The great-grandson of Mussolini who wants to give wings to fascism in Europe

ROME.- The wind blows from the right in

Italy

which gave birth to the first populist government in Europe last June. Matteo Salvini's xenophobic League, in power with the Five-Star Anti-System Movement, has become the most popular party and is gearing up for next May's European elections. And the figure of Benito Mussolini, he Duce, seems to be valid again. He makes talk (especially in social networks), encourages writers who adopt the father of fascism to give birth to editorial phenomena and is seized by political groups always seduced by a harmful historical period, which remains an open wound.

Giorgia Meloni, leader of the right-wing Fratelli party in Italy, yesterday presented with great fanfare a "new Mussolini" candidate for the next elections for the renewal of the European Parliament on 26 May. One is Caio Giulio Cesare Mussolini, great-grandson of the fascist dictator (whose name is closely linked to the Roman Empire), who will make his political debut at the age of 50. Born in Argentina, former naval officer and former head of Finmeccanica, the Italian industrial giant, Mussolini declared "to be a patriot" who aims to make his contribution to Italy's "reconquest of sovereignty" and to the protection of the country. the family. He appeared with Meloni in a video performed in front of the Square Coliseum, an emblematic building of Roman fascist architecture.

Caio Giulio Cesare – grandson of Vittorio, son of Benito – will be the third Mussolini to enter the political arena after Alessandra (several times deputy to the Italian Parliament with right-wing parties) and his sister Rachele (advisor in this capital)), the two daughters of Romano Mussolini, fourth son of the Duce. Today, Caio Giulio Cesare, until then unknown, has beaten Facebook because he was hiding his profile, which he considered "discrimination by last name" and a ground of criminal complaint.

"I was born in Argentina in 1968. I spent my childhood and adolescence between Italy and Venezuela, where I graduated," he explains on his Facebook profile. .

Speaking of networks, his cousin Alessandra, now legislator of the Parliament of Strasbourg with the European People's Party, announced the news a few days ago crossing there with none other than Jim Carrey. It all started when the American actor posted on Twitter a caricature drawn by him in which they appear Mussolini and his lover Claretta Petacci were next to the comment: "If you're wondering where fascism leads, ask Benito Mussolini and to its owner "

"You are a bastard," replied Mussolini, indignant at the mockery of his grandfather who, after being executed by supporters on April 28, 1945, was suspended the next day in Piazzale Loreto, Milan, with his mistress, the derision of the crowd. "I did not even know you existed, but just turn the caricature and it seems that your grandfather jumped for joy," said Carrey, who provoked another poisoned response from the Duce's granddaughter: "The replica of Jim Carrey is worse than his drawing, "wrote, publishing the photo of a mask that appeared bloody, obviously hinting at the mask, the actor's famous film.

Beyond the aggressiveness of networks, which also serve to propagate extreme ideologies, Mussolini's figure has also been confirmed as a trigger for publication phenomena. Although at least one hundred biographies of the Duce were published, in September of last year "Mr. The Son of the Century", Antonio Scurati's novel, first volume of a trilogy on Mussolini and a kind of imaginary autobiography of him, became a better seller

Perhaps the result of the climate of xenophobia and the right wind blowing in Italy has recently been put on sale "Mussolini has also done good things, the idiocies that continue to circulate on fascism", which is also become a success. This essay by the historian Francesco Filippi aims to destroy the commonplaces that revolve around the dictatorship of Mussolini, which many Italians are still saving.

In fact, recently, no less than the President of the European Parliament, Antonio Tajani, in statements on the radio said: "Mussolini? Until the moment he did not declare war on the world after Hitler, even though he was not a promoter of racial laws [contra la comunidad judía], apart from the Matteotti affair [Giacomo, antifascista que mandó a matar], did positive things to create infrastructure in our country. "How could it be otherwise, these statements have created a scandal.

Filippi explained that he had decided to write this book because, more than 70 years after the fall of fascism, the "monster" seems to be rising, especially on the Internet. And because there are still too many Italians who believe that fascism, although it is generally a historical period largely condemned by the vast majority of people, still did good things like roads , a punctual rail system or wetland remediation. Something that, with the data, is denied by Filippi, pointing out that all this was pure fascist propaganda that, as a result of false information, refuses to die.