Populism: Italy Edition

This collection of posts is going to demonstrate what populism is, what populism is not, and how populism is demonstrated in Italy.

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This podcast is an analysis of fascism and an examination of what we believe will happen in the future for these two countries.  This podcast was created to enhance and expand on the fascist history of the countries as well as the similarities and differences concerning populism right now. These two countries are close in location and had similar histories with their fascist leaders, Mussolini and Franco. Mussolini and Franco are two leaders who had an influence on Italy and Spain and the countries they have become. The podcast enhances the two somewhat similar pasts, and the different directions the countries may go in the future.  It was also important to note the emergence of radical right populist groups in both Spain and Italy, why they have come to existence, and whether they will succeed in their future goals.

(BBC, 2019)

(BBC, 2019)

(Britannica) 

(Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017)

(Finchelstein, 2017)

(NPR)

(World Economic Forum)

(Amaro, 2019)

(BBC)

(The Guardian)

(The Economist) 

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Visit Original Link

This podcast goes into detail about modern Italy and the current leaders in Italy right now. It also interviews a friend of mine named Ben Factor who went abroad to Italy. The podcast will include an interview with Ben and an analysis from me. I hope you enjoy this podcast!

(BBC, 2019)

(Business Insider, 2018)

(Politico)

(The Guardian, 2019)

(The Week, 2018) 

(Bordignon, 2013)

(Mudde & Kaltwasser)

(Us vs Them, 2016)

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Collage: Outrage in Italy over Populist Party

Italy’s rise in populist leaders has forced Italy to become a country of anger and confusion. Recently, Italy has been in the spotlight for populist leaders like Matteo Salvini, Beppe Grillo, and Luigi Di Maio (Zaslove, 2015). Matteo Salvini is the most vibrant and expressive populist leader in Italy (The Guardian, 2018). As I have mentioned in previous posts, many news sources have referred to him as the Italian version of Donald Trump (The Week, 2019) because of his excessive and inappropriate use of Twitter.

The collage above was created to show the feelings of many of the Italian population. A study in 2018 showed that even though 58% of Italian citizens support and agree with the beliefs of Salvini, there is still a large percentage of people who are outraged by the type of leader they have in Italy right now (Reuters, 2018). The background photo in the collage is a photo of a populist party rally that is in support of Matteo Salvini and other populist leaders in Italy. Matteo Salvini is pictured in a bright and vibrant color to pop in the collage to represent the importance he has on decisions and opinions in Italy. People follow him and his protests because of the presence he brings to rallies and events. On the other hand, there is a woman in the corner who wrote “No Salvini” on her cheek at a rally against the populist party (La Repubblica, 2018). The Local, IT conducted an article where it shows how many people are against Matteo Salvini. There are protests on every street corner in Italy. The people of Italy who are outraged about Salvini are trying to make a difference with protests. Even though he does have a strong following base, the people against him are ready to fight and protest to take him down and out of power. As a leader, he should not be acting childish and immature. It’s not just one woman protesting, there have been many people who are protesting and writing on their faces at the protest. According to the article, Salvini is being mocked on his favorite social media platform, Twitter (The Local IT, 2019), which I believe is ironic that he uses Twitter the most, but it is also where he is torn down the most.

The three outstanding and most common reasons for anger towards him are his similarities to Donald Trump, his obsessive use of Twitter, and his lack of professionalism shown by a leader of their country.

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Event Analysis: Populist Party Goes Wild

Summary of 2019 Sanremo Festival 

This is a photo of Mahmood at the 2019 Sanremo Festival. 

A TIME article released that in February, the mayor of a small, coastal Italian town was delivering the award for the 2019 Sanremo Festival that is award every year to Italy's best new artist. Mahmood, who was 26 at the time, swept the competition away with his song called 'Soldi' which translates to 'money'. The leaders of the populist parties in Italy were not too happy with this winner and decided to turn to social media for a quick and easy outlet (TIME).

Luigi di Maio is the current leader of the anti-establishment Five Star Movement. His response to this was that “Sanremo has shown to millions of Italians the abysmal distance that exists between the people and the ‘elite,’” he said. “Maybe next year the winner could be chosen only with the televoting, given that it costs Italians 51 cents, let’s make it count” (TIME).

Another populist movement leader, Matteo Salvini, has shown outrage with the winner as well. The Local - Italy released that Salvini is very unhappy with the results and NBC News voiced that Salvini is often considered the 'Italian Donald Trump' with his many tweets that are often immature for a leader of a country to discuss in detail. Salvini also admires the policies that Trump has enforced in the United States (NBC News, 2019). 

Why does this matter?

Populists are people who want attention. According to the book, Populism: A Very Short Introduction, populism is defined as "a thin-centered ideology that considers society to be ultimately separated into two homogeneous and antagonistic camps, “the pure people” versus “the corrupt elite,” and which argues that politics should be an expression of the volonté générale (general will) of the people. The three core concepts—the people, the elite, and the general will—are then explained in more detail" (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017, 1). They are human beings who crave to be noticed no matter good or bad attention. 

