...And guess who's already volunteering?With the controversy surrounding Italian Prime Minister Berlusconi's love for young female company and his ill-conceived invitation of new best pal Libyan dictator Colonel Gaddafi, the international press have plenty to talk about.
However, perhaps due to all of the above, something more sinister is taking place away from the limelight. The Italian government has just issued a White paper on law and order that gives the go-ahead to private vigilante groups. While the paper states that such groups will have to sign up to a licensing scheme, it's interesting to take a peek at those who are enthusiastically jumping at the opportunity.
Enter the Guardia Nazionale Italiana, whose website is currently recruiting "true Italian Nationalists and Patriots, people who are able to wear their uniform with pride and dignity, and for everything that it represents, are able to serve our land and the Italian people".
You may be excused if it rings familiar: black trousers with yellow band, black hat donning the Imperial Eagle of the Holy Roman Empire, khaki shirt carrying both Italian flag and a certain symbol (a black sun that is popular amongst German neo-nazis), black armband, black tie and black boots.
Yet any allegation that it may echo a certain period in history are dismissed as 'nonsense'."It's a legitimate way of combating crime", says Home Secretary Roberto Maroni. So why the garish outfits?
The answer comes the moment you take a peek at the people behind the vigilantes. Amidst retired carabinieri and assorted military, there he is, the founding member of the far-right Social Movement (MSI-DN, the group that rose from the ashes of the Fascist Party following Mussolini's death in 1945) and leader of the Italian Nationalist Party, both groups possibly to the right of the BNP.
So next time you hop to Venice, Florence or Milan for your long weekend break, don't be surprised if you spot vigilante squadrons marching along la piazza. You may have to get used to it. And quick.
Click here to find out more about why Italy is currently the most right-wing country in Europe.
11 comments:
And we thought we had a problem with the far-right here in Britain...
I have an Italian friend and she told me that it's entirely a matter for perception. Things over there are happening step by step, people don't tend to have the bigger picture available, so it's not like it's an old skool fascist coup so to speak.
There's one bit, then the other, people get gradually accustomed to one nasty decision after the other, hidden behind the cloack of a clown Prime Minister and his antics and before you know you find a country in deep trouble.
Anyone out there thinking that we should do the same 'otherwise people will vote BNP'?
Silvio Berlusconi= Tony Blair's chum. More I will not say.
What a stupid post and comments.
Do you really know how the things goes here?
Have you ever lived here?
I'm sure both answers are NO, so please shut up and listen for a while.
You have no idea about how hard it is getting up everyday, and recognizing that everyday gets worse. And the problem is not the right party, or Berlusconi, or any Guardia Italiana assholes, nah. The problem is the total absence of discipline, of education, of any fucking kind of social control, of safety. Of protection.
Here many animals are doing what they want. They might be foreigners or people from southern Italy. They can vomit over yor door or on your shoes, and you can't say anything because if you just try to say something you will automatically become a racist, a fascist, a nazist. Oh, fuck off! If someone is an asshole, he's an asshole. He must be treated like he is.
I've seen how things goes abroad. I lived in Austria, in Germany, even in Egypt and in Ireland, and i've seen what the police does to the people that acts that way.
Here police can't do anything, because there are these left wing "clean souls" that protects these persons, so they can do anything they want because they are protected, they are over any kind of law, expecially if they're "poor" rumenians, roms or from maghreb, maybe not even regular on our nation (without a permesso di soggiorno, which is the card to live and work in italy if you're not a EU citizen).
In Italy there are MILLIONS of irregulars, i mean they don't have the right to be on our territory, but they move free on the cities with knives and weapons, selling drugs or being a pimp, and nobody can't say anything to them or he/she might get killed. They're among us, and if they get catched they just get a paper in which there's written they have to go outside Italy in a few days. And you know what? It happens nothing, they throw the paper to the bin and they go on doing what they were doing before.
The result is that you'll never feel comfortable, you can't move outside the door without the fear of being robbed or raped or beated.
You can't go out for a beer, for shopping, for eating with your friend or boyfriend/girl without HAVING FEAR.
I personally lived a sexual assault while I was in a shopping mall, and you know what? That piece of shit is still outside free, protected, ready to assault any other girl.
And i should go on telling you on how life is, but i'm angry and tired. I just feel pissed.
Yeah you have a romantic and touristic point of view... which is not the real life, believe me.
