Abstract
The Italian chapter by Giovanna Campani analyzes the complex present European context characterized by the rise of the far right, the mainstreaming of populist ideas, and a shift toward illiberal democracy. The comeback of racism and xenophobia is part of the picture. With Italy as case study, the chapter examines the multiple reactions of civil society to contemporary political trends, outlining their fragmentation and their distance from the traditional “mainstream” political parties. The fieldwork reveals a deep need for direct democratic participation as well as the difficulties in defining common goals. It argues that racism, post-democracy, and the economy "that kills" represent the main challenges of civil society movements in Italy.
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Notes
- 1.
It refers to the forms of government that place the authority (of the state, of the leader) above citizens’ freedom.
- 2.
In “Decline in democracy spreads across the globe as authoritarian leaders arise,” Ari Shapiro and Larry Diamond comment: “Turkey is not the only country where democratic ideals are eroding. Democracy is retreating in Venezuela, where President Nicolas Maduro is consolidating power. In the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte has jailed his political opponents. In Poland and Hungary, leaders are cracking down on the press and trying to control the judiciary” (NPR 2017).
- 3.
This idea seems to be the most successful. It is interesting that Alternative für Deutschland started as an anti-euro party and is presently focusing on migration and identity.
- 4.
Berlusconi always defined himself as a “moderate,” but he sought alliance with right-wing forces (like the neofascists). The Northern League was not originally characterized as a right-wing party, but it slowly drifted toward right-wing populist positions in matters of migration.
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Political science has questioned and continues to question the macro-phenomenon of this “uncomfortable host of democracy,” as Professor Marco Tarchi, one of the most acute Italian scholars on the topic, defined it. It is also well known that approaches may differ (Canovan 1981; Panizza 2005; Laclau 2007).
- 7.
We do not use the term “social movement,” and we always speak of civil society organizations. This corresponds to the self-definition of the organizations that were contacted during the fieldwork. Many of them define themselves as civil society as opposed to the political establishment.
- 8.
Data are based on the research work implemented in the RAGE project—hate speech and “populist Othering” in Europe: through racism, age, gender looking glass (2013–2015)—financed by the Fundamental Rights and Citizenship Programme of the European Union. According to the project’s methodology, qualitative interviews and focus groups were conducted with far-right extremists as well as with representatives of the forces opposing the “populist Othering” against minorities and migrants.
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The government was composed by “technicians,” not by political actors. Monti’s ministers were not members of political parties.
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Moreover, institutional racism was part of the Italian political experience between 2001 and 2006 and again between 2008 and 2011.
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The difference between civil and civic. Keynote speech to DTA Conference on 16 June 2008 by Laurence Demarco. http://www.senscot.net/view_art.php?viewid=7318.
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- 15.
Paolo Flores D’Arcais is the director of the bimonthly journal MicroMega. “Flores has made his journal the organiser of the most uncompromising and effective front of hostility to Berlusconi in Italy, playing a political role unique in the EU for an intellectual publication of this kind. A year after the victory of the centre-right in 2001, it was from here that a wave of impressive mass protests against Berlusconi was launched, outside and against the passivity of the centre-left” (Anderson 2009: 16).
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Popolo Viola denounced the sexist practices of Berlusconi that emerged in the “Ruby” affair (sex with an underage girl), protesting against the gender stereotypes that Berlusconi’s sexism had produced in Italy through his televisions. They mobilized when important referenda (on public water, nuclear energy, and justice reform) were approaching. The movement also advocated for individual rights of LGBT persons and for homosexual marriage.
- 18.
http://www.libertaegiustizia.it/chi-siamo/. The name refers to a political movement “Justice and Freedom,” which was established during fascism by two exiled partisans (the Rosselli brothers), who were murdered in France.
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This made him “unelectable.”
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SEL’s leader, Nichi Vendola, is very active on minorities’ rights (he is openly homosexual) and in the anti-racist battle.
- 22.
“For Mr. Monti was, in effect, the proconsul installed by Germany to enforce fiscal austerity on an already ailing economy; willingness to pursue austerity without limit is what defines respectability in European policy circles. This would be fine if austerity policies actually worked — – but they don’t. And far from seeming either mature or realistic, the advocates of austerity are sounding increasingly petulant and delusional” (Krugman 2013).
- 23.
ARCI also has a sector dedicated to the rights of the gays and lesbians. The issue of LGBT persons is at the core of many anti-discrimination movements like the ARCIGay. See more at: http://www.arcigay.it/chi-siamo/info/#sthash.JaGlQVQ5.dpuf.
- 24.
We interviewed representatives of immigrant associations who have experienced the entire migration process, the crossing of the desert, then the Mediterranean in rotten boats, and so on.
- 25.
In addition to helping migrants with food and shelter, CARITAS has a research center in Rome, whose reports and studies on immigration are among the most accurate in the country.
- 26.
In April 2016, he went to the Lesbos island where thousands of migrants live, and he returned to Rome with three Syrian families.
- 27.
Pope Francis’ actions are in accordance with the Second Vatican Council, which also marked a turning point as it changed the old hierarchy of the Catholic Church and its loyalty to the ruling classes.
- 28.
- 29.
However, if the web was extremely important for the rise of the Five Star Movement, its success is due to a double strategy, including the web and Grillo’s numerous speeches in town squares all over Italy.
- 30.
“Two of the early influences on deliberative democratic theory are the philosophers John Rawls and Jürgen Habermas. Rawls advocated the use of reason in securing the framework for a just political society. For Rawls, reason curtails self-interest to justify the structure of a political society that is fair for all participants in that society and secures equal rights for all members of that society. These conditions secure the possibility for fair citizen participation in the future. Habermas claimed that fair procedures and clear communication can produce legitimate and consensual decisions by citizens. These fair procedures governing the deliberative process are what legitimates the outcomes.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/deliberative-democracy.
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Campani, G. (2019). Racism, Post-democracy, and Economy That Kills: The Challenges of Civil Society Movements in Italy. In: Siim, B., Krasteva, A., Saarinen, A. (eds) Citizens’ Activism and Solidarity Movements. Palgrave Studies in European Political Sociology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-76183-1_8
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