Matteo Salvini is the leader of the Lega Nord party in Italy. A center-right coalition including the Lega is expected to win in next month’s elections, and Mr. Salvini may well become the country’s next prime minister.
The following video shows a television appearance by Mr. Salvini on the “Non è l’arena show” with Massimo Giletti. The host’s repeated remarks about a madman who “wildly shot up the streets of Macerata” refer to Luca Traini, an affiliate of the Lega and alleged neo-Nazi who shot and wounded a group of migrants in Macerata. The gunman said that he acted to avenge an Italian woman who was recently murdered and dismembered by a Nigerian immigrant who remained in the country after his residence permit had expired.
The actions of Luca Traini are widely blamed on Mr. Salvini and the Lega, who supposedly inspired them. Notice that the actions of the Nigerian murderer, in contrast, are not blamed on Prime Minister Renzi and other political leaders who imposed the disastrous immigration regime of the last few years. This is yet another example of the well-known media practice whereby only right-wing politicians are blamed when bad things happen, but never left-wing politicians. (See these ANSA articles about the murder of Pamela Mastropietro by Innocent Oseghale and the shootings by Luca Traini.)
Many thanks to Elle Bowlly for the translation, and to Vlad Tepes for the subtitling:
Video transcript:
00:00 | The secretary of Lega Nord: Matteo Salvini! | |
00:06 | Welcome! —Thanks. —Welcome. —Good evening. Good evening. | |
00:14 | —Well then. First off, these are days… —First off, | |
00:19 | welcome back. You made all of us worry last week. | |
00:24 | —Thanks, thanks. —Welcome back. —We’re still… here; and we need to… —Still here, oh yeah. | |
00:31 | —“Oh yeah” [a Vasco Rossi song reference]. Listen, these aren’t easy times as you got put | |
00:36 | through a meat grinder these past few days. Rightly or wrongly… let’s try to understand. | |
00:44 | Let’s take a step back: the murder of Pamela [Mastropietro]. I’d like to | |
00:49 | remind you, murdered by a Nigerian man possessing an expired residence permit. | |
00:58 | A drug dealer, etc. He killed this young lady (the autopsy will have to tell us whether the cause | |
01:06 | was a heroin overdose or whatever else). Undoubtedly though, she was chopped up and | |
01:09 | taken to the outskirts of Macerata. You say that this | |
01:15 | was once again a murder, “another death”, | |
01:20 | which the State is responsible for. What did you mean by that? | |
01:24 | —That in the Italy I picture (and that I aspire to govern, | |
01:28 | if the Italians will put their faith in me) | |
01:31 | …crime won’t disappear, of course. We won’t all magically become more beautiful, richer, | |
01:35 | more likable and more intelligent, but rules would be respected. And if one doesn’t have | |
01:40 | a residence permit, if one lives by dealing drugs, he goes back to his country in 15 minutes. | |
01:45 | —Bravo! —Because we honestly have enough of these people already. | |
01:49 | You can be white, yellow, black, red, green… but respecting the rules is a must. | |
01:58 | Italians aren’t racists. I’m convinced that Italians are the least racist people on earth. | |
02:03 | Also because 6 million Italians (our fathers/grandfathers) went around the world. They had to flee | |
02:11 | with their suitcases in hand; they went to America, Germany, Belgium… but! They were different from | |
02:19 | those who are coming into our country today. Firstly, because no one paid for our grandparents’ | |
02:24 | breakfast, lunch and dinner at hotels for one year while they did absolutely nothing. | |
02:31 | —Well… —Secondly, they were respectful. —It’s a whole system that’s developed around… | |
02:35 | Let’s remind people, it’s a system that’s developed… —The problem isn’t immigration, the problem | |
02:38 | is illegal immigration. We have 5 million legal immigrants in Italy who will take their kids | |
02:44 | to school tomorrow; who work in factories, in companies. They pay their taxes, they’re respectful | |
02:49 | and they’re more than welcome here. The problem is the 5-6-7-800,000 who were allowed in by | |
02:55 | the last few governments. Who are now going around Rome, Milan. —So you’re saying: if this man | |
