EUROPE LEFT IN A RIGHT MESS...
Elections reignite fascism fears
THE sight of Silvio Berlusconi grinning like a Cheshire cat as he joined forces with the new incoming Italian government should be a real sign of the state of the political play in Europe right now.
Berlusconi, an MEP for the past few years, is about as corrupt and vain an individual as you could find — and that’s saying something.
He should be tucked up in a prison cell, not taking a seat in government.
Yet it’s not Berlusconi’s presence in Italy’s new right-wing coalition that has the chattering classes quivering.
That has been reserved for Giorgia Meloni, the leader of the ‘far-right’ Brothers of Italy party, who is set to be named Italy’s first ever female prime minister.
Her rise comes after an election victory for the far-right in Sweden too, with fears that fascism is now back in vogue.
Yet, as a lifelong leftie who has had nothing but disdain for fascists, I’m more than a little bemused at the blurring of the lines over recent years.
A speech by Ms Meloni in which she lambasts the move to turn us all into consumer slaves and speaks up for free speech has being doing the rounds.
There was a time — not too long ago as it happens — when a belief that a global elite were striving to commoditise humans for their own enrichment, was very much a left-wing pursuit.
The fight for the right for free speech was too.
Resolve
It shouldn’t be forgotten that Sinn Fein president Mary Lou McDonald had the chance to become our first female Taoiseach if she had led a left-wing coalition into government after our last election.
But the left here clearly didn’t have the resolve of the right in Italy to make that happen.
Given our left’s love for crucifying lockdowns during Covid — for which they led a protest over the weekend over their consequences — it’s probably best it didn’t happen.