With all this said, do you really think that i must have fear of the Guardia or even of a real dictature? Well, maybe we really need it to clean everything from this big and stinky shit.
So watch out before writing on how things goes in a place you don't know at all. You must live here to know. Without this, it is just a huge amount of bullshits.
Have you ever lived here?
I'm sure both answers are NO, so please shut up and listen for a while.
Well, actually, yes.
So you shut up and don't come and spurt this kind of shit ("Here many animals are doing what they want. They might be foreigners or people from southern Italy.) on this site, you absolute idiot.
And then you say that it's not racist!!!! I mean, how thick are you, you racist scum?
And if you want vigilante groups, then fine. But why do they have to have proto-fascist symbols?
Hahaha, how long have you lived here to know? And when?
I live here NOW. And you have no fucking idea.
You are the idiot, because you're spitting about something that you don't know. Come now and you'll see.
Am I racist? No, I am tired to see all this shit around me. If the problems are caused for the major part from these people, you'll never hear me saying something against paki or chinese or people from other places. You know what? Because they're good persons, they live and work and never create problems.
Ask yourself why we have the majority of irregular immigrants in the whole EU, ask yourself why Italy is on top on the criminal statistics, and ask yourself why for example here it's full of rumenians and austria or slovenia not... and they're even less far.
You know why? Because here they can do what they want, that's the truth, that's why the people are getting angry.
Just come now and you'll see with your eyes. Until that, you haven't a clue about it.
Vigilantes are a problem bigger than an ant.
I'm really pleased Marina replied saying the things that she did.
Because she confirmed simply and directly what the obvious aim of this "vigilante" crap is.
The targets are obvious: "foreigners or people from southern Italy", just in case you'd harbour any vague idea that racism was an issue here.
I mean...how simple can you be, really? At least try and pretend that you're not racist! This is ridiculously obvious.
"Ask yourself why we have the majority of irregular immigrants in the whole EU"
You need to take a look at statistics because this is rubbish. You'll find that Italy is no.3 to 4 in terms of number of immigrants in the EU.
Racists and xenophobes in the UK say that "they all wanna come to the UK". Those in France say the same and are convinced that it's true. You go to Spain, same thing: "They all want to come here. We get them all".
Thank you, Martina, thank you.
And Italy on top of criminal statistics? Ha ha ha! Hello? And that started with the immigrants?
Did Romanians or Albanians invent the Mafia? I didn't know! Have you ever heard of the Mafia or Camorra or Sacra Corona Unita? Thousands of kneecapped people, bombs, extortion racket? Heard of that?
And stupid idiot me thinking those were quintessentially Italian phenomena!!!
And not just in the south. La Mafia del Brenta? Where are they from? Did sexual assaults start with the new wave of immigration? Did no Italians ever inject any smack before immigration began? Wow...it must have been like heaven in your country...!
Oh dear, Marina. You confirm all the most basic stereotypes about xenophobic little racists. In fact, do you wanna know what I think?
I think you're taking the mick and you're actually some leftist in disguise taking the piss big time.
If so, excellent job !
Martina,
several points.
1) The way you make assumptions about people is VERY telling. You start by automatically assuming that I know f.a. about Italy or that I know it "as a tourist". Ma cretina, stai parlando con uno con doppia cittadinanza...!
But even if I knew little about Italy...so I gather you never express any opinion about the US...or Germany...or any country where you didn't spend a significant amount of time???
Is it how your little brain works? How long do you have to live and work before you can express your opinion? 2 years? 7? 13? And then you can? Are you sure? Are opinions that differ from those of Emperor Berlusconi still allowed? Not even abroad?
So back to you: one assumption after the other, about people who write articles and their life; about Southern Italians, about foreigners, the Chinese and the Pakistani.
2) What a stupid post and comments., Huge amounts of bullshit, ,oh fuck off!Shut up
Ma le maniere i tuoi genitori te le hanno insegnate? Se vieni in un sito a lasciare commenti, almeno fallo in maniera cortese.
Did your parents teach you any manners? If you want to come here and leave comments then at least have the deceny to be polite, you idiot!
I know that fascists aren't the most tolerant of people, but you know what, I can always press the button that says delete and make your verbal crap (i.e.le tue puttanate) disappear in 0.5 sec.
3) "Watch out before writing" Ma vaffanculo vai!
