ITALY’S “NOUVELLE VAGUE” OF NEO - FASCISM

A glance, however cursory, at most of the world’s press gives the chilling sensation that the situation has gone out of hand and that Governments are no longer fully in control, no matter how determined and well-intentioned. The prime example comes to us from the United States, and I express my doubts not in a critical “anti-American”, or even “anti-establishment” frame of mind, but rather with the anguished thought that if president Obama, with the support enjoyed by him at this time, gives an impression of impotency in the path of an advancing juggernaut, what hope do weaker, less prosperous and less efficient Governments have?
Some – and the Italian Government is among them – appear to be seeking alternative strategies, which, in the light of historical precedent, are potentially dangerous and rather frightening. The idea is simple and not at all novel, for it has been used in the distant and recent past. It consists of building up an atmosphere of fear and uncertainty, convincing the people that only a “strong” government, untrammelled by the inevitable intricacies associated with the Rule of Law, can bring about the country’s salvation. Around 100 B.C. this tactic was successfully used by Sulla, who thus contributed in the destruction of centuries of Roman republican rule and opened the door for the Empire and absolutism. It has been repeated, with variations, on many occasions and in many different societies, including the United States (the McCarthy years, the “terrorist threat, etc.), and, of course, in Italy and Germany in the twentieth century, paving the way for Fascist and Nazi rule.
If I concentrate attention on the Italian situation it is simply because Italy has had a historical tendency to act as a leader in many trends both positive (the Renaissance, architecture) and negative (Fascism, organised crime).
The current Italian Government is headed by Mr. Silvio Berlusconi, who is the owner of all the private TV networks which have a strong nation-wide appeal (there is only one exception, and it is being strongly discriminated against). As head of the Government he of course also has some say in the running of the very drab, predominantly idiotic, but much followed public TV networks. It is not surprising, therefore, that an atmosphere of subdued panic has so skilfully been created, particular care being taken – after staunch denials of either xenophobia or racism – to ensure that, in the public eye, the principal responsibility for the current atmosphere of insecurity lies with the immigrant community.
Many legislative and administrative measures have either been passed or are planned, which will do much to transform the very nature of democracy and of Italian society, usually considered rather open and permissive. Here are some examples, out of dozens:
- Medical staff, even in emergency wards, will have the obligation to report “illegal foreigners” who require treatment;
- children born of foreigners without residence permits will not be registered and will therefore not get a birth certificate;
- bands or posses of “unarmed volunteers” will be formed to patrol towns and cities by night in defence of “public order”;

These are just a few of a growing number of projected measures most of which will probably pass thanks to the current Government’s overpowering majority in both Houses of Parliament.
Italy has thus become the country of prohibitions, some of which are mind-boggling or bordering on the ridiculou: in some public parks it is forbidden to form groups of more than three people (“sedition”), in others anyone sitting on a park bench will have to prove either that he (or she) is an invalid or over the age of seventy (park benches have traditionally been used as resting places by the jobless or homeless, ergo, in today’s Italy, by “foreigners”).
The media are quick and eager to contribute to the image that the responsibility for all this “insecurity”, lies squarely and exclusively on the shoulders of foreigners living in Italy – at this time particularly Romanians. This is giving rise to an ever increasing number of xenophobic or racist incidents, some of which are extremely violent (an Indian homeless person was almost burned alive and an Eritrean youth was brutally beaten) and which do not meet much public disapproval.
In all this the Catholic Church, which, in Italy, has practically unlimited access to the media, plays an unpleasantly populist waiting game, occasionally rapping the Government’s knuckles over some perceived minor “misdeeds” against immigrants or the poor, but this only to gain support among the Catholic members of the hapless opposition Democratic Party, thus transforming it into a passive accomplice in the creation of a growing climate of repressive legislation. As a result Laws will be approved in the near future denying a terminally ill patient the liberty to refuse artificial life support.
A note of hope, however, can be sounded. This “Nouvelle Vague” of Italian neo-fascism is not the result of a deeply thought-out plot, and there is no sinister hidden figure pulling the strings. The very transformation of Italy’s society into a new “regime” would have to overcome a fundamental obstacle in the legendary inefficiency of the Government apparatus and of all endeavours which rely on Government support. Therefore, just as the Italian Banking system was saved from major disaster mainly because of its inefficient, slow moving and ponderous inability to react, so it can be hoped that the creation of a frightening police state will be held back by bureaucratic obstacles and the incurable Italian attachment to improvised solutions..