Italy's economic crisis has provided a perfect breeding ground for far-right and extremist politics. DW examines how and why such sentiment has entered the mainstream.
Italy, like much of the rest of Europe, is exhibiting many of the classic conditions that have, in the past, fomented a rise in far-right politics: poverty, rising unemployment, increasing levels of immigration, and a breakdown in traditional politics.
With an election now looming in February, even the so called "technocrat" government of Mario Monti has failed to keep the peace in the Italian parliament, and was forced to call early elections by Italy's longest-serving prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, who withdrew his support for Monti just before Christmas.
Political instability fuels fears
At the Italian national statistics office, ISTAT, Italy's GDP carried on dipping in 2012 and the prognosis for 2013 does not look sunny. With political uncertainty again a feature of daily life, the stock markets have been taking sharp hits every time the austerity measures in course under Monti's regime look threatened.
The numbers of resident foreigners in Italy is rising too. In 2011 the figure rose by 7.9 percent, but is still only 7.5 percent of the population as a whole. Births among foreign-born residents are also higher than the rest of the Italian population. Furthermore, the distribution of foreigners living in Italy is very unequal, with 86.5 percent of them living in the north of the country.This is of course where manufacturing and the economy are stronger, but also where right-wing populist parties like the Northern League have gained most ground.
The New Right in Europe
Northern League protesters in the Italian senate
Italy's far right is not the strongest or most active in Europe, but a summer 2012 investigation by the left-leaning daily newspaper, La Repubblica, into the "New Extreme Right" in Europe, found that membership of far-right organizations was growing. Paolo Berizzi, an author and Repubblica journalist, found that votes for far-right parties "account only for 2 percent, barely 500,000 votes," but the ideas that these parties promote are gaining credence even among former left-wing voters.
Demos, a UK think-tank with Marxist roots that focuses on power and policy across Europe, wrote a report signaling the increasing alliance between populist far-right movements across the continent. They found that these parties are focusing on newly perceived threats to gain ground even on the traditional left - for example when workers, like those in Italy's northern manufacturing belt, are laid off, or facing uncertain futures.
"Gone are the race-based views and anti-Semitism that previously characterized the far right," the report said. "In their place is an emphasis on culture and values in the face of increasing immigration and the perceived cultural threat from the growth of Islam in Europe."
Italy's Northern League in a way does just that, and although it doesn't position itself as far right, saying instead it is populist and separatist, it stands up firmly against the "fundamentalist Islamic threat" that is threatening "old Europe's hegemony."
Italy's extremes
Silvio Berlusconi, center, flanked by Roberto Maroni, left, and Umberto Bossi
Like many things in Italy, Italian politics is a confusing and shape-shifting entity, as is the Italian right in particular, perhaps linked to the fact that the country has, unlike Germany, never entirely acknowledged the part it played in its fascist past.
"In our country, men who until a short while ago fervently admired the fascist past, can take part in government and even hold high office," Ettore Cinella a lecturer in contemporary history at the University of Pisa, said. "We still commemorate the soldiers who fought alongside the Germans for that Fascist republic. This kind of thing can't help but raise worries for the moral character of our nation."
He added that the presence of many ex-members of the Italian communist party, PCI, including the incumbent president, Giorgio Napolitano, point to a general Italian problem in addressing the past. While these people now are respected and moderate statesman, some have not really made peace with the harsh realities of the Soviet regime and the doctrines for which they fought during their youth, he said.
Cinella said that until Italy makes peace with its past it can't be considered a "civilized and moral country" and its politics will not move forwards.
Italy's right wing
Alessandra Mussolini is a vocal member of parliament
Today's right wing is a perfect illustration of his point. Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter of the Fascist leader, Benito Mussolini, is a vocal member of parliament, and frequent participant in mainstream political chat shows. While she holds some populist views, she is also a supporter of women's rights, and is widely regarded as a fairly moderate member of the right, despite her familial associations.
But it's the Northern League that makes Italy's right so unique, because it is not a fringe party with little political power, but a party that has already enjoyed the national stage for several years. In the last two Berlusconi governments, the Northern League sat shoulder-to-shoulder with Berlusconi's PDL (People of Freedom party).
As of last week, it looks set to do so for a third time: Roberto Maroni, the new leader, has announced he will be running together with Berlusconi, with the League being the coalition's sole candidate in Lombardy, where they are expected to win a landslide victory. Berlusconi jokingly announced their pact on national radio saying "Habemus Papam," the traditional Latin proclamation when a new pope is chosen.
He went on to say that "if they were to win the February elections, they would then announce who would be the country's future Prime Minister." But if the League delivers Lombardy to the PDL in the regional elections, which it is likely to do, it would have a lot of bargaining power. The party has won most of its support from former left-leaning voters in Lombardy and Veneto in recent years.
The battle lines are drawn
James Walston, a professor at the American University in Rome, and author of a blog about the Italian political landscape, said that even with the power of the Northern League, Berlusconi is unlikely to win the elections this time, but that he believes that its presence could nevertheless "destabilize parliament sufficiently to make governing for whoever does win impossible."
But since Monti confirmed that he would be leading the centrists, Walston said, Berlusconi has been working overtime to outdo him in campaign terms, "throwing down a barrage worthy of the Battle of the Somme … shouting populist messages from the right like 'Monti is Merkel's lapdog and I will lower taxes, especially the property tax. The spread or interest rate difference between Germany and Italy is a con-trick. Trust me.'"
This is, he said, typical Berlusconi rhetoric, but it also chimes well with the Northern League's championing of 'great powers' that need to be combated and overtaken if Italy is to be free.
Rise of racism
Boateng faced racist abuse during a match against Pro Patria
The kaleidoscope nature of the right and extreme right in Italy, and the growing acceptance of more extreme views today provide a backdrop against which incidents like the racist chants towards Kevin-Prince Boateng and the other black players at the friendly football match between Berlusconi's AC Milan team and second-division 'Pro Patria' are not particularly surprising.
In fact, Il Fatto Quotidiano newspaper alleges that one of the chanters is also a councilor for the Northern League in nearby Corbetta, and is responsible, ironically, for sport and youth policy.
Of course, Berlusconi and the League moved quickly to denounce the incident: Berlusconi said he supported of his team's action in walking off the pitch and "standing up to unacceptable racism." The football league, the FIGC, also condemns such behavior and Italy has worked hard to eliminate racism from its football grounds and society.
It is difficult to draw direct lines between a few football fans' racist chants, however abhorrent they may be, and evidence that acceptance of racist and extreme right wing ideas are on the rise across the board. But the lines in this, as in politics, are blurred. Berlusconi's denunciation of racism on the pitch comes from a man who famously called President Obama 'quite tanned' and seemed to take a delight in telling a German MEP that he would play a great Nazi in a film. Racist chants are evidence of at best, ignorance, and at worst, dissatisfaction, anger and growing violence, at least in thought. While ignorance, confusion and obfuscation prevail, the far right is quietly taking over the middle ground in the "bel paese." dw de
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