Italy news and discussions

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caltrek
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Led by Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy Party, Right Wing Coalition Set to Take Power in Italy
by Jake Johnson
September 26, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the fascist Brothers of Italy party, is set to become the country's prime minister after her far-right coalition emerged victorious in Sunday's snap election, defeating a fragmented center-left and setting the stage for a viciously xenophobic and anti-democratic Italian government.

The alliance of Meloni's party, Matteo Salvini's The League, and former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi's Forza Italia won roughly 43% of the vote in early tallies, with Brothers of Italy winning around 25% in the low-turnout contest. Results counted thus far indicate that the right-wing coalition failed to garner enough support to amend Italy's constitution.

Italy's centrist Democratic Party is poised to lead the opposition.

"This is a sad day for the country," Debora Serracchiani, a Democratic Party leader, said of Meloni's win.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/news/2022 ... mussolini
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caltrek
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World Reacts to Meloni’s Right-wing Victory in Italian Election
September 26, 2022

Extract:
(Al Jazeera) (In Germany) Jurgen Hardt, a lawmaker and foreign policy expert for the conservative Christian Democratic Union (CDU) – currently in opposition – said he was troubled by the “openly post-fascist statements” of Meloni and the “hair-raising positions” of her fellow Brothers of Italy party members.

The Kremlin said Moscow was open to developing “constructive” ties with Rome.

“We are ready to welcome any political forces that are able to go beyond the established mainstream, which is filled with hate for our country … and show willingness to be constructive in relations with our country,” Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters, when asked about Meloni’s victory.

“The EU right is growing stronger … We will defeat the communists, leftism and the LGBT lobby – everyone who is ruining our civilisation,” Deputy Agriculture Minister Janusz Kowalski (of Poland) said on Twitter.

“These are uncertain times and at times like this, populist movements always grow, but it always ends in the same way – in catastrophe because they offer simple short-term answers to problems which are very complex,” he (Spanish Foreign Minister Jose Manuel Albares) told reporters at a briefing.
Read more here: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/9/ ... -election
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caltrek
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Fascist Victory In Italy a Setback for the Future
by Sam Pizzigati
October 1, 2022

Introduction:
(Common Dreams) In any unequal society becoming substantially more unequal, democratic forces better directly address that growing inequality. Or else get prepared to face the consequences.

In Italy, established democratic parties have spent years leaving that inequality unaddressed. Now they're facing those consequences. This past Sunday, just a few weeks shy of the 100th anniversary of our modern world's first fascist putsch, Italian voters gave a smashing triumph to a party with deep roots in the neofascist movements that emerged after the fall of Benito Mussolini, Italy's first fascist head of state.

Italy's soon-to-be-named new leader, Giorgia Meloni, in no way stylistically resembles Mussolini. She comes across as smiley and perky, a far cry from the dour Mussolini we see in all those old grainy newsreels. No goose-steps with Meloni. But she's promoting the essential heart of the core neofascist political playbook. Her Fratelli d'Italia party—"Brothers of Italy"—has been steadfastly ignoring the growing economic divides that poison Italy's future and scapegoating the country's most vulnerable instead.

The media-magnet Meloni has been taking a grinning victory lap this week to celebrate her electoral triumph, and a sweeping triumph she has certainly scored. In the new Italian parliament, Fratelli d'Italia and its two smaller partner parties may end up with about triple the legislators connected to its center-left opposition.

