The Five Star MoVement (MoVimento 5 Stelle, M5S) is
a political party in Italy launched by
Beppe Grillo, a popular activist, comedian and blogger, and
Gianroberto Casaleggio, a
web strategist, on 4 October 2009.[2][3][4]
The party is
populist,[5][6][7]
anti-corruption,[8]
environmentalist,[8][9]
and partially
Eurosceptic.[10][11]
It also advocates
participatory democracy,[8]
direct democracy,[12][13]
E-democracy,
free access to the Internet,[14],
the principles of "zero-cost politics"[15]
and
degrowth.[16]
The M5S's programme also contains elements of
right-wing populism and American-style
libertarianism. Party members stress that the M5S is not a party but
a "movement" and it may not be included in the traditional
left right paradigm. The "five stars" are a reference to five key
issues: public
water,
sustainable transport,
development,
connectivity, and
environmentalism.
History
Meetups
On 16 July 2005
Beppe Grillo offered supporters of the proposals submitted to his
blog to adopt social networks to communicate and coordinate local
meetings. Coordination of activists through Meetups had already been
adopted in 2003 by
Howard Dean during the campaign for the primaries of the
Democratic Party of the
United States.[17]
This is how the first 40 meetup "friends of Beppe Grillo", with the
initial aim, according to the same Grillo, "have fun, get together and
share ideas and proposals for an better world, starting from their own
city. And discuss and develop, if you believe, my post "[18]
Within the meetup you create thematic working group on topics including"
Technology and Innovation "," Press-communication "," critical
consumption " , "Study Moneta", "No Incinerators"[19][20]
It is from these experiences that is asked Grillo to stand for election
primaries for the choice of the Prime Ministerial candidate of the
centre-left coalition
The Union, provided for October 2005.[21]
On three occasions - 17 December in
Turin, 26
March in
Piacenza and 16 to 18 June in
Sorrento - the representatives of the meetup "Meetup" held meetings
nationally in the presence of the Grillo. In these circumstances,
proposals are discussed mostly inherent environmental issues such as the
replacement of polluting incinerators with the mechanical-biological
treatment of waste.[22]
During the fourth national meeting held in
Genoa, 3
February 2007, Beppe Grillo announced his desire to leave the Meetup
activists local autonomous space within one of the shows of his tour.
The meeting in
Parma
held on 14 July 2007 involved the representatives of some civic lists of
participants in local elections last spring.[when?]
You share a document of intent for the creation of "a network of civic
lists and movements, associations, organizations [...] that include
within them a horizontal organization and not top-down" and that they
recognize the "principle of participation democratic citizens."[23]
V-Days
On 14 June 2007
Beppe Grillo launched the idea of Vaffanculo Day (Fuck you
Day), or simply V-Day, a day of public mobilisation for the collection
of signatures required to submit a law of popular initiative that seeks
to introduce preferences in the current electoral law to prevent the
nomination as Parliamentary candidates of recipients of criminal
convictions or those who have already completed two terms in office.[24]
The meeting was held in
Bologna.
The choice of the name of the event, V-Day, of course, is linked to a
threefold reference: the first in the
D-Day
Normandy landing of the
Allies during the
Second World War, as well as Italian citizens would disembark in
life Italian civil from bad policy, and the second to feature film "V
for Vendetta" (whose symbol is a reference in the logo of the
movement) to which the principles of political renewal refers often the
movement and third to the interjection "Fuck you" given to bad policy.
