Thomas Fazi

I’ve written a short piece on Italy’s decision to introduce a vaccine mandate for over-50s, in which I claim that the measure has little to do with public health. Rather, the motive is political: to further alienate the small minority of vaccine hesitant Italians (which will continue to be blamed for all the government’s failures), exacerbate social conflict and thus justify the maintenance of the permanent state of emergency necessary to continue with the de-democratisation, neoliberalisation and oligarchisation of the country.

Toby Green and I have written a new essay looking at the question of the “collective good” in the pandemic, whether the latter has been served by lockdowns, and whether alternative approaches – such as that of the Great Barrington Declaration – would have proven more effective in safeguarding the collective good, and even saving lives.

I’ve written an article (along with Paolo Cornetti) on the upcoming election (by parliament) of the Italian president (probably Draghi), the growing power of the latter, the role of the EU and what it means for Italian democracy.

I’ve written a piece about the “enhanced cooperation treaty” — known as the Quirinale Treaty — that Macron and Draghi have signed in Rome today, its secretive nature and why it is likely to entrench Italy’s subsumption into France’s sphere of influence, and further erode what little sovereignty Italy has left.

[Update: the draft of the deal was published a few minutes ago]

Why did the left unquestioningly support all Covid measures, despite their disastrous psychological, social, economic and political effects (and dubious health outcomes)? This is the question Toby Green of King’s College London and I try to answer in this article.

Here’s my latest article, about the EU’s return to austerity, and how we are seeing a repeat of the post-2008 approach, with large debt burdens used as an excuse to punish – once again – the poorest and weakest members of society. I also explain how the EU’s pandemic recovery fund is not about welfare but about handing Brussels even more control.

Here’s an article of mine where I explain how Mario Draghi’s government in Italy is using the pandemic (and specifically Covid passports) to justify its technocratic rule and further entrench neoliberal policies.

A very long read of mine on Italy’s obsession for technocrats.

I’ve written an article about Matteo Salvini’s transition from die-hard eurosceptic to die-hard europhile. In it, I argue that the EU’s economic pensée unique, by ruling out all alternatives to managing the economy other than the neoliberal rulebook, is increasingly shifting challenges to the status quo, and to the EU itself, from the socioeconomic terrain to the cultural and identitarian terrain, thus fuelling the very culture wars that are tearing our societies apart. I hope you enjoy it.

The international mainstream media is fawning over Mario Draghi, hailed as the saviour not only of Italy but of Europe as whole. In this article I explain why the facts don’t warrant such eulogising. Quite the contrary, in fact.