Yearbook 2019
 Italy. When the year started, Italy had been ruled a few
months ago by a brand new government constellation that
became the fruit of the 2018 general election. According to
CountryAAH, the five-star
movement - a dissatisfaction party of unclear political
color - and the anti-xenophobic right-wing party Lega had
formed a government where the post of prime minister went to
a party-politically independent lawyer named Giuseppe Conte.
As Minister of Economic Development, Five-Star Movement
Party leader Luigi di Maio devoted himself primarily to
realizing his plans for citizen salaries in the shadow of
Lega's strong leader Matteo Salvini. By virtue of his post
as Minister of the Interior, Salvini devoted himself
primarily to the refugee issue, where, among other things,
he enforced a decree prohibiting voluntary organizations
from touching Italian ports.
In the spirit of US President Donald Trump, Salvini led a
kind of ongoing election campaign and rode on the wave of
mistrust of established parties that had brought him and his
government partners to power. Like Trump, Salvini relied
heavily on social media and his popular square meetings
usually ended with the audience queuing up for a selfie with
the leader.
Alongside the immigration issue, Salvini's cane horse was
the criticism of the EU and its institutions, where France's
President Emmanuel Macron was named the main enemy. In
February, the discord between the two governments led to a
diplomatic conflict. France called home its Rome ambassador,
after Luigi di Maio had traveled to Paris to meet and
support the leaders of the Yellow West protest movement.
In time for the European Parliament elections in May,
Matteo Salvini launched a campaign whose main purpose was to
gather EU-critical right-wing parties in different
countries. Salvini's main ally became France's Marine le
Pens National Collection. But at European level, the
parliamentary elections did not give the dividend that
Salvini had expected. The shifts in power at European level
were not as great as the nationalist parties had predicted.
Thus, they did not become strong enough in total to
constitute a factor of power.
On the domestic level, however, the election became a
success for Matteo Salvini's party Lega, which received 34%
of the vote. Many expected the party leader to trigger a
fresh election to bring home the result at home. But the
grounded leader made a mistake, not least with the timing of
his intended maneuver.
In the middle of the Italians holiday month of August,
when the streets are empty and the beaches are full and no
one wants to hear about politics, Salvini filed a
no-confidence vote against his own government in the hope
that the crisis would lead to fresh elections as soon as
possible. But the country's president Sergio Mattarella
commissioned incumbent Prime Minister Giuseppe Conti to try
to form a new government.
Conti succeeded, and Italy gained a seemingly unlikely
government coalition with the Five Star Movement and the
Social Democratic Party, with previous long experience as a
government party. A large part of the Five-Star Movement
voters is believed to have left-wing sympathies, but the
party was not yet a perfectly natural partner for the
Democratic Party. There was a lot going on around Luigi di
Maio, who, despite his little experience of the outside
world, became Foreign Minister in the new government. At 33,
he was the youngest foreign minister in the country's
history. The founder of the five-star movement, comedian
Beppe Grillo, who is concerned about the government's
survival, intervened in the autumn with admonitions to his
young adept.
In the fall, regional elections took place in Italy with
great success for Matteo Salvini. His party Lega is far from
calculated, and now in January 2020, the most important
regional election of all, in Emilia-Romagna is waiting. It
is a region that is not only large and rich, but which has
also always been ruled by the left from "the red Bologna".
By the end of the year, Salvini was making every effort to
win the election, and if he succeeds, the bark may crack the
fragile government.
2018 Populists and right-wing radicals form government
The March parliamentary elections became a disaster for
the center-left, giving a huge electoral victory to the
populist and the radical right. The right-wing Coalizione di
centro-destra, consisting of Berlusconis Forza Italia and
the fascist Lega Norte, became the largest coalition of the
parliament with 265 deputies and 137 senators respectively.
An increase of 138 deputies and 20 senators. It was followed
by the populist five-star movement, which got 227 deputies
and 112 senators. An increase of no less than 114 deputies
and 58 senators. The radical and populist right wing
supported nearly 70% of the electorate. Renzi's PDS lost 227
deputies and had to settle for 122. At the same time, it
lost 65 senators and had to settle for 60. The monumental
defeat resulted in Renzi resigning from the post immediately
after the election.
