Own party youth puts Meloni in trouble
Italian Premier Minister Giorgia Meloni would have preferred to keep quiet about the embarrassing recordings of her party's youth wing, Gioventù Nazionale (National Youth). However, this was made impossible by Liliana Segre, the 93-year-old Holocaust survivor and Senator of the Republic, who has been under protection for years. During a TV interview, she asked, "Am I going to be expelled from my country again?"
Two videos titled "Gioventù Meloniana" were published by the investigative media portal Fanpage. They show members of the youth organization of Meloni's party, Fratelli d'Italia (FdI), raising their arms and shouting, "Duce! Duce! Duce!" ("Leader! Leader! Leader!") and "Sieg Heil!"
Flaminia Pace, Chairwoman of one of the Roman Circle Branches, is heard in one of the "Camerate" (camps) saying, "The funniest thing was, first, to provoke Ester Mieli with a swastika and then write a solidarity statement next to her." Mieli is a Jewish Senator and a member of Fratelli d'Italia.
Elisa Segnini, Secretary of an FdI Deputy, proudly declares in the recordings, "I have never stopped being a racist and a fascist." Ilaria Papini, Chairwoman of the Gioventù Nazionale in the southern Italian province of Bari, speaks of "infamous Jews," while another Camerate member says Jews are a caste that "still lives off the income that the Holocaust generates."
Undercover with the Right
Part one and part two of the video "Gioventù Meloniana" were recorded by an undercover journalist from Fanpage. She had presented herself as a right-wing activist and gained access to private parties, secret meetings, rock festivals, and other events. Scenes from public events, such as the annual party festival Atreju organized by the Gioventù Nazionale, are also shown. At the Atreju in December, Meloni invited the undercover journalist on stage and praised her excessively: "There are still young people who believe in politics and stand up for their ideas. You are fantastic."
The party leadership did not react to the first video's publication. After the second one, however, avoiding the issue was no longer an option. Meloni is not a fan of press conferences. She usually speaks alone in front of the camera and releases videos on Facebook, which is still popular in Italy. This time, it seemed important to her to confront the running cameras. With a stern expression, she made it clear that antisemitic, racist, and nostalgic positions are "incompatible with Fratelli d'Italia."
Meloni reacts with a counterattack
Immediately after that, she counterattacked. So she said it was an absolute novelty for her to infiltrate a party organization to spy on it, secretly record material, and then make it public. "I take note that this is a new format for political confrontation," she emphasized and added, "Such methods are usually used by regimes."
The research has brought about a journalist, not a political opponent or a power-grabber. The former professional journalist Meloni was aware that the methods used should not violate any code. However, Meloni feels pursued by the majority of the guild, which is why she seizes every opportunity to put journalists and journalism on the spot.
Meloni hoped to draw a line under the affair with a press conference. But Liliana Segre spoke up. And once again, the Premier Minister reiterated, this time in a letter to the top of her party, that there is no place for anti-Semitic, nostalgic, and racist positions in the party. That we have dealt with history and fascism and are against all totalitarianisms. "We are not a party that looks back. We are interested in the future of our nation." And the same goes for the young people of Gioventù Nazionale: "A healthy and colorful youth organization that shows up openly and curious."
Meloni would like to be perceived as a moderate conservative politician, especially abroad. She would gladly free herself from the label of Post-Fascist. However, her associates and colleagues keep reminding her of it.
Extremists in their own ranks
Why, as the Holocaust survivor Segre explained in the mentioned TV interview, have the disturbances, which have come to light in the past week, always existed? We have only not shown them to the public before. This has changed with the takeover of the government by the Fratelli d'Italia. "People no longer feel ashamed of it."
Recently, it was Paolo Signorelli, press spokesman for Meloni's brother-in-law Francesco Lollobrigida and current Agriculture Minister, who caused unwanted attention. In the course of an investigation, emails and chats from 2018 came to light. In them, Signorelli incited against Jews, sympathized with neo-fascist terrorists of the 80s and 90s, and raved about his grandfather, a founding member of the neo-fascist terrorist organization Ordine Nuovo.
In an article in the daily newspaper "Corriere della Sera," the political scientist Marco Tarchi, once known as the chief ideologue of the New Right, said that every ideological change requires time. Young people have grown up with certain political myths and symbols. One cannot turn them into convinced national conservatives from one day to the next. One must educate them with patience. If FdI does not take on this task, it risks fragmenting the Right, warned Tarchi. In other words: Meloni's party's youth wing must remain a breeding ground for Italy's emerging neo-fascists.
- Giorgia Meloni, the Italian Premier Minister, expressed her disapproval towards the right-wing extremist actions within her party's youth wing, Fratelli d'Italia, following the publication of undercover videos showing members displaying Nazi-related gestures and making anti-Semitic comments.
- The political landscape in Italy has been under scrutiny due to the revelations of right-wing extremism within Fratelli d'Italia, raising concerns about the party's stance on freedom of the press and its commitment to combating anti-Semitism.
- In an attempt to address the backlash, Giorgia Meloni, as the leader of Fratelli d'Italia, emphasized the importance ofdistancing her party from any forms of nostalgic, racist, and anti-Semitic ideologies, stating that their focus is on the future of Italy and promoting a healthy and diverse youth organization.
