London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Friday, Aug 22, 2025

Italy confronts its fascist past as the right prepares for power

Italy confronts its fascist past as the right prepares for power

Giorgia Meloni is on course to become prime minister. Her critics say she leads a party infiltrated by fascists.

There are some crimes that come to define a moment in history. The brutal killing of a Nigerian street vendor in Italy may be one.

The public discourse over the murder of Alika Ogorchukwu, beaten to death in front of bystanders in the coastal town of Civitanova Marche, has laid bare the divisions in society as Italians prepare to vote in a snap election next month.

For some, the killing is the fault of years of hate-stoking anti-immigrant rhetoric from politicians on the right, with disturbing echoes of fascism. Others accuse the left of trying to make political capital out of a tragedy.

The bitter dispute matters because, according to current polling, it is the anti-immigration parties on the right of Italian politics that stand to win most support at the election and form the next government.

At the head of them all is Giorgia Meloni, leader of the hard-right Brothers of Italy, who is on track to become the country’s next prime minister after the September 25 vote. It would mark a radical shift in Italian politics, posing potential risks to the country’s economy after a period of stability under outgoing Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s steadying influence. There are also fears a right-wing coalition could weaken European unity at a sensitive time.

Meloni’s critics say the world should wake up to just how extreme her views really are, warning of a return to the dark days of 1930s fascism. Media coverage pointing out that Italy’s new government should be sworn in around the time of the 100th anniversary of Mussolini’s March on Rome has reinforced the point.

For senior Democrat Laura Boldrini, a critic and political rival of the Brothers, Meloni “represents the far right in Italy which has not had a reckoning with its past.”

Boldrini said: “Brothers of Italy is infiltrated by declared fascist elements.” The party “clearly wants a closed society that looks to the past while Italy needs to look to the future. Medieval times are over.”

Are Meloni and her tribe truly the heirs to Mussolini’s fascists? And what will they do if they take power this fall?

The 45-year-old Meloni entered politics aged 15 as an activist in the Youth Front of the Italian Social Movement (MSI). It is a group that was formed by ex-fascists after World War II. While it was seen as the presentable arm of the movement, the MSI maintained links to extremists.

Meloni later left Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom party in opposition to its proposed support for technocrat Mario Monti in the 2013 elections, and founded the Brothers of Italy. The Brothers retain the MSI’s flame symbol in its logo and have fielded Mussolini’s descendants as candidates — although even they claim that talk of fascism is outdated.

The party argues its origins in opposing a non-democratically elected leader show it is in fact a defender of democracy — the opposite of fascist authoritarianism. The Brothers of Italy is also the only party that has refused to support successive unelected governments in the last legislature — culminating in its opposition to Draghi’s grand coalition.

Giorgia Meloni left Silvio Berlusconi’s center-right People of Freedom party in opposition to its proposed support for technocrat Mario Monti in the 2013 elections, and founded the Brothers of Italy


Meloni said last year in an interview that there was “no room for those nostalgic for fascism” in her party.

Raffaele Fitto, an MEP for Brothers of Italy, said his colleagues remained in opposition during Draghi’s government “because for us the principle is democracy, that the people choose. So when they accuse us of fascism, extremism, we can only respond with a laugh because our actions and choices are exactly the opposite.”

But there have been controversies. Last year a Brothers MEP was suspended after an undercover documentary showed him discussing illegal funding at meetings with extremists who performed fascist salutes and made racist jokes.

And with the pandemic receding, immigration — the mainstay of right-wing political movements all over the world — has returned as a key issue in Italian politics.


Naval blockades


Proposals published after a Brothers’ party conference in May called for immigrants to be detained in designated areas until they prove their asylum case, a naval blockade and fines for NGO rescue vessels.

Meloni’s ally and likely coalition partner is Matteo Salvini, the hardline anti-immigration leader of the League party. While he was interior minister in a previous coalition, Salvini waged a campaign against NGO migrant rescue vessels. He was put on trial for holding migrants on boats and many of his efforts to challenge NGO operations were struck down by the courts.

But during this election campaign, Salvini has already jumped on the issue of illegal migrants overwhelming a reception center on the island of Lampedusa to make his case to voters.

Even so, there are reasons to think that if they do end up leading the next government, the Brothers’ more outlandish plans may never come to fruition. The party’s immigration proposals are likely to clash with international, maritime and EU laws.

Besides, Italy’s democratic institutions and international obligations may help prevent it from pursuing dramatic deviations.

“The narrative that we are fascist is a fairytale,” said Fitto. “And it is bad for Italy and its reputation abroad.”

Some academics agree. If Meloni’s right-wing alliance wins power, it would be “the most right-wing government in the history of the Italian republic,” said Giovanni Orsina, professor of political history at Luiss University in Rome. But to typecast Brothers of Italy as fascist or neo-fascist, is a “misrepresentation,” he added. “You might dislike Meloni and her proposals. But fascism is just the wrong label.”

