Italy fails to turn the page on its fascist past. Whether due to the identity origins of the party of the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, or due to the poorly healed wounds of that period, which crystallize from time to time in mass celebrations of a nostalgic nature. The debate is still on the table, also in its most legal aspect. And the Supreme Court maintained it this Thursday for a while longer, alleging that performing the Roman salute with the hand raised, the fascist salute, only constitutes a crime if it implies “a concrete danger” of reorganizing the dissolved Fascist Party. In any other context, it can be done freely.
The clarification arose from the case of some far-rightists convicted of giving the fascist salute in 2016. The court had to clarify the situation of eight people tried for a neo-fascist commemoration in Milan (north), acquitted in the first degree by a 1952 law, but convicted in second instance by another from 1993. And the ruling now forces the appeal trial to be repeated against these people.
The Supreme Court has indicated that, as dictated by the 1952 law (known as the [Mario] Scelba, the name of the then Minister of the Interior), raising one’s arm constitutes a crime only when it represents “a concrete danger of reorganization” of that formation, prohibited by the Constitution. And “under certain conditions” may be a crime under the 1993 law (known as the [Nicola] Mancino, then responsible for the Interior), which prohibits “external or usual manifestations of organizations, associations, movements or groups” that incite discrimination on the basis of race or nationality. Nothing else. That is, if it is done in a context of celebration it cannot be punished. But it is something very difficult to prove, since the accused could maintain that it was done in a commemorative way.
Recurring fascist celebrations
Nostalgic fascist celebrations are recurrent in Italy. On January 7, for example, around a thousand people dressed in black shirts gathered in front of the old headquarters of the Italian Social Movement (MSI) to commemorate the murder 47 years ago of three young people from said party at the hands of militants of extreme left. The concentration takes place every year in front of the MSI headquarters, the place where the three young people were murdered in what is known as the massacre of Here Larentia (on the street where the building is located). But many other events of this nature are celebrated each year in Italy, beginning with the commemoration of Benito Mussolini’s death in Predappio, the place where he is buried.
Giorgia Meloni’s Executive has not commented. Yes, however, the president of the Senate and co-founder of the Brothers of Italy party, Ignazio La Russa, did so, ensuring that the sentence stands alone. Who represents the second authority of the Italian State, a declared admirer of Benito Mussolini, had already warned when the events of January 7 took place that they did not constitute any crime. Other extra-parliamentary political forces, such as the neo-fascist CasaPound, have also assured that they will continue to raise their arms when they consider it appropriate.
The doubts on this matter, however, have not been completely cleared up. The judges also spoke of analyzing case by case, adding that “under certain conditions” the crime provided for by the Mancino law can also be applied, which censors demonstrations that incite discrimination or violence on ethnic or racial grounds.
Italy became a democratic Republic after the fall of the fascist dictatorship in World War II. The 1947 Constitution prohibits in its transitional provisions “the reorganization in any form of the dissolved Fascist Party.” But there are several far-right groups in the country, such as Forza Nuova or the aforementioned CasaPound that usually participate in this type of public demonstrations and, in some cases, cause disturbances. On December 20, for example, seven exponents of Forza Nuova were convicted for the 2021 assault on the Roman headquarters of the largest Italian union, the CGIL. It happened during the final stage of the pandemic, which limited commercial activity and restricted citizens’ freedom of movement. These parties found in the fight against those measures a new workhorse to green their cause.
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