A-Infos (en) Italy, UCADI #211 - AUTODAFÉ (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

"As we know, in 2011, the remedy chosen for Italy was Mario Monti: as he 
himself stated, the decision was made to destroy domestic demand in 
order to make Italian products more competitive, in the hope that 
Germany would buy more of them. Wages had to fall and unemployment had 
to rise. In other words, the only adjustment mechanism available to 
us-after having relinquished control over exchange rates and interest 
rates-was put into effect: wage devaluation. We copied Germany. Germany, 
of course, refused to increase its own demand to balance the burden of 
readjustment. For the Germans, the entire weight had to fall on the 
deficit countries. Surplus countries were not required to do anything, 
as they embodied a moral superiority that had simply manifested itself 
through the 'natural dynamism of the market.' The point that was 
deliberately sidestepped, however-in Germany, but unfortunately in Italy 
too-was that the European market was by no means a natural creation. It 
was an artificial construct tailored to German ordoliberal preferences."

(G. Guzzi, *Eurosuicidio*, Fazi, 2025)

Guzzi's work *Eurosuicidio* is an important text, not because it 
presents particularly original ideas; those who study these matters have 
long been familiar with the themes covered in the book.
However, the volume is significant:

firstly, because it brings together in a single work-and in accessible 
language-virtually every perspective regarding the issue of European 
integration; Furthermore, it does not approach the subject from a 
specifically "Left-wing" perspective-thereby avoiding the Pavlovian 
reactions typical of that camp (including my own)-nor from the "Right," 
with its nonsense about remigration, pseudo-sovereigntist "blood and 
soil" rhetoric, or "conspiracy theory" angles like the "Kalergi Plan" 
and similar absurdities that have helped discredit even genuinely 
well-founded analyses;
it is written by a young scholar who fully belongs to the so-called 
"Maastricht generation"; from this vantage point, he is able to speak to 
and connect with his peers and younger people alike, showing-as 
Wittgenstein might have put it-"the fly the way out of the fly-bottle." 
I dislike-indeed, I loathe-youth-centric posturing for its own sake 
(especially when it ignores class distinctions), yet the contribution of 
those forces naturally most inclined toward change is crucial; to enable 
this, one must take not just one, but ten steps back. If young people 
don't bring about the revolution, who will?
among the issues raised in the book-all of them important-one stands out 
as fundamental for anyone wishing to approach the subject: the 
transposition of Communist and Catholic "millenarianism"-with their 
visions of the "sun of the future" and the "new man"-onto the 
theological and teleological construction of the EU as an external 
"god," deemed necessary to restore meaning to political action. The 
difference is that, whereas there was once hope for building socialism 
or the Kingdom of God, here we find an external savior in the cult of 
ordoliberalism. And the most radical, fanatical adherents have been-and 
remain-the recent converts. This is a matter we have been reflecting on 
for decades-the notion of "inevitability" (a concept non-existent in all 
of human history)-yet here it is set down in black and white, in a 
direct and simple manner, by a scholar who has no tactical or strategic 
need to "soften" his language; Conversely, the conclusion-or the *pars 
construens*-still appears rather weak and generic. Yet this does not 
diminish the book's value; if anything, it should spur further 
reflection and deeper exploration of an aspect that is essential to 
avoid remaining stuck in the realm of purely theoretical musings. After 
all, no text can be agreed with 100% (indeed, the tendency to treat 
books as if they were the Bible is part of the problem).

Two final points come to mind: a few years ago, Franco Berardi "Bifo"-a 
key figure of the '77 movement-predicted the inevitable implosion of the 
EU, arguing that it would come from the Right. That prophecy is coming 
true, largely due to the blind inaction of the opposing side-a side 
unable to grasp (and this would not be the first time, Lenin's decision 
aside) when the moment has come to jump onto or off the train.
This book is recommended to everyone-including, and perhaps especially, 
those who will be horrified from the first page to the last. To 
paraphrase Sartre: "Europeans, open this book and step inside. After a 
few paces into the night, you will see strangers gathered around a fire; 
draw near and listen: they are discussing the fate in store for your 
trading agencies and the mercenaries who defend them. They may see you, 
yet they will go on talking among themselves without even lowering their 
voices. That indifference strikes at the heart: the fathers-creatures of 
the shadows, *your* creatures-were dead souls; you dispensed the light 
to them, and they turned only to you, yet you did not trouble yourselves 
to answer those zombies. The sons ignore you: a fire illuminates and 
warms them-a fire that is not yours. Standing at a respectful distance, 
you will feel furtive, creatures of the night, chilled to the bone: 
everyone has their turn; in that darkness from which a new dawn will 
emerge, *you* are the zombies."

Andrea Bellucci

https://www.ucadi.org/2026/09/06/autodafe/
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