As a descendant of Jewish refugees who fled the continent for the UK to escape the Shoah, I am often struck by how people have taken Never Again to mean “I don’t need to worry about this because it could never happen here” and not “we are all — me personally, my parents, my children, my spouse, my friends and family — capable of being appalling versions of ourselves and behaving just like the ordinary Germans who ran the camps; and we had better face that fact straight on if we want to avoid that fate”. I guess it’s just easier to kid ourselves about this.
I agree and that's exactlywhat I felt. I think the UK (and i would guess the US is even worse) have a slighlty black and white approach becuase they never even had to deal with occupation and collaboration, as well as not having a home-grown dictatorship. That's what I take from that comment from the Holocaust expert (who worked in the States but is of European descendence). Saying 'they acted that way because they were evil' doesn't explain why people acted the way they did. You have the extreme cases like the Eichmann trial and the banality of evil, and then you have so many people lower down the chain. But, as I'm sure you know, it's not an easy conversation to have. Thank you for your comment and your insight.
Are you implying that Israelis and Jews should just hang around and wait to be slaughtered to one short of a man because Hamas are hiding behind a "civilian" shield?
Every effort is made by the IDF to avoid civilian "Palestimian" casualties. The same can't be said of their vicious overlords who seem more than content for their "countrymen to die to further their obscene, evil propaganda.
I saw a BBC article about how Palestinians are starting to tell Hamas to go fuck off. Considering the brutal methods Hamas has used to keep Palestinians in line, it takes a level of desperation and courage no American has ever had to live through to do that. As Hamas is the Palestinians' worst problem so the Israelis' own worst problem is their own West Bank extremists - remember Menachem Begin was gunned down by an Israeli.
This is what happens when you hold back a population for decades. After reading her post, I don't see why you are surprised. The people who should know what marginalization looks like, and guard against it are the Jewish people. But once in power, a government does many things "the people" would never want done. Keep denying Palestinians a country, and this continues for another decade or more. I could be wrong, but if they keep doing what they are doing, it won't solve the underlying problem.
"Palestinians" do not exist in history as there is no country and never was a country called Palestine. It was an invention from the 1960s of a certain group of terrorist Arabs to weaponize and legitimize their intent to rid the world of Jews and to claim the verifiable homeland of Israel.
Do you think it is just and moral for any group of people throughout the world to come together, write a fictitious history and claim to a tract of land and declare that you will wipe out the people who are living there?
Perhaps a group of people of immigrant settler stock from the USA may care to write a history of themselves which claims that their ancestors were there before the indigenous "Red Indians". Are they to be allowed their "rights"? Are they to be told "That's fine. Go ahead and slaughter us all."?
It wouldn’t be happening if Europe hadn’t decided to export their post war Jewish problem. It wouldn’t be happening if Palestinians had not been dispossessed and herded into camps. It wouldn’t be happening if the Israeli population hadn’t expanded and required/enabled ever more appropriation of Palestinian land. The people of Gaza didn’t cause any of that. Poor devils.
Besides deaths of civilians, there is zero correlation between these two events. But go ahead, describe complex historical events in two sentences. And we wonder why social media has made us dumber.
Maybe social media has made you dumber, maybe it’s just made you aware of how dumb you always were. But go ahead with your ‘winning’ arguments. And you wonder why you can’t make friends and influence people.
A very close friend of mine is Dutch. One of her grandfathers was very kind, gentle, friendly. Liked by everyone. One was difficult, abrasive, isolated from his community and borderline abusive to his closest family. The nice one was a passive collaborator with the Nazi occupiers- he didn‘t do anything *terrible* but he turned a blind eye and benefited from the occupation (job etc). The terrible grandfather is in the list of righteous among the nations. He was an asshole, and he saved lives…..
I think the like between good and evil is super blurred. And none of us really know where we would be. I like to think I would do one thing but what is that meant my child’s safety was threatened if I stood up? It’s so complicated.
I think 'turning a blind eye' sums up the sins of many Europeans at that time. What an amazing story. I guess so many people would also never have got over the trauma or guilt - or both. Who knows what the 'terrible' grandfather had seen, and his coping mechanisms.... A whole generation was traumatised in a way I don't think we (westerners who have known decades of relative peace) can fully comprehend.
You appear to literally be ‘turning a blind eye’ to the fascist far-right holocaust being done right now to thousands of families in Gaza by the Zionist war machine. And it is done with near complete support from Western and continental European powers. So it is no longer ‘inconceivable’ that it should happen again: as John Gray says, the best proof of possibility for historical events is their actual (re)occurrence
My mother was a Fascist, more precisely the Secretary of the women's chapter in her place (a suburb of Pisa). She joined for opportunistic reasons (to keep her family in the system) and dealt mainly with social events. In 1943 she did not join the Repubblica di Salo', was denounced as antifascist by an anonymus, likely a man she had rejected; the Repubblichino official who received the letter shredded it and told my mother to be careful. My father was a member of the Partito Popolare di Sturzo, but married the "wrong" girl (the daughter of a prominent Fascist family - not my mother, this was his first marrige), and when applied for a job in the Naval Academy the Carabinieri got a very negative reference letter from the local Fascist authorities. The officer who received the letter threw it into the bin, said that he never received anything and my father got the job - thankfully, the Armed Forces never required an oeth of allegiance to the regime, only to the King. My parents were both lucky - many others weren't. So, I agree with you - Fascism was less extreme than Nazism, but still arbitrary - dictatorships always are.
