Commentary
The Italian left faces a steep challenge
If the M5S-Lega government makes true changes to social and environmental policies, it is important to remember that the left was already fighting for them before Di Maio.
There is no a prime minister and we do not know the ministers, and these are not unimportant details. However, if this is their program, then we will have a government with a strong cultural dimension. We will experience a politics of justice, public order, migration and civil liberty of the the kind that’s already at work elsewhere in Europe, such as in Hungary.
If there were truly an Italian left, it would be in the opposition, though it would struggle to find room to stand. Indeed, so much crowding in the opposition is suspicious, at least to show that fascism is coming.
The left would stand in the opposition, but with the necessity to claim its structural difference from the others who go on Porta a Porta [the political talk show], fearing the coming barbaric government and the increasing of the public debt.
Moreover, as we all know, the Barbarians were able to reinforce the Romanian roots. The first actor of this parody of opposition is Berlusconi, claiming his role of EU guarantor and reassuring the absence of national conspiracies.
As if he suddenly forgets the accusations of four or five coups against his past governments. In this parody there is also the former minister Calenda, who recalls the PD to organize street demonstrations: it could be the right opportunity to find out which crowds would reply to the call.
The newspapers, as a unique party, are supporting the Financial Times’ positions. Brussels is defending the indefensible without understanding the necessity to change its course, otherwise the majority of the countries will be against it in the next European elections. This is the great coalition.
The temptation would be to go against this tendency. The leftist opposition to the 16 million people who voted for the 5 Star Movement and Lega is facing a serious challenge. Particularly because the experiment of yellow-green political laboratory will open up to an unprecedented scenario. If they are not all talk (as they appear to be with their about face on the TAV), it will not take long to find it out.
But if instead there are true changes to the social and environmental policies, it is important to remember that the left was already fighting for them before the emergence of Di Maio and the coalition.
Originally published at https://ilmanifesto.it/la-nostra-sfida-allopposizione/ on 2018-05-18