Fascism: Is Italy's government allowing the past to live on? | BBC News

Italy 2024 where the battles of the past still smolder are you a fascist if you ask me like that I probably would say uh yes but I have to complete the term um and say I'm a revolutionary a March in Milan for a far-right student killed almost 50 years ago by the farle we're seeing things uh in these recent years that are very similar to what happened at the beginning of the regime the years of violent clashes between fascists and anti-fascists have gone but the words and the polarization live on being anti-fascism in Italy means be a violent person who shut the door to all others competing Nar in the country that created [Music] fascism the musolini calendar you you said this is the most sold calendar in Italy and still allows its sympathizers as it draws to a close the finale with a chilling throwback to Italy's dictatorship decade [Music] these kinds of demonstrations with the fascist salutes happen across the country year in year out the state allows them to take place and Society somehow seems to tolerate them I want to find out why and why some of the images associated with the dark chapters of Italy's past still Infuse the [Applause] present for the hardcore Believers a return to where it or rather he began the small town of parapio in Northeast Italy the birthplace of Benito musolini the country's fascist dictator assassinated in 1945 after a ruthless 20-year rule every year on the anniversary of his death the faithful gather to honor him not for them the established Narrative of his reign of terror down the road musolini merch from the traditional to the tacky an extraordinary world of dictatorship kit can you imagine an equivalent Place existing in Germany selling Hitler and Nazi paraphernalia it just wouldn't happen this is extraordinary it's muscolini marketing and IT [Music] sells then it begins part funeral procession part military parade a pilgrimage to his resting [Music] place they're called to attention and then silence for their victim they file in towards his [Music] tomb we're not welcome for in Milan made an important statement on the question of salute deriving from ancient Rome adopted by the fascists and passed on to the Nazis Bonito musolini nicknamed Uche or the leader swept to power in 1922 beginning two decades of totalitarian rule marked by a brutal repression of opponents concentration camps and invasions abroad he came by armored train for the meeting with senior musolini anti-semitic laws persecuted Jews worsening after Italy's wartime alliance with Hitler's Germany Journey from Germany unless he wanted something after the war a Neo fascist party was allowed to form and figures from the musolini era filled State [Music] institutions the party remained sidelined until Sylvio biscone brought it into his Coalition legitimizing the extreme today the black shirt salutes fill various yearly [Music] tributes they say it's historical commemoration critics call it glorification of past crimes [Applause] [Music] [Music] NE [Music] Italy's post-war Constitution has one article that bans reforming the fascist party the subsequent so-called shelba law forbids groups pursuing the same anti-democratic aims glorifying fascism using violence to do so or promoting the suppression of freedom but it's only been used twice to dissolve Fringe movements and it leaves it up to judges to decide whether acts like the salute are a crime many think the law could have been used after this protests over covid restrictions that attacked Italy's main Trade union it was seen as out of the fascist Playbook since the unions were targeted under musolini foran NOA took part that day a fringe hard right party still not banned hi well this is Luca Castellini its Deputy leader was jailed for the violence but freed pending appeal flag up here of the donet People's Republic d d in Ukraine part of Ukraine taken by Russia or claimed by Russia you got the musini calendar you you said this is the most sold calendar in Italy we are we are fascists are Call to Arms we are fascists and then up here this is the of course the the flag of uh fascist Republic this was also Luca [Music] [Applause] [Music] Castellini as head of Verona's ultas Italy's hardcore football fans long a breeding ground of extremism he's been banned from the stadium after saying a black player could never be truly Italian do you think it's acceptable to joke about Adolf Hitler would you say the same thing again you would repeat the same thing what would you say to a Jewish person an Italian Jewish person who who has lost who lost their family to the Holocaust [Music] no government has cracked down but some feel prime minister Georgia Mone is even less likely to do so she started in politics in the Neo fascist youth interviewed age 19 by French TV the party she formed Brothers of Italy has its roots in postwar fascism keeping the same trickle or flame logo but she has moderated and moved it away from the far right to the mainstream she's topping polls before the upcoming European elections an example for Europe's nationalist politicians hoping she'll lead a new right-wing wave and hoping to emulate her success in their countries and on the past she had this message the Italian right has ended fascism over history for decades now unambiguously condemning the suppression of democracy and the ignominious anti- Je an but mone's supporters say the issue is with the way in which anti-fascists have protested over the years both in clashes with the other side and with police being anti-fascist during