Leiter Reports: A Philosophy Blog

News and views about philosophy, the academic profession, academic freedom, intellectual culture, and other topics. The world’s most popular philosophy blog, since 2003.

  1. AG Tanyi's avatar

    Then my question is how many of ordinary mathematicians also qualify as artists of their profession…

  2. John Rapko's avatar
  3. Mark's avatar
  4. David Reidy's avatar
  5. Paul Canis's avatar
  6. Rachel Laudan's avatar
  7. Rollo Burgess's avatar

Meloni, the new Italian Prime Minister

Brian Leiter

MOVING TO FRONT FROM NOVEMBER 3–SOME INTERESTING COMMENTS, MORE WELCOME

I've been in Rome over the last ten days (seminars and guest lectures, mostly at Roma Tre University, but also Rome Sapienza), where the weather has been remarkably mild (another "triumph" of global warming).  Meloni had her vote of confidence in parliament while I was here, and is now Prime Minister.  I've been talking to friends here about Meloni.  One, who said without hesitation that Meloni is a fascist, thought the democratic system was robust enough to resist backsliding.  She attributed the poor performance of the left parties to the fact that they spent all their time talking about "gay rights" and other social/cultural issues (my friend considers those issues important, just to be clear), and saying little about economic issues:  inflation, electricity costs, and so on.  Another friend pointed out that the President, who is a moderate, now has substantial power (a development of the last 20 years), and that will force Meloni to moderate her program accordingly.   A general view was that Meloni was far preferable to the other major figure on the far right, Matteo Salvini, variously described as an "idiot," a "buffoon," "incompetent" and so on. Comments from Italian readers or those knowledgeable about Italian politics welcome.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

9 responses to “Meloni, the new Italian Prime Minister”

  1. Ian

    I found Pippa Norris’ interview with Klein in this week’s NYT worth reading on these matters. Much of Klein’s “contribution” is weak at best, but Norris is more persuasive

    Reply
  2. F

    Italian here, been living abroad for years and just back.

    The non-right parties (calling them "left" is a bit too optimistic) failed to get more votes, as you friend says, because they failed to have a "positive" campaign. They just blabbered on and on about the fascist danger.
    Moreover, many voters just saw the only one party (Meloni's) at the opposition in the past few years, and decided to give it a try, given the perceived incompetence of politicians already tried and tested.

    I've also realized that the depiction of Meloni abroad is way more alarmist that what seems to me the right level. Meloni has very little maneuvering room: Italy is de facto broke, and she has to toil the power-that-be line to keep on getting funding from ECB and common debt.
    It is also unclear how long the government can go on in this current form, because Meloni's allies (Lega and Forza Italia) either suffer not to have more power, or have internal factions.

    Reply
  3. L

    Like F, I initially thought that Meloni wasn't as dangerous as depicted — that her fascist sympathies (which are undeniable!) were more a matter of nostalgia and fetishism than a political plan. But I am not that sure of that any longer. Here is why. In the first days of her tenure:

    1. She proposed an "anti-rave" law that, in effect, limited the right of assembly and demonstration. True, because this generated a lot of protest even among her allies, she has now toned down the law. Still, the original proposal was truly obscene: up to 6 year of imprisonment for squatting, with immediate arrest and authorised phone hacking.
    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/nov/02/freedom-killing-monster-italian-leader-giorgia-meloni-criticised-rave-laws

    2. She has reintegrated anti-vax doctors, strongly weakened anti-Covid measures, and declared that the lockdown measures taken during the pandemic were a mistake
    — which is, of course, a line of action that puts her close to Trump and Bolsonaro.
    https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/italian-doctors-and-nurses-who-refused-to-get-vaccinated-against-covid-19-can-now-return-to-work/db5ai9ame

    3. She appointed an incredibly right-wing cabinet (which includes anti-abortion and anti-gay fundamentalists, and people like Salvini), and in her opening speech she said that both fascism and anti-fascism were a mistake, and that we have to go beyond that divide–which is, of course, exactly what somebody who doesn't accept that the Italian republic has been built around anti-fascism would say.
    (Here is the full speech, in Italian: https://www.repubblica.it/politica/2022/10/25/news/discorso_integrale_meloni_camera_fiducia-371646980/)

