Marine Le Pen goes to Pontida: an ethnographic story about multilevel vertical and horizontal conflict in Salvini’s League

In September 2023, Marine Le Pen, the leader of Rassemblement National, was announced as a guest speaker at Pontida, the annual gathering of Salvini's League party. This move was part of a broader strategy of the League to connect with other radical-right parties in Europe and position themselves as the preferred ally for Le Pen in Italy, in competition with Fratelli d'Italia. The announcement was made through social media, using even a grotesque AI-made video of Salvini speaking French to signal friendship to an international audience. However, on the day of the speech, something went wrong. The atmosphere was tense, and a portion of the audience left the lawn as Le Pen began speaking, taking their flags with them and leaving the front of the stage half-empty. I will use the field notes collected during my ethnographic observation of this failed ritual event to address dynamics related to the event at different levels. On a transnational level, I will discuss the League's efforts to find European allies. At the party system level, I will focus on the competition among radical right-wing actors and the silently hostile relationship between Lega and Fratelli d'Italia. At the party level, I will examine the transformation process from regionalism to nationalism and the horizontal divisions and factions within the party. Finally, at the local party level, I will analyze the vertical intraparty conflicts and how the regional and national levels relate differently in different regions and clash over issues of nationalism and leadership. The relationships between transnational, national, and local dynamics are related not only to policies or political strategies but also to the internal dynamics of organizations. Understanding the complex multilevel nature of conflicts can help us comprehend how radical-right organizations operate.