03:01 | had been taken and sent back, Pamela wouldn’t have been murdered. —Do you think that | |
03:05 | in Switzerland, —Is that what you were saying? —In Switzerland… —Is that what you meant? —Yes! | |
03:08 | Is there a Nigerian illegal who lives by dealing drugs in Switzerland? No! And why is it that laws | |
03:13 | are enforced elsewhere while here… if you head to Termini station | |
03:16 | this evening after the show to go home, you have to | |
03:20 | wear a bullet-proof vest and a helmet because even the police are unable to do their job. | |
03:25 | I’m just asking for a safer country… —OK but… —I’m a father. Taking the bus shouldn’t be a quest, | |
03:32 | and going to the emergency room… I’d like for the sanctimonious crowd… (Roberto Saviano and | |
03:37 | all those intellectuals who live in penthouses) Can’t they visit an emergency room just once? | |
03:40 | Can’t they for once talk with a doctor/nurse at the ER… —I have to interrupt… —where there are | |
03:45 | hundreds of migrants roaming around… —Just a second, last Sunday… —who demand everything and | |
03:49 | want it NOW? —I myself was at the ER all night long… —There… —And I have to tell the truth, | |
03:54 | you know? But I’d like to thank Dr. Umberto, Dr. Boccardo and her equip who did a great job. | |
04:02 | Not just for me. —For everyone… —It’s over now, one way or another. But we were in a situation | |
04:06 | akin to what you are describing so… —You should be free to say it! —They took many insults, but | |
04:12 | I’ll say this… —I’ll say it for you, then: I see them [migrants] myself! These folks who come in | |
04:15 | droves without papers etc., without even saying “please”! And if you don’t let them jump the queue | |
04:20 | in front of a senior citizen who was waiting for 5 hours, they put their hands on the doctor! | |
04:23 | These people need to go back to their own country! Enough already! | |
04:26 | OK. —Enough! —You hold this position. | |
04:29 | [Roberto] Saviano, however, (and not just him) because… Although Renzi and Gentiloni (wisely) | |
04:36 | did not attack you. They said: let’s try to modify… calm down… to launch an electoral campaign | |
04:45 | without hatred. On that I’d like your thoughts, later on. Saviano (as Grasso and Boldrini) said | |
04:52 | “The one who’s morally responsible, the moral instigator is Salvini.” | |
04:56 | “Words are grave and a mortal danger.” | |
05:00 | The responsibility for using strongly-charged words… don’t you feel you have it? | |
05:05 | —Look, I have the flaw of saying what I think and doing what I say. | |
05:09 | This is why I ask Italians for their trust. Because I don’t like people who take 45 minutes to | |
05:14 | say incomprehensible things. I picture and want an Italy where you can live peacefully, | |
05:20 | where you work peacefully and go shopping peacefully. Where if you stay in a hospital | |
05:27 | you don’t have to worry about having your public housing occupied. | |
05:31 | I simply want a few rules. All this while smiling, with good manners, by respecting the law… | |
05:38 | But if one messes up, he also must pay. If an Italian messes up, I put him in jail; | |
05:44 | if someone who isn’t Italian messes up, I send him back to his country. —I ask how, though? | |
05:48 | —Because we have too many of these characters in our jails already! —Don’t avoid the main | |
05:53 | question, though. —No. —About words… We get it, when you are on an electoral campaign words | |
06:00 | can be exaggerated… in debates you are forced to drag this battle on. That’s fine. | |
06:08 | But the point here is: don’t you think that with unstable people like this character | |
06:15 | who wildly shot up the streets of Macerata… Can certain words push to… —No, careful. | |
06:22 | I’d solve problems by enforcing the law, or changing it if needed. | |
06:26 | Violence should always be condemned, | |
06:31 | no matter which direction it comes from. Violence doesn’t solve anything. So I condemn this act, | |
06:37 | but I have the duty (since I want to govern this country) | |
06:41 | to tell Italians how I would avoid another episode | |
06:44 | like the one in Macerata. That is: increasing expulsions, strengthening our law enforcement. | |
06:50 | —But you see, we’re not able to expel them. —No, where there’s a will there’s a way. | |
06:53 | If you analyze… —Where there’s a will there’s a way. | |
