The Big Read: How Italian society lurched to the right and why it must exorcise its historical demons

The ship, run by NGO SOS Méditerranée and charity Doctors Without Borders, had been sailing in international waters off Libya for hours after having taken in hundreds of migrants from collapsing rafts, and others previously rescued by the Italian Coast Guard and Navy. Their request to dock was eventually refused by the coast guard head office in Rome, as well as by authorities in nearby Malta.

The Italian government steadily settled on its position; it called for more action from other European countries, and claimed they failed in their duties to help manage the situation, leaving southern countries alone to deal with the emergency.

After hours of uncertainty and with passengers becoming increasingly exhausted - among them were 123 minors and seven pregnant women, some with serious fuel burns according to the volunteers – the tug-of-war ended up when Spain’s new prime minister, Pedro Sánchez, offered a safe harbour to Aquarius in Valencia.

Despite the length of the journey, partly caused by the vessel having to combat poor weather conditions, it arrived safely in the port of Valencia last Sunday morning, after spending a week at sea. The passengers will be allowed to stay on Spanish soil for 45 days before starting legal procedures to obtain refugee status.

The docking of Aquarius was welcomed by many who gathered in the port of Valencia. Nevertheless, the event was not not immune to protests, with groups of locals rallying against the new Spanish government’s decision.

The episode caused international havoc, including a steep deterioration in relations between Italy and its neighbouring countries after French President Emmanuel Macron described Italy’s actions as “revolting”. However, France has also been strongly criticised for its harsh border policies, with reported violent clashes between the French patrolling forces in the focal points of Ventimiglia and Bardonecchia.

On the other hand, countries such as Austria and Hungary - both led by far-right, anti-European parties - praised the Italian stance, while German Chancellor Angela Merkel said Italy should not be left alone in handling the migratory flow.

All of this represents a turning point in Italian politics that reflects how a country known for its welcoming spirit has deeply changed in recent decades, culminating with the rise to power of the far-right.

Italy and the politics of rhetoric

The surge of widespread anti-European feeling in a country that was among the founders of what we now call the European Union, is no last-minute occurrence and was not ignited uniquely by the migratory boom.

Public sentiment has been building up in the last three decades and is strictly intertwined with the complex socio-economic and political framework the Italians have been experiencing throughout the period.

Even before the financial crisis began in 2008, there was a progressive deterioration of Italian life conditions due to strict budgetary policies which had been followed by both left wing and right wing governments.

The impact of this somewhat austere attitude has, however, to be seen in the context of the structural malfunction of the state within the country: together with an intrinsic corruption concentrated both on local and national level, this has clogged the economic system in Italy, which has had profound consequences on the welfare state. This was reflective of a worsening of life conditions, especially among the poorest tiers of the population: 29 per cent of people who lost their jobs in the aftermath of the crisis where already among the poorest fifth of the population, hitting hard working-class families particularly hard.

Employment rates, although now recovering after the crisis, weigh like a sword of Damocles on the economic revival, especially because of how badly affected young people are. Youth unemployment rates reached a peak of more than 44 per cent in August 2014 and have now settled at around 21 per cent. In this period, people between the ages of 15 and 34 have often been forced to leave the country to pursue better opportunities, creating a vicious loop that keeps preventing the expansion of the economy in Italy. Over-65s now account for over 22 per cent of the total population, the highest rate in the EU (in the UK it is 18 per cent).

Many Italians attribute much of this grim situation to the switch from local currency - the Italian Lira - to the Euro. What appeared in front of our eyes was that prices everywhere doubled, without any change to salaries. Many people in their mid-twenties or thirties who, like me, experienced the introduction of the Euro as kids in 2002, would recall that the price of the much beloved Goleador candies went from 100 Lire, which was the equivalent of €0.05, to €0.10, which was a hard hit to our weekly pocket money.

The switch deeply affected the Italian mindset towards Europe, even if figures later suggested that its actual impact was somewhat different to the perception: inflation annual rates kept on average at around two per cent in the period between 2002 and 2015 (with peaks of 3.5 per cent in 2008), and at the same time prices went up by about 31 per cent between 2001 and 2016. Decline was a gradual process which other global factors had contributed to, rather than a sudden twist as a result of the Euro alone.

Then came the financial crisis, which was a global earthquake but from which, given the preexisting structural problems, Italy struggled particularly hard to emerge from. A new wave of restrictive policies, emanated by the European Union, did not play in favour of the already difficult economic context in the country.

After that came the migrant crisis. Positioned right in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, Italy had offered a pier for migrants way before the 2000s. Immigration coming from African former colonies - such as Libya and Eritrea - was already common in the 1970s, and there was a boom of migrants from Albania in 1991 after the fall of the communist bloc.

However, with the outbreak of the Arab springs in 2010 and the following conflict in Syria, more and more people started fleeing their homes, often leaving from the shores of Northern Africa. The arrivals then weighed mainly on the Mediterranean frontiers of Italy, Spain, Greece and Malta - all of which were already on their knees after the financial crisis.

The increasing numbers of people seemed to jeopardize the social fabric all over the country. In some areas, the lack of a solid integration system was exploited by organised criminality, which could suck in a huge amount of cheap, unregulated workforce into its web, as revealed by many investigations carried out in the last few years.

In any case, the problem of people entering the country without the tools to access the work market – which was already saturated after the crisis - created a further layer of poverty, as well as the feeling that migrants either were criminals or were there to steal jobs.

All of this was an explosive mix for a country in which, unlike Germany, part of the population still had not come to terms with its own historical past. Italy has never fully exorcised the ghosts of the fascist era: although very rarely engaging in explicit expressions, it was not rare to hear older generations praising some of Mussolini’s deeds “back then”. The lack of strong leadership in recent times has left people hungry for a strong character, which we now see in Salvini, who has reinvented himself as “The Captain”, as his followers call him.

