The neo-fascist bombing of the Bologna train station on August 2, 1980, still ranks among the most devastating terrorist attacks on the European continent. The clock struck 10:25 am on August 2, 1980, when a bomb exploded at Bologna’s Central Train Station. The attack plunged the city, known at the time for its left-wing politics… Continue reading “The Bologna Attack of 1980: Italy’s Unhealed Wound”
James F. Downes and Nicola Palma argue that Italian Five Star Movement’s (M5S) future as a governing party is uncertain. Drawing on data from the Chapel Hill Expert Survey (2014, 2017 and 2019 waves), they argue that M5S’s recent electoral decline post–2018 can be explained by a combination of factors, namely: (a) M5S’s ‘ideologically ambiguous’… Continue reading “Ideological Ambiguity, Issue Blurring & Party Dissent: The Electoral Decline of the Populist Italian Five Star Movement”
The arrest and subsequent trials in the late 1980s/early 1990s did not change Stefano Delle Chiaie’s worldview. As soon as he was acquitted, he once again tried to assume a leadership position within Italy’s far-right. Thereby, he at first seemed to benefit from the decline and ultimate collapse of the Italian political system at the… Continue reading ““The Black Carlos”: The story of Italian right-wing terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie (Part IV: Delle Chiaie’s Revival)”
The Man Hunt While Stefano Delle Chiaie was busy in South America, Italy’s law enforcement apparatus—particularly after the reform of the Italian secret service in 1977—intensified attempts to find and arrest the presumed mastermind behind the global right-wing terrorist network. However, despite the information they received and several national and international arrest warrants for the… Continue reading ““The Black Carlos”: The story of Italian right-wing terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie (Part III: The Autumn of the “Black Carlos”)”
On February 12 2020, the Senate chamber of the Italian Parliament approved the go-ahead to revoke parliamentary immunity for the former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini – leader of the Italian populist radical-right League – in order to be tried on the Gregoretti case. Matteo Salivini is accused for abuse of power and for kidnapping 135… Continue reading “Is Italian right-wing populism in decline?”
Salvini’s showcasing of religious devotion and rhetoric about the pandemic are part of a political strategy aimed at taking over the reigns of power. Unlike the Rassemblement National (RN), formerly Front National, in France, the radical populist right in Italy has largely managed to hold on to its electorate. In early April, Matteo Salvini’s Lega still polled a bit… Continue reading “After COVID-19: will Matteo Salvini lead Europe’s radical right?”
Polls show that the COVID-19 crisis, and particularly the EU’s more than hesitant response to it, has soured Italians’ views of the European Union. In no country in Europe has COVID-19 claimed more victims than in Italy. Similarly, nowhere in Europe has the radical populist right benefitted more from the pandemic than in Italy. At… Continue reading “How the European Union Lost Italy to the Radical Right”
In the second part of a mini-series on right-wing terror organizer, Stefano Delle Chiaie, Senior Fellow Dr Tobias Hof takes a look at his actions in Italy and South America – asking the questions about his influence and connectedness. Part 1 of this mini-series can can be found here. Losing Control: The “New Right” Once… Continue reading ““The Black Carlos”: The Story of Italian Right-Wing Terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie (Part II: Stefano Delle Chiaie and the “Black” International)”
With several parties in Italy competing on the right and far right, Valerio Alfonso Bruno and James F. Downes look at the recent growth in support for Fratelli d’Italia. They argue that this party is building domestic support, along with a network of contacts of likeminded populist radical-right actors globally, which demonstrates the increased mainstreaming of populist radical-right ideas in… Continue reading “The case of Fratelli d’Italia: how radical-right populists in Italy and beyond are building global networks”
Rome, 12 September 2019: Mourners are raising their arms in the Roman salute and singing the hymn of the former neo-fascist organization National Vanguard (Avanguardia Nazionale; AN) while a coffin is carried into the early medieval church San Lorenzo fuori le mura in Rome. Many have come to pay their last respects to their former… Continue reading ““The Black Carlos”: The Story of Italian Right-Wing Terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie”