[R-G] Rise of the [Italian] right

[Anthony Fenton]

Rise of the right

The use of fascist symbols, the threat of violence, the demonisation  
of minorities ... hasn't Italy been here before?
Martin Jacques
http://commentisfree.guardian.co.uk/martin_jacques/2008/04/rise_of_the_right.html
April 30, 2008 5:30 PM | Printable version

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.