Things take on a weight and a meaning depending on the side from which they come, and therefore the reflections proposed by Domenico Petrolo, a highly experienced political communicator who has long served the Democratic Party as a party and numerous Dem exponents, are of great importance and importance. The book is entitled “The season of identity. From Brexit to Trump because pride and values count more than wages and welfare” (Franco Angeli publisher) and analyzes the new political phase in which in the post-globalization era everything In the West, voters’ choices seem to be subordinated more by identity than economic elements. It’s no longer it’s economy stupid but it’s identity, stupid. Petrolo’s is a particularly important reflection for the left, which appears to be late on these issues, precisely because it comes from a political communication professional who belongs to the left. Furthermore, the book is enriched by some significant testimonies from politicians, political scientists and experts. One of these is Romano Prodi.
Doctor Petrolo, before talking about “seasons”, let’s establish the concept of identity.
“Identity is the set of things that allow us to be in the world. Our traditions, our roots, our culture, our religion as well as our secularity. In essence what defines us and by which we feel defined.”
Are our identities under attack?
“In Europe and America, therefore in the West, many perceive their identity threatened by immigration, even more so by globalisation, by the deindustrialisation of certain areas, by radical Islam, by woke culture, and of course also by the speed of the latest digital revolution”.
Is it a real change or just a perceived one?
“There is certainly an emotional component but for the most part it corresponds to reality. Let’s think about how immigration has transformed our neighborhoods where traditional shops disappear and small immigrant minimarkets arrive, you no longer hear your own language spoken, the smells change, and this happens in many cities. But woke culture has also done its damage.”
In what sense?
“Let’s think about the claim to cancel the differences between men and women by using the terms parent 1 and parent 2 or to put the schwa at the end of the words. It is clear that if I am a man or a woman, I feel canceled in my identity”.
It is the “season of identities” that you speak of. What are the consequences in political behavior?
“People have stopped voting for economic proposals, no longer asking for equality in politics, but choose those forces that reassure them in the defense of their own identity”.
This is what is happening around the world, from Trump onwards.
“It happens with Trump but not only. AFD in Germany is the first party, we know that Le Pen’s party is in France and Farage in Great Britain, and not only that.”
All right-wing movements.
“The right has interpreted this sentiment with great ability for years, and I say this as a man of the left, perhaps because it has fewer ideological structures, is more pragmatic, in some ways even more cynical”.
But is identity a right-wing or left-wing value?
“Identity is an absolute value”.
The left is behind.
“The left considers traditional identity as a burden of the past, in some cases even as a limit. Therefore it prefers cosmopolitan, multicultural identities.”
It is the elite left that despises the people.
“When the Soviet Union disappears, the working class in the West ends, the left finds itself without people and the cultural left takes up more space, so that it decides to invest in certain battles in which only individual groups defend themselves”.
In the book there is an important reflection by Romano Prodi, which fully embraces this thesis.
“Romano Prodi, as you can read in the book, is also a supporter of this concept, so the now famous saying of James Carville, Bill Clinton’s electoral strategist, it’s the economy stupid, can be overcome by it’s the identity stupid”.
Is there still time for the left in Italy and Europe to go back?
“Something is happening. For example in Sweden which is paying the highest duty in Europe for its open border policy. Sweden has welcomed millions of non-Westerners and now finds itself with ethnic gangs on the streets, with murders, shootings, robberies. Something is happening in Great Britain with Starmer’s immigration policy or in Denmark always with the Social Democrats in government.”
And in Italy?
“I see that, paradoxically, the politics of the young democrats has more extremist positions than even the traditional left. I am referring to Israel, to anti-Semitism, to anti-Zionism. I hope that the Italian left in this sense will do an important study, especially to secure the country, because some phenomena such as radical Islam are causing enormous damage in the rest of Europe”.
Without forgetting the geopolitical dimension of the impact of radical Islam.
“This is another aspect that the left underestimates, or does not grasp at all. Certain cultures do not want to integrate, but rather establish themselves as a bridgehead for something bigger.”
