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The Politics of Memory in the Italian Populist Radical Right

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Marianna Griffini discusses the role of colonial memory in the contemporary Italian populist radical right, which includes the Lega and Fratelli d’Italia (FdI).

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Image courtesy of interviewee. June 19, 2023

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The speaker discusses their book, which evolved from a PhD project into a more comprehensive exploration of the relationship between populist radical right narratives in Italy, colonial memory, and fascist history, particularly in the context of immigration and nativist discourse. The motivation behind the work springs from a lack of interest in public debate and academic literature regarding these connections, prompting the speaker to synthesize disparate scholarly works on political parties, anti-immigrant rhetoric, and memory studies.

The theoretical framework presented posits that contemporary nativist discourse aligns with historical colonial narratives, suggesting that populist radical right parties exploit selective memory that idealizes aspects of colonialism while suppressing its negative consequences. The speaker emphasizes that political memory is inherently subjective and constructed to serve political goals.

While exploring Italy's colonial past, they highlight the intertwining of colonial and fascist memories, noting that fascism marked an intensification of Italian colonialism characterized by racist ideologies. The discussion transitions to the present, analyzing how Italy's current political landscape, led by parties with historical ties to fascism, employs nativist rhetoric in a contemporary context where immigration is framed as a threat.

Ultimately, the speaker argues that this historical continuity informs current political dynamics, particularly as Italy's right-wing government, under Georgia Maloney, adopts stringent immigration policies while navigating the complexities of public perception and historical revisionism. This video duality reflects a challenging moment for political discourse in Italy, where expressing alternative viewpoints may be met with resistance amid rising populism.

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Here are five key points from the video:

1. **Origin and Motivation of the Book**: The book began as a PhD project and was later expanded, particularly during the pandemic, to address a gap in both public debate and academic literature regarding the intersection of immigrant discourse in Italy's populist radical right and colonial/fascist memory.

2. **Integration of Diverse Literatures**: The author aims to coalesce separate bodies of literature, specifically those dealing with political parties, nativism, and the politics of memory, to create a theoretical framework that analyzes how these topics intersect in the convideo of contemporary Italian politics.

3. **Subjectivity of Memory**: The video discusses how memory, especially regarding colonialism, is inherently subjective. It highlights that political entities selectively construct memories by choosing which aspects of the past to emphasize or forget, influencing contemporary political discourse and identity.

4. **Connection Between Colonialism and Nativism**: The author draws parallels between colonial discourse and the contemporary nativist rhetoric employed by populist radical right parties in Italy, suggesting that historical representations of the colonized have been transposed onto how current immigrants are perceived and articulated in political discussions.

5. **Current Political Convideo in Italy**: The book is situated within a specific political climate where populist radical right parties, such as the Brothers of Italy and League, are in power. It explores how these parties have adopted stringent immigration policies and nativist rhetoric while negotiating their ideological heritage, including connections to fascism and colonialism, to appeal to voters.

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Here are some key quotes from the video:

1. **Purpose of the Book**:
- "This book started out as my PhD project, and then it was significantly revised and expanded later on, especially during the pandemic."

2. **Motivation**:
- "What motivated it was the fact that there is a gap in the literature, and also scars in interest in public debate about possible ties between the ways in which immigrants are articulated in the populist radical right in Italy and colonial memory and fascist memory."

3. **Theoretical Framework**:
- "My mission was to bring into dialogue these different bodies of literature in such a way that we could construct a fruitful theoretical framework."
- "This theoretical framework departs from the assumption that populist radical right parties articulate a clearly nativist discourse against immigrants."

4. **Politics of Memory**:
- "Memory is, um, very instrumental to achieving political aims. So that's why I call this the politics of memory."

5. **Colonial Memory**:
- "The aspects of the past or the colonial past that these countries, and especially Italy recollect, retrieve and retain is very selective."
- "In the case of colonial memory, these countries... construct a narrative about the past that extols what are perceived to be positive elements of colonialism."

6. **Fascism and Colonialism**:
- "Colonial memory is entangled inextricably with fascist memory because fascism represented the peak of Italian colonialism."

