Yesmoke Tobacco S.p.A.

The police at the entrance of Yesmoke’s cigarette factory. For the “blitz”, four military vans and a dozen police cars of the Carabinieri and Guardia di Finanza were mobilized.

It was the morning of December 6th. Some 50 policemen in riot gear arrived at Yesmoke’s cigarette manufacturing plant in Settimo Torinese: Carabinieri, Guardia di Finanza and Digos (special police units) along with an assortment of officials. They were there to affix seals to the machinery and block the manufacturing processes of the factory, a factory that is working 3 shifts a day, 365 days a year. Following Yesmoke’s categorical refusal to interrupt its production, that evening the decision was made to suspend the use of force and defer all decisions to a future discussion table. Read more »

Yesmoke, the Piemonte Company that would like to compete with Philip Morris ,according to Italy’s daily newspaper “Libero”, has a lobby. The article, dated October 28th, is by the newspaper’s assistant editor, Franco Bechis, the title: «Barbato, il Dipietrista* che alla Camera fa il lobbista del tabacco» (Barbato, Di Pietro’s man, who in the Chamber is the lobbyist of tobacco).

As if it were the battle of his lifetime - writes Bechis – Barbato has asked the government to eliminate the regulatory barriers that prevent Yesmoke from extending its presence in Italy and that oblige the company to sell its production almost entirely abroad“. Read more »

Mario Monti, the new Italian Prime Minister: servant of the multinationals as some malicious people say, or the ”Saddam Hussein of Business” as the Economist has called him?

«It’s not a question of strong powers; let me reassure you totally …when I was the European Antitrust Commissioner in Brussels, I was not a devoted and disciplined server of the multinationals; I fought against big American companies, in spite of the intervention of the president of the United States … The Economist has written that the American business world considers me the Saddam Hussein of business”. These are the words of Mario Monti, the new president of the Council of Ministers of Italy, addressing the Senate.

To understand who Mario Monti is, we won’t need to observe the strong powers, the Bilderberg Group, the Trilateral Commission or Goldman Sachs; all we need to do is to watch the Italian market of processed tobacco. It is unlikely that the new Saddam Hussein will dare to stand up against the big boss Philip Morris (who put its man Marchionne at the head of Fiat) and its two cronies of the sector, all “exempted” from paying taxes in Italy. Read more »

Philip Morris, with British American Tobacco, finances «Italianieuropei» of Massimo D'Alema, while on BAT’s pay sheets, there are also «Formiche», of Follini, and «Magna Carta» of Berlusconi’s senator Quagliarello.

The tobacco multinationals have taken the place of the old political currents, and financing a galaxy of foundations and associations, they are conditioning the agenda of Italian politics.

Tracking down an identikit of the sponsors and knowing how much money they hand out to our politicians is not easy. Foundations, in fact, have no obligation to make their bookkeeping and sources of funding public. Read more »

Who is the worse Mafioso? The one who kisses Toto’ Riina on the cheek, or the one who works so that Philip Morris, the greatest thief of Italian history, can continue to take home billions of euro that belong to the Italians?

The Honorable Renzo Patria, of Forza Italia and an old Christian Democratic bureaucrat, is known as the “number one lobbyist” of Philip Morris in Italy - a very prestigious position!

But at the age of 76, Mr. Patria should be stimulated by thoughts and fruitful reflections on the hereafter and the spiritual side of existence. Instead, it seems that Onorevole Patria prefers to spend his time giving Italians kicks in the behind with the gusto of a youngster… up to his last breath!

After the "Assotabacco", so-called "Associazione Nazionale Imprese Europee Produttrici di Sigarette" (National Association of European Businesses Producers of Cigarettes), with which he managed to get himself into the Confindustria, the latest stunt in the glorious career as “lobbyist” of the Honorable Mr. Patria has been the "Filtabacco". Read more »

…but does the premier know what's gong on in his "company- state"? (Berlusconi loves to say that the efficiency of the state must be inspired by the efficiency of a company).

Imagine that Power steals and commits injustices and that the opposition, instead of standing up against the Power, goes out to club the people who are protesting.

This paradoxical scenario, that would have been a bit excessive even for the ambitions of a leader like Africa's Bokassa, took place right here in Italy, a nation that is a top member of the drawing room of modern democracies.

Let's imagine that foreign cigarette manufacturers, who own and dominate the Italian market, today, are the "power" and that the Italian State Monopoly - AAMS (Azienda Autonoma Monopoli di Stato), in its role as controller, represents the collectivity.

If Big Tobacco tries to act in its own interests with every means, the AAMS should watch over it to make sure that whatever happens complies with the laws and follows the rules. Read more »