A-Infos (en) Italy, Umanita Nova #24-25 - Bonuses and Handouts. The Social Policy of the Meloni Government (ca, de, it, pt, tr)[machine translation]

In recent months, the Meloni government has intensified a practice that 
has become its trademark: handing out bonuses and presenting them as 
social policy. Every week a new measure is announced: psychologist 
bonus, daycare vouchers, rent subsidies, sports vouchers, student 
benefits. The official narrative is always the same: "we are intervening 
to help families in difficulty." But on closer inspection, this is 
nothing more than an elaborate shell game.
The psychologist bonus is perhaps the most well-known case. Presented as 
a breakthrough after years of health emergencies and growing 
psychological distress, it turned out to be a mockery: out of nearly 
400,000 applications, funds were available for fewer than 10,000 people. 
The rest must keep paying privately or forgo care altogether. The same 
goes for rent subsidies: a maximum of EUR1,500 per year, when a 
three-bedroom apartment in an average city can cost EUR1,000 a month. 
Daycare? Yes, there is a EUR3,000 voucher per year, but only for those 
who meet ISEE income thresholds - and only if they can find a spot in 
increasingly rare public facilities.

These measures share recurring features:

they are temporary, lasting a year or slightly more;

they are selective, accessible only to those who navigate bureaucratic 
hurdles and "click-day" rushes;

they never address the real causes of the social crisis (low wages, 
widespread precarity, privatization of healthcare and education);

they create competition among the poor, turning needs into point-based 
lotteries where the fastest take all.

The issue is not just the scarcity of resources: it's the logic itself. 
The state does not invest in structural policies but distributes 
handouts. It does not build universal rights but offers one-off checks. 
In this way, collective needs are fragmented and individualized. 
Everyone chases their own voucher, their own application, their own ISEE 
code. The idea of fighting together for a living wage, free and 
accessible healthcare, and high-quality public education is replaced by 
the illusion of receiving a small state favor.

Meanwhile, the numbers tell another story. Over the last fifteen years, 
public healthcare has suffered cuts amounting to EUR37 billion, with 
hospitals closed, emergency rooms overwhelmed, and endless waiting 
lists. Education spending remains among the lowest in Europe. By 
contrast, Italian military spending has surpassed EUR30 billion 
annually, growing steadily to meet NATO demands. Billions are found for 
the Strait Bridge project, while for basic healthcare we are told 
"sacrifices" are needed.

Behind the façade of bonuses lies a clear political strategy: not to 
redistribute wealth, not to touch corporate profits, not to strengthen 
public services. On the contrary: wages and rights remain stagnant while 
consensus is bought by distributing crumbs. It's a kind of clientelism 
2.0: no longer the politician handing out subsidies, but a digital 
portal deciding who gets the handout.

This mechanism is not only ineffective - it's dangerous. Because it 
prevents building collective awareness. Because it encourages people to 
see the state as an occasional benefactor rather than as the culprit of 
the social disaster. Because it fragments struggles, reducing them to 
individual races for access to small subsidies.

As anarchists, we denounce this logic. We expect nothing from 
governments that dismantle rights and give back alms. The answer lies 
elsewhere: in direct solidarity, mutual aid, and grassroots 
organization. Where the state reduces needs to protocol numbers and 
waiting lists, we can build real networks of mutual support, 
self-managed spaces, and forms of struggle that restore dignity and 
power to people.

We don't need bonuses: we need social justice. We don't want handouts: 
we want freedom, wages, housing, healthcare, education. Everything 
governments deny us can only be won by fighting together.

Totò Caggese

https://umanitanova.org/bonus-e-mancette-la-politica-sociale-del-governo-meloni/
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