When it comes to the media nowadays, it is easy for people who want to be noticed to get the recognition they want. In this example, these leaders are people who want this attention and will use the media to get this from 'the people'. According to Populism and the Media, "the leaders of populist movements often have features in common that clearly contribute to their popularity and political appeal: in most cases, they are charismatic figures and possess a great deal of media savvy" (Mazzoleni, 2008, 49).

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Special Issue Brief: Migration

Background

Immigration and migration laws are at high stakes for all leaders in all countries. Immigration is the “act or instance of immigrating”, specifically to “travel into a country for the purpose of permanent residence there” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary). The official definition of to migrate is “to move from one country, place, or locality to another” (Merriam-Webster Dictionary).

According to BBC; Italy has seen a record number of migrants over the past couple of years. It has been announced that the new record of migrants in Italy is 171,000 crossing the Mediterranean this year. The real question is why is Italy seeing these record numbers over the past couple of years? Many people thought the migrant crisis was over, but because the number of people trying to cross into Greece has fallen, Italy is now picking up those extra people. There are potential theories that Italy is receiving more migrants due to the better sea conditions in mid and late 2016 could have prompted people to migrate over to Italy. In 2016, Libya was very politically unstable, with rival parliaments, backed by opposing military and militia forces, controlling large swathes of the country. This instability in Libya has made it more efficient for people to travel to Italy for safety reasons. (BBC, 2016). Heaven Crawley’s article explains how “in the second half of 2015, the story of Europe’s ‘migration crisis’ – which had been dominated by stories of hundreds of people drowning in the Mediterranean between Libya and Italy earlier in the year – came instead to be dominated by images of thousands of people arriving on the shores of the Greek islands” (Crawley, 2017).

What is happening right now?

European Union:

Right now Euro News announced that there are interior ministers from five European Union states who agreed that their countries need to reconsider and reevaluate their migrant crisis. They are working together to distribute those saved by the Mediterranean. The French interior minister Christopher Castaner said: “we will live up to this meeting to save these women, men, and children so that those who are working to save [migrants] in the Mediterranean find a safe place quickly” (Euro News, 2019). The Italian home secretary Luciana Lamorgese announced that they “will bring this draft agreement to Europe in October, and the project remains open to contributions also from other countries” (Euro News, 2019).  

Matteo Salvini: 

Matteo Salvini is the far-right leader for the anti-migrant League party. According to the Columbia Journalism Review, he was recently removed from his position as interior minister due to the government making a turn to the center. He started his position with harassment and violence campaigns to attack the migrants coming to Italy. (Columbia Journalism Review, 2019). With Salvini falling out of power, so did the Five Star Movement. Salvini and the Five Star Movements were two of the large populist groups in Italy. Salvini wants to have a say in the current migration crisis in Italy and all of the other countries affected, but without power, he has to wait until the 2023 elections (BBC, 2019).  

The Black Post:

The Black Post is a platform in Italy where migrants can release their experience in a news journal. In many articles around the migration crisis, journalists do not include the voices of the migrants in their coverage. Matteo Salvini is brought up in many posts on The Black Post due to the side he takes on migration (Columbia Journalism Review, 2019). 

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Media Landscape Brief: Italy

Matteo Salvini is a populist leader in Italy. He is often compared to Donald Trump due to his Twitter feed. 

Overview of Media in Italy

Italy is a large country with many different sources of media. It is a country that is currently very up to date with the latest trends in the media; this includes newspapers, radio, television, digital media, and social media. According to Italy: Media Landscapes, the most prominent source of media in Italy is the television. This is in comparison to social media and digital media, which have been on the rise in countries like the United States (CNBC, 2018). In the United States, the print press used to be the most popular source of media about fifteen years ago. In Italy, press circulation has continuously remained very low compared to other countries. The low levels of press circulation are because of the print presses elitist focus. Journalism and press printing are very difficult jobs to get because of the high standards Italy’s media has to be perfect. On the social media site, according to Statista, Facebook was ranked first with 90.4% of people of respondents have and use an active Facebook account. Shockingly enough, YouTube has been ranked second with 57.8% of respondents watch videos on YouTube. Platforms like Instagram, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Tumblr were ranked much lower than 50% of users. Radio reviews are still good, but with recent upgrades like Apple Music and Spotify, it is harder to get the radio to continue to stay popular. According to BBC News, there are mainly pop radio stations that are more known for Italy. The only two stations that display political content are Rai and Radio 24. This is a valid source that the citizens of Italy do not mainly receive their political information from the radio as much as television and social media (BBC, 2018). According to 2019: Edelman Trust Barometer Report, Italy continues to distrust the media. The change between the 2018 General Population statistics versus the 2019 General Population is not a drastic change for Italy. In 2018, Italy and the United States were both ranked at 43, which falls in the distrust category.

Freedom of Press and Challenges to Journalism

According to The Local, Italy has one of Europe’s lowest press freedom rankings. Italy: Media Landscapes touched briefly on the print press in Italy. This article releases that the rankings for the print press are one of the lowest in Italy. The Reporters Without Borders’ 2018 World Press Freedom Index claims that Italy climbed six places in their press ranking compared to the previous year. It is currently ranked 46th in the world for press media. Also, mafia intimidation is one of the biggest threats to free media in Italy. Particularly in southern Italy, many reporters have fallen from mysterious attacks, criminal damage to property, and death threats and violence.