7. **Nativism**:
- "Nativism is the mix between ethnocultural nationalism and racism."
- "Italy has always portrayed itself as being immune to racism."

8. **Current Political Climate**:
- "The current populist radical right is composed of two main parties."
- "It is always harder to express political opinions that may complicate... what the populist radical right does."

9. **Convideoual Shift**:
- "The Mediterranean is no more seen as a treasure space of expansion, but it is seen as a dangerous space that washes immigrants up on Italian shores."

10. **Conclusion on Timing**:
- "It is both the best time and the worst time to publish this book... the worst time because there's a populist radical right movement in government... the best time to publish the book."

These quotes capture the core themes of the video, focusing on the relationship between migration, memory, colonialism, and contemporary political discourse in Italy.

X-TIMESTAMP-MAP:LOCAL=00:00:00.000,MPEGTS=900000

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This book started

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Out as my PhD

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Project,

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And then it was significantly revised and expanded later on,

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especially during the pandemic. Uh, what motivated

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It was the fact that there is a

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Gap in the literature, and also

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Scars

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In interest in public

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Debate about possible ties

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Between the ways in which immigrants are articulated in the populist radical

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right in Italy and colonial memory and fascist memory.

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So

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It was both a lack of interest

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Among the public in political discourse and also

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A

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Gap in the academic literature

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That drove this project. I

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Was drawing on separate

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Bodies of literature because usually this topic

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Hasn't been treated co in a joint way.

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So I was

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Drawing on the literature on political parties,

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the literature on nativism, so anti-immigrant discourse,

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and the literature on memory. So

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The politics

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Of memory,

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These are usually topics that

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Are treated in an insular way. So my,

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my mission was to bring into dialogue these different bodies

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Of

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Literature in such a

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Way that we could construct, that I could construct a fruitful theoretical

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Framework.

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So this

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Theoretical framework

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Departs

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From the assumption that

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Populist radical right parties articulate a, a

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Clearly nativist discourse against immigrants.

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This discourse against immigrants bear some resemblances

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to

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The discourse that Italy

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As a country and also other western colonial former colonial powers,

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Articulated vis-a-vis the

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Colonized other,

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What I

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Call colonized other.

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So

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The conceptual, the theoretical framework

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Is predicated

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Upon this transposition of

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The

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Previously colonized other onto you, the contemporary immigrant.

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Other memory, by definition, is

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Always subjective. So we do choose

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Which elements of

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Our past

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To remember and which ones instead, we wanna forget memory,

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is, very instrumental,

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Uh, to

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Achieving political aims. So

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That's why I call this the politics

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Of memory.

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So, of course, political

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Parties in this case

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Or states

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Do construct

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Their

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Own memories

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By

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Distilling some elements of the past that they want to retain and do do

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mean to forgetting the ones that they

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Prefer,

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They more, they are more uncomfortable with, and they prefer to forget.

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I, I'm not a political psychologist,

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so I cannot lay claims to the fact that these forgetting or these

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remembering are, conscious, unintentional,

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or they are unconscious and unintentional. However,

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regarding colonial memory that is the aspects of the past

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or the colonial past that these countries,

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and especially Italy recollect,

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retrieve and retain is, very selective.

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So this is not a surprise in the sense that, as I was already anticipating,

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memory is, subjective by definition.

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But in the case of colonial memory,

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these countries and Italy especially construct a narrative

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about the past that extols that selects,

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retains extols what are perceived to be positive elements of

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colonialism, and instead relegates to the margins of memory,

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if not relegates,

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to forgetting those who are seen as the most uncomfortable aspects of

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colonialism. So this is, how memory is actually articulated,

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how colonial memory is actually articulated and how it plays out.

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We have to remember that in the case of Italy,

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colonial memory is entangled inextricably with fascist memory

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because fascism represented the peak of Italian colonialism.

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Uh, Italy extended its own colonial possessions,

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across the Mediterranean in Libya, starting from Libya.

