Silvia Binenti is a PhD candidate at University College London (UCL), specializing in Italian politics and the role of popular culture. Jason Dittmer is an author and professor of political geography at UCL.
For most Europeans, British politics has historically been associated with a particular stereotype: decent and dignified in appearance, no matter how unscrupulous both its domestic and foreign policies may be.
Recently, however, many inside and outside the United Kingdom have been hit by the collapse of political apparatus in government, where remarkable shamelessness has repeatedly given leaders a political advantage.
A dizzying array of examples come to mind here: the so-called Partygate and Prime Minister Boris Johnson rewriting the Ministerial Act to dilute its consequences; the government’s threat to reject the recently adopted Northern Ireland Protocol; and just last week, rejected at the request of the Labor Party to hold a vote of confidence in the House of Commons.
With its emphasis on dignity and resignation, the British Constitution has repeatedly proved incapable of confronting this new culture of norm-breaking and shamelessness, leaving many wondering how to deter this behavior now that it has a winning tactic in the political game.
Interestingly, the answer lies perhaps just 900 miles away in Italy, with Fantacitorio – a fantasy game designed to make sense of political absurdity.
Home to former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi’s Bunga Bunga parties and a political stereotype closer to Johnsonism than not, Italy has long faced questions about its policies similar to those posed to Britain today – and it has finally come up with an answer : To treat politics as just a game, with a fantasy version that people can play at home, just like football.
By adding the prefix fanta, as in fantasy, to the name Montecitorio, the seat of the Italian Chamber of Deputies, the premise of the game was first presented on the popular TV talk show “Propaganda Live”. In a satirical monologue, a distressed citizen confessed: “I have not followed politics for some time; I do not understand it anymore. The absurd statements of a minister, a governor or a party leader leave me amazed, confused. “Then, he explained, a friend’s words opened his eyes:
“Are you telling me seriously that you have always listened to politicians’ statements without ever associating them with [fantasy] points in Fantacitorio? I mean… Have you always taken everything to be genuine?”
Following the success of the monologue, the show’s producers decided to officially launch the game in February – a week before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine – with over 1,500 teams competing until the end of the championship in June.
The rules are as follows: As the game begins, participants receive a gift of fanfani – Fantacitorio’s currency, named after a former prime minister – which is used to buy and assemble a “team” of politicians. Like fantasy football, players collect points based on the ridiculous, self-righteous, and contradictory things that members of their team say or do: “82 points to the former prime minister, who in times of war and during a pandemic, posts about running with a weight goal at 82 kg. ” Or “50 points to the senator who, in wartime and during a pandemic, demands a new airport in Cortina,” a distinguished mountain destination.
However, the premise of the game was quickly reversed as some politicians began trying to score points on purpose to gain publicity. A relatively unknown MP even shared a video in which he thanked his fantasy managers for investing in him: “A shot for real connoisseurs, I promise to win you many points until the end of the parliamentary term!” he said, shifting the satire of this policy into politics as satire.
Of course, this is nothing new – the breakdown of entertainment policy is a well-documented trend. What is different here, though, is that Fantacitorio’s producers somehow refused to be co-opted in this way. For example, in a somewhat meta-satirical move, an MP – a high-demand top player in the Fantacitorio market – was given a seven-day suspension for purposefully seeking social media attention throughout the game.
Timing was everything too. The seriousness of current political events – especially after the invasion of Ukraine – required a different kind of politician, one who does not distort himself so shamelessly. So when right-wing populist Matteo Salvini declared that Ukrainians should be received with open arms as “legitimate refugees”, he also fell against the rules of the game.
As had been clearly explained in the original monologue, “is a leader of a nationalist party who, to solve the problem of migrants, proposes to lower their boats, worth 15 points. Yes, it is not much now. Before it was 200 points, but then devalued it. ” Conversely, in the then unthinkable scenario where a nationalist and anti-immigration leader could have decided to welcome refugees, the move “would not be a bonus, it is a malus! It’s worth minus 50 points, it’s like an own goal, “the match said.
From this perspective, Fantacitorio has also become a forum for holding Italian politicians accountable. The game’s unwavering focus on political shamelessness and its popularity on social media has actually put some pressure on the country’s politicians to take a closer look at the times we live in, as both the coronavirus pandemic and the war in Europe threaten to undo the development of the latter. century.
For example, when a grossly sexist joke between two members of the same party was caught on camera, the game’s producers decided to deduct points directly from the party’s leader, Giorgia Meloni, in the hope that “she could educate” them – even a fantasy game could not support such behavior.
Now that it looks like a post-Johnson future where economic and geopolitical clouds are gathering on the horizon, Britain needs a similar mechanism to draw attention to and sustain criticism of an entire generation of politicians who have come to power during the shameless fabrications of the last decade.
How many points to the former chancellor running for prime minister by offering to fix the economy? Or how many points for children of South Asian immigrants campaigning against “awake” views on race and empire?
Given that the railing of the British Constitution has proved vulnerable to such shamelessness, we need to devise new mechanisms to discipline politicians – and this could undoubtedly prove to be a fun solution.
