I taught for several years at the “La Sapienza” University in Rome, back in the seventies. Lots of terrific students, incredible colleagues, and plenty of political terror. One of the most distinguished men in Rome, a member of the Supreme Court, was gunned down in his car in the middle of the “campus.” Other unpopular professors were beaten up, a couple were locked in elevators for half a day or more. Exams were all oral, and I had to deal with “student collectives” who wanted to march into the exam room in groups of thirty or so, then I would ask a question and they would decide who would answer.

Things haven’t changed much, apparently. Student collectives managed to shut down a ceremony at which the Pope was going to talk about faith and reason. Elsewhere in Italy, student collectives are shutting down universities because they don’t like the expansion of an American Air Force Base.

The government, such as it is, has been totally impotent in imposing order, just as it has failed to deal effectively with most any other serious issue, whether it be the Naples garbage crisis or the high-speed train in the north, or even such elementary matters as enforcing contracts, which has long kept foreign investment in Italy at a very low level. The current government is leftist, but that’s not the key issue. The leaders of the so-called right have been no better, either during their years in office, or now. Berlusconi, for example, has had nothing to say about Naples; he’s been too busy creating new political organizations, the last thing the country needs. However, the government has busied itself with Iran, signing new contracts, opposing new sanctions, decrying the rare tough statement from Washington, London, Paris or Berlin.

So, for the first time in years, I signed a petition. This one supports Pope Benedict, and decries the censorship from La Sapienza. I’m not the only Jewish intellectual on the list, either: there’s Giorgio Israel, a professor of mathematics, who in his spare time has done some of the best historical work on antisemitism during the fascist and post-war periods. He understands the basic principle: once you let the censors silence anyone, it’s only a matter of time before they come and censor you.