World
The ‘anti-Meloni’: Meet Elly Schlein, Italy’s breakout left-wing star
Italy’s centre-left Democratic Occasion (PD) suffered a devastating defeat within the September basic elections, which noticed Brothers of Italy’s Giorgia Meloni and her right-wing alliance sweep into energy with a landslide victory.
However might a trailblazing new candidate reverse the social gathering’s misfortunes?
Meet Elly Schlein, a 37-year-old MP who’s extensively touted as the newest breakout star in Italian politics and a attainable ray of hope for the beleaguered centre-left.
Earlier this month, Schlein introduced her bid to turn into the Democratic Occasion’s new chief subsequent yr. Younger and overtly bisexual, the aspiring candidate is a feminist and impassioned pro-European who posits herself as a “actual” leftist — one who appeals to society’s most disenfranchised, moderately than the “elites” the modern-day left is usually accused of courting.
Media shops are describing Schlein because the “anti-Giorgia Meloni”, and evaluating her to US Consultant Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who can also be famend for her socially progressive platform.
So who’s Elly Schlein? Will she be capable to revive Italy’s moribund centre-left? And the way do Italians understand her?
Italy’s AOC: Schlein’s political platform
Elly Schlein’s political place is probably finest encapsulated by the best way wherein she introduced her management bid.
Talking at a membership in Rome’s suburbs — exterior of its “restricted site visitors zone,” a metaphor usually used to depict the city elite — she introduced a “progressive, environmentalist and feminist” marketing campaign to supply an “various” to Italy’s new far-right authorities. All of the whereas, her supporters sang “Bella Ciao” – Italy’s anti-fascist Resistance anthem.
Schlein, who belongs to the PD’s extra socialist wing, goals to current a contemporary and unifying imaginative and prescient for the left and the nation.
As a celebration whose roots lie in a fusion between the Communist and Christian Democratic factions of Italy’s previous, the PD is usually perceived as affected by an identification disaster, floundering by a divide between a extra centrist, economically liberal wing and leftist one.
The social gathering’s previous leaders, particularly Matteo Renzi, have usually been accused of eschewing the PD’s leftist roots, and certainly her main opponent within the primaries, Stefano Bonaccini, occupies a politically centrist floor, regardless of having previously been a Communist Occasion member.
Schlein, for example, helps a minimal wage — a proposal which the Democratic Occasion has endorsed however didn’t push by whereas in authorities. She speaks a couple of Inexperienced New Deal and bringing the social gathering again to the commerce unions and metropolis outskirts, all of which have drawn comparisons to the platform of Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.
Schlein’s popularity for being a gutsy conviction politician breaking by the ranks of Italy’s stuffy political institution has additionally led commentators to see her because the left’s reply to fresh-faced PM Giorgia Meloni, whose personal meteoric rise from the margins of Italian politics was attributed to her charismatic persona and mass enchantment.
Whereas Schlein resists the anti-Meloni label, she has definitely not pulled the punches on Italy’s new — and first feminine — premier.
“Not all feminine leaderships are feminist leaderships,” she stated earlier this month. “Politically, we’re poles aside.”
A various background
Italy’s political class has garnered a popularity for homogeneity — all through the a long time, its members have been overwhelmingly male and superior in age.
Schlein’s background stands in apparent distinction, not just for her gender and youth however for her heritage as properly.
Born in Switzerland, the leftist politician hails from an ethnically numerous household. Schlein’s father is a Jewish American political scientist, her mom an Italian legislation professor, and she or he consequently holds triple Swiss-Italian-US citizenship.
If elected as head of the Democratic Occasion, Schlein would turn into each the primary girl and overtly LGBTQ individual to guide the centre-left bloc.
Schlein makes no secret of how her background makes her one thing of an outlier in Italian politics.
Again in 2020, she got here out as bisexual on a preferred tv present, asserting that she had a girlfriend.
