The victory of Stefano Bonaccini, Presidential candidate for the Partito Democratico (PD), in the regional elections in Emilia Romagna on January 26 has been a breath of fresh air for the PD. Indeed, it was preceded by defeats for the PD in other regions, most recently in Umbria. To also lose in Emilia Romagna would have been politically disastrous because since the end of the war the region was governed by the Partito Communista Italiano (PCI) and has remained to this day the principal electoral bastion of the left.

The right, led by Matteo Salvini, aimed to strike at the heart of the PD, the mainstay of the Yellow-Red government (Movimiento Cinque Stelle+ PD) born out of the crisis provoked by Matteo Salvini in August 2019. Indeed the M5S, after becoming the leading Italian Party in the last elections, in the months that followed has suffered a steady dwindling of approval, and lost every semblance of unity between its many factions, to the point that three days before the elections in Emilia e Romagna the leader of the M5S, Luigi Di Maio, was relieved of his post as General Coordinator.

But the victory of the PD is only partial. The same day the right won in Calabria, stripping it from the PD, even though the significance of that vote is due less to political instability and more to the fact that during the previous elections the region was a stronghold for the M5S (43.3% in 2018) who have now garnered only a paltry 6.2%.

In addition to the wavering light of the Party’s star and the weakness of its political structure (the delusion that regional structure could be replaced by networks), the M5S has been outplayed by the Lega of Matteo Salvini, which, adopting behaviors more common to a movement than a political party (a continuous presence in the streets, the use of a simplified, demagogic and aggressive political language in lieu of a discussion of its programs, the cult of “The Boss” – Salvini is called “Il comandante”) and inspired by Trump (with wide appeal to social media), undermined the “trasversalismo” (that is, the claim of being neither of the left nor of the right) of the M5S by inciting conflict between the Lega and the M5S, to the point that it doubled, in the polls, the support it gained in the previous election. Factoring in the withering away of the electorate of the now ancient Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, the Lega has cast itself as Italy’s prime party: hence its attempt to undermine the legitimacy of the government and the calls for early elections.

The PD, Having fallen close to 18% of the valid votes in the elections of 2018 and suffering a profound identity crisis, after the exit of ex Premier Matteo Renzi (who founded his own personal party, Italia Viva) it is creating a role for itself in the Yellow/Red government, presenting itself as the trustworthy, unitary government party. But when it presented itself during the elections in Emilia Romagna, it presented itself as a party defeated in Umbria (another once red region), of uncertain identity, with abandoned territories, confused leading groups, and incapable of sending clear signals to the country. But…

But in December 4 young people engaged in social media, of the left but unrepresentative of any party, invited the citizens of Bologna to a march in Piazza Maggiore, without symbols or party flags, to protest the violent and simplifying language of Salvini and the right, inviting the citizens to get personally involved (given the inability of the political parties) and defend the civil gains and welfare of the region: their only symbol a sardine, a fish neither aggressive nor predatory that doesn’t shout but moves in unison without the need of leaders. The march was an enormous success and since then the movement has spread like wild fire, accompanying every electoral appointment of Salvini with piazzas crowded with people of all ages as the national anthem and “Bella ciao” sound. The example was such that movements inspired by the “Sardines” have sprung up all over Italy, and in Rome they filled Piazza San Giovanni In Laterano in which a few weeks prior the united right made a mighty display of offering itself as candidate for the government of Italy: The sardines have taken the Piazzas from Salvini!

Thanks to the “Sardines” the regrouping of the center left around the PD has now become possible and the regional elections have seen a doubling in voter turnout, 67% as opposed to 30.89% previously, and in favor of the PD and local candidates allied with PD candidates.

Certainly Salvini’s unending propaganda, made up of violent simplifications, of hours of selfies with fans, handshakes and hugs, were starting to unsettle parts of the moderate right, while there grew in associated parties an intolerance for the solitary direction of the “Commandante.”

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From the Editor’s Desk:

The sardine is a non-predatory and non-aggressive fish whose schools have no leaders.

The Italian “Movimento delle Sardine” has given new life to the left and resulted in increased turnout at Italian polls, and for now has enabled the Partito Democratico to hold on to power in Emilia Romagna, one of the historic “Red” regions of Italy. The left has been under extreme duress at the hands of the Trumpian demagogue, Mateo Salvini who employs many of Trump’s tactics of hate mongering, online insults and mass rallies of his supporters in key electoral battleground states. In fact Salvini appeared at a MAGA rally in New Jersey during the 2016 campaign to rally Italian American voters to Trump.

Wherever Salvini goes or holds his rallies, the “Sardines” counter with non-partisan, endorsing no candidate, rallies denouncing his hate, xenophobia and politics of fear.

What is the American equivalent? The “Women’s March” after Trump’s inauguration?  Were the mass demonstrations over Trump’s immigration policy a form of sardine protest?  Were the California Nurses’s 2006 direct street actions against then California Governor Schwarzenegger proof that a successful sardine type movement is possible here?

Is there the capacity to create a counter Trump force even in advance of the July nominating convention? Could there be positive relief from the ceaseless internal Democratic primary partisan squabble that so benefits the Orange Cheeto? Could even Bernie and Bloomberg supporters unite on this premise? Wouldn’t it create MoJo for the Dems just as it has done in Italy for the PD? Fight for your politics and program but fill the public squares against Trump! Just wondering…??  Peter Olney, Co-Editor The Stansbury Forum

Hi Peter,
I am unable to assess whether the American and Italian situations are comparable. In Italy, in my opinion, “Sardines”, especially in Emilia Romagna, are the electoral base of the left which in recent years had taken refuge in abstention because they were disappointed by ex Premier Matteo Renzi (who had been seen as more dynamic and innovative than his preedescessor as PD head, Pier Luigi Bersani) and by the absence of a political line capable of getting the country out of the crisis and they are eager for unity: this is the people in the square that I saw at the demonstration in Florence, all together, erasing the divisions and power struggles of the last few years; to these are added also the young who are  strangers to the Partito Democratico, but certainly against Salvini and the right.

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