from "Unity""
The assassination of Pim Fortuyn has sparked strong reactions in our country, which have focused above all on linking the Dutch gay populist with other xenophobic movements and parties gaining traction in France, Great Britain, Austria, and Italy.
This may be a simplification that highlights the justifiable concern surrounding the growing support for the far right. But the left cannot settle for generalizations and, if it truly wants to understand what is happening, must approach these phenomena with a more informed attitude.
Fortuyn was populist, annoying in his manner, and unacceptable for his xenophobic positions, but while he raised similar fantasies to those used by Le Pen or Haider, he started from very different considerations. His strength lay in his ability to give voice to the concerns of so many Dutch citizens fearful of losing their civic heritage, their own system of democratic and libertarian guarantees, unparalleled in Europe.
It's impossible not to see that within the new European far right, there are views that resonate with the people of the left. It's no coincidence that Le Pen voters generally live in the urban peripheries, belong to the lower-middle classes, are more exposed to the ravages of the globalized economy, suffer in the present, and fear for their future. Fortuyn, a skilled politician and openly gay, was able to reach out to these sectors as well as the more affluent, warning them of the potential decline of the civilized gains made.
Let's reflect on this, because even in Italy, millions of citizens are asking themselves how to defend the right of non-EU citizens of Islamic faith to be fully integrated, while at the same time not seeing the values inherent in Western culture distorted or called into question.
Can anyone be considered right-wing if, alongside solidarity with the suffering of the Palestinian people, who have the right to their own state, they also remember that Israel is a democratic country, where gays have citizenship rights and can express themselves freely, while this is not the case in the Palestinian Authority? The Italian left, like the European left, cannot bury its head in the sand: if the right's responses are hateful and simplistic, where are those of democrats and progressives?
The sometimes overly aristocratic approach to the issue of immigration has caused many problems and prevented the left from being credible in defending the rights to freedom and security of all, both Italian citizens and immigrants.
What system of values can unify Europe, especially given the future increased presence of citizens who disagree with us on certain key issues? Multiculturalism, tolerance, and mutual respect could dangerously turn out to be empty words.
After all, how committed has the Italian left been to issues of civil and individual liberties, so as not to appear "foreign" to millions of citizens?
Minorities experience the spreading fear more directly than others; it's no surprise that in some cases they take refuge in what they think are safe havens, like the one Fortuyn built for emancipated homosexuals in the Netherlands. History, however, teaches us that the demonization of foreigners distorts everyone, and the pink triangle like the Star of David plastered on the chests of our dead is there to remind us of this. This is why the left cannot be fearful and evasive, and cannot settle for providing national or unbalanced solutions.