Journalists are being attacked by right-wing populist members due to their beliefs against any left-wing democratic member. Many journalists are paid and told which events to cover and are getting attacked due to their content posted in these newspapers.

CPJ is a website designated to protecting journalists. It is also known as the “Committee to Protect Journalists”. CPJ released an article about the attacks in Italy on all of the journalists. CPJ’sEurope and Central Asia program coordinator in New York named Gulnoza Said announced that "we call on the Italian authorities to quickly and thoroughly investigate the attacks on L'Espresso reporters Federico Marconi and Paolo Marchetti and bring those responsible to justice. Authorities should speak out forcefully against obstruction or intimidation of the media, and ensure that journalists can freely and safely cover events of public interest, including gatherings of extremist groups" (CPJ, 2019).

CPJ is very frustrated with the attacks, he wants to solve this issue to help these Italian Journalists.

Media and Populism

Italy is a country with many extremes in populist parties. In Trulies-Europe, they cover the main aspects of populism in Italy. There is a group called the North League “Lega Nore” that is led by Matteo Salvini. He is a classic example of a classic right-wing populist party. Another populist group is the Five Star Movement “MoVimento 5 Stelle”. This group is led by the former comedian Beppe Grillo. He is using a typical populist approach to appeal by defending “the people” and the “common citizens. The person who has the most relevance with the media right now is Matteo Salvini. According to CNBC, Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi attacked the North League leader, Matteo Salvini, for his diverse rhetoric and use of social media. Salvini is being compared to the Italy version of Donald Trump. He is turning to Twitter for all of his people to public interactions. According to Daniele Albertazzi, (2018, 656) Matteo Salvini has been slowly trying to form Italy into a populist country similar to the United States.

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Italy: A Populist Country?

This is a photo of Giuseppe Conte, the Prime Minister of Italy, and Sergio Mattarella, the President of Italy, showing their country that they work in unity (The Telegraph, 2019).

History: The Integration to Politics

Italy is a country of interesting and unique political candidates and opinions.  A BBC article shows that it all goes back to 1915 when Italy entered the First World War on the of the Allies. After the war, a fascist leader named Benito Mussolini was brought into power and he formed the government in Italy after years of political and economic unrest. Mussolini allied with Nazi Germany. Italy started their time in alliance with Nazi Germany, which was the initial start to fascist leaders in Italy (BBC News, 2019).

What is populism?

Populism is a complex word that even experts have yet to fully understand. Populism is not something that sides with either the democratic party or the republican party, it could be either. A populist is someone who strives to truly understand “the people”. These are figures in politics who want the common people of the country to be heard (Ackerman, 2013, 1326). But the real question is why do populists want “the people” to be heard? Populists use “the people” as a tool to get into power. They want to find the biggest majority of people and form a common bond with them. A populist is someone who makes the commoner believe that they are here to help them. It comes down to “the people” versus the elite. There are less elite individuals in this world than there are commoners, hence the term commoner; majority. Populists need success and empathy. Their goal is to send this message to “the people” (Kriesi, 2014,1).

The Leaders of Italy:

A Prime Minister is very similar to the President of the United States of America. Depending on the country, the responsibilities of the Prime Minister differ from country to country. Prime Ministers are not voted into power. They usually start as members of the legislature and from there are chosen to be the country leader by the parliament who was voted into power. Citizens usually know who the new Prime Minister is going to be while they vote for parliamentary representatives. (Wonderopolis, 2017).

The current Prime Minister of Italy is Giuseppe Conte who was brought up to power on June 1, 2018. As Prime Minister of Italy, Conte oversees all things in the legislature. Italy is a unique country that has a Prime Minister and a President. The current President of Italy is Sergio Mattarella (The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2019).

Populism in Italy:

Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte and President Sergio Mattarella are both considered to be populists because, on March 4, 2018, no political group in Italy could form a majority.

There are two populist leaders in Italy named Luigi di Maio of the Five Star Movement and Matteo Salvini of the League. These two populist leaders have nominated Giuseppe Conte as their candidate to be Prime Minister (BBC News, 2018).

These men are considered to be populists due to their love for being the charismatic strongman and their “people pleasing” personalities (Mudde & Kaltwasser, 2017). Matteo Salvini is a man who thrives on support and love for him. He uses the common people as a tool to find more supporters. He gets on their level and relates to them at first and will manipulate the irrational things into rational words due to the support he already gained.

What do “the people” of Italy want?

The economy in Italy has been down falling since the 2008 financial crisis that left the economy with three million people living in poverty. People need help from their leaders.

The promised and estimated costs promised by all of the political parties are estimated to cost 117 billion dollars, which puts Italy as the country with the second biggest public debt in Europe (BBC News, 2018).

The people want Italy to change. Italy needs someone who can help them with this financial crisis without sending their country into debt.