“It’s even more beautiful on the inside than on the outside.” That’s how Elon Musk jokingly introduced Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni at the Atlantic Council’s 2024 Citizen Award ceremony in New York. “He’s done an incredible job as prime minister of Italy: a record of economic growth, employment, it’s incredible,” Musk later said, referring to Meloni. And she didn’t disappoint those in attendance: “Italy stands firmly with those who defend freedom and sovereignty. The West is more than a physical place, it’s a civilization built over centuries. It’s a value system centered on the human, men and women equal.” Then, surprisingly, a quote from Michael Jackson: “As my English teacher, the singer Michael Jackson, used to say, I start from The Man in the Mirrorof the man in the mirror, “I ask him to change his habits.”
Meloni's speech at the Citizen Award 2024
In the same way, Meloni explains, “we must start with ourselves, knowing who we really are and respecting it, so that we can also understand and respect others.” The enemy is “authoritarian regimes that propagate the idea of the inevitable decline of the West. But I tell them clearly that we will fight for our values.” He then talks about his philosophy, echoing words also spoken by Matteo Renzi: “As a politician, you basically have two options: to be a leader or a follower, to indicate a direction or not, to act for the good of your people or to act only. motivated by the polls. Well, my ambition is to lead, not to follow.” According to Meloni, “we should not be ashamed to use and defend words and concepts like nation and patriotism. Because they represent much more than a place. They designate a state of mind to which one belongs by sharing culture, traditions and values.
Flags and Trolls
And again: “When we see our flags, if we are proud, it means that we feel the pride of being part of a community and that we are ready to do our part to improve its fortunes.” The Prime Minister also spoke about AI: “In the development of artificial intelligence, we must try to manage its risks because we do not intend to give up our freedom in exchange for greater comfort.” Then the support for kyiv: “Italy stands firmly by those who defend their freedom and sovereignty. Not only because it is right to do so. We defend Ukraine because we have experienced the chaos of a world where the law of the strongest prevails.” Even if “an army of foreign and malicious trolls and robots is busy manipulating reality and exploiting our contradictions. But to the followers of authoritarianism, I say very clearly that we will fight and defend our values, values to which we will be faithful.”
The weapon of freedom
There is also a quote from Ronald Reagan: “He once said, 'We must realize that no arsenal, no weapon in the arsenal of the world, is as formidable as the will and moral courage of free men and women. It is a weapon that our adversaries in the world today do not possess.' I could not agree more.” Although there is “a paradox in which, on the one hand, the West looks down on itself, and on the other, it often claims to be superior to others.” The result, according to the Prime Minister, “is that the West risks becoming a less credible interlocutor. The so-called Global South is clamouring for more influence. Developing countries, now largely consolidated, are collaborating autonomously with each other. Autocracies are gaining ground on democracies, and we are in danger of appearing more and more like a closed, self-referential fortress.”
Patriotism and Decline
“In Italy, to reverse this trend, we have decided to leave, for example, the Mattei Plan for Africa, a model of cooperation based on an egalitarian path to build a new long-term partnership with African countries,” he added. Because “we only know how to face the impossible challenges that this era proposes to us when we learn from the past.” And this is why “we fight human traffickers because we remember that centuries ago we fought for the abolition of slavery. We defend nature and man, because we know that without the responsible work of man it is not possible to build a more sustainable future.” Because “patriotism is the best answer to decline. Defending our deep roots is the prerequisite for harvesting ripe fruits. Learning from our past mistakes is the prerequisite for being better in the future.”
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