“I’ve cherished many males, I’ve cherished many ladies. For the time being I am [in a relationship] with a lady, and I am joyful,” the MP instructed TV presenter Daria Bignardi, to rapturous applause from the viewers.
From campaigning for Obama to battling Salvini: Schlein’s political journey
As a triple citizenship holder, it comes as little shock that Schlein’s profession can be as worldwide as her background.
Following the completion of a legislation diploma from the College of Bologna, the leftist politician began her profession 7,000 km from house by engaged on Barack Obama’s marketing campaign trails in 2008 and 2012.
After chopping her political enamel throughout the Atlantic, Schlein grew to become an impassioned youth activist for the Democratic Occasion and was elected as a member of the European Parliament in 2014.
Come the next yr, and more and more against the labour reforms of the then-PM and social gathering chief, Renzi, she in the end parted methods with the PD and joined a splinter social gathering, Attainable (Possibile).
In 2020, Elly Schlein was elected on a centre-left ticket in Emilia-Romagna, a traditionally communist area that risked succumbing to Matteo Salvini’s anti-immigrant, populist Northern League within the regional elections. She emerged as the one most profitable candidate within the area’s historical past, turning into regional vice-president — the present President, Bonaccini, is her opponent in subsequent yr’s primaries — and successfully halted a supposedly “unbeatable” far-right wave.
On how she managed to beat Salvini? “By asking the appropriate questions,” she quipped.
A brand new hope for the left? Or the identical previous?
The media buzz surrounding Elly Schlein is such that the younger candidate is already being heralded the brand new protagonist of Italy’s left. However when one scratches beneath the floor, is she as in style as she is made out to be?
The image is probably much less rosy than one may suppose. Schlein herself is at the moment not within the result in win the PD’s primaries, lagging 18 factors behind her important opponent in a latest ballot.
Schlein stays a preferred alternative among the many PD’s leftist youth, lots of whom are pinning their hopes on her to revive the social gathering and its values.
“A regeneration of the social gathering is important,” one PD member, Laura Leuzzi, instructed Euronews. “I feel [Schlein] can result in this renewal and I all the time attempt to help leftist feminine management that pays consideration to youthful generations.”
For a lot of Italian leftists, who, like Schlein, had ditched the PD because of its more and more centrist positions over the previous decade — particularly following Matteo Renzi’s management of the social gathering — the aspiring candidate stays a welcome potential change.
Amongst these is Giacomo, 29, who left the social gathering after disagreeing with its political line.
“I’ll vote for her within the primaries,” he instructed Euronews. “Not like what her detractors say, she brings ahead many extra concepts than individuals give her credit score for.”
“As an MEP, for example, she tried to reform the Dublin Conference on asylum seekers, whereas the PD was attacking the authorized rights of migrants,” he famous.
However different younger leftists are much less impressed.
Amongst these is Agostino Biondo, a 30-year-old Rome-based warehouseman and youth activist for the PD. Regardless of being on the social gathering’s leftist wing, he isn’t satisfied that Schlein’s insurance policies are sufficiently socialist.
“[Saying you’re a leftist] just isn’t sufficient,” he instructed Euronews. “What does it imply to be a leftist?”
“Being in favour of a minimal wage just isn’t leftist sufficient… it is advisable to be in favour of the nationalisation of the technique of manufacturing a minimum of, and even that isn’t sufficient.”
Over the previous years, the PD has suffered from stagnancy and is seen as having deserted the working class, leaving members like Biondo sceptical that she will be able to result in any main modifications.
“The PD must intercept staff, the unemployed, individuals who in all probability don’t even know who Elly Schlein is,” he stated.
“Sure, she talks about eager to enterprise exterior of the town centre, however so produce other PD candidates up to now… The issue is, how are you going to go about doing it?”