But a closer look at the elections shows no massive public roar of approval for a neofascist-leaning Italian future. What the elections do show: A massive popular frustration with a center-left government unwilling to challenge Italy's increasingly concentrated distribution of income and wealth and unable, as a result, to meaningfully address the needs of average working people.
Read more here: https://www.commondreams.org/views/202 ... ck-future
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How Giorgia Meloni’s Win in Italy Helps Us Understand a U.S. Senate Race

by David Corn
October 4, 2022

Introduction:
(Mother Jones) When a coalition led by Mussolini fangirl Giorgia Meloni won the Italian election a few days ago and placed her on the path to becoming that nation’s first fascist-esque prime minister since Il Duce, I, like many other journalists, quickly engaged in tutorials on her rise to power. One especially frightening data point was a speech she had given outlining her conspiratorial view of the world. It’s worth quoting at length:
  • Why is the family an enemy? Why is the family so frightening? There is a single answer to all these questions. Because it defines us. Because it defines our identity. Because everything that defines us is now an enemy. For those who would like us to no longer have an identity and to simply be perfect consumer slaves. And so they attack national identity. They attack religious identity. They attack gender identity. They attack family identity. I can’t define myself as Italian, Christian, woman, mother. No, I must be citizen X, gender X, parent 1, parent 2. I must be a number. Because when I am only a number, when I no longer have an identity or roots, then I will be the perfect slave at the mercy of financial speculators. The perfect consumer. That’s the reason why, that’s why we inspire so much fear… We will defend God, country, and family. This thing that disgusts people so much. We will do it to defend our freedom. Because we will never be slaves and simple consumers at the mercy of financial speculators.
    That is our mission.
Meloni was saying that “financial speculators” were in league with woke activists to turn god-fearing Christian Italians into “consumer slaves.” Historian Michael Beschloss noted that “Mussolini enjoyed publicly referring to Jewish people as ‘financial speculators’ who needed to be controlled.” What makes this odious reference even more alarming is Meloni’s comment in another setting: “After our victory, you can raise your heads and finally verbalize what you always thought/believe in.” In her antisemitism-tainted speech, she was blending culture wars over identity with paranoia-driven, elites-bashing populism. This is nasty and dangerous stuff, especially given her party’s fascist roots and her explicit past enthusiasm for Mussolini.
Read more here: https://www.motherjones.com/politics/2 ... ate-race/

caltrek’s comment: In reading the citation of Meloni, it struck me that her comments were not so much fascist as highly nationalistic. A step in the direction of fascism, but not fascism itself. So, I hesitate to call her an actual fascist. Of course, that may very well be a product of my own ignorance of Italian politics and of her background and rise to power. So, as she gains authority to govern, I will be watching (to the extent I can pay attention) to see how her philosophy plays out. To use a phrase employed by the late Hunter S. Thompson, with “fear and loathing.”

Ditto the U.S. Senate race of J.D. Vance also discussed later in the article by David Corn.
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Italy’s Giorgia Meloni Issues Warning to Silvio Berlusconi Over Putin Ties
October 19, 2022

Introduction:
ROME (AP via Courthouse News) — Italy's presumed next premier, Giorgia Meloni, issued a stark warning to Silvio Berlusconi on Wednesday that he risked losing influence in any new government over his friendship with Russian President Vladimir Putin, as she asserted a strong pro-NATO, pro-European position about Russia's war in Ukraine.

“Italy will never be the weak link of the West with us in government,” Meloni said in a statement late Wednesday.

She was responding to private comments by Berlusconi to his Forza Italia lawmakers this week in which the three-time premier boasted of having reestablished contact with Putin and exchanged gifts of vodka and wine over his recent 86th birthday, while justifying Putin's invasion of Ukraine.

“I have reconnected with President Putin — a little, a lot,” Berlusconi was heard saying in comments that were recorded and released by the LaPresse news agency. “He sent me 20 bottles of vodka and a really sweet letter for my birthday. I responded with 20 bottles of Lambrusco (a sparkling Italian red wine) and a similarly sweet letter.”

Berlusconi's comments added to the political upheaval in Italy as Meloni, whose far-right Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the Sept. 25 election, tries to put together a Cabinet. She is expected to get a mandate to form Italy's next government as early as this week.
Read more here: https://www.courthousenews.com/italys- ... tin-ties/
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Giorgia Meloni sworn in as Italy’s prime minister. Some fear the hard-right turn she’s promised to take
Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader who was sworn in as Italy’s first female prime minister on Saturday, won the election on a campaign built around a promise to block migrant ships and support for traditional “family values” and anti-LGBTQ themes.

