing a special helmet decorated with the colours of Russia and the national double-headed-eagle emblem. The Russian prime minister was also filmed, equipped with combat boots and a camouflage uniform, shooting a Siberian tiger with a tranquilliser gun.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Putin\u2019s image strategy thus relies on the imagery of the strong man Russia needs \u2014 a real man, virile in politics as well as in his everyday life.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\"><strong>Tell me your virility and I will tell you your electorate<\/strong><\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">We have seen how central virility is to the public image of these Russian and Italian leaders; and also how their virility strategies follow very different paths. While Berlusconi\u2019s strategy is mainly sex-driven, Putin\u2019s image is founded on the myth of the strong man. The two main reasons for this are related to the two imperatives of political marketing. That is to say that the promoted image must on one hand be adapted to the product we want to sell, and on the other hand to the market we are targeting. Virility must be adapted to both leader and to his electorate.<\/p>\n<p class=\"a\">Take the example of Berlusconi put in action-man shoes in Siberia. He would clearely not be at ease, just like Putin in the\u00a0<em>sciupafemmine<\/em>\u2019s role in Italy. Similarly, Putin could not play the action-man catching Mediterranean sharks with a knife, and Berlusconi could not play the\u00a0<em>Casanova<\/em>\u00a0in Russia (though he did, in 2004, try during a factory visit to Lipetsk, calling a female worker the \u201cmost beautiful and committed of the factory\u201d. His antics were not not well received by Russian public opinion). The reason may be that the concept of virility is understood in various ways in different countries: somewhere some of its manifestations are acceptable, elsewhere they are not.<\/p>\n<p>One last point. Viirility is not a universal concept, immutable over time. In the Italy of the the 20s and 30s, for example, Putin\u2019s virility could well been a great success. How could we forget those pictures of Mussolini, topless, helping farmers collecting wheat? Indeed, if one thinks about for a second, Berlusconi\u2019s style also suits the Duce\u2019s image of a woman\u2019s man well. You might say the fascist ideal of virility is a good synthesis of both, with Berlusconi and Putin representing both sides of the fascist man: penis and muscles.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Putin, Berlusconi and chimpanzees | openDemocracy ontologicalterrorist-deactivate: Putin and Berlusconi are two of the most powerful political leaders in the world. Connected by their close friendship, which goes well beyond their institutional relationship, the Italian and Russian Prime Ministers also have much in common. Both have shaped their national political scenes by asserting themselves [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"link","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3846","post","type-post","status-publish","format-link","hentry","category-video_graphics","post_format-post-format-link"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p5sGHy-102","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2989,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2012\/03\/04\/maldives-political-party-distribution-in-the\/","url_meta":{"origin":3846,"position":0},"title":"maldives: Political party distribution in\u2026","author":"monochromist","date":"March 4, 2012","format":"gallery","excerpt":"maldives: Political party distribution in the Maldives as of 19 Feb 2012 based on information available on elections.gov.mv Trivia: \u00a0Spot which party the appointed coup president Waheed belongs to.\u00a0","rel":"","context":"In &quot;motion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/monochromist.com\/notes\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/tumblr_m01v2rQ9Nh1qzn03ho1_1280.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":5236,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/03\/06\/typography-and-the-law-of-the-letter\/","url_meta":{"origin":3846,"position":1},"title":"Typography and the Law of the Letter","author":"monochromist","date":"March 6, 2011","format":"link","excerpt":"Typography and the Law of the LetterIt\u2019s a humid day in January 1998. 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Climate Change nor Global Warming cares about which party you belong to.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;motion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1306,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2013\/07\/21\/thin-fuh-keheri-thin-f%c9%99k-k%c9%99h%c9%99ri\/","url_meta":{"origin":3846,"position":3},"title":"Thin-fuh-keheri |&#8217;th\u012bn-f\u0259k-k(\u0259)h(\u0259)ri|","author":"monochromist","date":"July 21, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"maldives: naun (pl. -ns) the practice of claiming to have moral standards or beliefs to which one\u2019s own behavior does not conform; pretense. a person who joins a political party worships it leaves the party denounce and condemns it and joins it again to praise it. \u00a0a person who makes\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;motion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2841,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2012\/03\/18\/an-open-letter-to-endhimariyambu\/","url_meta":{"origin":3846,"position":4},"title":"an open letter to endhimariyambu","author":"monochromist","date":"March 18, 2012","format":false,"excerpt":"an open letter to endhimariyambu (it\u2019s been a long time since we\u2019ve written to each other) since you embrace the title i christened you with - i was wondering if you had actually read the tweets of critisism re: your article Police or Protester: Still the ordinary man\u00a0 pls note\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;motion&quot;","block_context":{"text":"motion","link":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/category\/video_graphics\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":4429,"url":"https:\/\/monochromist.com\/notes\/2011\/02\/08\/who-is-munavvar-dont-walk-like-a-maldivian\/","url_meta":{"origin":3846,"position":5},"title":"Who is Munavvar?: Don&#8217;t walk like a Maldivian &#8211; what Egyptians can learn","author":"monochromist","date":"February 8, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"By Moussa Muneer There is a revolution brewing in Egypt. It is being cooked in a cauldron in Tahrir Square. If the heat is strong enough the dictatorial rule of Hosni Mubarak will be over in a matter of months if not weeks. 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