The following months after the election went with
government formation under the leadership of juror professor
Giuseppe Conte. He was appointed by Parliament's largest
party, the five-star movement. As the process progressed, a
constitutional crisis developed as President Mattarelli
objected to Lega Norte's Paolo Savona becoming finance
minister. Savona was an opponent of the European Union, and
Mattarelli therefore opposed him becoming finance minister.
Mattarelli thus went beyond his constitutional mandate - but
in return was hailed by politicians in Germany and France.
In response to Matterelli's veto, Giuseppe Conte resigned
from the post of government. However, only a few days. In
late May, the five-star movement formed government along
with the right-wing coalition and Conte as prime minister.
However, the inexperienced Conte was immediately
overshadowed by the League's fascist Interior Minister
Matteo Salvini. On June 10, he announced that he was closing
Italy's ports for refugee ships. For several years, Italy
had received most of the refugee flow across the
Mediterranean after the EU closed the route via Turkey. The
immediate consequence was that the ship Aquarius with 600
refugees on board was refused entry. The ship was operated
jointly by Médecins Sans Frontières and SOS Méditerranée.
Malta also refused to accept the ship, but after a few days
the Spanish Socialist government agreed to accept it.
Europe's only humanitarian country Italy was replaced with
Spain. For some decades, over 34,000 people were drowned in
the Mediterranean while trying to get to Europe. The EU and
European populations closed their eyes to the slow genocide.
When Salvini closed Italy's ports for refugees, he
announced on June 18 that a statement should be made of the
Roma who resided in the country and who were not legally to
be expelled with immediate effect. The proposal was in
violation of the Constitution, sparked protests and initial
friction in relation to the five-star movement.
In July, a number of Catholic priests attacked Salvini,
whom they characterized as racists. However, the sermons of
the pope or priests on tolerance and charity penetrated the
hearts of the Italians. On the contrary, there was a sharp
increase in violent attacks on refugees and immigrants. Just
in the first two months after Salvini's appointment as
Minister of the Interior, 12 shootings, 2 murders and 33
other violent assaults on refugees and Roma were recorded.
As a consequence of the fascist development in Italy, the
local parliament in Mallorca declared Salvini
persona-non-grata.
In August, the Agrigento Prosecutor's Office in Sicily
traveled to Rome to question those responsible for the
illegal detention of aboard the Ubaldo Diciotti refugee ship
in Catania. The fascist Salvini was not mentioned by name,
but the prosecution also targeted him, as he was the chief
responsible for the criminal activity. Italy is guilty of a
violation of Article 5 of the European Convention on Human
Rights, which states that after 48 hours of detention,
refugees must be released and have the opportunity to apply
for refugee status. Italy then threatened to suspend its
payments to the EU unless the Union agreed to the
redistribution of the 150 refugees on the refugee ship. The
EU and Italy were thus brought to a concentration course.
Italy contributes € 2.3 billion annually € to the EU budget.
In September, Cécile Kyenge was sued by Interior Minister
Salvini after she referred to his party as racist. Kyenge is
a Member of Parliament and in 2013 became the country's
first black minister when she was appointed Minister of
Integration. She was subjected to racial persecution by the
radical right wing, had bananas thrown after her and
referred to as orangutan. Salvini had previously tried to
bring Kyenge to trial. He did not succeed until he became
Minister of the Interior. The right-wing Salvini in 2009
called for racial segregation in Milan's public transport
system.
In September, the regime arrested Riace Mayor of Southern
Calabria, Domenico Lucano, and placed him under house
arrest. He was accused of "encouraging illegal immigration".
