BenveGnUU IN Padania

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BenveGnUU IN Padania
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www.padan.org
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What is Padania?

• A geographical name identifying the regions of
  the Val Padana in Northern Italy
• Another name for the territory the Romans called
  Cisalpine Gaul
• Defined by the area where gallo-italic
  languages are spoken (including
  emiliano-romagnola, ligure, lombardo, and
  piemontese)

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Who calls it Padania?

• The Lombard, Ticino, and Grigoni chapters of the
  International Association for the Defense of
  Endangered Languages and Cultures began using the
  name in the 1970s.
• Linguist Geoffrey Hull of Macarthur University in
  Sydney wrote a thesis on The Linguistic Unity of
  Northern Italy and Rhaetia using the term Padania
  and arguing that the dialects of the region were
  variants of a unique linguistic system padanese
  (or padanian).
• In the 1990s, however, it was adopted by the Lega
  Nord and entered into the everyday Italian
  vocabulary. The connotation now is politicized
  and partisan.

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La Lega Nord

• Founded by Umberto Bossi in 1991 as La Lega Nord
  per lindipendenza della Padania
• Precursors were the Liga Veneta and Lega
  Lombarda, founded in 1980s
• Among its major goals, the attainment of
  federalism, the devolution of central power to
  local governments, and the preservation of local
  languages and culture.

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Heritage, Not Hate

• Mythical past we fought against Barbarossa (in
  1174)
• Celtic roots
• Green shirts, Black shirts
• Our Language holds our culture.
• (And it doesnt hurt that we happen to dislike
  all the same things
• Southerners
• centralized government
• Italy )

Umberto Bossi
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La Lengua Padanesa
Scrivuu in lengua italiana (variant standard
tuscana)

• Encompasses multiple dialects
• These dialects tend to have
• weaker consonants than standard Italian
  (latinagtladin)
• Desonorization of end vowels (neve gt neiv)
• Alternate verb forms (for example, io vengogteu
  vegn tu dicigttu dis)
• Vernacular use of the remote past tense
• An abundance of vocabulary words that are
  definitely not Tuscan sometimes correspond to
  Occitan but not always biadeg (nephew) rampin
  (hook) hboleid (function)

La Padania terra gallica nel mondo italico
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A language everyone can understand

• One of the most common slogans is a simple
  affirmation of masculine sexual prowess, in crude
  language. La Lega ce lha duro(The League has a
  hard-on). It is a sentence used as a disingenuous
  reaction to complicated questions or comments by
  political opponents. It does not make sense, but
  it creates embarrassment and anger in political
  circles. It provokes hilarity and great
  satisfaction among activists, and conveys the
  anti-system component of the Lega. Vulgarity is
  raised to the status of a virtue because it
  possesses a simplicity and directness that is
  felt to be lacking elsewhere. --Carlo Ruzza

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POLITICS

• League movements begin in 1980s in response to
  government corruption, redistributive policies
  funneling northern tax money south. (Soldi dal
  nord, mafia dal sud).
• Goals federalism, preservation of language and
  culture. On the more radical side, secession
• Early 1990s, huge number of government scandals
  made public and nearly all prominent politicians
  put on trial. Post-war political system
  collapses.
• Lega Nord sees opportunity for national power.
  Bossi gets a Senate seat. LN moves South, opening
  up Lega chapters in South, minus the Nord
• Berlusconi tailgates on the language of the
  league. Berlusconi has wider appeal and wider
  (MUCH WIDER) access to national public. Lega Nord
  agrees on coalition with Forza Italia until 1996.
  Bossi pulls out, Lega becomes more radical, and
  once again more regional.

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Resources Anderson, Benedict. Imagined
Communities. Verso London, 1991. Agnew, John.
The Rhetoric of Regionalism The Northern
League in Italian Politics. Transactions of
the Institute of British Geographers. 1995.
156-172. Ginsborg, Paul. Italy and its
Discontents. Penguin London, 2001. Gold, Thomas.
Lega Nord and Contemporary Politics in Italy.
McMilan New York, 2003. Ruzza, Carlo. Language
and Nationalism in Italy Language as a Weak
Marker of National Identity. Language and
Nationalism in Europe. Oxford, New York,
2000. 168-182. Sznajder, Mario. Italys Right
Wing Government Legitimacy and Criticism.
International Affairs. 711 (1995),
83-102. www.padan.org www.leganord.org
Meg Austin 29 November 2007