By Jacob Braun
Self portrait of Renaud Camus in 2019, Renaud Camus, via WikiMedia Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic
Inspired by British author Enoch Powell and French author Jean Raspail, Renaud Camus brought the concept of western civilization’s downfall to the political limelight. Immigrants were to blame for this event—supposedly supplanting the rightful place of the white European man. This insidious rhetoric would be responsible for two devastating mass shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand (2019) and in Buffalo, USA (2022). In Italy, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni subscribes to the “Great Replacement” as fact and is trying to combat it with pro-natalist and anti-migrant policies.
PRO-NATALISM
Meloni used her status as a mother as a significant pillar of her Italian electoral campaign. She encourages women to have families and assume domestic roles to produce the workforce Italy needs to outpace migration. Although Meloni has not said she’d ban abortion, she does support conscientious objection from doctors. It all boils down to Italy needing a strong birth rate to keep Italians in the nation at number one on the demographics list, under the fear that they will be outnumbered by migrants coming from the Middle East and North Africa.
ANTI-IMMIGRATION
Meloni’s anti-immigration platform works hand in hand with her pro-natalist platform. With a stronger birth rate ruling out domestic issues, a proposed naval blockade surrounding Italy would rule out any foreign issues surrounding immigration. According to her however, this is done out of concern for the migrant lives lost trying to cross the Mediterranean. The conflicts in the Middle East and North Africa have allowed populist leaders like Meloni to politicize their victims, demanding their repatriation back to their wartorn homelands to keep Italy Italian.
The Plague of Populism 
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I always find it amazing while also a little frightening when people can create such devastating reasons why immigration can be treacherous for a country. While always stating that it is not about race but the economy or the state of the country. And can always come up with multiple answers as to why a limit to immigration on any country is good for the people. This is another perfect example of this and how there always seems to be people like this in every country.
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Hello Jacob!
Another great article! In this section you seem to truly dive deep on the representation of fear within Italy and how Meloni is using this to her advantage. Through migration, she produces this image of concern for the lives of those who travel to Italy and how it should not be up to Italy alone to help them. In reality however, it seems as though Meloni is trying to create an idea of a pure Italy, one that is free from all outside influence and one where the idea of her perfect Italian family model, can exist.
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