Just a week before, Interior Minister Salvini had introduced
new draconian legislation targeting refugees and immigrants,
and he had halted a scheduled broadcast on RAI on Riace. The
village of Riace was under depopulation when Lucano became
mayor. In 2004, it had just 500 residents, where it had 3000
after World War II. Today it has 1500, of which 500 are
immigrants. The city's hospitality has for many years been a
thorn in the eyes of the country's facists. Immediately
after his re-election to mayor in 2009, they digested to
shoot him. Today, Lucano and his partner Tesfahun Lemlem
speak to the fascists - with Salvini at the forefront -
amidst but tolerance, hospitality, diversity anddemocracy is
in a tight spot in today's Italy.
Italy's journalists went on barricades in November, after
leaders of the ruling 5 Star Movement (M5S) had labeled the
country's journalists as jackals and whores. The movement's
attack on journalists must be considered as part of the
attacks on freedom of speech that took place throughout the
Western world these years. In the United States, President
Trump had popularized the concept of Fake News, there were
those truths that were not in the interests of the rulers.
The term is now used in most of the Western World -
including Denmark - to restrict freedom of expression. The
attacks on the Italian press took place after a court had
declared Rome's highly unpopular Mayor Virginia Raggi
convicted of abuse of power. The Italian press had covered
the lawsuit and the M5S now saw an opportunity to strike
again. The shooting was particularly aimed at the newspaper
Repubblica. M5S has no media of its own, but
instead uses social media to spread their worldview.
In early December, Salvini adopted a decree in the
Italian parliament that deprives refugees who have not yet
received refugee status of state aid. The decree was first
implemented in the city of Crotone in Calabria. Dozens of
migrants, victims of sex trafficking and a child with mental
health problems from one day to the next were put on the
streets. Instead, they got help from the Red Cross. Larger
cities such as Bologna, Turin and Rome refused to implement
the decree, arguing that it would increase the number of
homeless people and urban insecurity. The statistics office
estimated that around 130,000 refugees by 2020 will be made
illegal as a result of the decree. Salvini described the
decree as a gift to the Italians.
From the end of December 2018, an increasingly deep
crisis between France and Italy developed. After the
right-wing radical government was formed in June, French
President Macron found that "the leprosy of populism" saved
Europe as a mare, with no hidden reference to Italy. In
December, Italian Interior Minister Matteo Salvini struck
again when he met and supported the French "Yellow West"
fighting the French government. In January, the leader of
the populist Five Star Movement, Luigi di Maio, criticized
France for supporting neo-colonialism in Africa, which is
helping to make the continent poor and send refugee flows to
the EU. He also called on the EU to impose sanctions on
France for this policy - in parallel with the EU's sanctions
on Italy for its violation of the EU's economic guidelines.
French President Macron refused to comment on the charges,
pointing out that his counterpart was Italian Prime Minister
Giuseppe Conte. Both in Rome and Paris, however, the
ambassadors of the two countries were called in
consultation, and France ended up dragging its ambassador
home. This was the worst diplomatic crisis between the two
countries since World War II, and the crisis had a clear
purpose. Italy aimed to stir up a nationalist mood and build
a European fascist international up to the EU parliamentary
elections in May. (This was the worst diplomatic crisis
between the two countries since World War II, and the crisis
had a clear purpose. Italy aimed to stir up a nationalist
mood and build a European fascist international up to the EU
parliamentary elections in May.
In January 2019, Interior Minister Salvini began efforts
to build a fascist international when he visited Poland to
meet with the ruling right-wing "Law & Order" party. In
early April, he assembled 20 right-wing European parties in
Milan and in mid-May he announced the formation of the
international at a meeting in Milan with 9 parties. Also the
Danish People's Party took part. Anders Vistisen spoke and
he was in good company with the Nazi AfD from Germany, Le
Pen from France and Salvinis Lega Nord. However, Salvini's
plans had a serious problem as the parties were severely
divided in the view of Russia. Right-wing parties in Poland,
the Baltics and Denmark are strongly critical of Russia,
while Salvini and Le Pen have close ties to Putin. Although
the European elections became a big victory for populists
and right-wing radicals who rose from 5 to 10% of the vote,
it was a relative defeat for Salvini. His "Identity and
Democracy" coalition may have succeeded in getting 73
members elected to the European Parliament, but that was
less than 10% of its members and his group was only the 5th
largest, where he had gone after making it to the 3rd.
largest after Conservatives and Social Democrats.