06:56 | —how many expulsions we’ve had in our country… —15,000… —we’re at the level of… —every year. | |
07:01 | —Yes but in comparison to how many come in… —You can’t let in hundreds… —How would you | |
07:05 | take care of it, concretely? Because not even during the era of the Bossi-Fini law was this solved. | |
07:09 | —No, when Lega Nord was in power with Maroni, we did refuse them entry. Even at sea. | |
07:17 | Do you remember? So much so that the EU reprimanded us, saying, “You can’t!” But still, | |
07:21 | we defended our country. The problem is, a number should be put… —Lots still came, even then. | |
07:28 | —Never as many as in these last few years. Last year 120,000 came and we expelled 15,000. | |
07:35 | —[Marco] Minniti has done a great job lately. Do you also acknowledge this? —He decreased the | |
07:39 | number just a bit. —Or not? Minniti was able to slightly change the Left’s attitude on this topic. | |
07:44 | —He’s done exactly what Lega Nord asked to do for years. —How would you rate Minniti? | |
07:48 | —The last few governments we’ve had have brought 800,000 desperados to Italy altogether | |
07:54 | by leading them on to think that there are houses and jobs for everyone, when we have | |
07:57 | Italians without jobs, three million who work off the books and five million who live in poverty. | |
08:04 | —You’re saying: these people have no choice of doing anything other than dealing drugs or being | |
08:07 | used as slaves to work in fields (as we’ve witnessed)… —Out-of-control immigration… —in fields… | |
08:12 | —takes away… —picking tomatoes. —the rights and salaries of Italian workers; it takes away | |
08:16 | the rights and salaries of legal immigrants because they [migrants] are ready to sell themselves | |
08:20 | for 1-2-3 euros per hour. I want a country that decides who gets in and who doesn’t. —But… | |
08:26 | —like Australia, like Canada, like Switzerland. A civil country… —But… —that hosts, but within | |
08:31 | a certain limit. —But you know what Saviano meant, though. That is the use of language… | |
08:37 | Words aren’t meaningless. —We’re… —They can also be stones. —We’re dying of do-goodism. | |
08:45 | —I’d like to understand whether you don’t feel… —We are dying of do-goodism. | |
08:48 | We are dying of hypocrisy. Now, if I were to ask… | |
09:00 | I dream of a peaceful, merry and serene society where workers are respected. Where WOMEN | |
09:07 | are respected. Because the first victims of out-of-control immigration are women. | |
09:13 | Because many of these gentlemen who land here come from Islamic countries where women | |
09:19 | are worth much less than men. I wouldn’t let someone who deems women to be worth less than men | |
09:24 | into my house, nor into my country, because in my country, women have the same rights and duties | |
09:30 | that men have. Will it be easy to get this done quickly? Nope. | |
09:33 | —Well… —Giletti, I’m not saying that if | |
09:36 | they vote Lega Nord and I win the 4 March elections, that from 5 March it will all be solved. No! | |
09:41 | But we’d help the Carabinieri and the police do their job. We’d pass a sane law on self-defense | |
09:48 | which would sanction a sacrosanct principle which is: that self-defense inside one’s house | |
09:53 | is always legitimate defense, no matter what. —Well, this guy was a madman who acted outside… | |
09:59 | —Well, he is a criminal. —Yes, yes. But even then, he ran with Lega Nord… I mean, | |
10:05 | the caution taken to select certain individuals… although we’re talking about a small municipality… | |
10:10 | —Guys, we have 8,000 municipalities in Italy; I don’t know everyone. | |
10:13 | But the caution that politicians generally should exercise in nominating individuals | |
10:16 | of this sort… —Absolutely… —Borderline… | |
10:19 | I’m not a psychiatrist. Maybe in my next life I’ll do that, too. —Come on. I’m not saying YOU. | |
10:23 | I nominate people with a clean record. —Well, greater caution is needed, because I also ask | |
10:29 | myself how he even got a shooting sports license. —Sports license. —With someone like that… | |
10:34 | perhaps a more thorough check was needed. —Look, my reasoning is: Italy is a marvelous country. | |
10:40 | 150,000 Italians flee abroad in search of a job every year. To be doctors, waiters, truck drivers, | |
