The Italian publishing house Notitempo has published a new political book entitled "The March in Place: The Paradox of Giorgia Meloni" (La marcia sul posto. Il paradosso di Giorgia Meloni) by veteran parliamentary journalist Valerio Valentini. The 252-page book combines political analysis with journalistic investigation, dismantling the stark contradiction in the experience of the first woman to head the government in modern Italian history.Valentini highlights the “political mythology” that Meloni constructed for herself in front of voters; She always defines herself as "the daughter of the people, the girl of the Garbatella neighborhood, the woman, the mother, and the Italian Christian" who triumphed against the regime and defeated expectations.But the author believes that her arrival at the helm of power, which was heralded as a milestone in history, turned into a “march in place.” Instead of bringing about the desired revolution, the government's primary concern has become "survival and continuity at all costs instead of achievement," by freezing any real change. The irony is that this far-right government is on track to be the most stable and long-lasting in the country's modern history without achieving significant radical reforms.
Double discourse and signs of crisisThe book reveals Meloni's intelligent and pragmatic practices, which constantly oscillate between "commitment to formal institutionalism" (at times inspired by Mario Draghi) and "partisan nationalist retreat" (at other times inspired by the experience of Donald Trump).However, this duality - according to Valentini - reached a clear wall of resistance following the resounding and recent defeat of the government in the general referendum on judicial reform, an event that exposed all the contradictions of “Melonism”, highlighting the crisis of this alleged revolution, which is now suffering from permanent paralysis that paves the way for its end.
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