many think the law could ve 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 mussolini. forza nuova took part that day a fringe, hard right party still not banned. they chant hi. wow. well, this is. luca castellini, its deputy leader, was jailed for the violence but freed pending appeal. ..the flag up here of the donetsk people s republic. esatto, donbas. donbas in ukraine, the part of ukraine taken by russia or claimed by russia. the mussolini calendar. you said this is the most
historical battles still part of the present. we ve come to bologna, which has always been at the centre 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 at the train station here in bologna 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 re seeing things 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, attacks on the liberty and freedom of women to determine what they can do on their own body.
one of the main points is immigration. we have always been against immigration. meloni has always been against immigration, sometimes with our same 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, original positions? your movement or a movement like yours would not exist and has been banned in greece, for example golden dawn, in germany it would never exist. you would never be able to use the 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 memorialises 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 cancel culture that 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 a crime, as apology of fascism, is actually again downplayed as, oh, no, it sjust 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 normalised.
but meloni 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. and so, while the prime minister has never directly called herself anti fascist, one of her oldest political allies says it s a nuance in italy that needs to be understood. being anti fascist during the fascism was a very brave act, brave forfreedom, brave for democracy. but after the falling of the fascism, being anti fascist means violence, means a lot of 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 fascists did after the falling of fascism.