Italy’s far-right party with neo-fascist roots suspends candidate for praising Hitler
The far-right Brothers of Italy (FDI), which is expected to win the elections this weekend, announced on Tuesday that one of its candidates had been suspended for glorifying Hitler.
After the vote on Sunday, Georgia Meloni, the leader of the FDI, could form Italy’s first far-right administration. She has made an effort to distance herself from her party’s neo-fascist origins without completely renunciating them.
The FDI announced in a statement that Calogero Pisano, the leader of the organisation in Agrigento, Sicily, and a member of the national leadership, has been “suspended with immediate effect.”
“(He) no longer represents the party at any level and is forbidden from using its logo’,” it added.
It further stated that Pisano had been called to appear before the party’s leadership.
“Italy Above All” was written across a picture of Meloni that Pisano shared on Facebook in 2014.
Benito Mussolini, the fascist leader of Italy, was not the great statesman he was alluding to when he said, “This reminds me of a great statesman from 70 years ago,” as he clarified underneath.
He has written other statements in favour of fascism.
The Democratic Party’s deputy leader Peppe Provenzano was the first to respond when the Facebook post was made public by the La Repubblica newspaper.
“Deep roots never freeze,” he tweeted, pointing out that Brothers of Italy still uses the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a group founded by Mussolini followers after World War II, as the inspiration for their logo.
The leader of the Jewish community in Rome, Ruth Dureghello, remarked that it was “unacceptable for someone who praises Hitler to sit in parliament.”
Meloni, a former MSI adolescent activist, claims that Fascist nostalgia has no place in her party.
(with inputs from agencies)