World
Wife of US hostage Keith Siegel pleads for holiday miracle: 'we need to get them back'
FIRST ON FOX – Aviva Siegel, the wife of American hostage Kieth Siegel and a former hostage herself, is pleading with everyone and anyone involved in the hostage negotiations to get her husband, and the others, freed from Hamas captivity after they have spent more than 440 days in deplorable conditions.
“Hamas released a video of Keith, and I just saw the picture,” Aviva told Fox News Digital in an emotional interview in reference to a video Hamas released in April. “He looks terrible. His bones are out, and you can see that he’s lost a lot of weight.
“He doesn’t look like himself. And I’m just so worried about him, because so [many] days and minutes have passed since that video that we received,” she said. “I just don’t know what kind of Keith that we’re going to get back.”
7 US HOSTAGES STILL HELD BY HAMAS TERRORISTS AS FAMILIES PLEAD FOR THEIR RELEASE: ‘THIS IS URGENT’
“I’m worried about all the hostages, because the conditions that they are in are the worst conditions that any human being could go through,” Aviva said. “I was there. I touched death. I know what it feels being underneath the ground with no oxygen.
“Keith and I were just left there. We were left there to die,” she added.
Aviva and her husband of, at the time 42 years, were brutally abducted from their home in Kibbutz Kfar Aza by Hamas on Oct. 7, 2023, and held together for 51 days before she was released in the November 2023 hostage exchange after suffering from a stomach infection that left her incredibly ill.
She has since tirelessly fought for Kieth’s release, meeting with top officials in the U.S. and Israel, traveling to the United States nine times in the last year and becoming a prominent advocate for the hostages.
“I just hope that he’s with other people from Israel, and if he has them, he’s going to be okay,” Aviva said. “He’s just the person that will make them feel that they’re together. That’s what he did when I was there – he was 100% for me and the hostages that we were with.”
“If you get kidnapped, get kidnapped with Keith, because he was outstanding to everybody. He was strong for all of us. And I’m sure that he’s keeping strong and keeping his hope to come out,” she said.
Aviva recounted their last moments together before they were separated ahead of her release, telling Fox News Digital, “When I left him, I told him to be the strongest – that he needs to be strong for me, and I’ll be strong for him.”
PALESTINIAN AUTHORITY UNDER PRESSURE AMID RISING RESISTANCE, POPULARITY OF IRAN-BACKED TERROR GROUPS
Top security officials from the U.S., Egypt, and Qatar have been pushing Israel and Hamas to agree to a cease-fire and the return of hostages.
Reports on Thursday suggested that negotiators are pushing for a 42-day cease-fire in which 34 of the at least 50 hostages still assessed to be alive, could be exchanged.
Hamas is also believed to continue to hold at least 38 who were taken hostage and then killed while in captivity, along with at least seven who are believed to have been killed on Oct. 7, 2023 and then taken into Gaza.
Though all the hostages are believed to have been held in deplorable conditions, the children, women – including the female IDF soldiers – the sick and the elderly have reportedly been front listed to be freed first in exchange for Hamas terrorists currently imprisoned.
“I’m keeping my hope and holding on and just waiting – waiting to hug Keith, and waiting for all the families, to get their families back,” Aviva said. “We need to get them back.”
Aviva said she dreams of the moment that she gets to hug her husband again and watch their grandchildren “jump into his arms.”
“We’ll be the happiest people on Earth,” she said. “All the hostages, I can’t imagine them coming home. It’ll be just the happiest moment for all of the families. We need it to happen.”
Reports in recent weeks suggest there is an increased sense of optimism in bringing home the hostages, but Secretary of State Antony Blinken urged some caution when speaking with MSNBC Morning Joe on Thursday when he said, “We are encouraged because this should happen, and it should happen because Hamas is at a point where the cavalry it thought might come to the rescue isn’t coming to the rescue, [Hezbollah’s] not coming to the rescue, [Iran’s] not coming to the rescue.”
