Elly Schlein it is told between private passions and public battles, in an all-round interview with Vogue. Since she was chosen to lead the Democratic Party on February 26 – the first woman to hold this role – the 37-year-old former MEP, former vice president of the Emilia-Romagna Region, has granted very few interviews, and none to the magazines.
In the interview characterized by simplicity and informal tone, the secretary of the Pd recounts his political success in this way: “I simply try to take a good look at who I have in front of me when I speak. In general, I think we must be able to connect with the people we want to represent and we must do so with an inclusive language, which is aimed at all and to all”.
For Schlein, a new awareness is emerging in society and especially in the younger generations. “There is a European mobilization that holds social justice and climate justice together, passing through the dignity of work, against exploitation and precariousness and for equality in rights, in starting opportunities”.
The inequalities
Speaking of nationalisms and inequalities, he underlines how “there is now a kind of ‘nationalist international’ in the world and this – he says – is a paradox. Orban’s wall somehow strengthens the closed ports of Salvini and Meloni, the ideas of Farage rebound into those of Trump using the same rhetoric of hatred, of intolerance, choosing the same enemies”.
For nationalists, according to Schlein, “It’s always the fault of a “different” person, a migrant, a LGBTQ+ person, a woman who is too emancipated for their tastes”. To reverse this course, she is convinced that it is necessary to reverse that type of rhetoric “demonstrating that in reality there is no ‘us’ and ‘them’: the great opponent should be inequality”.
“When I was an MEP – he says – I fought a lot to reform the Dublin regulation, but in the 22 negotiating meetings, when there were discussions about sharing responsibilities on reception among various European countries, I never saw the League, I never saw the right that today is represented by Giorgia Meloni. The reason? “It is that they don’t have the courage to tell their nationalist allies, like Orban, that they too must play their part in welcoming them”.
“If you can’t lose, you can’t win”
To overcome a failure, we must accept that we can lose. “If I lose, I look defeat in the face without denying it, on the contrary – he underlines -, I humbly try to understand how to improve, how to get back up. When I throw myself into a political battle with conviction, I never take anything for granted but I put all of myself into it “.
The burnout risk
Elly Schlei acknowledge feeling “crushed” by responsibilities. “However, I try to always stay in touch with myself, to listen to myself, to understand when I’m pushing too hard and to defend some spaces. Then in the evening I try to decompress or play on the PlayStation”.
He defines himself as a fan of cult series such as “Stranger Things, Vikings, The Crown”. But she is also a lover of “films by Tarantino, Ken Loach and the classics of Italian cinema – such as L’armata Brancaleone – which I used to watch at home thanks to my father’s collection of video cassettes”.
On his relationship with clothes he says. “My clothing choices certainly depend on the situation I’m in. Sometimes I’m unconventional, other times more formal. In general, I say yes to the colors and the advice of an armocromist, Enrica Chicchio.
The band that helps keep you going? “Especially indie music like Mumford & Sons, Radiohead and Canada’s Rural Alberta Advantage – one of their songs, Four Night Rider, always gets me going.”
Private life
Schalein feels like a “disaster” in trying to reconcile private life with public life. “The growing political commitment has implied many sacrifices, for someone like me who went out practically every evening at the university in Bologna. Now this part is very limited, I try to defend personal life spaces but it’s not easy”. And quickly mentioning the publication of the photo of her with her partner Paola Belloni, she declares: “It was an outing, which is always a form of violence as you have clarified. I fully agree.”
Activists and political leaders
Speaking of activists and political leaders “I have a lot of respect for Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, for Ayanna Pressley, Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib – they are a team, there is a shared, plural leadership. I greatly appreciated Jacinda Ardern, the New Zealand premier who has recently completed his government experience”.
“I believe that the mobilizations of Fridays for Future, initiated by activists such as Greta Thunberg and Vanessa Nakate, have contributed to the advancement of policies to combat the climate emergency. And – she adds – I would like to mention another activist, the Brazilian Marielle Franco, sadly killed because of her fight for the emancipation of the people who live in the favelas.
“Love is love”
The closing of the magazine interview is dedicated to LGBTQ+ rights in Italy. “I would like to reduce the distance that divides us from the countries of Northern Europe. We don’t even have a law against hatred and discrimination, the one that Alessandro Zan has brought forward, with which we work every day, scuttled by the right with that shameful applause in the Senate Hall”.
“Then of course we are fighting for egalitarian marriage. Love is love: this is the slogan with which we accompany the associations in the battle. But the rights of daughters and sons of same-parent couples are also lacking, so we have many steps forward to make” , he concludes.