Fascism is popular everywhere right now, so it's not dependant on the location (Sicily in this case). The question is, how did it become popular in so many places simultaneously?

This was in the 1990s.

Historical Fascism is unpopular.

It’s made a come back in Italy and India.

But the modern, far-right neofascists admire Israel more than the Third Reich.

The resurgence of the far-right began in the early 2000s when Jörg Haider‘s Freedom Party took power in Austria and Jean-Marie le Pen made the run-off in France.

It got much more powerful during the financial crisis of 2008 and the migration crisis caused by the Arab Spring in the mid 2010s.

It’s not a mystery why people are pissed off and looking for non-mainstream candidates.

A big mystery is why the far-left has vanished.

The Occupy Protests fizzled out, Jeffrey Corbyn imploded the Labour Party, and Jacobin put up a paywall.

> This was in the 1990s.

Interesting!

> It’s not a mystery why people are pissed off and looking for non-mainstream candidates.

Why are they? Generally, economies are doing well, there is peace - at least, they were until the fascists started disrupting it.

> It’s made a come back in Italy and India.

Hungary, Poland, US, Russia, Brazil, El Salvador, ... where does it end?

> A big mystery is why the far-left has vanished.

Agreed, and even the moderately left.

Inflation in basic goods and exorbitant rents mean that a lot of people are struggling far more than GDP-style indicators would imply.

There's also secular decline in a lot of southern european manufacturing, so the economic basis for stable income and family life in a lot of places just isn't there anymore.

That would seem to lean people toward the left wing, which supports workers, not the right, which supports the wealthy and powerful.

The left wing is also very pro-immigration and globalization.

That’s the big wedge issue for the far right - migration of people and capital.

When their factory closes down and is moved to a cheaper country, might the workers be worried about open borders?

> The left wing is also very pro-... globalization.

That conflates the centrists, including left and right (when there was a center-right) with the left. The progressive left was always dubious at best about globalization, iirc.

The migration thing is, to a great extent, people inflaming ethnic hatred. People like open borders when they want to migrate themselves, or hire migrants; it also brings trade and tourism; it brings peace and eliminates pointless political distinctions.

I agree that globalization needs to address the relatively easy mobility of capital relative to labor. But that problem is arguably extreme capitalism - where the capitalists get whatever they want - not globalization. Globalization writ by labor would have looked a lot different.

Actual “labor” has a strong social conservative streak, especially in regards to migration.

Notice the protests by farmers, truckers, etc.

The progressive left in America is formed in heavily globalized universities. They are 100% in support of globalization, as they are beneficiaries and producers of it.

I don’t know where the “heart and soul” of the European progressive left is. Other than Spanish socialists, I don’t think there are many.

> Actual “labor” has a strong social conservative streak, especially in regards to migration.

Eh, this varies. Most people in the labour force are young, and young people are generally leftward-leaning. In some regions of the UK, labour have traditionally been pretty socially progressive.

It does vary, as does support for neofascism.

There’s little support for neofascism in the UK, so it’s not the best example as to why fascism is making a comeback.

He was popular in Sicily during the time of his reign as well because his regime nullified the Mafia.

What the tour guide said was it’s because “he created jobs in Sicily” and “treated Sicily like it was a part of Italy.”