V-Day, which continued the initiative promoted by Beppe Grillo Clean
Parliament since 2006, took place in many Italian cities the
following 8 September, the date chosen to evoke a state of confusion
besetting the state, as at the ' September 8, 1943. Were gathered
336,000 signatures, far exceeding the 50,000 required for the filing of
the law of popular initiative. For the occasion, Michele Serra coined
the term "grillismo"[25]
In the wake of the success, exceeding the expectations of the
organisers,[citation
needed] V2-Day was organised for 25 April 2008, a
second day of action aimed at collecting signatures for three
referendums. On 29 and 30 September 2007 in
Lucca
several members of MeetUp "Meetup" and lists of local civic, driven
initial open discussion in the and in the wake of the previous meeting
of
Perugia, setting the bar for policies for the establishment of civic
lists. On 10 October 2007, Grillo gave guidance on how to create the
civic lists[26]
Five Star civic
lists
On 3 December 2008, Grillo announces the symbol of the Civic Lists at
Five Stars for the local elections of 2009. Logo in the "V" of
"citizenship" is a reference to V-Day[27]
In
Bologna, 17 February 2009, a gathering of civic lists discussing the
future of the movement and the subsequent elections, in particular,
Sonia Alfano consulted with the activist base of the movement about
his possible candidacy for the
European Parliament as an independent candidate on the
Italy of Values list.
On 8 March 2009, he first national meeting of the Five Star Civic
Lists was held in
Florence. Here Beppe Grillo had the Charter of Florence, bone
joint 12-point program of the various local civic lists in the
afternoon, about twenty local groups present their ideas and
experiences. In April Grillo announced a letter of
Nobel Prize winner in economics
Joseph Stiglitz in which he declares to look carefully at the
experience of local civic lists promoted through the blog[28]
On 29 March 2009 Grillo announced that in the upcoming European
elections he would support
Luigi de Magistris and
Sonia Alfano, figures close to the movement as independent
candidates in the lists of Italy of Values, together with the journalist
Carlo Vulpio, also close to the movement[29]
On 11 June and De Magistris is Alfano, candidates in all five
constituencies are elected to the European Parliament, resulting in the
first and second preferences 419 000 143 000. In the same election, as
stated by Beppe Grillo, 23 councilors are elected Civic Lists of Five
Star, especially in the municipalities of
Emilia-Romagna in central
Italy[30]
On 9 September 2009, it was announced the launch of the "National
Movement Five Star" inspired by the ideologies of the Charter of
Florence[31]
Along with
Gianroberto Casaleggio to the Emerald Theatre in
Milan, 4
October 2009 Beppe Grillo declared the birth of Five Star Movement and
ran a programme.[32]
2010–2012 regional and local elections
At the
2010 regional elections the M5S obtained notable results in the five
regions where it ran a candidate for President:
Giovanni Favia gained 7.0% of the vote in
Emilia-Romagna (6.0% for the list, 2 regional councillors elected),
Davide Bono 4.1% in
Piedmont (3.7%, 2 councillors), David Borrelli 3.2% in
Veneto (2.6%, no councillors),
Vito Crimi 3.0% in
Lombardy (2.3%, no councillors) and
Roberto Fico 1.3% in
Campania (1.3%, no councillors).[33]
At the
local elections on 15 and 16 May 2011, the Movement occurs in 75 of
the 1,177 municipalities in the vote,[34]
including 18 of the 23 provincial capitals called to vote. In the first
round the Movement enters its representatives in 28 municipalities (for
a total of 34 elected councilors) and often resulting in some important
decisive ballots[35]
The best results are in the cities and towns of the center-north,
especially in
Emilia-Romagna (where the list gets between 9 and 12% in
Bologna,
Rimini
and
Ravenna) and
Piedmont, while in the south rarely exceeds 2% of the vote.
Regional elections in Molise on 16 and 17 October 2011 had its own
candidate for the presidency and its own list, the list received 2.27%
of the votes and the presidential candidate the 5.60% of the vote, but
no seats[36]
At the
2012 local elections the M5S did well in several cities of the
North, notably in
Genoa
(14.1%),[37]
Verona
(9.5%),[38]
Parma
(19.9%),[39]
Monza
(10.2%),[40]
and
Piacenza (10.0%).[41]
In the small
Venetian
town of
Sarego, the M5S's candidate was elected mayor with 35.2% of the vote
(there is no run-off in towns with less than 15,000 inhabitants).[42]
In the run-offs the party won the mayorships of Parma (60.2%),[39]
Mira (52.5%),[43]
and
Comacchio (69.2%).[44]
After the election, the party consistently scored around 15-20%
nationally in opinion polls, frequently ahead of
The People of Freedom and second just to the
Democratic Party (see
2013 general election).
