The New Faces of Fascism: Populism and the Far Right,[1] which examines various theories of European fascism historically, is the second part (History in the Present) in a series. It is more interesting than the first (The Present as History), which analyzes the phenomenon of right-wing populism in contemporary Europe (which Traverso calls “postfascism”). Traverso is a historian, and so his knowledge and background as a historian are expertly applied to an analysis of fascism as a historical phenomenon. In contrast, his analysis of the phenomenon of right-wing populism in contemporary Europe is in the realm of the mediocre radical or liberal leftists.
The True Story of “Faccetta Nera”
Igiaba Scego takes on the troubled history of the popular Mussolini-era song Faccetta nera in an essay confronting Italy s history of colonialism and Fascism.
“I was on a TV talk show the other day, and something curious happened.” Those are the opening words of a Facebook post that Maryan Ismail, an Italo-Somali political activist, published recently. The curious thing that happened occurred in a television studio. Maryan, who is a longtime political activist working in Milan, has made up her mind to express her defiance of racism by speaking openly everywhere she can, including on TV. Of course, she doesn’t talk about just immigration; every important cause will find her manning the barricades: from the fight against fundamentalism (she recently lost her brother to an Al Shabaab terror attack in Mogadishu) to the issues affecting the livability of our cities. “But my skin is Black,” says Maryan, emphasizing the fact that the stru