“{Benito Mussolini was} a good politician, in that everything he did, he did for Italy and was the best
politician of the last 50 years” said Meloni. Supported naming a Roman street after civil minister of
the Italian Social Republic, - a Nazi puppet state - fascist, Giorgio Almirante and called him “a great
politician” did Meloni. She declared that Liberation Day - the Anniversary of Italy's Liberation from
Nazi-Fascism – and Festa della Repubblica - which celebrates the birth of the Italian Republic - as
“two controversial ceremonies” and should instead be substituted with National Unity and Armed Forces
Day. She added a neo-fascist symbol to her previous political party’s flag. Refused to remove
openly fascist members from her governing party (Fratelli d’Italia). Is linked to numerous neo-Nazis
and fascists, most notable ‘the black baron’ Roberto Jonghi, who once said: “6 million Jews died in
the Holocaust because Nazis were precise and well organized.” Embraces the old Italian fascist slogan
"God, fatherland and family." Opposes abortion, euthanasia, surrogacy, laws recognising same-sex
marriage and supports illegality for same-sex couples to adopt children.

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Upon receiving only 26 percent of the electoral vote, Meloni is both a break from the past and a stark return
to it. Hailed positively as being the first female prime minister in Italy does not cancel out her harsh
right-wing views that appease fascists and racists.

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Fascist sympathisers salute outside the cemetery of San Cassiano, where Benito Mussolini is buried.

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Since her administration came to fruition in October 2022, it has spent the majority of its time accusing and chastising minority groups for undermining their cult esq triad of God, nation and family, proffering intimidation and nastiness to ethnic minorities, migrants, same-sex parents and the LGBTQ+ community.

 

Using anti-immigrant rhetoric against immigrants that do not 'integrate better', calling civil groups rescuing people in the Mediterranean ‘traffickers' and proposing naval blockades to unlawfully push back people fleeing persecution and death has established her as a pure nativist, but the lining is freckled with authoritarianism. Attempts to weaken anti-torture legislation, infiltrate the Italian public broadcaster, RAI, with party loyalists echoing her beliefs and rewriting post war constitution to increase her executive power are all dreadfully worrying actions in her aim to transform Italy to its prior self. 

 

Forbes ranked Meloni as the seventh most powerful woman in the world in 2022, attributed to her role as figurehead in fusing Europe into a right-wing ensemble fuelled by unsatisfied resentful people who blame immigrants for their life failures. Meloni’s allies are already in power in Poland, in Sweden the governing coalition relies on the nativist Sweden Democrats to function and the anti-immigrant Finnish party, Finns party recently joined the government.

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Cunning in her presentation, Meloni is aware her ideology is extreme and potentially injurious to her
as a politician, hence her considered and cautious televised addresses, opposed to questioning by
journalists as well as leaving her party colleagues to speak her mind.

 

One of the government’s main targets since ascension have been LGBTQ+ parents, which the party attributes to 'a crime worse than paedophilia.' In cases such as these Meloni shows little public support and suggests discontent with their extremity. However, her governmental decisions contradict her public beliefs, under her direction and legislation Italy now criminalises people who go abroad to have children via surrogacy, while municipalities have stop registering same-sex parents.

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A Gay Pride parade in Rome.

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Her family ties prove to be even more repulsive, demonstrated by her then partner, journalist Andrea
Giambruno and brother in-law, agricultural minister Francesco Lollobrigida. Giambruno promoted
victim blaming, suggesting that women could avoid rape by not getting drunk, he said: “If you go
dancing you are fully entitled to get drunk... but if you avoid getting drunk and losing consciousness,
perhaps you’d also avoid getting into trouble, because then you’ll find the wolf.” Cecilia D’Elia, a
senator for the centre-left opposition Democratic party (PD) and vice-president of the commission of
inquiry into femicide, said: “They just can’t help but blame women. Don’t go out alone, don’t go
where it’s dark, don’t dress provocatively. All this is no longer acceptable. If a girl drinks too much,
she can expect a headache, not rape.” 

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On the other hand, when Lollobrigida appealed for 'ethnic replacement' Meloni wasn’t averse, using it to successfully oppose a 2017 bill granting citizenship to children born in Italy to noncitizen parents, in fact her
'births, not migrants' sentiment signifies the aggressive opposition to migrants that has been the
centrepiece of her administration. The correct and just way would be to prioritise the lives of those in
need that are struggling to survive and escaping their homes, over those of unborn Italian babies. It is
clear racism, after all being ‘Italian’ is a conceptual entity, migrants have the same humanity as
Europeans and Italians, something that is purposefully or ignorantly commonly forgotten. Lives that are live are more important than lives unalive.

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Journalists are also on the radar, ministers have threatened and pursued multiple libel lawsuits against the Italian press in an attempt to intimidate critics. Most notably, public broadcaster RAI, is under threat after its chief executive and leading presenters resigned citing political pressure from the government. Instead it is now more akin to Meloni TV with personnel being handpicked based on ideology and new director general, Giampaolo Rossi, a hard Meloni supporter, previously organised the annual Brothers of Italy (Meloni’s party) festival and is a supporter of book publisher Altaforte, banned from the Turin Book Fair and hosts several books promoting Mussolini and Fascism.

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Francesco Polacchi, founder of the Altaforte publishing house, who defines himself openly as a fascist, outside                      the gates of the International Book Fair in Torino, Italy.

 

Meanwhile journalists such as Paolo Berizzi who write about the new government’s extremist connections are being dismissed and targeted, he said: “They are quite intolerant of criticism and they very much tend to reply to criticism from journalists by accusing the journalists of being just left-wing ideologues, whom they therefore don’t have to answer to.”

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Overturning the antifascist legacy resistance fighters fought for in WW2 is a priority for the Brothers
of Italy, a party firmly rooted in its fascist forefathers’ defeat in 1945. Meloni has referred to Italy’s post-war antifascism as a repressive ideology, meaning her definition of fascism is liberating. The
post-war constitution is ripe for establishing lasting change to the political order.

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Despite its Mussolinian roots, this government is yet to be as appalling as regimes of old. Instead,
sinister tactics used to galvanise the political right behind hateful identify politics – blaming
immigrants for your problems – is spreading not just in Italy but across Europe, turning the continent
into an ideological word yet to exist.

 

Conservatives in the UK match Meloni and her party in their vigour at silencing critics and detestation of immigrants; French anti-immigrant politicians like Éric Zemmour cite Italy as a model of how to 'unite the forces of the right'; Northern Europe is becoming increasingly right wing and even Germany, yes that’s all we need to say for Germany.

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Where once politicians would declare their devotion to fascism, politicians today hide it, regulate it
and work to divide people and society through lies and identity politics. They know if society started
to agree on the welfare of others as the most important thing to thrive for, they would have no chance
at power.

 

It is essential for the future of our society to not let their tedious and disgusting rhetoric engrain itself into our lives, instead welcoming and understanding minorities and those in need is vital to overthrow hate ridden people such as the dangerous Giorgia Meloni.