Italian ‘sardines’ take on Salvini
A can-do challenge?
REGGIO EMILIA, Italy, Nov 25, (RTRS): Italy has had many colourful political symbols over the years, including oak trees, olive trees and daisies. Now, a new one has suddenly swum into view and is posing a problem for far-right leader Matteo Salvini.
The humble sardine is the emblem of a nascent movement that is challenging Salvini’s League party and looking to halt his seemingly inexorable rise to power – initially in the wealthy northern region of Emilia-Romagna where regional elections are set for January, and then further afield.
“We want to show we can defeat the dragon of populism with ideas, with our brains,” said Mattia Santori, 32, one of four young Italians who dreamt up the so-called 6000-Sardines group.
The movement was born this month at a rally in Emilia-Romagna’s capital, Bologna. Santori and his friends hoped to draw 6,000 people, but more than double that showed up, packed like proverbial sardines in the main square.
A few days later, some 7,000 people defied driving rain to hold a similar rally in Modena, while on Saturday up to 8,000 people, many brandishing sardine placards, crowded into the elegant centre of Reggio Emilia to stand up to Salvini.
The sardines are not a political party and have no intention of becoming one, but say they want to stir Italians, challenge the League’s abrasive, antimigrant message that dominates social media and try to instil common decency in public debate.
“Finally people have come
Germany and France must bury their differences and pursue a constructive partnership with concrete ideas, an ally
to their senses and are saying enough is enough,” said Gaia Landini, 30, who works in education and attended the Reggio Emilia gathering.
“There is so much hatred out there on social media. The League thrives off creating conflict and we have to stand up and shout ‘No’,” she said.
Running along the fertile Po River Valley, Emilia-Romagna has been ruled by a succession of leftist parties, starting with the Communists, since World War Two.
It is holding elections on Jan 26 and Salvini, whose rightist bloc won all five regional ballots that took place in 2019, has promised to “liberate” the left’s historic fortress.
Salvini has dragged the League from the edge of extinction to become Italy’s largest party in just six years, promoting an uncompromising line on law and order, and promising big tax cuts in defiance of European Union budget rules.
Critics say he promotes hatred with his social media attacks on groups like illegal immigrants, but his message has resonated in a country that has still not recovered from the financial crisis of a decade ago.
Recent Italy-wide opinion polls put him over 30% against around 20% for the next largest party, the centre-left Democratic Party (PD) which governs in Emilia-Romagna and also forged a coalition government at a national level in August with the 5-Star Movement.
But Salvini has not yet worked out a strategy for dealing with the sardines
of German Chancellor Angela Merkel said after a public spat between the two European Union heavyweights over and has held back from holding the sort of daily street rallies in EmiliaRomagna that served him so well in previous regional votes, apparently deterred by the prospect of counterdemonstrations.
“Life is very nice looking at Google all day to work out where I will be and then to come and protest against me. But I have faith we will win in Emilia Romagna,” he told reporters last week at a book launch in Rome.
A lot more is at stake in January than just local politics.
If the PD sees its bastion fall, it could decide to quit the national government, viewing defeat as a vote of no-confidence in its argumentative, three-month coalition with 5-Star.
“If the League wins here then it could prove the final straw that brings down the coalition,” said Piero Ignazi, professor of comparative politics at Bologna University.
“The left has been dominant in this region for decades and has a long history of good governance. Defeat would be catastrophic for them and suggest Salvini is unstoppable.”
In elections to the European Parliament in May, the League won 34% of the vote in Emilia-Romagna, while the PD won 31%. Salvini’s allies took an additional 10% between them, meaning they should be in the driving seat in the January ballot.
However, the incumbent PD governor is popular in his region, where unemployment is 4.8%, half the national average, and latest polls give him a slight edge against the right.