The leader of the current Brothers of Italy party-led government, Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, said her movement had completely changed, according to the BBC.
Meloni stated that her movement, which was rooted in post-war fascism, was different from the politics of the people raising their hands in Milan. However, some fear that she and her party have not moved far enough away from their political origins.
Paolo Berizzi, a journalist for the Italian daily newspaper La Repubblica, stated:
Fascism did not die in 1945 – it was militarily defeated but it continued to live in the mind of many Italians. Italy has never truly come to terms with its past.
More than a hundred years have passed since Benito Mussolini, nicknamed Il Duce, or The Leader, came to power. His totalitarian regime was characterised by brutal repression of all opponents, concentration camps and invasions abroad.
Italy capitulated to the Allies, plunged into civil war, and Il Duce was eventually captured and killed. The country’s post-war constitution banned Mussolini’s fascist party. However, the movement was allowed to continue to exist in various forms.
The Movimento Sociale Italiano, or MSI, was created by supporters of the dictator to revive the movement and fight communism. Mussolini’s officials took jobs in government offices. Not a single Italian has faced a war crimes tribunal, according to the BBC.
In Germany, the law is clear that the fascist salute is punishable by up to three years’ imprisonment. In Italy, however, it is left to the discretion of judges to decide whether the gesture is a criminal offence. The grey area means its use continues.
Changing course
Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, whose political life began in the youth wing of the MSI and was national leader of the successor movement, once praised Mussolini as “a good politician.” She noted that “everything he did, he did for Italy.” In 2008, Berlusconi appointed her a government minister.
Meloni’s Brothers of Italy party carries the same logo with a tricolour flame used by neo-fascist groups after the war. Her previous rhetoric against the “ethnic substitution” of Italians by migrants and the alleged “LGBT lobby” has softened since her election as prime minister in 2022. Now, she uses language more in line with mainstream European national- oriented movements.
She has abandoned criticism of the euro zone, developed close relationships with leaders from Washington to Brussels and openly supported Ukraine after the war broke out. However, critics say she is still “winking” at her political roots.
Italy’s Forza Nuova party has gone even further. At a recent funeral, the coffin of a member of the organisation was draped with a swastika flag. Another official’s birthday was celebrated with a cake decorated with a swastika and the Nazi slogan “Sieg Heil,” the BBC reported.
After a series of questionable actions, Meloni’s party distanced itself from Forza Nuova. She has condemned the sacking of the union building, and Forza Nuova leaders have openly criticised her for some of her positions, including her strong support for Ukraine. Yet, Meloni still uses the fascist-era slogan “God, homeland, family.”
Brothers of Italy is not a fascist party – but it is an ideological heir to the post-fascist tradition.
Fratelli d’Italia
The Brothers of Italy are ranking high in opinion polls ahead of the upcoming European elections, far ahead of any other Italian party. If, as expected, its European right-wing group achieves a resounding success in the vote, it will cement its political dominance in Italy and its position as the figurehead for other politicians.
Emily Clancy, the city’s deputy mayor, argues that the fight against fascism is still highly relevant today.
The far right, not only in Italy, but also around the world, is trying to find a scapegoat for people’s difficulties by attacking the stranger or the migrant.
She said there were similarities to the early days of fascism, pointing to “attacks on the freedom of the press, censorship, freedom for the LGBT community and attacks on the liberty of women to determine what they can do on their own bodies.”
However, Nicola Procaccini, the MEP, stated that the gesture was not a call for a revival of fascism, but a historical gesture borrowed from ancient Rome.
This is cancel culture that we do not share.
Mussolini’s legacy
In Predappio, Benito Mussolini’s birthplace, a pilgrimage of sorts takes place every year on the anniversary of his death. On this day, participants wearing military berets and clutching red roses visit his grave.
Susanna Cortinovis, one of the mourners, praises Mussolini for introducing social security and maternity payments, according to the BBC.
If you’re telling me that being a mother, a Christian, paying my taxes – does that mean I’m a fascist, then yes, I’m a fascist. And I salute, in my Roman way, my one and only head of state.
Many countries have their nostalgists, their revisionists, their conspiracy theorists. Italy is no exception. The number of acolytes of the fascist leader may be small. However, there is something of a middle ground between Mussolini’s propagandists and today’s neo-fascists.
In a society that still tolerates such ideas, images and beliefs, the question is to what extent it becomes the norm.
