«Long live anti-fascist Italy». An ovation welcomes Antonio Scurati in Naples, at the Repubblica delle Idee , the first public outing for the writer after Rai stopped his monologue on April 25th .

«It is hard, tiring, painful – he says at the meeting in the Courtyard of Honor of the Royal Palace, entitled “Populism and fascism. Mussolini today” – suddenly for having been a writer I find myself at the center of a fierce, ruthless political-ideological controversy made up of denigrating personal attacks that paint me as a profiteer, almost like an extortionist». And again: «I thought that Rai was mine too, after all it belongs to everyone, it belongs to the Italian State, but in the end they told me 'you don't come in', like an unwanted guest. The sense of democracy has been lost in this country."

After replying yesterday to the prime minister, who had shared the text of the monologue on Facebook citing the alleged 1,800 euro fee requested by the writer , Scurati returns to point the finger at Giorgia Meloni and her choice not to define herself as anti-fascist: «Let's see where she comes from , from the youth militancy in the Italian social movement founded by Almirante and Romualdi, the servants of the German torturers, the massacrers, the shooters". And he adds: «They are the ones who don't want to say that little word and who don't want to dispel the shadows and sever that bond. The shadows walk with them." For this reason, the specter of fascism, in his opinion, still hovers : «It is wrong and misleading to wait for the black shirt. There are other forms of violence, not physical, but verbal, intimidating, new forms of aggression against democracy that have distant roots." And therefore "don't wait for the return of the fascist squads": "They don't march on Rome, they arrive in Rome by winning free and democratic elections" . And again: «When a political leader of such charisma, as Prime Minister Meloni certainly is, who has a very large following, in whose following somewhere down there, also given the political history from which he comes, there is certainly some individual no stranger to violence", "when the leader points the finger at the enemy and the newspapers, or rather the 'squad journalists' supporting the government put you on the front pages, with the headline under 'M.'s man', they draw you a target around the face . Then maybe there is someone aiming at that target. It happens, it has already happened."

The reactions

Meanwhile, the controversy over the matter continues. Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani speaks of a «storm in a teacup» : «I have never allowed myself to call anyone, neither at RAI nor elsewhere, to tell them not to let someone talk. For me this doesn't exist. But we shouldn't exploit everything either", he warns. "The Constitution is structurally anti-fascist and we swear by the Constitution, but the violence perpetrated by those who declare themselves anti-fascist does not belong to us", underlines the Minister of Agriculture Francesco Lollobrigida . «April 25th is an objective fact», he says again, then recalls Sergio Ramelli who was beaten by anti-fascists and adds: «The word anti-fascist, unfortunately, has led to deaths over many years» .

Words to which Riccardo Magi replies from Più Europa, who evokes «the ignoble victimism of the right that wants to deny the value of the Resistance by citing equally ignoble facts that occurred in a season that we hope to have left behind forever». «They are unable to condemn fascism because their existence and their life and political career dates back to twenty years», comments Angelo Bonelli (Avs).

M5s president Giuseppe Conte sides with Scurati: «There was talk of censorship, the Rai manager tried to deny it. The reasons for the cancellation were editorial." "We will not accept any attempt to rewrite our common history, to celebrate the meaning of April 25, which has its roots in Matteotti's values, I would like us to close by saying long live anti-fascist Italy", underlines Elly Schlein from the Democratic Party. And while Bonelli calls for the «immediate resignation» of the director of Rai Insights, Paolo Corsini, Matteo Renzi comments: «This Rai is not the fascist Rai, it is a Rai that takes and gives mediocrity. I don't know if fascism is upon us, mediocrity has already entered."

(Unioneonline/D)

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