10:49 | architects… So every year we send away 150,000 people from Italy because there’s no room | |
10:54 | for them, and we let in 150,000 people to put up in hotels. Births are constantly dwindling. | |
11:02 | And if they can, even pensioners flee abroad to pay less taxes. So we have a host of Italians | |
11:08 | fleeing and a host of migrants coming in. | |
11:11 | I very much hope not to… —We’d just need to tax prostitution… | |
11:15 | —encounter a collapse down the road. —If prostitution were taxed we’d give bonuses for babies. | |
11:19 | It could be done, but we stall in hypocrisy. We could get money out of that. —I very much hope | |
11:25 | there isn’t someone out there who has set their mind on substituting for Italians and their rights | |
11:30 | people who expect a lot less so that they can exploit them in fields and factories! —Listen… | |
11:36 | —This is the risk, in my opinion. —Cardinal [Gualtiero] Bassetti, | |
11:39 | Chair of the Italian Episcopal Conference, | |
11:42 | said: Salvini foments fear. Maybe he was also inspired by what happened recently. | |
11:49 | You were the only who requested a meeting with Cardinal Bassetti… —Yes. | |
11:53 | —to demonstrate something face to face, evidently. Has he granted you a meeting? —Not yet. | |
11:59 | Maybe he’s watching us now, and perhaps he’ll grant it now, thanks to you. —Thanks to me? | |
12:02 | —The power of [Massimo] Giletti and La7… —It would be interesting indeed. | |
12:07 | —Also because… I’ll tell you this, there are numerous holy men, parsons, priests and nuns | |
12:15 | who message me and tell me: “Salvini, don’t give up. You’re also fighting for OUR culture.” | |
12:20 | I remember Pope Benedict wrote and said: Before the right to emigrate, (in this moment in history) | |
12:27 | we need to acknowledge the right NOT to emigrate. It’s as if one has a one-bedroom apartment | |
12:35 | in Rome where two people are currently residing and he wanted to put 30 more people in. | |
12:42 | This is neither generous, in solidarity, nor welcoming because these 30 people will beat each other | |
12:48 | up eventually. —Clear enough. —Since I want a serene and peaceful country… —You were clear | |
12:53 | You know… we need to be quicker here… —I’ll just say this: kudos to La7 because if I were to | |
13:00 | wait to get on other channels I’d wait till the cows come home! So… | |
13:08 | —Don’t make me… —No! —Don’t make me say anything. —No… any reference to Fabio Fazio | |
13:13 | and Rai1 are purely willfully intended. —There. You’ll be at Fazio’s, surely. | |
13:21 | You’ll visit Cardinal Bassetti… —It’s fine, really… | |
13:24 | and then Fazio. Greet him for me when you see him. | |
13:27 | —For sure. —On Berlusconi… —Yes. —What’s your relationship like? —Good. —Have you heard | |
13:32 | from him recently? —It’s good. Obviously… —Because there’s one thing I haven’t understood. | |
13:39 | —Go ahead. —I heard you say in interview with a colleague of mine that you and Berlusconi | |
13:44 | have signed a 10-point protocol, if I’m not mistaken. | |
13:48 | You even went so far as to deposit it at a notary’s. | |
13:53 | Where did you store it? —No, we left it in parliament. The plan… —Because you aren’t | |
13:58 | trusting? —No, I trust everyone. I do. But what was written stays. For example: the Fornero law | |
14:05 | [pension reform]… —There! I wanted to get here. —that I dislike; everyone voices their opinion. | |
14:10 | I have a face. If the people here in studio or at home choose me because I’ve committed | |
14:16 | myself to canceling the Fornero law… | |
14:19 | We’ve written in that plan that we’ll cancel that law! We wrote it down | |
14:23 | so that one can neither deviate from it… —Berlusconi. —nor act as if he didn’t know beforehand. | |
14:29 | —But Berlusconi said: “Yes, let’s modify things but be let’s careful with the INPS accounts”. | |
14:35 | Therefore I’ll ask you: after a potential amendment/abolition of the Fornero law, will the | |
14:41 | expenses for pensions be higher or lower? For the Italian system. —Italy spends 11% of its | |
14:47 | GDP for pensions which is exactly on a par with the average European expense. | |
14:53 | The matter is: not stealing years from the life of millions of Italians, nor stealing the future of | |
