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Italy’s Presumptive Prime Minister Is Already Sending Liberals Into Fits Of Hysteria

(Photo by ANDREAS SOLARO/AFP via Getty Images)

Sarah Wilder Social Issues Reporter
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Giorgia Meloni, leader of the Brothers of Italy party, is poised to become Italy’s first female prime minister. Liberals none too happy with her Right-wing political views are claiming she is a fascist.

Meloni says she has no plans to cut access to abortion, but says that women should be “given other options.” She opposes adoption by same-sex couples, saying the ideal way for a child to be raised is by a woman and a man. Meloni’s politics are of a nationalist bent, and she has criticized globalism for taking “real power away from the people to supranational entities headed by supposedly enlightened elites.”

“We did not fight against and defeat communism in order to replace it with a new internationalist regime, but to permit independent nation states once again to defend the freedom, identity and sovereignty of their peoples,” Meloni said in a speech at the National Conservatism conference. (RELATED: Italian Election May Preview Europe’s Rightward Shift)

Meloni’s election has been hailed by media outlets such as The Atlantic as “The Return of Fascism in Italy.”

“Meloni would also represent continuity with Italy’s darkest episode: the interwar dictatorship of Benito Mussolini,” historian Ruth Ben-Ghiat wrote in the outlet Friday.

Meloni has dismissed  claims that her government would represent an “anti-democratic drift as “nonsense”.” She has reiterated that the fascism of Benito Mussolini is consigned to the ash heap of history, and condemned the anti-Semitism of early fascists.

Comparisons to Mussolini abounded, as Politico announced that Meloni, who will be the first female prime minister of Italy, is, “set to lead Italy’s most right-wing government since Benito Mussolini.” CNN made a nearly-identical accusation.

TOPSHOT - (From L) Leader of Italian far-right Lega (League) party Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Italian far-right party "Fratelli d'Italia" (Brothers of Italy) Giorgia Meloni, and Italian centre-right lawmaker Maurizio Lupi stand on stage on September 22, 2022 during a joint rally of Italy's coalition of far-right and right-wing parties Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d'Italia, FdI), the League (Lega) and Forza Italia at Piazza del Popolo in Rome, ahead of the September 25 general election. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

TOPSHOT – (From L) Leader of Italian Lega (League) party Matteo Salvini, Forza Italia leader Silvio Berlusconi, leader of Italian party “Fratelli d’Italia” (Brothers of Italy) Giorgia Meloni, and Italian centre-right lawmaker Maurizio Lupi stand on stage on September 22, 2022 during a joint rally of Italy’s coalition of right-wing parties ahead of the September 25 general election. (Photo by Alberto PIZZOLI / AFP)

 

“Giorgia Meloni is a danger to Italy and the rest of Europe,” Roberto Saviano wrote at The Guardian, pointing to her use of the slogan “God, homeland, family.”

George Newth, a lecturer in Italian politics at the University of Bath, called Meloni’s election “the return of fascism” saying “Her racism is also evident in a depiction of immigration as an invasion,” in reference to Meloni’s support for restrictions on immigration. She has stated she is ready to “defend Italy’s borders” against the flood of illegal migrants crossing the Mediterranean by blockading Libya.

Transgender activist and “clinical instructor” at Harvard’s Cyberlaw Clinic Alejandro Caraballo said Meloni’s election was “terrifying.”

“Fascism is once again rising in Europe. Italy learned nothing from World War II,” Caraballo said.