The big European weeklies that have managed to survive the digital shock hit hard on their front pages. They must attract the attention of the readers. They have to mark the line. They have to capture the sign of the time and the wind of the time speaks to us of a Europe in fear of decadence, of the old nations' fear of failure and ridicule, of nostalgia for the strong State and the rise of leadership. The world hardens and the covers reflect the spirit of the time.
The Economist, a publication of reference in the Anglo-Saxon world, tells its readers this week that the United Kingdom has fallen so low that it already resembles Italy. "Welcome to Britaly" headlines the British weekly, with a cartoon that caricatures Liz Truss as a Roman legionnaire who has replaced her spear and shield with a fork with spaghetti and a pizza. Only the Vespa and the Aperol are missing. The German weekly Der Spiegel does not want to be outdone and hits the British with a chestnut by drawing the London clock tower in the shape of a banana. “The banana island”, says the headline. The covers of the German magazine are not usually complacent, but this time there is something that unites them with British satire: an aggressive drive, beyond irony. An air of national revenge sweeps across Europe as the war in Ukraine moves into winter. It doesn't all come down to the price of gas. The spirit of time is intoxicating.
The British have conceded the German slap with sportsmanship. They'll give it back to you. Italians have become demoralized and have exploded on social media. The truth is that The Economist is not usually soft on southern Europe. When the financial crisis hit Spain, the cover of the British weekly was deadly: the silhouette of a brave bull with a broken horn accompanied the headline: “Spain, the party is over”. In the interior pages, the report on the Spanish economic chaos was illustrated with some ninots of the Valencian failures. November 11, 2008.
The weekly predicted a two-year recession. There was not much scandal in Spain for that cover. The right fell silent and the left lowered its head. The solid of the race did not show patriotic chest, since The Economist had just issued the death certificate of the second government of José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and the second Catalan tripartite. The left lowered its head because she knew what was coming at her. Spain has not yet recovered from the abrupt end of that party.
In Italy, the cover of spaghetti and pizza has caused tremendous discomfort at a very delicate political moment. In the UK's worst moment since the end of the Second World War, the City's flagship magazine proclaims: you can always be one step below, you can always end up Italian. Thousands of tweets have risen up against British satire. The Italian ambassador in London, Inigo Lambertini, who has only been in the post for two weeks, has been forced to respond with an official note in which he rejects the "old stereotypes" and recalls that Italy is the second manufacturing power in Europe, with points of excellence in the field of aerospace, biotechnology, automobile and pharmaceutical industry. Italy, indeed, continues to be the second manufacturing power in Europe, behind Germany, but it seems quite evident that at the moment it is not a champion in self-esteem. In another time, the Italians would have responded with irony. This time they have become very serious. This time they are afraid. This time he feels insecure.
The feeling of disaster has been a constant in Italian public discourse for years, especially aggravated by the ravages of the last great crisis. A part of society has increased its income, especially in the richest areas of the north, where the manufacturing industry is concentrated, and at the same time poverty has grown a lot: 5.6 million absolute poor in a society of 58, 9 million inhabitants. Fifteen million people at risk of falling into poverty if the situation does not improve soon. These are data from the latest report by Caritas, which has a very capillary network in Italy, a country of parishes.
The Italians are afraid of being stigmatized as the sick man of Europe after giving the electoral victory to a right-wing coalition led by people who have proclaimed their admiration for fascism, with a singular historical ellipsis: nostalgia for the first fascism, which "towards good things and kept society in order,” before allying with Hitler, persecuting Jews, and entering a war he could only lose. That coalition has won with full democratic legitimacy thanks to a very propitious electoral situation, but it has not come to power pushed by an irrefutable social tide. The opposition, unable to form a single electoral bloc, adds more votes.
Italy remains an open society, but it is plagued by insecurity. That is the sign of your time.
