Gazdovici Horia. 10F
From a political standpoint, one could say that Italy acted as a prophet in the 20th century. This refers to the fact that through his election, Mussolini only foretold what was to crawl out of the bars of Munich. While this may not be so accurate, it’s quite certain that in the 20th century Italy was the place where the extreme right-wing first showed its face, due to the general wave of fascism and antisemitism that, at the time, was spreading through the west and south-west of the continent.
What we most certainly do not need is for Italy to foretell future regimes in the current day, through the new Italian Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni. Before we get into the subject of the Italian Prime Minister, it must be mentioned that she is quite the opposite of what an influential European country needs in the current political climate.
Giorgia Meloni most certainly stands out among other European leaders, as she is the first far-right leader to be elected in recent years. Apart from general nationalism, conservatism and anti-immigrationist beliefs that seem to fit her agenda, we must also remember that she is a woman, which might be the reason why she is pro-choice, and wants to give women “the right to have an abortion.”, and that she will try to decrease the number of unwanted pregnancies altogether, an attempt at fixing this situation which springs from the general discontent of the population.
Although Giorgia Meloni won the election fair and square, she is also a populist politician, hence much of her support derives from protest votes against the previous united-government movement in Italy. She did also proclaim her views against illegal immigrants, which mustn’t sound good to the immigrants themselves, as she has vowed to crack down on immigrants and to secure Italy’s borders.
To understand the Italian Prime Minister better, a dive into her past would be appropriate. As a young woman, Ms Meloni was quite impressed with the works of J.R.R Tolkien, namely “The Lord of the Rings”, so much so that she even dressed up as characters from the popular fantasy books. So a fascinating part of Italian Neo-Fascism is revealed, the obsession with The Lord of the Rings, and the erroneous interpretation of Tolkien’s works. Some Italian neo-fascists used to say that the fantasy book reflected all of the problems of society and that Tolkien himself was mostly on their side. The Prime Minister herself called the books “more than fiction”.
However, according to me, it very much doesn't seem like Ms Meloni is the right person for the job, and that some of the things she says are very much intended towards pleasing the general public, not including the praise of Mussolini, obviously, and though she might be competent, it is of utmost importance in what direction she wants to steer Italy, her current views not providing an optimistic preview. However, unless she plans on organizing a coup d'état, Italy’s establishment and tradition will not give her enough power to make extremely wrong decisions. That is the best we can hope for.