THE MAKING OF A TRANSLOCAL ANTI-GENDER ALLIANCE AND HOPE FOR PROGRESSIVE CHANGE

The article aims to unpack the alliance between the religious right, far-right, and populist rights actors in Verona while offering insights into possibilities of progressive change in a setting previously controlled by traditionalist and nativist groups. Premised on a larger three-year-long fieldwork project, the article undertakes a historical analysis utilizing archival data and ethnographic observations to investigate local dynamics that have led to the formation of anti-gender alliance and its connections with international counterparts, most notably revealed by the World Congress of Families 2019. It is argued that the societal vision shared by ultra-Catholic and far-right actors, influenced by wider (trans)national themes, becomes institutionalized in local administration through populist right parties. However, an analysis of the victory of a progressive local administration in 2022 reveals that progressive social change is made possible by networks of solidarity that similarly cultivate collaboration among progressive institutional actors and civil society groups.