At the
Sicilian regional elections of 2012 the M5S filed as candidate
Giancarlo Cancelleri. The campaign kicked off with Grillo's arrival in
Messina
on 10 October swimming from the mainland.[45][46]
In the election Cancelleri came third with 18.2% of the vote, while the
M5S was the most voted party with 14.9%, obtaining 15 seats out of 90 in
the Regional Assembly, in a very fragmented political landscape.[47]
The election was however characterized by a low participation as only
47.4% of eligible voters effectively turned out to vote.[48]
2013 general
election
On 29 October 2012, Grillo announced the guidelines for standing as
party candidates in the
2013 general election.[49][50]
For the first time in Italy, the candidates were chosen by party members
through an online primary between 3 and 6 December.[51]
On 12 December 2012, Grillo expelled two leading members from the
party:
Giovanni Favia, regional councillor of
Emilia-Romagna, and
Federica Salsi, municipal councillor in
Bologna,
due to political party rules infringement. The former had talked about
the lack of democracy within the party, while the latter had taken part
in a political talk show on Italian television, something that was
discouraged and later forbidden by Grillo.[52]
On 22 February 2013, a large crowd of 800,000 people attended the
final rally of
Beppe Grillo before the
general election, in
Piazza San Giovanni in
Rome.[53]
On 24 and 25 February 2013, M5S contested all Italian constituencies:
Beppe Grillo was listed as head of the coalition, although he was
not an electoral candidate.
The vote for M5S in the
Chamber of Deputies reached 25.55% of the vote in
Italy and
9.67% for overseas voters, for a total of 8,784,499 votes, making it the
second most voted list after the
Democratic Party (which acquired 25.42% of the votes in Italy and
29.9% abroad, or 8,932,615 votes), obtaining 108 deputies. The M5S vote
for the
Senate was 23.79% in Italy and 10% abroad, for a total of 7,375,412
votes, second only to the PD (which garnered 8,674,893 votes), obtaining
54 Senators. This was a successful election for M5S as the party gained
a higher share of the vote than was expected by any of the opinion
polls. The M5S won 25.6% of the vote for the Chamber of Deputies, more
than any other single party. However, both the centre-left
Italy Common Good coalition, centred around the
Democratic Party, and the centre-right alliance, centred around
The People of Freedom, obtained more votes as coalitions.[54][55]
Coupons are also the results of the regional in
Lombardy,
Lazio and
Molise,
where candidates acquired the third highest number of votes, and the
party won 9 councilors in Lombardy, 2 and 7 in Molise and Lazio.[citation
needed] The m5S became the largest party in the
Abruzzo,
Marche,
Liguria,
Sicily
and
Sardinia.[36]
Ideology
In the Five Star Movement converge themes derived from
ecological and
anti-particracy promoting the
direct participation of citizens in the management of public affairs
through forms of digital democracy. From the economic point of view,
embraces the theories of
degrowth supporting the creation of jobs, "green", and a rejection
of polluting and expensive, including incinerators and many "great
works", aiming to an overall better quality of life and greater social
justice[56]
The Movement 5 Star proposes the adoption of large-scale energy
projects, elimination of waste, sustainable mobility, protection of
territory by overbuilding, teleworking, computerization[57]
Politicians as "employees," the policy as "service"
One of the fundamental ideas of the Five Star Movement is that
politicians are addicted to the project of the
Italian people[58][59][60]
Some politicians have willingly accepted the definition of "employee",
for example, on 10 and 11 January 2006, in
Trieste,
the two candidates for mayor and Ettore Rosato Roberto Dipiazza have
signed a pledge, if elected, to be considered "employees "citizens of
Trieste.
Auto reduction of salary and rejection of campaign contributions
Another feature of the movement is the so-called autoredox salary of
the elect, in line with this principle, in some regions such as
Piedmont,
Emilia-Romagna[61][62]
and Sicily[63]
the elect allocate part of the salary for purposes relating to the
'political activity of the group (exposed cover, legal fees, appeals to
the Administrative Court and the Council of State, etc.[62]).
