Are Italy’s ‘Sardines’ the Antidote to Populism?

For months, a burgeoning grassroots movement has staged flash mobs across Italy to express opposition to the country’s populist firebrand, Matteo Salvini. Its ability to pack city squares with tens of thousands of people—like sardines, as the group has come to be known—has offered one of the most visible examples of anti-populist mobilization in Europe.

Spontaneously mobilizing scores of people to condemn Salvini’s rhetoric on issues such as immigration and the European Union is part of the group’s challenge; halting his seemingly is another. Salvini has proved a seismic force in Italian politics, going from the leader of the right-wing League, once a small, regional party, to Italy’s deputy prime minister. Despite his failures—the League was last year—Salvini has been resilient: His party is currently running neck and neck with the ruling center-left Democratic Party in the liberal stronghold of Emilia-Romagna, which will hold regional elections Sunday.