Tricolore, Made in Italy and anti-communism: Craxi’s legacy that reminds Meloni

It is possible to draw a historical-cultural balance over the twenty-five years since the death of socialist leader Bettino Craxi in exile in Hammamet. And it concerns the connection of these values, these legacies and that key of understanding that he promoted to today’s political Italy, five decades later, in a highly polarized framework. All common points lead to the center-right, today led by Giorgia Meloni, in continuity with what happened in the previous leadership phase, with Silvio Berlusconi.

There is an important assumption to illustrate about this. Although the left has never freed itself from the moralistic impulse and the more or less hidden desires for a “judicial path to power” (according to Gerardo Chiaromonte’s warning to an incredulous Craxi), the right, in its most identitarian parts, has been capable of freeing itself from the justicialist experience of ’92-’93. If, when the center-right was founded by Silvio Berlusconi in 1994, Forza Italia was the only authentically pro-guarantee party, while the National Alliance and the Northern League were veterans still contaminated by the fury of Mani Pulite lived alongside the persecutors , today the three parties on justice issues are almost aligned. This already places on the left the complex of a political use of justice, which overthrew the leader Craxi and the man Craxi, and helps to explain why on that side there is no analogy with the reformist leader of the 80s. Then there are more specific reasons for Craxi’s political choices, which confirm his harmony with the center-right of yesterday and today. What draws attention is, firstly, the international position.

At the time of the Cold War, Bettino Craxi took a proud, never hesitant, anti-communist position, until the height of giving the green light to the installation of Pershing and Cruise missiles in Italy, a circumstance that proved decisive for the prevalence of the blockade of freedom. Craxi’s choice was linked to the concept of freedom in the absolute sense (a value that we will also find in the experience of Silvio Berlusconi, as explained in an article by Don Gianni Baget Bozzo from 2004). Proof of this is the challenge to Pinochet’s right-wing regime, launched by Craxi when visiting Salvador Allende’s tomb. Transposed today, the center-right and Giorgia Meloni’s prime minister position themselves without substantial gaps (contrary to what happens on the left) in opposition to the bloc of contemporary dictatorships: Russia, Iran, China, Venezuela, North Korea. With a subtext. Craxi was very involved in supporting dissent, today we find this legacy, for example, in Forza Italia’s support of the opposition to the Maduro regime.

Then, there are other elements that connect the Craxian socialist experience with that of the Meloni government. An Atlanticism that does not give up a stance of defending the national interest (today we saw this with the Sala-Abedini case), the projection of political presence in the Mediterranean and Africa, the vision of two peoples-two States in the Middle East. A distinction must be made here, due to Craxi’s support for the Palestinian cause, with a view to guiding Arafat towards abandoning the armed struggle. But Craxi’s vision of Palestinian self-determination in Gaza and the West Bank was the foreshadowing of the scheme that Italy and the entire West expect. Then there was a series of “nails” that we currently only find in the center-right led by Melonian. The concept of Homeland, which Craxi claimed through the idea of ​​“tricolor socialism” and that historical-political cult of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a metaphorical figure of heroism and the reunification of the country. Then pay attention to Made in Italy. The concept of valuing national productive excellence as a political project, which today also finds itself in a ministerial denomination, was strongly supported by Craxi. Just think about the congress held at Ansaldo, in Milan, in 1990, where the most innovative products of Italian excellence were on display on the stands. Lastly, technological revolutions. Just as Craxi opened the doors to electronics that in the 1980s led to a transformation in the organization of work and domestic life, today Giorgia Meloni as Prime Minister has placed the governance of the phenomenon of artificial intelligence among the central points. So much so that we dedicated a session to the G7 in Puglia last June.

Source: IL Tempo

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