14:58 | millions of young people. Because if you keep people working as nurses, truck drivers, | |
15:02 | policemen or bakers until they’re 67 years old, when will a 20-year-old start working? What can he | |
15:09 | do? Flee abroad. So we need to give back the right to be grandparents (which is the most beautiful | |
15:14 | thing in the world). This means: freeing up job positions for millions of young Italians to take up | |
15:18 | who will then start working and paying taxes. If the Fornero law were cancelled, it wouldn’t create | |
15:23 | any gap, because the problem in Italy is jobs. —I mean… —The number who work is ever decreasing. | |
15:28 | —When you say “I’ll cancel it”… —Yes, I’ll give back… —Canceling it creates a gap, doesn’t it? | |
15:34 | But you can’t just cancel… —That gap… —Do you want to clarify this switch? That I didn’t get. | |
15:40 | —That gap is the money that will go back into the pockets of those Italians who paid it in! | |
15:46 | Because those who have paid contributions have loaned to the State, but that money belongs | |
15:51 | Italian citizens! —But in public expenses… —If it were to come back into the pockets | |
15:55 | of Italian citizens, it would be turned into shopping; someone would buy a TV, a new car, | |
16:03 | a new washing machine… which means there’s one more busy worker. —You say: it generates… | |
16:07 | —Cash would flow once more! —That’s the hope. —As with lowering taxes! —But if you just abolish | |
16:13 | the Fornero law, do the State’s pensions expense increase? Or do they stay the same? | |
16:22 | —No, our view is that if we let people retire when they deserve to… after | |
16:26 | 41 years of paying contributions, | |
16:29 | or with the so called 100 quota (that is, reaching 100 | |
16:32 | after adding up the years of your paid contributions | |
16:35 | and your chronological age) while simultaneously reducing taxes (which have reached ridiculous | |
16:40 | proportions in Italy). Do you know what would happen? The State would cash in more because | |
16:46 | the number of people who work and who pay will be higher. You’d diminish tax evasion, | |
16:51 | as you’re rendering paying taxes convenient, at last. Companies would start investing and | |
16:56 | hiring in Italy again, and hopefully raise the salaries. —In your view… —This… —In your view, | |
17:05 | why does Renzi say that there already is a major coalition in Italy? That is: | |
17:11 | 5 Star Movement and Lega Nord. Why do you think he repeats that often? | |
17:16 | —It’s because he realized that he failed. The difference | |
17:20 | between him and me is that he got the chance | |
17:23 | to govern this country for three years, and his party | |
17:26 | has been governing for 5-6-7 years. I, on the other hand, | |
17:29 | didn’t get to, unfortunately. I haven’t had this honor yet. I hope the Italians will grant me | |
17:34 | this charge in a month. So… Renzi just spends his time talking about others. —Is there any chance | |
17:38 | —“It’s Salvini’s fault”… —of reaching an agreement? —No! —Because it’s been said many times. —No. | |
17:42 | —You deny it, the 5 Star Movement denies it, too but… | |
17:46 | I’ll give you an example on the topic we started off with, | |
17:49 | which is: immigration (which I deem to be excessive and needs to be restricted). | |
17:53 | 15 days ago at the Strasbourg parliament the Democratic Party and 5 Star Movement | |
17:58 | (that is: Matteo Renzi and Luigi Di Maio) both voted in favor of this thing here. It’s a report of | |
18:03 | a Swedish MP that legitimizes environmental migration. That means that thanks to the DP | |
18:12 | and M5S we need to also let environmental migrants in! That is: if one is cold, if one is hot… | |
18:20 | Environmental migrants are just what we needed in Italy! —You caught me unprepared on this matter. | |
18:25 | —It’s foggy in Milan; I don’t like fog so I’ll move elsewhere, since I’m an environmental migrant! | |
18:31 | Don’t act like you don’t get it. You know that rumors are circulating that state that if | |
18:34 | Berlusconi doesn’t get the majority in your party/coalition, he may reach an agreement (as he | |
18:41 | already did in the past) with Renzi. Do you rule this out because of your protocol? | |
18:47 | —I rule this out, but it all depends on the voters, IF they vote, and for whom, on March, 4th. | |
