CounterPunch Exclusives

CounterPunch Exclusives

Meloni, the Funambulist

Anna Bonalume and Jeremy Frey.

The political rise of Giorgia Meloni is the most spectacular success story of the right wing in Western democracies. One explanation for this success is probably the fact that even when trying to demystify Meloni, the resulting portrait retains charm.

That’s the impression left by the documentary “The Meloni Case” by Anna Bonalume and Jeremy Frey, that recently premiered at the Geneva International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights.

Raised by a single mother after her father abandoned the family when she was one year old, Giorgia demonstrated a rare skill for advancing on a tightrope and turning setbacks into victories. In her autobiography, “I Am Giorgia,” the Italian Prime Minister stated that the early experience with her father’s abandonment left a lasting wound that fueled her motivation to relentlessly prove herself, particularly in male-dominated environments.

“We are faced with a phenomenon of an unprecedented kind in Italy today: a woman who takes power and brings back into the constitutional fold a far-right, post-fascist party like the Brothers of Italy, and thus successfully trivializing the........

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