In his addition to Venice Noir entitled ‘The Comedy is Over,’ Francesco Ferracin delivers a punch to anyone who believes they are upholding ideals by being part of a particular political party. He shows how only one experience can change a person’s views, even if they have upheld them for their entire lives.

Despite being raised in a strictly conservative family, the narrator holds Leftist beliefs: a mix of races, religions, and political affiliations is key to Venice’s concept of freedom. When she becomes a victim in a horrifying crime that takes the life of her friend and nearly her own, she changes her convictions dramatically. She starts to see the anger in the eyes of her friends’ and the unspoken guilt they push upon her. Why was she the one to survive? Why did the pretty one have to die?

Unfortunately, the attack is forever in her mind and serves as a sort of ulterior motive to all of her relationships, whether romantic, familial, or professional. Aside from a very brief stint of survivor’s guilt, the narrator tosses her friends aside and goes for a guy who brings subconscious emotions out that she has never known.

Not only has she changed in her dealings with those close to her, but the way she thinks has also taken a sudden change. A pair of young men from Morocco had been the criminals in the attack. Now, more than ever, race is brought to the fore of everyone she sees. No longer does she see the variety of color of the faces of passersby as worthy of her support.

Ferracin gives readers a narrator that shows the condition of circular obliviousness that smothers Venice. Very few instances in the narration give readers a chance to pity the woman who has been through a crime where her friends would rather have seen her die than the other woman. The plot shows a world where the law system is not enough to sufficiently avenge its citizens and where everyone goes about their lives doing the same things, each leading to a violent end.

The narrator is the exception to the vicious cycle. Instead of giving in to the hand of her attackers, she survives and vows revenge in a place where superheroes never appear to a damsel in distress, no matter how pretty they are. There is no one to avenge those who have been wronged except for the victim.

Through an unsympathetic narrator who is driven by her need for revenge, Ferracin makes readers feel the same lack of sympathy for Venice’s limbo-like state. He shows that individuals need to observe and stop blindly accepting the beliefs of a particular political party. He makes readers question the plausibility of enduring beliefs when faced with a situation that hurls the consequences of those beliefs in the face of the holder.

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Conservative Muslims shouted anti-Semitic slogans when Ismail Haniyeh, the prime minister of the Gaza government, arrived in Tunisia. The leader of the Tunisian Islamic party chastised them for their discrimination, which had shocked the Jewish community in the area. Tunisia is among the more secular Arab countries, and the remarks made by the group of Muslims distressed and mortified the government.

Rachid Ghannouchi, leader of the Ennahda party which is at the head of the government, said the Jews of Tunisia are “full citizens with equal rights and duties.” He said in a statement, “Ennahda condemns these slogans which do not represent Islam’s spirit or teachings and considers those who raised them as a marginal group.”

Haniyeh was greeted by Salafists chanting, “Kill the Jews!” and “Crush the Jews!” when he arrived at the Tunis Airport, according to online videos of the incident. The Salafists are conservative Muslims who have been very vocal in the country as of late.

Roger Bismuth, the president of Tunisia’s Jewish community stated, “It is worse than bad, it is catastrophic for Tunisia — particularly in regard to the repercussions that these attitudes provoke abroad.” Ghannouchi and Prime Minister Hamadi Jebali met with him on Monday and assured him they would deal with this the state of affairs and might even address the nation about it.

Perez Trabelsi, the head of the Jewish community on Djerba, the island where most of the Jewish community resides, said the chants were “unreasonable” and that the government “could not let it pass.”

After decades of oppression, the elected Ennahda party wants to prove their belief in the universal rights and freedoms of the Tunisian people. They have been embarrassed by the conservative Muslim groups that appeared after President Zine el Abidine Ben Ali was overthrown last year.

The groups have staged sit-ins over women university students not being allowed to wear face veils to class and have protested over other various moral issues. When the Ennahda party lagged in reproaching them, it received criticism from the already suspicious liberal groups who are unsure of the Islamist party.

“I think if Ennahda doesn’t come up with some way of being unequivocal in its rejection of some of these ideas and tactics, it really does risk damaging its credibility with some of its coalition partners, progressive voters, and international donors,” said Chris Alexander, an expert on Tunisia from North Carolina’s Davidson College. “I think a lot of people will see that hesitancy as a mark of their true intentions.”

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