Italy Goes Hard Right, and What’s so Bad About Nationalism Anyway?

Giorgia Meloni's far-right nationalist Brothers of Italy party won the most votes in the Italian election: 26%. Combined with two smaller and farther-right parties, Meloni's coalition won 44% of the vote and that should allow her to form a government and become Italy's first female prime minister.

This was the article that brought the Italian election to my attention this morning: https://www.nytimes.com/2022/09/25/world/europe/italy-meloni-prime-minister.html

I think it is a warning sign that Meloni spent some time during the election trying to persuade people that she will not be like the fascist dictator Mussolini who took power in Italy 100 years ago this year. Even more of a warning sign is that the reason she has to tell people she is not like Mussolini is that, in the past, she has spoken admiringly of Mussolini.

This article says that Meloni "bashes" the European Union, international bankers, and migrants. These are all signs of "nationalism" which I will talk about a little more below. Meloni also supports Ukraine but her coalition members seem more partial to the dictator Putin so we will have to see how that ends up.

Italy has a pretty big "anti-establishment" party called the Five Star Movement which got 15% of the vote in this election. There is also a Democratic party, which refused to form a coalition with other liberal and centrist parties and ended up with 19% of the vote. Even a coalition on the left might not have been able to win in this election but it would have been nice to see them working together anyway.

There was unusually low turn-out in this election....

I wonder why?

So, what's wrong with "nationalism?" Usually when a party explicitly identifies itself as nationalist it also does not like international organizations, it wants to "go-it-alone," AND it usually has some theories about WHICH people belong to the nation: which languages, cultures, religions, races - and which do NOT.

• Internationalists believe that the world will be more prosperous, and more peaceful, if countries work together in international organizations.
• Nationalists want countries to "go-it-alone" which, internationalists believe is more likely to lead to destructive economic competition, and war.
• Internationalists believe that everyone is created equal and that everyone should have the same rights, and that includes people of EVERY language and culture, and religion, and race.
• Nationalists tend to think that their "nation" should have just one language, and one culture, and one religion, and one race, and that OTHER people should NOT have the same rights.
• Internationalists believe this kind of thinking leads to oppression and, ultimately, to atrocities.

Italy is now going more nationalist. Let's hope they go slow and avoid the excesses we saw from nationalist leaders of the past, like Mussolini.

According to some, the Italian people have not really moved toward nationalism. "The Italian electorate had not moved to the right, political scientists said, but instead again resorted to a perennial desire for a new leader who could possibly, and providentially, solve all its ills."

I hope Italy will remain as free and prosperous as it is now and will increase its freedom and prosperity in the future. We shall see.

This election could have gone differently IF:
If so many people had not stayed home on election day.
If the anti-nationalist parties had not refused to unite against the nationalists.
If so many people were not dreaming of one powerful leader who will solve all their problems....

[Note: I have not yet read the books I link to in this post but I am looking forward to reading all of them. Someday! They all look like important books about recent history. If you read them before I do please leave a comment and tell me about them. If you click on any of these links and then buy these books, or almost anything else at Amazon, Anything Smart will earn a commission. Thanks for your support!]

**********

If you want to support Anything Smart, please click on the book links in this post and make a purchase. If you buy any of these books through this blog, Anything Smart will earn a commission. Thanks for visiting my blog, and thanks for your support!

***

Copyright © 2022 by Joseph Wayne Gadway