The Ghost of Mussolini

by kiddingthecity

The ex-fascist mayor of Rome Mr. Alemanno made the headlines lately, when while visiting Israel refused to call on Fascism ‘as absolute evil’ and labeled it as ‘a complex phenomenon’. The outcry of condemnation  from the Italian Center-Left and the Jewish community at this latest ‘slippage’ is highly justified, but in my view missed the point: they are in fact rehearsing a view of Fascism (with capital letter) as ‘historical norm’ (Walter Benjamin’s Thesis VIII). Mr. Alemanno, on the other hand, suggested a more subtle reading of Fascism when he declared: “Many people joined it in good faith”. It is that ‘good faith’ which should have been addressed, as it highlights the deeply popular roots of fascist ideology, its ability to reinvent itself in many ordinary behaviors and daily actions, and to bring back to Rome, for instance, people like Mr. Alemanno

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Walter Benjamin’s Thesis