“In the absence of that, I think the pressure is on Hamas to finally get to yes,” he added. “But look, I think we also have to be very realistic. We’ve had these Lucy and the football moments several times over the last months where we thought we were there, and the football gets pulled away.
“The real question is: Is Hamas capable of making a decision and getting to yes? We’ve been fanning out with every possible partner on this to try to get the necessary pressure exerted on Hamas to say yes,” Blinken added.
World
Trump threatens to take back control of Panama Canal over ‘ridiculous fees’
Trump also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
United States President-elect Donald Trump has threatened to demand control of the Panama Canal after accusing Panama of charging excessive rates on US ships passing through one of the busiest waterways in the world.
“Our Navy and Commerce have been treated in a very unfair and injudicious way. The fees being charged by Panama are ridiculous,” Trump posted on his Truth Social platform on Saturday.
“This complete ‘rip-off’ of our Country will immediately stop.”
The US largely built the canal in 1914 and administrated territory surrounding the passage for decades. But Washington fully handed control of the canal to Panama in 1999 after a period of joint administration.
Trump also hinted at China’s growing influence around the canal, which connects the Atlantic to the Pacific oceans.
“It was solely for Panama to manage, not China, or anyone else,” he said. “We would and will NEVER let it fall into the wrong hands!”
The post was an exceedingly rare example of a US leader saying he could push a sovereign country to hand over territory.
“It was not given for the benefit of others, but merely as a token of cooperation with us and Panama. If the moral and legal principles of this magnanimous gesture of giving are not followed, then we will demand that the Panama Canal be returned to us, in full, and without question,” Trump said.
Trump’s tariff plan
It also underlines an expected shift in US diplomacy under Trump, who has not historically shied away from threatening allies and using rhetoric when dealing with counterparts.
Last month, Trump said he would impose tariffs on Mexican and Canadian imports on day one of his administration and that the measures would remain until the “invasion” of undocumented migrants and drugs came to an end.
“Both Mexico and Canada have the absolute right and power to easily solve this long-simmering problem. We hereby demand that they use this power, and until such time that they do, it is time for them to pay a very big price!” he posted on his Truth Social platform.
Authorities in Panama did not immediately react to Trump’s post.
An estimated 5 percent of global maritime traffic passes through the Panama Canal, which allows ships travelling between Asia and the US East Coast to avoid the long, hazardous route around the southern tip of South America.
The Panama Canal Authority reported in October that the waterway had earned record revenues of nearly $5bn in the last fiscal year.
World
Lo que nos dice la decisión de Trump de involucrarse en disputa de gastos sobre los próximos 4 años
WASHINGTON (AP) — Tras días de amenazas y exigencias, Donald Trump tuvo por qué mostrar una vez que los legisladores aprobaron un acuerdo presupuestario en las primeras horas del sábado, evitando por poco que las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar antes de Navidad por falta de fondos.
El presidente electo logró que los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes eliminaran algunos gastos, pero no logró su objetivo principal de elevar el límite de la deuda. Esto demostró que, a pesar de su decisiva victoria electoral y sus frecuentes promesas de represalias, muchos miembros de su partido aún están dispuestos a desafiarlo abiertamente.
La decisión de Trump de involucrarse en el debate presupuestario un mes antes de su toma de posesión también mostró que sigue siendo más hábil para destruir acuerdos que para hacerlos, y presagió que su segundo mandato probablemente estará marcado por las mismas luchas internas, el caos y el juego al borde del precipicio que caracterizaron su primer mandato.
“Estén atentos. Abróchense los cinturones. Prepárense”, dijo el congresista Steve Womack, republicano de Arkansas, un asignador presupuestario sénior.
Una mirada a la agenda de Trump muestra una cascada de oportunidades para enfrentamientos similares en los años venideros. El presidente electo quiere ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó hace siete años, reducir el tamaño del gobierno, aumentar los aranceles a las importaciones y tomar medidas enérgicas contra los inmigrantes no autorizados. Muchos de esos esfuerzos necesitarán la aprobación del Congreso.
