Former Baywatch star Pamela Anderson accuses Italy's Salvini of encouraging 'slide towards fascism'
Pamela Anderson, the former Baywatch star, has waded into the debate over populism and extremism after accusing Italy’s hard-line interior minister, Matteo Salvini, of fomenting a return to fascism.
The Canadian-born actress said that “current trends” in Italy reminded her of the climate in Europe in the 1930s.
In a series of tweets, she wrote: “Italy is a beautiful country and I love it so much, from its food to its fashion, from its history to its arts, but I am very worried about the current trends which are reminding me of the 1930s.
“The fear and insecurity in all segments of society, the daily attacks on refugees and migrants, the deepening economic crisis…”
Mr Salvini has managed to double popular support for his anti-immigration party, The League, since Italy’s general election in March, from 17 per cent to 34 per cent.
He has outwitted and eclipsed his partners in the governing coalition, the populist Five Star Movement, in part through clever use of social media channels such as Twitter and Facebook, where he has 3.2 million followers.
His decision to ban migrant rescue ships from Italy’s ports also proved popular among many Italians, who were weary of the 600,000 migrants and refugees who have crossed the Mediterranean from Libya in the last five years.
A former Playboy Playmate of the Month, Ms Anderson has long been active in the animal rights and veganism movements and has conducted campaigns against the use of fur in the fashion industry and against seal hunting in Canada.
She has described WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange as a “hero” and said recently that she had a “romantic kind of connection” to him after visiting him several times at the Ecuadorian embassy in London, where the Australian has been in legal limbo for six years.
She criticised the Italian coalition for adopting “anti-immigrant measures” – an apparent reference to a recently passed security decree which waters down the rights of migrants and refugees.
All of Europe should be concerned by the “slide towards a new form of fascism in Italy,” she said.
European governments needed to tackle the continent’s “deep economic, social and ecological crisis” in order to ward off the threat of extremism and populism, she said, citing the gilets jaunes or yellow vest protest movement in France.
Mr Salvini, who is also deputy prime minister, responded to the criticism with a sarcastic tweet.
“Today I was attacked by an important American politician – Pamela Anderson. I preferred her when she used to wear a swimsuit.”
The altercation between the two came on the eve of a big League rally to be held in Rome on Saturday under the banner “Italians First”.
It is seen as an attempt to maintain the party’s high profile in the lead-up to the European Parliament elections in May.
Earlier this week the ex-Baywatch star, who lives in France, commented on the gilets jaunes protests, saying that the demonstrations in Paris “came from the rising tensions between the metropolitan elite and rural poor, between the politics represented by (President Emmanuel) Macron and the 99% who are fed up with inequality, not only in France, (but) all over the world.”
She said the yellow vest movement is a “revolt that has been simmering in France for years...a revolt by ordinary people against the current political system which – as in many other Western countries – colludes with the elite and despises its own citizens.”
