Path to the ultra-right in Italy began 30 years ago, says author of book on Clean Hands

Since fascism came to power a hundred years ago, Italy has been considered a laboratory that produces political trends that are later emulated internationally. In the 1990s, the vocation gained new chapters, anticipating the decline of traditional parties on the right and left and the entry into the scene of characters who were foreign to electoral disputes or who had been rejected.

Accelerating the rupture was the Clean Hands Operation, an investigation initiated in 1992 against corruption schemes between public agents and businessmen. Its immediate effect was the collapse of Christian Democracy and the Italian Socialist Party, two mass acronyms, and in the following years would come chronic instability and the normalization of the ultra-right —which became hallmarks of Italian politics.

“The anti-political sentiment that is now rampant in the West arose not only in the days of Donald Trump and Brexit, but in Italy a quarter of a century earlier,” writes historian David Broder in “First They Took Rome: How the Far Right Conquered Italy after Operation Hands Clean”, recently launched in Brazil by Autonomia Literária.

Though written in 2020, before Giorgia Meloni became prime minister, the book shows how her victory also has connections to the earthquake triggered by the operation. “Paradoxically, the anti-political sentiment of the 1990s, in a phase seen as the end of ideologies, was what ended up rehabilitating a party originating in fascism — and, basically, the Brothers of Italy is its continuation”, he tells the Sheet🇧🇷

Broder is in Brazil for the Literary Festival of Independent Publishers (Flipei), in Paraty, where this Friday (25th) he participates in a table on the hundred years of fascism.

Mãos Limpas ended up paving the way for characters with anti-political discourse to come to power. Thirty years later, does the election of Giorgia Meloni also have roots in this? Italy, before Manos Limpas and after World War II, had stable and rooted parties. Christian Democracy, Communist and Socialist had clear values ​​and represented the economic and social interests of Italians. What the operation ended up doing was destroying the strength and rooting of the parties and, as an immediate effect, taking Silvio Berlusconi to the electoral arena.

There was an exchange of mass parties for media operations and subtitles that did not have the same reach. Today there is an incredibly volatile party system where, from one election to the next, the results change completely. The Brothers of Italy had 4% of the votes in 2018 and, last September, 26%.

Manos Limpas was also a trigger for the creation of an alliance in which post-fascists from the Italian Social Movement (MSI) were included for the first time. Paradoxically, the anti-political sentiment of the 1990s, in a phase seen as the end of ideologies, was, at the same time, what ended up rehabilitating a party that originated in fascism. And, basically, Brothers of Italy is the continuation of it. Meloni’s ascension is not a sudden rupture of the far right, it is the continuation of an ongoing process.

Is Italy at the forefront of the ultra-right normalization process? What is Berlusconi’s role?🇧🇷 In many Western European countries we can see an analogous process, of the decline of traditional social democracy and the rise of the ultra-right. But in these cases it has been a more gradual process, whereas in Italy the Clean Hands suddenly destroyed the entire political system.

Berlusconi’s role was very important. In 1993, in the first direct election for mayor, in the second round in Rome, between Gianfranco Fini (MSI) and the green Francesco Rutelli, he declared support for Fini. This was before he entered politics and a sign that he was going to build a new right. In its first government, in 1994, the MSI had members in the ministry for the first time —before that, it would have been impossible for the party to be part of a government; in 1960 Christian Democracy supported the MSI in Parliament, without ministers, and this provoked protests, strikes and major social conflicts.

In the book, you refute the view that Italy has always been backward and dysfunctional, by saying that instability is something recent. What happened? I’m British, and often British people have this view that Italy has always been chaotic. But the country was very successful in the first post-war decades. In the 1980s, it was richer and had a higher GDP than the UK. Despite many conflicts in society, it went from being essentially agricultural to an industrial power.

One of the clichés about Italian politics is to say that there have been nearly 70 governments since the late 1940s. This gives the impression of endless chaos, but from 1947 to 1994 it was all centered around the DC as the dominant party. There were many changes of prime ministers and cabinet, but the system was stable.

The 1990s, with Mãos Limpas, the end of the Cold War and the advance of the European Union, caused the balance to explode. At the beginning of the decade, there were over 4 million people affiliated to parties and, in 1994, 1 million remained. As Italy has been doing poorly in the economy, with GDP stagnating and wages falling for more than 20 years, it drives the desire to always call in an outsider who will shake up the political system. Not only on the right, but also with [os economistas] Mario Draghi [2021-2022] and Mario Monti [2011-2013]🇧🇷

How do you differentiate the right-wing movements of Belusconi, Meloni and Matteo Salvini? How these three forces differ in their historical identities does not necessarily have to do with their differences today. The Brothers of Italy come from a much more fascist tradition than the League or Forza, Italy, but that doesn’t mean they are more extreme or anti-establishment.

In the election, we saw the League with a more aggressive and populist agenda, less committed to supporting Ukraine. It was born more liberal and gradually became more identitary and nationalist, more open than the Brothers of Italy to members of neo-fascist groups, linked to religious conservatism. Ten years ago I wouldn’t have called the League far-right, but today it certainly is.

Meanwhile, the contradictions of the Brothers of Italy are the result of a post-fascist party trying to become normal conservative. On the other hand, Força, Italy tries to position itself as a pro-European guarantor of the right. But I am not entirely convinced of this more moderate image — just look at statements from its leaders, with clearly sexist and racist content.

Between the end of the fourth Berlusconi government [2011] and Meloni’s victory, the Democratic Party took part in six of the seven governments, not always by choice of voters. Why does the center-left not convince Italians at the polls? She has increasingly come to terms with the idea that Italy’s path to progress is through closer integration into Europe, and that this process could be led by bankers, technocrats, figures without a mandate. Instead of presenting social programs that mobilize the working class, the left has taken a technocratic approach to politics.

The PD incorporated this, and for many sectors this is a sign that Italy is becoming more modern; but, for the majority, the results of this process have been insufficient. Italy is the only country in the eurozone that has a lower GDP now than when it joined the currency. [1999]🇧🇷

One of his conclusions in the book is that Italy’s political turmoil is less a sign of backwardness and more a vision of the future for other countries. Which wait? We are seeing a shift to the right on certain issues, such as the issue of immigration, with the EU accepting the idea of ​​outsourcing policing to authoritarian regimes to repress these flows.

Regarding the ultra-right, we have seen cases like Sweden, in France Marine Le Pen’s party had a historic vote and great representation in Parliament, in Spain we will probably see Vox enter government for the first time in 2023.

In general, the barriers between what was once the center-right and the ultra-right tend to dissolve. We saw this first in Italy because already in 1994 they allied [com pós-fascistas] to rule. But the more fundamental process that also spills over is a general decline in political participation. Many citizens no longer believe that governments can produce prosperity for them.

X-ray | David Broder, 34

English historian and writer, he is editor of Jacobin magazine, lives in Rome and is the author of the recently released “First They Took Rome: How the Far Right Conquered Italy after Operation Clean Hands” (Ed. Autonomia Literária. Trans.: Aline Klein. 200 pages, R$60).