Likewise the movement intends to reject campaign contributions, Grillo
described the reasons for this choice March 27, 2010. After the regional
elections in Sicily in 2012, in addition to refusing to more than "1
Million Euro in electoral reimbursements," the MoVement has decided to
allocate the money saved by the reduction of the salaries of their
"Elected Officials" in a fund for the micro-credit to help small and
medium enterprises, from MoVement always been considered the "backbone
of Italy".[64]
Elimination of multi-tasks and compliance mandates
Among the major political battles of employees M5S is the ethical
commitment, internally consistent since[65]
to a greater simplicity and transparency as possible to counter the use
by any legal means to hold two or more positions[66][67][68]
which show the intricate conflicts of interest between any organization,
subsequently strengthened by public register[69]
to avoid accentrazioni type
nepotistic and clientelistic.[70][71][72][73]
Civil rights
The leader of the movement, Grillo, on 15 July 2012, claims to be
approving of
marriages between persons of the same sex[74]
The declaration of Grillo was inspired by the discussion of the National
Assembly on the subject.[75]
In offering his support to gay marriage, Grillo has filled a silence on
the subject, which some might denote opposition, clarifying the full
support of the movement to recognize such marriages.[76]
Criticism
With the
2010 Italian elections, some parties highlighted a contradiction
between the voluntary collective action in the struggles of civil
society and openness in
political representation[77][78][79]
Also in 2010, there were tensions between the movement and
Italy of Values.[80]
Beppe Grillo (on the right) with Giovanni Favia (on the
left), who was expelled from the movement in 2011.
In March 2012 the city councillor in
Rimini
Valentino Tavolazzi advocated a national meeting on behalf of the
movement,[81][82]
gathered about 150 participants, praise and harsh criticism even by
those few politicians who were present at the convention,[83]
with harsh stance in the content of the meeting about the "conditions of
Regulation M5S" because it was discovered to be in conflict with the
statutes of its Civic Party of origin "Project for Ferrara". The was
officially revoked the use of the logo[84][85]
and received the ban from taking any position on behalf of M5S, was
perpetuated as a legacy of controversy also internal democracy.[86][87][88]
Since 2007 Grillo criticized the extent of the cost of the policy by
entering the Statute of moving an article which provides for the
reduction dell'onorario for
deputies and
senators[89]
Based on this policy, the benefits perceived by the member of parliament
must not exceed 5,000 euro gross per month, while any extra will be
returned to the State with solidarity allowance (also called end-term).
According to the regional director of the Five Star Movement Giovanni
Favia, the deduction of 5,000 euro gross salary of parliamentarians is,
however, contrary to the principles of the movement, as it would result
in a reduction of only 2,500 euro net. In an interview which was
published in several newspapers in November 2012, Favia estimated at
11,000 euro per month the fees prescribed for a member of five stars,
even though it does not explain how it got to deduct that amount because
it necessarily includes reimbursements and per diem is not flat,
employees that is, costs and expenses which vary from member to member.[90]
Following the exclusion of the same Giovanni Favia and Federica Salsi
for expressing views about the lack of internal democracy, the party has
been expelled from several criticisms and members of the same party[91][92]
The expulsions were made unilaterally by the owner of Beppe Grillo and
symbol, as per regulation, took place without prior consultation with
members of the movement.[93][94][95]
Another criticism frequently by the same movement activists and
former activists, such as
Federico Pistono, social entrepreneur and the former member,[96]
about the absence of any form of effective participation on the web[97]
There is currently a tool for collective writing of the program and the
proposed law. The forum is considered inadequate for the purpose[98][99]
Through his blog, in September 2012, Grillo said that a portal to
participate via the web was already under construction[100]
The triggering was scheduled for the end of the year 2012, but at the
time of the elections of February 2013 it was not yet realized.
Electoral results
Italian Parliament
Leadership