Go, Giorgia!

Apparently, (code for ‘I read it in the Daily Mail’) Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is suing someone I’ve never heard of called Brian Molko, lead ‘singer’ (I use that term advisedly) with a band I’m equally clueless about called Placebo. His crime was referring in a public forum to Meloni as a “piece of s**t, fascist and racist”. He spoke in Italian so it probably sounded sexy.

According to the Mail, under Italy's criminal code anyone who 'publicly defames the Republic' including the government, parliament, the courts and the army, could face a fine of up to €5,000 (£4,300). Sounds to me like a slam dunk and I’m rooting for her.

Given that Meloni leads a party with neo-fascist roots and is considered to be an heir to Benito Mussolini, taking her side is rather dangerous, n’est-ce pas? Or should that be, non è questo? Hey. I frequently blog my admiration for Boris Johnson, profess the hots for Jacob Rees-Mogg, have a picture of Suella Braverman on my wall, am returning to the Church because of Calvin Robinson and hang on to every word by Nana Akua. In addition, I’m a fan of the proposed new coal mine in Whitehaven, support the right of climate change deniers to express their opinion, and ably defend the water companies against the Tatterati. I’m therefore used to having the cumulative contents of combined sewer overflows cascaded over my cranium, and being mates with Meloni is a walk in the park.

Do I not think she’s a piece of fascist excrement? Doesn’t matter what I think about her, actually. The principle here is that a law was broken and consequences must be faced. Molotov, Milky, Mikey, whatever his name is, might be legally allowed to refer to a British PM in derogatory terms, and I support that right, but he was mouthing off in Italy, about an Italian PM, where different rules apply and that trumps whatever the situation is in Blighty.

Some will be quick to point out that I’ve spoken and written publicly about Macron, for example, in disparaging terms; yes, but not while in France. When there, I’m sensitive to the fact that I’m a guest in that country and respect my hosts’ democratic choice of President. Similarly, when I lived in Canada and then the US, I didn’t get involved in anything political, limiting my community activities to the arts. It’s only polite.

Don’t I still have a duty to condemn, politely, Meloni’s politics at the same time as respecting the laws in her country? Well I could, but where would that get us? A far more insightful line of inquiry begins with, why did Italians vote her into power in the first place? Probably for the same reasons others support Trump or Orbán (Hungary) or AfD (Germany). The electorate is not so much voting for these guys as voting against the incumbent establishment: the EU in Europe, and the increasingly left Democrats in America. Trump is enjoying a surge in popularity, not because he’s a good guy or a nice guy (he’s not) but because he compares comparatively well to Biden (it’s a very low bar), whose administration will be remembered for fostering even more hatred than Trump does – this time hatred of women, Christians, and his closest ally (Blighty).

As for Meloni, she won’t be brought down by some interfering foul-mouthed foreigner abusing the laws of her electorate’s land. If anything, Moklo has probably prompted many Italian voters to dig in their heels and vote for her again.

The moral of the story is, when in Rome, respect ALL Romans.