the fascism was a very brave act a brave of Freedom a brave for democracy but after the falling of the fascism being anti-fascist uh means violence means a lot of the young students killed this is why she's very clear I always condemned the fascism every day of my life but please don't tell me to share what the anti-fascist uh did it after the falling of fascism if some somebody looks from outside and they see Italy in 2024 with hundreds of people in the main in second city of Italy doing putting the fascist salute how do you think that looks you are Fascist if you want to reintroduce the fascism in your country not if you make the the fascism salute that is the Roman salute we condemn the fascism but more than this is an [Music] obsession and so one side of Italy sees Fascism and its threat as a ghost haunting the present the other as a fantasy whipped up by the [Music] left across Italy the past politically speaking lives on historical battles still part of the present we've come to Bologna which has always been at the center of the fight against fascism here are the names and faces of the partisans that died defending this city from the fascists in the 1940s but then it went on to 1980 with Italy's worst terror attack bombings of the train station here in bolognia by Neo fascists that killed 85 people and so fascism and anti-fascism have always been at the heart of this City's this country's political lexicon we are seeing things uh in these recent years that are very similar to what happened at the beginning of the regime and at the beginning of fascism a century ago attacks on freedom of press censorship um freedom for the lgbtqi community um attacks on the liberty and freedom of women uh to determine what they can do on their own body so do you feel that the fight the anti-fascism fight is still relevant today definitely I definitely believe it's very relevant and I also see um again to to strike a parallel the fact that the far right not only in Italy but all over the world is sort of trying to uh find a scapegoat for people's difficulties in everyday lives by attacking the stranger the person who comes from abroad the migrant uh it's it's something similar again to what was done a century ago Germany in some ways sort of had to address the past because there was Victors and and those who had lost the War uh Italy's role was a little more ambiguous right so first with Hitler and then surrendered and there's much to be said about really grappling with that uh Legacy history is weaponized in a country still not at peace with its past sugarcoating the bitter parts of collective memory Nostalgia given free reign my name is Roberto F and I am the national Secretary of for NOA I def find myself as someone who really who has certainly got uh uh some ideas and some inspiration by certain part of fascism are you a fascist if you ask me like that I probably would say uh yes but I have to complete the term um and say I'm a revolutionary but are you denying that that that that the fascist regime was violent and criminal yes absolutely at the night musolini signed the racial laws I mean he deported that this was a regime that deported Jews to death camps that outlawed the opposition that put political opponents in in in internment camps you honestly saying that you supported those you support those measures the internment camps are things that happen with the war the Americans did it the Germans did it the Italians did it and so on talking about people who were being who who were gassed who were shot who were exterminated for their religion fascism has never been accused of this I'm talking about fascism a regime molini and all his Minister had never been tried for this do you believe that this government in power in Italy is occupying your political space no I believe that they are freeing a lot of the political space that we are going to take why one of the main point is immigration we have always been against immigration uh Melone uh has always been against immigration sometimes with our say tone and strength now immigrants last year this year have increased the number of 50% where do you think Italian people are going to go after this betrayal of um uh original positions your movement or a movement like yours would not exist and has been banned in Greece for example Golden Dawn in Germany that would never exist you would never be able to use symbols and the slogans that your party uses in a country like Germany why is that the case because Germany has got a bigger problem you think Germany's got the problem rather than Italy no yes because freedom is freedom neither Victor nor vanquished Italy memorializes in a way others do not the name architecture and gestures of the regime allowed to live on what do you think we have to destroy everything this is the the council culture that we don't we don't share the question is does the ideology itself survive I would say there is a silent majority that would say yes yes yes on a lot of our ideas and is Italy the laboratory of fascism once again a political testing room what should be seen as as a crime as apology of fascism is actually again downplayed as oh no it's just nostalgic it's a tribute the worry here is not that Italy's democracy per se is under threat but that a governing party which has not severed its historical Roots still Winks to that support base and that speech Notions even policies once banished are increasingly [Music] normalized [Music] for e

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Length: 20min 38sec (1238 seconds)

Published: Tue Jun 04 2024