Giorgia Meloni bats for conservatism

Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, addressing the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), has made an eloquent defence of conservatism. She dismissed the popular picture that a conservative government in Italy would “isolate the country”. She said that Italy is running fine under her conservative government, that inflation is under control, illegal immigration is down, and Italian economy is thriving, and that her government would want to restore the rightful place of Italy on the global stage.

But she went beyond defending her government in Italy. She said that she believes in Western civilisation, which is rooted in Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christian values. She also emphasised that conservatives believe in democracy, in freedom, in the importance of the individual and the sacredness of life.

She said that the “mainstream propaganda machine” tried to paint a different picture but the people refused to be misled by the propaganda. That is why, they are voting time and again for conservative governments. And she said President Donald Trump, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and she are shown as a threat to democracy, but the liberals have failed. She also thrashed out against the “leftist Green insanity”, which is a reference to the far left’s concerns over climate change.

What Meloni has tried to do is give ideological clarity, a facelift to conservatism which many conservative leaders in Europe, America and elsewhere have failed to do, and she did this while emphasising the conservative belief in security – economic and cultural.

She argued that the liberals tried to educate people and impose on them the liberal ideas. The conservatives believe in serving people. She has borrowed many of the liberal concepts like democracy, freedom, the individual and made it part of the conservative credo. She has given not only clarity to conservative notions but she has also given respectability and rationality, and she has made them even attractive.

The general fear in the dominant liberal circles of the West has been that any right-wing party is a threat to the cherished liberal ideas of democracy, freedom and the individual. Meloni has staked claim to the ideas and made them part of conservatism.

The question that liberals would ask is whether her rhetoric would succeed. They would argue that by appropriating liberal concepts she could be undermining conservatism. It is unlikely that anyone would lend credence to Meloni’s intellectual prowess, but she has literally mounted an intellectual challenge to the liberals in her speech. By invoking Greek philosophy, Roman law and Christian values, she has made it difficult for the liberal critics of right-wing leaders like her to dismiss her ideas as of no consequence.

She has been formulating her ideas for quite some time. She distanced herself and her party from any connection with fascism made infamous by the Italian dictator of the Second World War, Benito Mussolini. She banned the fascist salute from her party, Brothers of Italy, which was a populist right-wing formation. Meloni had declared in 2019: “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian. And you can’t take that away from me.”

Critics are sure to say that there is a need to guard against Meloni’s rhetoric because of her emphasis on democracy and freedom along with conservative values. And there is more than a grain of truth in that apprehension.

Meloni is the European leader to watch out for because she is articulate and she is pressing the right buttons of democracy, freedom and the individual. The collectivism that one associated with right-wing parties like hers is being pushed back. Is it a tactical ploy or does she really believe in democratic freedoms is a question that will tease Meloni-watchers.