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That was before fascism. So Libya,

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Eritrea and Somalia were acquired before fascism, but during fascism,

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it was when Ethiopia was conquered after a brutal war.

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So this expand, this represented expansion of Italian colonialism,

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and it's during the fascist era of Italian colonialism that Italian

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colonialism assumed very racist connotations.

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And it is when the fascist man was

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constructed,

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was portrayed vis-a-vis in a superior way vis-a-vis the

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supposedly inferior colonized others.

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So this is how colonial memory was articulated with

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power from the fact that nowadays the populist radical

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right articulates a very nativist discourse on immigration.

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What is nativism?

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Nativism is the mix between ethnocultural nationalism

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and racism. In Italy,

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there's no translation for the word nativism. And in Italy,

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racism has been a taboo word for decades.

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Uh, Italy has, in,

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has lingered in the, no, how can I say,

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Italy has always portrayed itself as been immune to racism.

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So it has lingered in this sense of redemption,

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of self redemption from racism. However,

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literature since the nineties have examined how have tried to

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deconstruct this, this narrative.

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So Italy has been an inherently

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nationalist ethnocultural, state and also inherently racist.

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So if we move from the fascist colonial era

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to nowadays, there seems to be quite a leap.

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But this leap is justified by the fact that the current

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populist radical right is composed of two main parties.

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One is the leg north that that's now called Laga,

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and the name Lo north.

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So north was dropped when the enacted

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its shift from a regionalist party confined to the north of Italy

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to a nationalist party.

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This happened around 2013 with the new leg legal leadership by mate Salvini

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still current leader. The, so this has no ties with,

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the fascist spirit, but Brothers of Italy,

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which is the party that now boasts,

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having a prime minister in power, Georgia Maloney,

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has a genealogical connection with fascism.

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I'm not saying I'm not arguing that brothers of Italy,

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Talia is a neo fascist party,

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but I emphasizing the fact that it is the hair

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to alliance,

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which was itself the successor to the Moo.

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That was the first neo fascist party constituted immediately in the

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post world period.

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And the Moo was clearly neo fascist.

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And, Allian enacted a shift away from neo fascism,

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even if the,

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there's a debate in the literature over whether this was just a cosmetic shift

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or it was more substantial, is not fascist,

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but it is undeniable that within fertility Italian,

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we have some members and some ideological remnants

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that date back to the movie Italian.

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So Mar Nostrom literally means our sea.

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It was the way in which the Mediterranean has been called throughout

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Italian history, even before Mussolini,

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Mussolini fascist, famous fascist dictator,

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in Italy wanted to extend Italian colonial power abroad

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across what was called mar nos room,

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as if it was Italy's own property,

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Italy's own space. However,

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now if we make the temporal leap again,

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the Mediterranean is no more seen as a treasure space

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of expansion,

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but it is seen as a dangerous space that washes

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immigrants up on Italian shores. So this is the contrast.

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So while we still have the iteration of nativist tropes

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between colonialism and the contemporary Italian

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populist radical, right, the figure, the Mediterranean,

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the role of the Mediterranean has shifted from a treasure

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space to a very dangerous space that is to be detached

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from, Italy. So I think that this is, has,

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has been said also by, by the discussant, my book launch,

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both the best time and the worst time to publish this book.

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So the worst time it is because Italy,

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there's a populist radical right movement and, sorry,

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party and government in government and, it,

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it is always,

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harder to express political opinions that may

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complicate,

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that may problematize the main interrogate what the populist radical, right.

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Does that have been some attacks to, media freedom, for instance?

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Uh, this was what my discussion was hinting at. I'm not, you know,

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saying that I agree with this or not,

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but let's move on to the best time to publish the book. And that's, you know,

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the, the main takeaways and why it's important. Now, again,

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we have a public radical rights, party in power.

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And,

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this Alia with Georgia Maloney is indeed

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enacting stringent immigration policies.

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It has made nativism its trademark.

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Even if things get in power in government,

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they have slightly down their most radical and

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undemocratic ideological elements in order to appeal to

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electorate and to sound more civic and credible and legitimate.

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