Arturo Varvelli
Last week, Elon Musk got a slap on the wrist from Italian president Sergio Mattarella, after he backed Italian prime minister Georgia Meloni’s policy of detaining foreign migrants in Albania. Musk had said certain Italian judges “need[ed] to go” because they questioned the legality of the detainment policy. The US-based entrepreneur’s support for Meloni has been growing since he attended her annual party in Rome last year. In September, Musk awarded Meloni with the Atlantic Council’s Global Citizen award in New York, reaffirming their mutual esteem.
In turn, Musk has become a cultural reference point for the Italian right, particularly under Meloni’s leadership. For years, Italian conservatives have struggled to find intellectual and cultural touchstones to match the influence of left-wing thinkers and movements. Musk provides them with a figure who embodies a new kind of “cultural futurism”. His embrace of technology, space exploration, and unfettered free speech offers the Italian right an intellectual sheen they have long sought.
An icon for the Italian right
In some ways, Musk echoes Filippo Tommaso Marinetti, the early 20th-century Italian poet and founder of the Futurist social movement. Both figures managed to capture the imagination of their respective eras with bold visions of technological progress and societal disruption. Marinetti’s Futurism was a rallying cry for speed, innovation, and a break with the past – ideals that aligned closely with the early Fascist movement’s desire for radical transformation. Similarly, Musk’s ventures in electric cars, space exploration, and social media have positioned him as the new standard-bearer of technological progress, appealing to those who see the future as a realm of limitless potential. Just as Marinetti’s Futurism provided the early Fascists with a cultural framework for their revolutionary zeal, Musk’s hyper-technological vision offers Meloni and her allies a blueprint for their own aspirations.
Musk could be both a liability and an asset for the Italian far-right. On the one hand, his focus on innovation could help drive European technological sovereignty. His electric car company, Tesla, is in talks with Rome about substantial investments in Italy, particularly in energy and automotive technology, which align with Meloni’s focus on boosting the country’s industrial base. On the other hand, his unpredictable nature could introduce instability, especially since his views diverge from mainstream European policies.
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