Berlusconi’s big lunch: How Italy’s right ousted Mario Draghi
Jul 22, 2022
On a scorching afternoon, some of Italy’s most powerful politicians gathered in the shade of a luxury villa in one of Rome’s most exclusive neighborhoods, sat down to a lunch of swordfish and salad, and plotted to overthrow the government of Mario Draghi.
The host at Villa Grande on Tuesday, July 19 was Silvio Berlusconi, Italy’s billionaire former prime minister who leads the center-right Forza Italia party. Alongside him was Matteo Salvini of the far-right League, with representatives of other groups, and their aides.
Continue reading at www.politico.eu
How Mario Draghi broke Italy
BY Thomas Fazi
Jul 25, 2022
Mario Draghi’s defenestration has left the Italian — and indeed international — establishment reeling in horror. This is not surprising. When he was nominated as Italy’s prime minister at the beginning of last year, Europe’s political and economic elites welcomed his arrival as a miracle. Virtually every party in the Italian parliament — including the two formerly “populist” parties that won the elections in 2018, the Five Star Movement and the League — offered their support. The tone of the discussion was captured well by the powerful governor of the Campania region, Vincenzo De Luca (PD), who compared Draghi to “Christ” himself.
Continue reading at unherd.com
Technocrats Will Never Stop the Far Right, in Italy or Anywhere Else
- By David Broder
Jul 22, 2022
For most of the last week, Italian media was immersed in speculation on whether Mario Draghi wanted to remain prime minister — with some outlets almost begging him to do so. Even before his appointment as head of government in February 2021, the ex-European Central Bank chief was widely painted in both domestic and international media as the “Super Mario” who would “save Italy like he saved the euro.” In Italian centrist outlets, this praise never wavered, and in his final days in office, there were even some (very small) street protests to call for him to stay on. For the most sycophantic, Draghi was “the prime minister Italy needs, not the one it deserves.”
Continue reading at jacobin.com
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The Rule of “Experts” Is Destroying Democracy
- By Marcello Musto
Jul 25, 2022
- Among the many topics to which Karl Marx devoted his interest, one of the less well-known is his critique of so-called “technical government” — that is, governments led by supposed “experts” not affiliated with political parties. As a contributor to the New York Tribune, one of the widest-circulation dailies of his day, Marx observed the institutional developments that led to one of the first such governments in history: the Earl of Aberdeen’s cabinet in Britain, from December 1852 to January 1855.
Marx’s reports stood out for their perceptiveness and sarcasm. The Times celebrated these events as a sign that Britain was at the beginning of a time “in which party spirit is to fly from the earth, and genius, experience, industry and patriotism are to be the sole qualifications for office.” The London-based daily called on “men of every class of opinion” to rally behind the new government because “its principles command universal assent and support.”
Continue reading at jacobin.com
Τhe rise of fascism
On centenary of Mussolini’s rise, Italy’s president warns against resurgent fascism
By Frances D’Emilio
Jul 31, 2022
Italy’s president, marking the 100th anniversary of one of the attacks that helped bring dictator Benito Mussolini to power, on Thursday encouraged Italians to reinvigorate their country’s democracy as a bulwark against fascism.
Italian President Sergio Mattarella was commemorating the trashing and torching by fascist thugs of a farm cooperative building in the northeastern city of Ravenna 100 years ago. The violent attack was one in a series launched by fascist supporters of the dictator, whose iron rule would last into World War II.
Continue reading at www.defenddemocracy.press
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