Italy’s international obligations — especially within the EU — leave little space for radicalism, said Orsina. “That’s one reason a right-wing government is not a catastrophe, there is little room for maneuver.”

Others believe the rise of the Brothers could herald an era of right-wing authoritarianism over time. For Mauro Magatti, professor of sociology at Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Milan, this won’t be because Meloni is leading a “fascist” movement, but because she won’t be able to deliver on her promises to the public.

The Brothers of Italy is gathering support from poorly educated voters who are in economic trouble while offering solutions that are unlikely to be achievable, he said. Instead of turning to the center, voters could seek even harder right-wing options in the future.

“If a right-wing government comes to power, Brother of Italy will have to manage the discontent,” Magatti said. “The fact that their policies are very weak [means] this inadequacy could unleash unpredictable results.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Ukraine Declares De Facto War on Hungary and Slovakia with Terror Drone Strikes on Their Gas Lifeline
Animated K-pop Musical ‘KPop Demon Hunters’ Becomes Netflix’s Most-Watched Original Animated Film
New York Appeals Court Voids Nearly $500 Million Civil Fraud Penalty Against Trump While Upholding Fraud Liability
Elon Musk tweeted, “Europe is dying”
Far-Right Activist Convicted of Incitement Changes Gender and Demands: "Send Me to a Women’s Prison" | The Storm in Germany
Hungary Criticizes Ukraine: "Violating Our Sovereignty"
Will this be the first country to return to negative interest rates?
Child-free hotels spark controversy
North Korea is where this 95-year-old wants to die. South Korea won’t let him go. Is this our ally or a human rights enemy?
Hong Kong Launches Regulatory Regime and Trials for HKD-Backed Stablecoins
China rehearses September 3 Victory Day parade as imagery points to ‘loyal wingman’ FH-97 family presence
Trump Called Viktor Orbán: "Why Are You Using the Veto"
Horror in the Skies: Plane Engine Exploded, Passengers Sent Farewell Messages
MSNBC Rebrands as MS NOW Amid Comcast’s Cable Spin-Off
AI in Policing: Draft One Helps Speed Up Reports but Raises Legal and Ethical Concerns
Shame in Norway: Crown Princess’s Son Accused of Four Rapes
Apple Begins Simultaneous iPhone 17 Production in India and China
A Robot to Give Birth: The Chinese Announcement That Shakes the World
Finnish MP Dies by Suicide in Parliament Building
Outrage in the Tennis World After Jannik Sinner’s Withdrawal Storm
William and Kate Are Moving House – and the New Neighbors Were Evicted
Class Action Lawsuit Against Volkswagen: Steering Wheel Switches Cause Accidents
Taylor Swift on the Way to the Super Bowl? All the Clues Stirring Up Fans
Dogfights in the Skies: Airbus on Track to Overtake Boeing and Claim Aviation Supremacy
Tim Cook Promises an AI Revolution at Apple: "One of the Most Significant Technologies of Our Generation"
Apple Expands Social Media Presence in China With RedNote Account Ahead of iPhone 17 Launch
Are AI Data Centres the Infrastructure of the Future or the Next Crisis?
Cambridge Dictionary Adds 'Skibidi,' 'Delulu,' and 'Tradwife' Amid Surge of Online Slang
Bill Barr Testifies No Evidence Implicated Trump in Epstein Case; DOJ Set to Release Records
Zelenskyy Returns to White House Flanked by European Allies as Trump Pressures Land-Swap Deal with Putin
The CEO Who Replaced 80% of Employees for the AI Revolution: "I Would Do It Again"
Emails Worth Billions: How Airlines Generate Huge Profits
Character.ai Bets on Future of AI Companionship
China Ramps Up Tax Crackdown on Overseas Investments
Japanese Office Furniture Maker Expands into Bomb Shelter Market
Intel Shares Surge on Possible U.S. Government Investment
Hurricane Erin Threatens U.S. East Coast with Dangerous Surf
EU Blocks Trade Statement Over Digital Rule Dispute
EU Sends Record Aid as Spain Battles Wildfires
JPMorgan Plans New Canary Wharf Tower
Zelenskyy and his allies say they will press Trump on security guarantees
Beijing is moving into gold and other assets, diversifying away from the dollar
Escalating Clashes in Serbia as Anti-Government Protests Spread Nationwide
The Drought in Britain and the Strange Request from the Government to Delete Old Emails
Category 5 Hurricane in the Caribbean: 'Catastrophic Storm' with Winds of 255 km/h
"No, Thanks": The Mathematical Genius Who Turned Down 1.5 Billion Dollars from Zuckerberg
The surprising hero, the ugly incident, and the criticism despite victory: "Liverpool’s defense exposed in full"
Digital Humans Move Beyond Sci-Fi: From Virtual DJs to AI Customer Agents
YouTube will start using AI to guess your age. If it’s wrong, you’ll have to prove it
Jellyfish Swarm Triggers Shutdown at Gravelines Nuclear Power Station in Northern France
×