Lorenzo Zamponi is a professor of sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore in Florence and a co-editor at Jacobin Italia.
The late Umberto Bossi dreamed of breaking Italy’s north away from the rest of the country. Instead he helped refound Italy itself, as he forged an alliance with former fascists and the billionaire Silvio Berlusconi.
Friday’s general strike in Italy was the biggest pro-Palestinian mobilization in any Western country yet. It expressed moral indignation but also resulted from years of movement building.
Italy’s Democratic primary handed victory to Elly Schlein, the most left-wing leader in the party’s history. Her success relied on mobilizing nonmembers — but she faces an uphill struggle overhauling a party long in thrall to corporate liberalism.
When a road bridge in Genoa collapsed in August 2018, killing 43 people, reports soon exposed the negligence of its private managers. Today, the government is part-renationalizing the road maintenance firm in question — a tiny step away from neoliberalism that has sparked wild claims of a “Venezuela-style” attack on business.
In last night’s debate, Joe Biden claimed that Italy shows public health care doesn’t help the response to coronavirus. But the Italian health service is providing a vital defense against mass infection — ensuring that any ill person can get proper treatment, regardless of their ability to pay.
Parts of the business press have painted the Italian Democrats’ new leader as a local Jeremy Corbyn or Bernie Sanders. They’re being too kind.
Though companies like Deliveroo or Foodora refuse even to recognize them as employees, food delivery riders have taken a lead in organizing workers in the gig economy.
Resignation, not hope, was the big winner in Italy’s general election.