    Reply
  4. palma

    meloni is slightly more palatable than "salvini" who is –that part is correct– an individual asshole. Both share the basic premises of nationalsocialism: to wit high debts, funky racist memes, and general idiocies. The bright spot is that they (the 3 parties of the right –the winning coalition) have no military muscle to invade albania, or Lybia. The imminent danger is their being aligned with V V Putin on … well everything. Meloni, to be fair, reiterated the commitment to help UKRAINA, and she waves non stop-
    Personally I am of the view that as soon as the winter bites into the defences they will tackle towards Moscow, together with their "intellectuals" (3 philosophers, e.g., one almost know, the others unknown to the english-speaking world

    Reply
  5. B

    @Palma: I am skeptical of your claim "they will tackle towards Moscow", unless there is a more general European reorientation. Meloni has seemed sincere in her commitment towards Nato and atlantism, and in Europe she is allied with the Polish (!) – who are vehemently anti-Putin – more than Orban's Hungary (contrary to Salvini's League). And I doubt she truly wants to imperil the massive financial aid from Europe known as PNNR (over 200 billion). Personally I am way more worried about (a) the fact the cabinet seems so far generally incompetent and (b) so far she has seemed to take a back seat to Salvini (I am yet another who considers him a dangerous buffoon).
    PS: I am curious: who are the three philosophers you are mentioning? I am a bit lost.

    Reply
  6. F

    1. I just think this shows incompetence – a fact that is not surprising in a political government (not just right-wing, and not just in Italy, I am afraid – look no further than the UK). But it didn't even have to get to the assent of the President, nor to the Constitutional Court, before the proposal was amended.

    2. These doctors would have been readmitted to work at the end of the year anyway, as per Draghi's government decision. So just a façade, really. Declaring now that the lockdown measures were a mistake is not at all like Trump and Bolsonaro, rather, a shout to the electorate. I forgot, but she probably abstained when Conte's government put their decrees through parliament, right?

    3. As far as I know, there is no plan to touch abortion and gay rights.

    What I think is much more serious is the recent facts with the NGO ships and "selective disembarkings". As far as I understand, this is a blatant violation of international and humanitarian law. But also this seems to be folding within a few days. No doubt, till next time…
    But again, Conte's first government did something even worse, and it wasn't fascist – in fact Meloni was at the opposition.

    Another worrisome potential development is making society less equal, through certain "flat tax" schemes and the reduction of anti-poverty measures – all of which are planned and were clearly announced during their electoral campaign.

    In my opinion, the current opposition should really focus on building a positive alternative, and stop crying out loud about fascism. You know the story of the wolf…

    Reply
  7. F

    One is surely Roger Scruton. She has mentioned or quoted him also after taking office, if I am not mistaken.

    Reply
  8. sandro zucchi

    The undisputable fact is that now Italy has a government with several fascists in key positions. Fascists, no way around it. How much damage they will be able to do remains to be determined. The main Italian progressive party, the Democratic Party, lost the election because it is perceived as, and to a large extent is, the party of the establishment, much like the Bonzen of the German Social Democratic party were perceived at the time of the Weimar Republic.

    Reply
  9. c

    Italian here. Not a fun of Meloni, at all.
    For a much more nuanced take, I recommend the interview with Alexander Stille in the New Yorker.
    https://www.newyorker.com/news/q-and-a/im-a-woman-im-a-mother-im-christian-how-giorgia-meloni-took-control-in-the-italian-election
    If they care about winning elections, the left both in Italy and the US needs to take its head out of the sand and stop acting in a way that cedes issues of law and order to the right.
    Case in point, the "anti rave" law. I bet that Professor Leiter's friends do not live near the abandoned warehouse/factories where these parties take place. I bet they do not have to listen to loud music for days at a time, have to deal with thousands of people coming into their neighborhoods with no security, no organization, drug overdoses, trash everywhere. This nonsense has been tolerated for too long. She is a very smart politician, hence the new law. Crying wolf that this "limits the right of assembly and demonstration" is only going to make the left look even more out of touch.
    In any case, Meloni's coalition is held together with spit and bailing wire. It will be a miracle if it will last as long as one year. Then there will be another coalition government and then another one. And the decline of the country will continue.

    —–
    KEYWORDS:
    Primary Blog

    Reply

Designed with WordPress