October 20
How the US opened the door for fascism's return to Italy
Michael did a Zoom meeting with me, so I got to see the Gulf of Naples through an open window of his office. Italy has such charm and warmth, that it is almost impossible to believe that a fascist leader has returned to power after all these years.
Maybe it is an example of the fact that fascism never really goes away. In tough economic times, people look for scapegoats. Fascist leaders gain power by directing hate towards minorities, immigrants, and those with non-binary relationships. The wealthy elite like it that way, because they can keep raking in billions while workers suffer. Like many Western democracies, Italy is going through a crisis of inequality.
What Michael does is to go beyond the obvious to trace US covert operations in Italy's decades long shift to "corporatization," the term Mussolini gave to his brand of fascist leadership. The US and the CIA fought a particularly dirty war, both in Greece and in Italy at the end of World War II. Worried that both countries might fall into the Soviet sphere of interest, the CIA sided with the defeated fascists; Together, they massacred those on the left who were advocating for a new society based on justice and equality. Both Greece and Italy bear the scares of these wars, as well as the ever present US military bases that just never fly home. That's the hidden story that most American never really understand. The idea that the CIA worked with the Italian Mafia to assassinate progressive politicians just seems beyond the pale.
But to understand Fascism anywhere, we must take an unflinching look at our neoliberal system, one that fosters inequality wherever in the world US combat boots hit the ground. How close does fascism have to come to our shores before we take notice?