Para muchos de los seguidores de Trump, la disrupción podría ser un objetivo en sí mismo. El 37% de los que votaron por él este año dijeron que querían “un cambio total y completo”, según AP VoteCast, una extensa encuesta de más de 120.000 votantes. Un 56% adicional dijo que querían “un cambio sustancial”.
Pero los últimos días dejaron claro la dificultad que Trump podría enfrentar para cumplir rápidamente sus objetivos, especialmente dado que los republicanos solo cuentan con mayorías escasas en la Cámara de Representantes y el Senado. Algunos legisladores ya parecen cansados de la aparente ausencia de una estrategia unificada.
El senador Kevin Cramer, republicano de Dakota del Norte, dijo que la batalla presupuestaria fue “una lección valiosa sobre cómo organizarnos”.
El fracaso de las exigencias de Trump
El problema comenzó cuando los principales legisladores publicaron una copia de la iniciativa de ley, conocida como una resolución continua, que era necesaria para asegurar el funcionamiento del gobierno federal hasta marzo. No fue el presidente electo, sino Elon Musk, el hombre más rico del mundo y confidente de Trump, quien primero comenzó a generar oposición a la ley en las redes sociales al calificarla de gasto excesivo.
Trump eventualmente se sumó a la batalla. Ordenó a los republicanos cancelar el acuerdo bipartidista que habían hecho con los demócratas y exigió que aumentaran el límite de la deuda, el tope de cuánto puede pedir prestado el gobierno, con la esperanza de evitar que ese espinoso problema surgiera cuando ya estuviera en funciones.
Aumentó la presión incluso después de haber modificado sus demandas iniciales. Primero quería eliminar el límite de la deuda por completo. Luego quería suspenderlo hasta 2027. Luego propuso una extensión hasta 2029.
Si las dependencias estatales se vieran obligadas a cerrar por falta de fondos, el presidente demócrata Joe Biden sería culpado, insistió Trump.
“Todos los republicanos, e incluso los demócratas, deberían hacer lo que es mejor para nuestro país y votar ‘A FAVOR’ de esta iniciativa de ley, ¡ESTA NOCHE!”, escribió Trump el jueves, antes de una votación sobre una versión del proyecto de ley que incluía un límite de deuda más alto.
En cambio, 38 republicanos votaron en contra. Fue un desaire sorprendente para Trump, quien a veces pareciera no tener ningún control sobre su propio partido.
“Sin esto, nunca deberíamos hacer un acuerdo”, escribió en Truth Social, su red social.
Si no conseguía lo que quería, Trump dijo que debería haber un cierre del gobierno. También dijo que sus correligionarios pagarían el precio en las elecciones primarias si se negaban a seguir adelante, y dijo que “los obstruccionistas republicanos tienen que ser eliminados”. Señaló especialmente al representante Chip Roy, de Texas, por su nombre y con insultos.
Pero al final, los legisladores dejaron fuera ese aumento del techo de la deuda, y un acuerdo final se aprobó el sábado a primera hora.
Musk y otros aliados de Trump intentaron presentarlo como una victoria porque la ley final se redujo significativamente y omitió elementos impopulares como un aumento salarial para los miembros del Congreso. Charlie Kirk, un prominente activista conservador, escribió en X que Trump ”¡ya está dirigiendo el Congreso antes de asumir el cargo!”.
El presidente de la Cámara de Representantes, Mike Johnson, republicano de Luisiana, dijo que había estado en “contacto constante” con Trump, quien, aseguró, estaba “ciertamente feliz con este resultado”.
Si Trump estuvo de acuerdo, él mismo no lo dijo.
Tras días de publicaciones frecuentes en redes sociales, Trump volvió a guardar silencio el viernes. No ofreció una reacción a la votación final ni emitió ningún comunicado. En cambio, fue a jugar golf en su resort en Florida.
