Only and only when Francesca Albanese is “hosted by FabioFazio” (written all attached, pronounced without taking a breath), then will we be able to say that she will be officially in the running for the leadership, if not of the entire center-left, at least of one of the far-left fringes of the coalition. At the moment she has limited herself to making appearances on the La7 talk shows (from “Di Tuesday” to “In Onda” and the entire series of formats, all the same, by Urbano Cairo) and in the podcast “Tintoria”, a sort of “Propaganda Live” by Zoro, in a more modest and soporific tone.

Because Albanese is, first of all, a mass media phenomenon. What the left needed to get back into trending topics and take over the political agenda, at least for a few weeks. The Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Hamas, the Mossad, the Gaza Strip, the massacre, the “genocide”, the ugly and evil Zionists, and always **Amerika** (with a “k”, mind you) which plots – no longer so much in the shadows – in support of the “Nazi” Benjamin Netanyahu.

From the Flotilla to the Parliament: Francesca Albanese and the left that (perhaps) will come

Crowning the mass media success: the Flotilla, the West’s contribution to the battle, which is not there, which does not align, which fights against abuses. Francesca Albanese is, even the walls know it by now, the “special rapporteur of the NationsUnitesuitterritorialspalestinesioccupati” (written all attached and also to be pronounced in one breath, risking embolism in this case). He has been so since May 2022, and his mandate will expire in April 2028. A year before, if everything remains as it is (with this government closing its natural course) there will be elections. Who knows if our combative Propal will not give in to the blandishments of politics and run for Parliament. Or, who knows, it might even take command, for example, of Avs – Alleanza Verdi e Sinistra. Which, however, today seems quite unlikely, given that the Bonelli-Fratoianni duo is tougher than the Israeli settlers and would never leave command of the left-left of the (increasingly narrow) Campo Largo. But a figure like that of Albanese is music to the ears of the Melonian right. The two complement each other, redesigning that political landscape from pre-fall of the Berlin Wall. And who knows whether a world that is returning to being bipolar (America versus China) and, therefore, highly polarized, does not prefer figures like that of Francesca Albanese, so clear in her judgments and beliefs. Hard and pure.

Media icon with expiry date

So far, normal administration. Albanese is yet another example of how a political character is manufactured in a test tube. Not that it lacks preparation or depth, but it is clear that it is still a media operation. Just as his sketches are now an “instant classic”: from the pardon granted to the mayor of Reggio Emilia, guilty of having remembered – together with the massacre of the Palestinians – also the equal (and yes, I know well that for this adjective I am liable to “Zionism”) massacre of 7 October perpetrated by Hamas, up to the abandonment of the studio of “In Onda” at just hearing the name of the Jewish senator and Holocaust survivor, Liliana Segre. Francesca Albanese, divisive but still consistent with her beliefs, has also become the pilgrim madonna of the extremist left-left, the one that crowded the squares during the general strike called by the CGIL last Friday.

Suddenly, we have burned the last thirty years of the liberal-democratic left to return to the barricades. And she – thespecial rapporteur of the NationsUnitesuitterritorialspalestinesioccupati” – has become the Susanna Tamaro of the Propal militants. Her name, in certain environments where only fair trade Cola is drunk, is carried everywhere and worn well. And it is not a question of ridiculing the thousands of Italians who have poured into the streets to protest against the massacre in the Gaza Strip, as well as those who have criticized the Meloni government’s orientation on the Israeli-Palestinian war. Rather, it’s about stigmatizing the creation of these heroines, as well as heroes, who embody a series of tics from which we thought we had freed ourselves. And this was believed on the left, in that liberal left. Because then, these symbols of struggle and virtue, nowadays, have an expiry date dictated by the mass media circus. See, for example, Greta Thunberg who – already a global “green-friendly” phenomenon “Fridays for Future” – tried to relaunch its brand on board the Flotilla. With some ridicule, however, from those other activists who have poorly digested this media hype, capable of catalyzing all the attention on itself.

Leader without listening, icon without dialogue

It was said: Francesca Albanese. I apologize if I really can’t see in her even the bud of a political leader – perhaps she doesn’t even want to become one herself, and will be content, like any Ilaria Salis, with occupying a small place in Parliament. But honestly, treating Senator Liliana Segre’s name with so much pride, stating “I respect Segre, but her pain doesn’t make her clear about the genocide in Gaza”, without even speaking to the senator first, is truly astonishing.

It makes us understand how necessary preparation, sensitivity and willingness to listen are. And it makes us understand how, in these times of extreme solipsism, our Albanian is immersed in her cognitive bubble, which prevents her from listening and understanding even just those who think a little differently from her. Here, in short: the “spin doctors” would really have a lot of work to do on a person who, to date, is well over forty and approaching fifty.