In the wake of the creation of the European Fascist
International, Salvini went to Washington to strengthen
cooperation with the Trump regime. Already during Trump’s
2016 election campaign, there had been close links between
the two. Now the agenda was to become Washington's closest
ally in Europe. A role that Eastern European members of the
EU have for decades sought to assume. Despite significant
differences between the politics of the two right-wing
countries - the United States, for example. strongly against
Italy's cooperation with China - there was also much sense
in closer cooperation. Trump wants to weaken the EU and
Europe in general, which he sees as an economic competitor
to the United States, and Salvini needs other good friends
after settling with the leading EU states: primarily France
and Germany. During Salvini's visit, it was announced that
the EU is working to give Italy a $ 3.1 billion fine. £ for
violating EMU rules on the size of a Member State's state
deficit. (Matteo Salvini: Italy wants to be Washington's
closest partner in Europe, Guardian 17/6 2019)
The right-wing regime in Rome led to ever more frequent
clashes in the country. By the end of March, the strongly
Christian right-wing World Congress of Families (WCF) had
convened its meeting with Verona. It triggered
counter-demonstrations with more than 20,000 participants
from all over Italy. WCF is affiliated with the Christian
Right in the United States and has on its agenda the fight
against abortion, homosexuality and feminism. The meeting
was attended by Interior Minister Salvini who declared that
he would work for a change in Italy's abortion law. In early
April, new fascists attacked a reception center in a suburb
of Rome, burnt down cars and waste containers. The center
was supposed to house 70 Roma. The regime in Rome has
stepped up its war on Roma. Already in June 2018, Interior
Minister Salvini declared a census in Rome, and that all
Roma should be thrown out of the country. The following
month, police were deployed and cleared a Roma camp with 400
residents, despite an EU court banning the ban. (Christian
right summit in Verona draws massive protest, Guardian
March 30, 2019; Neo-fascist violence keeps Roma out of Rome
neighborhood, Guardian 3/4 2019)
In July, 24 Latin Americans were sentenced to life in
prison for their participation in Operation Condor in the
1970's. Operation Condor was a collaboration between the
intelligence services of the military dictatorships Chile,
Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil and Bolivia on torture
and murder of leftists. The cooperation made it impossible
for opposites to flee to another country because the
intelligence service was also waiting for them there.
According to investigations, at least 496 people were
abducted and killed during Operation Condor. Some were cut
up and then thrown into the sea from planes. Others were
poured into barrels filled with cement and thrown into a
river. Among those convicted were Francisco Morales
Bermúdez, president of Peru in 1975-80; Juan Carlos Blanco,
Minister of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay; Pedro Espinoza Bravo
who was intelligence chief in Chile and Jorge Néstor
Fernández Troccoli who was intelligence officer in Uruguay's
navy. It has been known for decades that the CIA worked
closely with Latin American executioners. During the trial
it was revealed that European countries also participated.
In September 1977, intelligence officers from West Germany,
France and the United Kingdom visited Operation Condor
Secretariat in Buenos Aires to learn from Latin American
experiences, with a view to establishing similar cooperation
between services in Europe. The trial was the first of its
kind in Europe. It started in 2015 and concerned the
disappearance and murder of 43 people, including 23
Italians. In Argentina alone, 977 officers and their
accomplices are imprisoned for their crimes during the
dictatorship (1975-82).
In July, a judicial inquiry into Salvinis and Lega Nord's
relations with Russia began. The media had revealed that
representatives from the league had met in Moscow in October
2018 to agree on detail in an oil deal to deliver $ 3
million. tonnes of diesel to an Italian company at a
favorable price, and the profits were then channeled to Lega
Nord for use by the party's election campaign up to the
European Parliament elections in May. Salvini dismissed the
charges as fake news. The opposition demanded an explanation
in parliament.
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