Karoline Leavitt, una vocera de Trump, dijo que el presidente electo ayudó a prevenir un acuerdo original “lleno de despilfarros demócratas y aumentos salariales para los miembros del Congreso”.
“En enero, el presidente Trump y el Departamento de Eficiencia Gubernamental (DOGE, por sus siglas en inglés) continuarán esta importante misión de eliminar el despilfarro de Washington, una ley a la vez”, dijo. El DOGE es un panel asesor que será liderado por Musk y el empresario Vivek Ramaswamy.
Más enfrentamientos en el horizonte
La atmósfera circense de la lucha por el presupuesto recordó al primer mandato de Trump. En aquel entonces, un enfrentamiento presupuestario llevó a un cierre del gobierno cuando Trump exigió dinero para su muro fronterizo entre Estados Unidos y México. Después de 35 días, el cierre más largo de la historia, accedió a un acuerdo sin haber logrado los fondos que había exigido.
Fue un punto bajo político para Trump, y el 60% de los estadounidenses lo culparon por el cierre, según una encuesta realizada por The Associated Press y el NORC Center for Public Affairs Research en ese momento.
Trump no dejó de intentar doblegar a los republicanos a su voluntad en ese entonces y ciertamente no lo hará en este momento.
Trump está aumentando la presión sobre su propio partido por sus elecciones para el gabinete, empujando a senadores republicanos reacios a aceptar algunos de sus nombramientos más controvertidos, como el activista antivacunas Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a quien eligió como secretario de Salud y el presentador de Fox News Pete Hegseth como secretario de Defensa.
Pareciera que los debates sobre el presupuesto del próximo año definitivamente pondrán a prueba aún más la influencia de Trump en la Cámara de Representantes. Muchos conservadores ven el rápido crecimiento de la deuda federal como una amenaza existencial para el país que debe abordarse. Pero algunos republicanos temen una reacción negativa de los votantes si se realizan recortes drásticos a los programas federales de los que dependen los estadounidenses.
Las preocupaciones sobre el gasto deficitario podrían intensificarse si Trump impulsa los recortes fiscales costosos que prometió durante la campaña, como eliminar los impuestos sobre las propinas, la Seguridad Social y el pago de horas extras.
Trump también pretende ampliar los recortes fiscales que promulgó en 2017 y que deberán llegar a su fin el próximo año. Ha pedido una reducción adicional de la tasa de impuestos corporativos de Estados Unidos del 21% al 15%, pero sólo para las empresas que producen en Estados Unidos.
Trump ha dicho que pagará las caídas en los ingresos con aranceles agresivos nuevos, los cuales, advierten los economistas, resultarán en precios más altos para los consumidores.
El representante Dan Crenshaw, republicano de Texas, dijo que la reducción del gasto público probablemente seguirá siendo un abismo entre Trump y los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes.
“Eso nunca ha sido realmente una promesa de campaña de Trump, pero es una gran prioridad para los republicanos de la Cámara de Representantes”, dijo.
No había indicios de que la animosidad estuviera disminuyendo el sábado. Algunos republicanos culparon al liderazgo de la Cámara de Representantes por no asegurar la “bendición” de Trump en el acuerdo original. Los demócratas presentaron a Trump como segundo violín de Musk.
Mientras Trump se mantenía callado, Biden anunció que había promulgado la ley presupuestaria.
“Este acuerdo representa un compromiso, lo que significa que ninguna de las partes obtuvo todo lo que quería”, dijo. “Pero rechaza el camino acelerado hacia un recorte de impuestos para multimillonarios que buscaban los republicanos, y asegura que el gobierno pueda continuar operando a plena capacidad”.
___
Boak reportó desde West Palm Beach, Florida, y Colvin desde Nueva York.
____
Esta historia fue traducida del inglés por un editor de la AP con la ayuda de una herramienta de inteligencia artificial generativa.
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