18:54 | I mean if they even vote. Good people who think that by not voting they’re punishing | |
18:59 | politicians, thieves and crooks make a mistake because they’re just making the votes of | |
19:05 | mobsters and those with special interests count more. So I hope that good people make a choice. | |
19:09 | I’m not saying they need to choose Salvini, but they need to choose. If the center-right wins | |
19:13 | and within it Salvini gets one more vote, then | |
19:17 | I’ll be the Prime Minister. And I’ll carry this country | |
19:20 | on my shoulders. I’m convinced that I’ll carry it farther than where it is at the moment. —Bravo! | |
19:28 | —Listen… [Umberto] Bossi’s nomination has garnered | |
19:33 | some analysis and observations from those | |
19:38 | who have been in politics for some time. Is it weird to see this confrontation between Bossi and | |
19:42 | [Gianluigi] Paragone [formerly part of Lega Nord and | |
19:46 | former journalist]… —Look… —It’s a weird battle… | |
19:51 | —If I were to choose based on a convenient interest rate, I would have made a different choice. | |
19:56 | Also because he [Bossi] calls me every name under the sun. He says I don’t understand anything. | |
20:01 | He says I shouldn’t go to the central and southern parts of Italy, he says “to hell with the south, | |
20:06 | to hell with Europe”… I made a different choice: I aim to unite the good people in Italy. | |
20:13 | Because I think we’re the country with the greatest potential in the world. | |
20:18 | But I think that beyond politics and electoral convenience, there’s respect, which is a value | |
20:27 | that exceeds… —So, has Bossi rejected Berlusconi? —No…look… | |
20:33 | Let’s talk about other things: Milan, the Fornero law, taxes… —Milan didn’t do so well today… | |
20:38 | —Let’s forget about soccer… but Salvini is Salvini. I’ll give you an example of what’s currently | |
20:45 | happening in Rome, which I deem to be shameful. The Turkish President is officially visiting Rome | |
20:50 | today and tomorrow. —Erdogan. —Erdogan. And Turkey is an Islamic regime that jails journalists | |
20:58 | and others, and that would like to impose Islam on all the rest of the world. | |
21:03 | Well, we have individuals who want to get Turkey into the EU. —The debate has gone on for years. | |
21:08 | —Unfortunately. In fact, this week I’ll go back to Strasbourg to battle against this, to say “no”. | |
21:14 | Because Turkey has got nothing to do with Europe, at all. Unfortunately, Renzi and others | |
21:20 | like Forza Italia [Berlusconi’s party] were in favor of Turkey joining the EU. | |
21:23 | Berlusconi is very good friends with Erdogan. | |
21:26 | He even went to the wedding of Erdogan’s daughter. —And I’ll choose other friends. I repeat: | |
21:31 | an Islamic country of 80M people in the EU would be the death of Europe. —Clear enough. | |
21:37 | This is why I say that Lega Nord is its own thing (though part of a center-right coalition). | |
21:42 | —We’ll find out what’s in the sealed 10-point protocol | |
21:46 | one day. —Taxes, school reform, justice reform. | |
21:50 | —OK, I have two questions for you: [Roberto] Maroni said he misses the sea and wants to go boating. | |
21:54 | —I envy him. —Listen, is this credible? —I envy him because I… —Respond, is it credible? —Yes. | |
22:01 | —I know him and I trust him. He was Minister of Labour (and did that well), of the Interior | |
22:07 | (and did that well). He was the Governor of Lombardy for 5 years (and did that well). | |
22:11 | He’s just taking some time off. If I could, I’d do it, too. But I won’t because Italy is in need. | |
22:18 | I avoid taking time off and I travel throughout Italy because I want to take back this country. | |
22:23 | To get it back to the one that my grandparents left for me. I want to go back to the Italy that my | |
22:27 | grandparents left for me. —Bravo! —That’s all. —Can I close with a smile? —Sure. —If you allow me. |
Turks shouldn’t be allowed anywhere near Europe.
Who’s the Fascist leftist interviewer ?
Yes I agree that turkey shouldn’t join e.u. I blame Juncker, Baroso, tusks for the disastrous European situation. I believe at this moment we need people like salvini to drive out emigrants out of Europe. Se noi no facciamo niente l Europa diventa islamica. This time I will vote to Lega North, Salvini.