Who knows if Jeff Bezos and Lauren Sanchez will actually celebrate their wedding in Venice. The dates circulating, from June 24 to 26, are still far away, but the many details that have already been finalized – 250 guests for each of the three days, five hotels booked, all of the taxis in the city hired – lead one to presume that the founder and owner of Amazon, publisher of the Washington Post, and owner of a personal fortune that exceeds two hundred billion dollars, and his fiancée, a journalist of Mexican origin, have only to decide whether to rent an entire block on the Grand Canal, ask for hospitality in a museum, or even set up their yacht inside or outside the Lagoon.
While waiting for confirmation, it is not wrong to consider some reaction. But first let’s take a look at why.
Bezos is a front man in the billionaires’ camp that surrounds Donald Trump. He probably only cares about the economic advantages that the White House can guarantee him. And so it makes no difference to him whether the Oval Office authorizes brutality in Gaza, or whether the balance of power and therefore the democratic system in the US is dismantled piece by piece, or whether the deportation of thousands and thousands of migrants is promoted. However, indifference is complicity. Bezos attended the new president’s inauguration, smiling and in the front row along with his peers, then offered him the gift of a Washington Post free of unpleasant comments. This tribute is tantamount to the many measures Trump has taken against the free press in just a few months, as well as Elon Musk’s intimidating vulgarities against journalism itself.
Bezos has chosen to get married in Venice, a European city that has been open for centuries to commercial and cultural exchanges in the Mediterranean, and especially towards the Middle and Far East: a concentration of characteristics about which Trump’s men, starting with his vice president, have vomited bilious and repressed inanities, both publicly and in chats. So why choose Venice, if the essence of Venice is ignored? And then, si parva licet componere magnis, how does the lagoon city reconcile with the Casamonica or Gomorra-type furnishings of the imperial palace of Mar-a-Lago?
Bezos thought that, like everything in the world, even Venice, despite being Venice, has a price – and that price is within his reach. Much like Greenland, the Gulf of Mexico and rare earth resources in Ukraine. It is a city that can be bought or even rented, even if just for three days, by virtue of a colonial privilege. And the Venetians? The Venetians will have to make do. There are few of them left, so for three days their movements will be limited, they will run into barriers that fence off red zones, and the city will endure an increase in motorboat waves. They will have to forgo taxis. Or, perhaps they will be content to watch the billionaires on the catwalk, like children in front of a display of pastries. On the other hand, some hoteliers will be happy, especially those with an American passport.
“This event will bring millions of dollars in economic impact our territory,” declared Mayor Luigi Brugnaro, “and there is a sense of Venice as a place where one can stay and meet. We have important challenges to face and Venice can play an important role for this country.” The accuracy of the mayor’s enthusiasm will only be measured once the wedding has taken place. In the meantime, we hear the echo of a worn-out refrain: Venice needs big events to promote itself in the world. Even if these events reduce one of the world’s best-known cities to the rank of a stage decked out for a sumptuous MAGA performance.
There are all sorts of reasons, from actions dramatically affecting the international scenario, coexistence and democracy to those that will directly impact Venice and the dignity of its civitas, to organize a protest action on the days of the Bezos-Sanchez wedding: civil, peaceful and joyful, but also thunderous.
L’articolo Persona Non Grata proviene da ytali..
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