Meloni was sworn in by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella in a ceremony taking at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.

She heads an alliance of far-right and center-right parties, her own Brothers of Italy chief among them, and is set to form the most right-wing government Italy has seen in decades.

Meloni’s win in parliamentary elections last month suggests the allure of nationalism remains undimmed in Italy – but her vow to take the country on a hard-right turn still leaves many uncertain what will happen next.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/22/europe/g ... index.html
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weatheriscool wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:09 pm Giorgia Meloni sworn in as Italy’s prime minister. Some fear the hard-right turn she’s promised to take
Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader who was sworn in as Italy’s first female prime minister on Saturday, won the election on a campaign built around a promise to block migrant ships and support for traditional “family values” and anti-LGBTQ themes.

Meloni was sworn in by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella in a ceremony taking at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.

She heads an alliance of far-right and center-right parties, her own Brothers of Italy chief among them, and is set to form the most right-wing government Italy has seen in decades.

Meloni’s win in parliamentary elections last month suggests the allure of nationalism remains undimmed in Italy – but her vow to take the country on a hard-right turn still leaves many uncertain what will happen next.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/22/europe/g ... index.html
So, whats the difference between this far-right government and Mussolini's in the 40s.
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Re: Italy news and discussions

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Time_Traveller wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:27 pm
weatheriscool wrote: Sat Oct 22, 2022 5:09 pm Giorgia Meloni sworn in as Italy’s prime minister. Some fear the hard-right turn she’s promised to take
Giorgia Meloni, the hard-right leader who was sworn in as Italy’s first female prime minister on Saturday, won the election on a campaign built around a promise to block migrant ships and support for traditional “family values” and anti-LGBTQ themes.

Meloni was sworn in by the Italian President Sergio Mattarella in a ceremony taking at the Quirinale Palace in Rome.

She heads an alliance of far-right and center-right parties, her own Brothers of Italy chief among them, and is set to form the most right-wing government Italy has seen in decades.

Meloni’s win in parliamentary elections last month suggests the allure of nationalism remains undimmed in Italy – but her vow to take the country on a hard-right turn still leaves many uncertain what will happen next.
Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2022/10/22/europe/g ... index.html
So, whats the difference between this far-right government and Mussolini's in the 40s.

Mussolini had the balls to carry out what he believed. This woman probably doesn't.
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European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen outraged Meloni’s supporters last week by hinting the European Union could somehow intervene if Italy were to go in a “difficult direction” and deviate from democratic norms.

Speaking at Princeton University in New Jersey, she said: “We’ll see. If things go in a difficult direction — and I’ve spoken about Hungary and Poland — we have the tools.”

The E.U. is in long-standing legal battles with Hungary and Poland over both countries' antidemocratic reforms.
(NBC)

So, assuming Italy gets too "crazy" I guess it's possible they could get kicked out of the E.U.

Welcome back/in U.K. and Ukraine if the latter survives, and possibly Scotland too as a soverign country while losing a few illiberal ones.
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Italy's most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro arrested in Sicily

1 hour ago

Italy's most-wanted mafia boss Matteo Messina Denaro has been arrested in Sicily after 30 years on the run.

Messina Denaro was reportedly detained in a private clinic in Sicily's capital, Palermo, where he was receiving treatment for cancer.

He is alleged to be a boss of the notorious Cosa Nostra mafia and he was tried and sentenced to life in jail in absentia in 2002 over numerous murders.

More than 100 members of the armed forces were involved in his arrest.

Italian media reported that Messina Denaro was captured just before 10:00 (09:00 GMT) and taken to a secret location by the Carabinieri. He was reportedly visiting the clinic under a fake name for a course of chemotherapy.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-64288928


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Credit: Reuters
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