Rise of the Italian Right
The use of fascist symbols, the threat of violence, the
demonisation of minorities ... hasn't Italy been here
before?
By Martin Jacques
Comment is Free (Guardian UK)
April 30, 2008
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/mar ... right.html
It is now clear that the left's victory in the Italian
general election of 2006 represented no more than a
brief pause in the country's remorseless shift to the
right.
One hoped that election might have signalled an end to
the degenerative and anti-democratic trends that had
accompanied the rise of Silvio Berlusconi over the
previous decade. In fact, it represented no such thing.
It is already clear that the third Berlusconi
government will be markedly different from its two
predecessors, which were primarily about Berlusconi's
desire to use public power to protect his private
empire and to change the law in order to prevent legal
action being taken against him. He was successful on
both counts. Meanwhile the concentration of immense
private and public power in the hands of one man
signalled a serious corrosion in the fabric of
democracy.
The tone of public debate degenerated as political
opponents were branded "communists" irrespective of
their affiliation and Berlusconi steadily shifted the
terms of what was say-able and acceptable. While
Berlusconi's allies, the neo-fascist National Alliance
and the xenophobic Northern League, unconstrained by
the need of Berlusconi to appear - at least
intermittently - respectable, worked relentlessly to
shift the minds of millions to the right.
This new government lies significantly to the right of
the previous two. Armed with a sweeping majority in
both chambers of parliament, it does not have to worry,
unlike, for example, the last one, about ensuring that
the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats are on
side. The anti-immigrant Northern League doubled its
vote in the election, cornering 28% of the vote in the
northern cities and emerged as the largest party in
Venice. The neo-fascists have just flexed their muscles
in the election for the mayor of Rome and convincingly
defeated the candidate of the left. With Berlusconi
enjoying a new-found confidence enabled by a government
that now enjoys more power than any previous one in
recent times, and the Northern League and National
Alliance similarly encouraged and empowered by their
electoral support, Italian politics have entered a new
phase.
This was demonstrated by the manner in which the
supporters of Gianni Alemanno, the new mayor of Rome, a
man steeled in the fascist tradition, celebrated his
victory in the Campidoglio with fascist salutes and
cries of "Duce, Duce!", just as Mussolini was once
acclaimed by his adherents. Or the way in which
Berlusconi felt able to declare, in response to the
victory, that "we are the new Falange" - the name given
to the fascist party in Spain in the 1930s. Or the fact
that Umberto Bossi, at the first session of parliament,
threatened violence if the centre-left did not
acquiesce in its plans for federalism. "I don't know
what the left wants [but] we are ready," he told
reporters. "If they want conflicts, I have 300,000 men
always on hand." Or the fashion in which Gianfranco
Fini, during a public walkabout with his followers in
support of Alemanno, demanded to see immigrants'
residence permits, while Alemanno threatens to expel
20,000 immigrants from the capital, who he claims have
broken the law, and shut illegal Roma encampments; with
Bossi is no less vitriolic in his attitude towards
immigrants.
The use of fascist symbols and terms, the threat of
violence, and the demonisation of ethnic minorities:
haven't we been here somewhere before? They mark a
decisive shift in what is regarded as acceptable. The
tone and agenda of Italian politics have taken a major
turn to the right. We can now see the emergence of an
incipient fascist trend in Italy which, far from being
confined to the extremes, has entered and infected
mainstream political life.
The roots of the revival of this far-right populism are
fivefold.
First, there was the disillusionment in the political
class following the collapse of the cold war system
together with the tangentopoli corruption scandal,
which provided the conditions for the emergence of a
new wave of anti-politicians untainted by the old
system, such as Berlusconi and Bossi.
Second, there has been the creeping corrosion of the
democratic system as represented by Berlusconi, which
has progressively adjusted and habituated Italians to a
political system that is no longer based on the values
of open and fair political competition but on a
populist authoritarianism.
Third, there has been the chronic stagnation of the
Italian economy, which in recent years, notwithstanding
a buoyant global economy and the fact that, for
example, it has been greatly out-performed by a not-so-
dissimilar Spanish economy, has barely grown at all.
This has contributed towards a sense of unease and
insecurity, raising fears about the consequences of
globalisation, a rejection of the outside (well-
illustrated by Berlusconi's refusal to allow Alitalia
to be taken over by another airline), and growing
hostility towards one of the most visible signs of
globalisation, namely immigration. Politically this is
clearly reflected in the doubling of support in the
recent election for the anti-globalisation, anti-
immigrant Northern League in cities like Milan and
Turin.
Fourth, as the postwar political order has unravelled,
so the older historical fault-lines of Italy have re-
emerged more clearly and more contentiously: in
particular, the division between north and south
exemplified by the secessionist Northern League, and
the long-running failure to construct an open,
legitimate and representative state that is not subject
to private capture of one kind or another.
Finally, the very fact that the fascist tradition is
such an integral feature of modern Italian history,
having governed from 1922 until its final defeat in
1945, means that its values, symbols, philosophies,
assumptions, prejudices and emotions remain embedded in
the Italian psyche, only a little beneath the surface,
ready to be reawakened and mobilised by a new
generation of fascists should circumstances allow.
That, alas, is what we are now witnessing.
One of Europe's great countries threatens to return to
its worst past and thereby at the same time remind the
whole continent that the darkest passage in its own
history is in the process of being exhumed and
rekindled on the Italian peninsula. The signs have been
there since 1994. Now they are irresistible. We are
being warned. Europe must take heed.
