'm not even sure this is worth addressing Bt.
You introduced Bossi to the mix. Seems his politics are eclectic. The thrust of his parties ideology seems to be federalism with strong regional autonomy, i'm guessing much like Canada. or possibly the EU.
BTW when he gave the order to fire on immigrant ships it was during a time when 1000's a day were coming on shore. And he did say fire two warning shots first. How does that equate to him being racist?
It is not like Canada. They aren't even like Plaid or the SNP as the article suggests. It is separatism. He was an early communist sympathizer, Mussolini was a socialist before being thrown out of the party. Reagan was a New Deal Democrat before marrying Nancy. It really has little to do with it. There are certainly racist communists, Stalin was no better to the Roma or Sami than many modern democracies have been.
Separatist parties are often eclectic. They are built around regionalism, which is not a political philosophy at all, but geographical and racial idealism. It often includes nationalism as well. They often have to form political philosophy as a part of a democracy in order to gain votes - Bloc Quebecois for example.
This is where left-liberalism gets stupid. I'll provide an example. Left-liberals in the UK ran around wailing about how Scotland should be free and have their own Assembly. Why? Where the Scottish represented in Westminster? Yes. In fact, Scotland and Wales have more MP's per capita than England. They are deliberately over-represented! Yet, here were all these people bitching about how Scotland and Wales needed their own Assemblies, they needed to make their own decisions.
Why?
Bottom line was - they're Scots, so they deserved something England did not have. It was purely racial and nationalist. It was bullshit. Yet, it was leftists (with the exception of some Scottish right wing folks) who supported it. In other countries it appeals to the right wing. It varies.
Go to Quebec - same issue, race. Go to nearly any separatist movement and you'll see it.
There are a few legitimate movements where oppression is so severe that liberation is the only choice. Is Northern Italy one of them? Hell no, of course not.
So how do you get votes? Well you could put together a deep agenda of political merit. That takes time, effort, money, and a thinking voting base. Democracy doesn't function that way. So you use the time-honored emotional appeal of the racist. You blame immigrants, unpopular minorities, hated outcasts, for every ill of society. That works well! People love raw emotion. They don't want to think. They want leadership & charisma. They want action.
As for the second question, you really need me to answer how firing upon an unarmed ship of immigrants is racist? Seriously?
