The Celebration Of The Liberation Of Italy From Fascism And (Perhaps) The ‘New’ PM Giorgia Meloni – OpEd

April 25th  is the feast of the liberation of Italy from fascism. A celebration historically made by the President of the Republic, in this case Sergio Mattarella, certainly anti-fascist, and by PM Giorgia Meloni, secretary of a party that has the flame of the ancient fascist party in its symbol. I have never been among those who asked Meloni to remove the image of the Fascist Flame from the image of her party. The reason is contained in the speech she made on April 25. 

“On this day, the nation honors its newfound freedom and reaffirms the centrality of those democratic values that the fascist regime had denied and that for seventy-seven years have been engraved in the Republican Constitution”. Great remarkable words.

A new Meloni? It’s soon to say it. But it is much more important that these statements are made in the presence of that fascist symbol, than in its absence because they testify the existence of a path of political liberation from the worst disaster that can happen to a people, the dictatorship. Mussolini was a dictator. The party from which Meloni originates, which she founded, has the fascist flame in its symbol, that is why the term she used “newfound freedom” is very important. Because the loss of freedom of expression is always  symbiotically linked to the violence and the desire to overwhelm those who wanted that freedom with direct killings. Mussolini promoted alliance with Nazis, who promoted the philosophy of extermination. Never to be forgotten the fascists allied themselves, or rather aspired to be considered inspirers, of the Nazi party, one of the worst political follies ever, which in addition to the extermination of the Jews promoted, and when it was in power practiced, that of the Roms, interning them in concentration camps, using them for forced labor, and exterminating them. Between 60 and 68 million are the deaths that the Nazi and Fascist follies produced with the Second World War.

Given these premises of the flame, in my opinion it is preferable that a Meloni who approaches democratic values does so at the helm of a party that retains that flame, in the hope that the whole party will move in that direction, while by erasing the flame, the anti-democratic values of the party are not erased, but simply the witness of that madness is handed over to someone else,  which could be worse. 

These phrases from the PM, therefore must be appreciated, pending political feedback.

But Meloni’s phrases should also be appreciated in the light of a possible historical revision of economic policy that the PM is perhaps able to achieve. The “right” in Italy has never had a philosophy of development, but has always identified itself in a banal “ANTI” protest of 4 levels: anti-communist, anti-socialist, anti-union and anti-progressive cultural evolution. It is a “right” that strives to be boorish – fully succeeding – and for which any politician is fine as long as he is anti-union and anti-communist. Anti-communism is clearly of conservative Catholic origin, anti-socialit comes from the early days of capitalism, which was promoted with rifles and bayonets. All rights, that is  what they inherit. But development ideas of first capitalism? None. 

It is a great misfortune for Italy that the “right” has not been able to produce a real productive leadership, when Italy’s exceptional position would make it an absolutely privileged interlocutor of an area, the Mediterranean, capable of being at the center of international power battles that go far beyond local geography and obviously affect the economy.  Arab countries. Turkey, Iran, Israel, Egypt and Spain. Worldwide peace passes through here, and here are the doors to the mine of the planet, Africa, if only the “right” could have the courage to no longer see it as prey. China dosen’t teach any thing?

The greatest crime of fascism was obviously the denial of freedom of expression, a horrendous crime which the present PM seems to have realized, and personally I am convinced that she has a possible real awareness, but the immediately following one was that of having favored an old capitalism in which we found Italy still immersed and find difficult to free itself. 

Italy has always had a grabbing “Right”, while instead Italy has proven to be an exceptional entrepreneurial forge of small and medium-sized industries studied as a model in the best American business schools. And I speak not from hearsay but from direct experience as a student. 

In the post-war period Italy has had a flourishing of small and medium-sized enterprises with immense innovative capacity. Think that the first personal computer was made by an Italian company, Olivetti, as it is celebrated at the top of the Christmas personal computer tree of Apple. When I worked at the University of Los Angeles, a professor of economic geography of great world prestige, Allen Scott, a very dear friend of mine, wrote and published books on Italian small and medium-sized enterprises. And since we were (and are) great friends, he introduced me to a excellent Japanese scholar who was studying the same subject. 

Post-war Italy developed a connective tissue of small and medium-sized industries of world caliber. The DC, Christian democratic ruling party, understood that in order to face the great world challenges it was necessary to develop the large state industry ENI, ENEL, Alitalia, last one necessary to make it function with union agreements and not destroy or sell off as has been culpably done now. Government forgot that a strong national airline is instrumental to Italy’s gold mine which is tourism. Selling it was a terrible mistake needed to be repaired.

Unfortunately the faithful companion of this “Right” incapable of economic projects is the Left. Clinging to post-Marxiisms that have the flavor of the old and not that of the antique, the Italian left is incapable of taking the step that led German social democracy to promote a capitalism functioning with trade union agreements. 

Italy could have modern entrepreneurship, as small and medium-sized industry has shown  capable of producing, for large companies it needs entrepreneurs capable of dialoguing with a strong trade union. 

Giorgia Meloni seems to potentially have the qualities to take this step forward for the national right and therefore for the whole country. But she should not forget that fascism and democracy are the antitheses of freedom. 

Dear PM, Keep that flame in your symbol and, if you are sincere in what you say, commit yourself to moving the mass of your party towards the application of this concept and, as the excellent journalist Aldo Cazzullo says, who surfs with excellent programs in the La 7 network, a real alternative to the Rai – Mediaset duopoly, April 25th should be the celebration of all those who love freedom,  for themselves and for the others 

Giorgia Meloni seems to have the qualities for this historic passage. For the moment in words. But these are words that bode well for the facts.