NEWS Five Star Movement Leader Mentions Italian Fascist Leader as Source of Values for His Party

By Pagine Ebraiche staff

Five Star Movement leader and deputy Speaker of the Italian Chamber of Deputies Luigi Di Maio included Italian Fascist leader Giorgio Almirante among the sources of values for his party.
 
In an interview featured on the first channel of the Italian Broadcasting Company Rai Uno, Di Maio mentioned Almirante, a member of Mussolini’s Fascist Party and the founder of the Neo-Fascist Movement after the war, together with Italian Communist leader Enrico Berlinguer and the Christian Democracy Party.
 
“We are a post-ideological movement, which includes many ideas that were at the core of both left and right-wing parties. These values are present in each of us,” Di Maio said. “There are those who are inspired by the values championed by Berlinguer, those who are inspired by the values championed by Almirante, those who are inspired by the values championed by the Christian Democrats.”
 
Among other things, Almirante also penned writings supporting anti-Jewish laws and the racial discrimination imposed by Mussolini.
 
The danger of Di Maio’s words was denounced to Pagine Ebraiche by historians David Bidussa and Anna Foa.
 
“In politics, as in life, it is necessary to make choices. Unfortunately, we have the confirmation that doing politics is like going to the supermarket: everything is mixed up together in a big heap,” commented Bidussa. “The memory of the Shoah should serve the purpose of making people think; otherwise it is useless. Not everything is the same and can be compared”.
 
Along the same line were the comments of Anna Foa, who also highlighted the Five Star Movement leader’s inadequacy and cultural gaps.
 
“However, there is no justification, nor for him nor for those who put him in his role,” she said.