4) In English the word 'paki', which you used in your earlier post, is considered extremely racist. You shot yourself in the foot. Again.
5) Like Stan Moss said above, you ask people around the world what the most famous Italian exports are and I guarantee the word 'MAFIA' would make the Top 3. Easily.
It may be a shame, it may be a gross stereotype, but the point is that Italy was hardly crime-free before immigrants settled from the 1990s on. Alas, it's always been considered the country of corruption, slaves who look up to a leader to tell'em what to do ("Francia, Spagna, purche' se magna" -"France or Spain, as long as I gulp my quiche lorraine"), pervy sexist blokes, mad traffic, mafia and organized crime.
I know that people like you have incredibly short memory - it's the basis of fascism, but really, you can't take the piss.
Tra pervertiti alla mostro di Firenze, Pie(t)ro Maso, traffici di droga da nord a sud, Vallanzasca e tutte le mafie del Centro-sud tu vieni a fare la predica del paese ora in mano alla criminalita' degli stranieri!?
Well, maybe we really need it to clean everything from this big and stinky shit.
There it is. Fascism. Pure and simple. Now fuck off.
E la gente como te che mi fa vergognare e seriemente pensare di buttar via il mio passaporto Italiano e che fa pensare agli Europei che gli Italiani sono tutti fascisti.
But remember, people, luckily there are millions of Italians who DISAGREE with Marina. How long that's going to last, that's up to all of us.
Martina, telling people to "shut up" and slamming posts as "bullshit", let alone making half-arsed assumptions about people you know sod all about is completely out of order. Excessive insults and bad language such as what you have demonstrated does your argument no favours whatsoever, and above all is rather aggressive. Aggression of this kind is not tolerated on this blog, and as such you are warned that any future comments like this will be deleted. Think about that before you post your next 500 word comment/torrent of incoherent bile.
Furthermore, who are you to judge people's experiences? Also, what gives you the right to imply that one is not entitled to criticise or pass comment on something unless they've lived for X-amount of time in that place?
Am I allowed to say that Zimbabwe is a very poor country with an extremely high level of AIDS related diseases and a tyrannical dictatorship, or should I take a couple of years off and live there for a while before my opinion is valid?
As for your ridiculous xenophobic attitude regarding 'Southerners and foreigners' how on earth can you say something like this (N.b. I noticed your nice use of the term 'paki', may I call you an 'aye-tye' or a 'greasy wop'? Pasta guzzling mandolinist? How does that make you feel?) and then announce proudly that you aren't a racist? Martina, please. Do yourself a favour and actually look at what you're writing.
I'm sure you don't mind those little people from Magreb, Albania or Romania when they clean your flat or wipe your ailing grandmother's backside, do you?
Because that's what most of them do in your country. I find your comment about 'them' roaming free to commit crime hilarious, given Italy's apalling rate of organised crime, with warlords and Mafia bosses strolling about your towns free and easy without being convicted as they have the police wrapped around their little fingers.
And no dear, before you say so, this isn't just a stereotype, it's fact. Obviously this doesn't contribute to your idea of 'stinking shit' because these people are Italian. Did you read that? Italian.
I'd have thought living abroad as you say you have (was it long enough? Did you have a 'permesso di soggiorno'?) would have opened up your decrepit mind a bit.
Those Poofs and shirtlifters, filthy aren't they? They're ruining our society. They're mocking our moral bearings. Those bloody benders and faggots and trannies.
Ooh, I forgot. I'm not homophobic by the way.
I can't believe how ignorant some people are, just because they live there 'now' and they obviously don't care about history (that has a way of repeating itself!!!),they think they know it all and they use words like: racist, fascist, nazi,dictatorship,etc without even being aware of what these truly stand for. But of course bad language is allowed.Calling people animals is also ok.Not having a clue about statistics or that some of the people mentioned (with the wrong spelling tho,i mean,come on!!!) are actually EU citizens haha...well,all in the name of the so called 'discipline'..It's quite sad honestly..
please..don't believe to what marina says..is people like her that vote for berlusconi and lega nord and they are trying to make us believe we live in a state of fear because you can't go out for shopping without fear!that's not true!!this is what they wanna us to believe, so we can be happy when the ronde are going to be legal!yes, i'm scared..but because i think that italy is going to be a dictatorship..!!and they say they don't want immigrants, but when it comes to do hard work they search for romenian, chinese because they "cost" less..this is bullshit!
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