Added to this is a strong campaign against the so-called “Islamic invasion”, reinforced by the climate created by the many terrorist attacks in Europe in recent years, and the emergence of a battle based on the contrast of cultural values and traditions. In this picture the Italian people are good, and they are up against the bad migrants. The latter, according to far-right rhetoric, don’t embrace local culture and instead expect locals to adapt to their values, while creating large pools of criminality.

The left parties which led the country in the last decade appeared unable to overcome these social difficulties and to become an effective mediator between the different peoples living on Italian soil.

Now, the Northern League is reaping the rewards after years of campaigning against what they call “invasion” and channelling the frustration created by the economic crisis through a communication strategy based on loudly shouted slogans - from “Italians first” to “close the ports”.

Such hostility used to be reserved to the southern regions of the country. In fact, one of the League’s founding motives was the separation of northern Italy from the south: an area where the economy struggled due to a lack of attention from the state. This enabled the surge of the mafia historically, and it presented a very different landscape to the north. The latter was industrialized and attracted people from the south who would migrate in search of work and better lifestyles. Times have changed, but this division is still present and, therefore, the first battles of the League were against its own migrants.

However, in recent times it has left behind this ancestral antagonism and made national identity and a focus on Italian people’s needs in opposition to the needs of immigrants its new leading force.

Many voters subscribed to this new message, although it failed in the last election to prevent the Five Star Movement becoming the first party in the south.

By focusing their campaigns on easily accessible channels like social media and riding the increasing popularity of such tools as the only information sources people rely on, the parties have hit the right spot in the locals’ minds and gathered consent from new layers of society.

It is a largely shared opinion that Europe, too, has its own share of responsibility for the fragmentation emerging: the lack of political and legal uniformity, not only concerning migrants, has resulted in a political alienation in which Italy perceived itself to be left abandoned.

Sergio Belardinelli, professor of cultural processes sociology at University of Bologna, says the crisis in attitudes has been a long time in the making: “The immigration phenomenon was taken very lightheartedly ages ago, and this is probably due to the Italian left as well as a certain part of the Catholic world.

“This allowed the right-wing parties to fan the flames, resulting in what happens today and what we see in the roughness of the solutions proposed by the far-right parties.

“This is strongly related to the cultural crisis that has been affecting Europe for a long time and to the voiding of concepts such as identity: The European identity was characterised by an inclusive approach which embraced diversity.”

This is losing importance, according to Belardinelli, whereas national identities are being politically weaponised. Furthering the European ideal of national identity being defined by openness and inclusivity is now very difficult.

CONCLUSION

On June 28 a summit will be held in Brussels to discuss the new terms under which the European Union will deal with incoming migrant arrivals, and with the possible reformulation of the Dublin agreement.

However, although Italy has tried to force other members to open up and share responsibilities, the leading forces seem even more eager to keep their frontiers shut. What European leaders are doing now is extremely dangerous as this will only further exacerbate the resentment of people living in the arrival countries and, with Poland expressing its desire for a “Polexit”, could be a gift for those who want to see the Union disrupted.

Nevertheless, Italy is at a crossroads at the moment. Many voices have risen on social media to oppose the government’s new approach on migration, and a wave of fact-checking websites have joined the choir attempting to halt widespread myths on immigration and other related topics. Public personalities from the left, such as Gomorrah writer Roberto Saviano, recently participated in a public campaign against Salvini.

However, it has had little effect on moving public opinion one way or the other. There is a general mistrust towards the left. Besides being extremely divided in its opposition, it seems to have failed to connect with people, and it underestimated the magnitude of public dissatisfaction. It follows a similar storyline to Brexit and Trump: it looked like they were miles away from happening, but eventually they arrived.

Euroscepticism does not look like it will exhaust its arguments soon, and it finds itself now in a popularity peak phase. Before this widespread rage passes, Italy will have to overcome its internal issues and get out of its economic impasse - which is, at the moment, an enormous task.

On the other hand, this wave of hatred and anger could one day be looked back on as a phase, a swansong after a mountain of issues had been building. However, it has not to be underestimated nor ridiculed, as it represents the present we are living at the moment.

Main parties after general elections on March 4

Right

? The Northern League (Lega Nord) - Leader: Matteo Salvini (17%)

The League is a far-right party with strong nationalist, anti-immigration views and independence aspirations (first from the rest of Italy and, now, from Europe). With Salvini and his strong, aggressive attitude, the party went from a minority to being the leading voice in the new government.

? Forza Italia – Leader: Silvio Berlusconi (14%)

The party led by former prime minister Silvio Berlusconi went from being the leader within the Italian right to a strong, yet subordinate, voice to Salvini’s. Far more moderate in tone, it represents the conservatives in the country.

? Five Star Movement (M5S) – Leader: Luigi di Maio (32%)

The movement founded by comedian Beppe Grillo was conceived as a protest against the main arty system in Italy and aimed to be an independent voice in direct connection with Italian citizens (the main decisions are taken through a web portal by popular vote).

Left

? Partito Democratico (Democratic Party) – Leader: Matteo Renzi (18%)

The majority party in the last few years, it progressively lost consensus in favour of the right wing coalition led by Salvini and Berlusconi. It represents the moderate left wing.

After the Election

As none of the parties or coalitions went over the threshold of 40 per cent, the majority required to form the government, and weeks passed with the winning parties unable to conclude a deal, Italian President Sergio Mattarella assigned the role of prime minister to Giuseppe Conte, an independent, with a government formed by Northern League and Five Star Movement representatives. Salvini was appointed Home Secretary whereas Di Maio has become the new Minister for Economic Development.