Wow what a story! Thank you for sharing. Another thing that I think always bears highlighting to a non-italian readership is the huge difference that coming from areas that were occupied by the Nazis caused. For example Sardinia never fell under Nazi occupation (and fascist collaboration) after 1943. Speaking personally, my grandfather's story would have been much harder to tell if that had been the case.Presumably he would have been asked to hand over the Jews that had been identified by the 1938 census. The South of Italy lived its own horrors, but the areas North of Rome that bore the brunt of Nazi Fascism bear very different scars. I've met very few Brits or Americans (apart from historians of course) who have any idea about that, and to me it's a key difference.
My mother was in Tuscany, and remained there throughout. In September 1943 my father was in Venice with the Naval Academy. The officers and cadets succeeded in hijacking a freighter and sailed down to the South; he remained in Brindisi until the end of the war. As I said, they were lucky. I also met another Fascist - a "fascista della prima ora", as was said at the time: my mother's family doctor. He was really a nationalist and had no particular understanding of the economic and social side (bth somewhat theoretical) of fascism. And I also had some conversation with a neo-Fascist - too young to have lived in the Ventennio: an entrepreneur who liked the social/economic doctrine of the early Fascism.
Looking back, I think that I benefited from the dfferences between my parents: age (fifteen years), class (middle and working), profession (artist and mathematician), politics (right and left); I was always exposed to more than one side of any matter. Plus, they were older than me - 43 and 58 years respectively. This gave them perspective. So, yes, I was lucky too.
Firstly, I have to admit that I am a Brit and a Brit with no known Italian ancestry, in modern times at least. However, I am also a Brit who has studied modern European history, who speaks fluent Italian, who attended university in Italy and who wrote two theses on fascism (with a small 'f'), one on Pétainism and one on the early years of Mussolini's Italy.
From this background, I am wondering if you, or your British side, have fallen into the usual British trap of only calling it fascism when it is practised by foreigners.
Leaving aside the race riots of 1919 and the 1930s (and post war, too), British history is replete with actions of the type we would today label as fascist or fascistic - from the response to Irish Nationalism, the Boer War, the Llanelli railway riots, gas attacks on Iraq (planned even if not carried out), Amritsar, the General Strike, the Bengal famine, blatant racism, suppression of the Mau-Mau, and ebullient praise for “the Roman genius” of Mussolini, “the greatest lawgiver among living men”.
Perhaps we are too quick to dismiss British Fascism are the rantings of a minority in the UK simply because to analyse the history of far-right thought in the country because to do so would mean that we have to look too closely at some of our long-held and treasured national myths.
But is it time now to start killing some of our sacred cows?
Hi Stephan, thank you for your comment. I would never argue that the UK has no historical sins to answer for (few former great powers don't), but fascism was first and foremost a dictatorship which erased democracy WITHIN Italy and suppressed and punished internal dissent. The UK has never been a dictatorship. Again, I'm not defending every action of the British government but I don't think we can say the the UK was fascist at any point, as the removal of all democratic rights is at the core of fascism.
I am with you only so far. The UK was frequently a dictatorship, which erased democratic and traditional rights, just not in England, as any Irishman, Highland Scot or Welsh-speaker, Australian Aborigine, native Canadian, Kikuyu, Bengali or Zulu would tell you
I would argue there is value in not using the word "fascist" in these discussions as synonyms with "bad", or even "authoritarian". There are distinctive fascist elements that were present in Fascist Italy, and in related European movements, which were fortunately never present in Britain. Think Blackshirts as just one example. It is proper that there be a separate word for that sort of thing which doesn't also include every instance of colonialism with very different elements and ideological underpinnings.
Where to start, after the article and film I am left feeling quiet, saddened and thoughtful.
I am not surprised by the far right rioting in the UK. There has been a drip drip drip of hatred and blame towards immigrants for years from Nigel Farage and the then Tory Government. The BNP and Tommy Robinson.......Theresa May sending vans saying go home if you are here illegally through parts of London. I was an immigrant in the UK at the time. As a white Australian I know I wasn't the target audience but it still hurt me inside, I had made Britian my home and had contributed to my community but I felt the sting of discrimination and the knowledge that where would this end, would they eventually come for me.
I worked in Outdoor Advertising for a while and my two white male superiors would go on hate filled rants about immigrants. I got to a point where I couldn't stand listening to their ranting any longer for my sake and for the sake of other immigrants who had come to Britain. Of course their resposne was we don't mean you, you have a right to be here, (British mother), we mean illegals. As your film shows it is the standard but false response when one challenges these attitudes. I also put in a complaint about racism at the same company about my immediate superior, our mutual boss said what racism. In my innocence I was shocked by that response. I had sat there for months hearing someone using a derogatory tone of voice and making derogatory assumptions about a particular ethnic group and again I couldn't sit there listening to it any longer. The person I complained about was upset and didn't understand the problem......I had to explain about tone of voice, assumptions, etc. the upside was he confided in someone else who then felt able to call out the racism that was happening.
Your film also reminds me of seeing holocaust memorials in France. Something we don't see in the UK and very confronting emotionally. Being in Vence to visit the chapel built by Matisse and walking into town each day and seeing a little grouping of stones that was clearly meaningful. They were broken headstones with the details of the two deportations to death camps that took place and the names of the people sent to die. I cried then and the memory still brings tears to my eyes.
I spent a lot of time in and around Berlin in the early 90s, the Eastern areas outside of Berlin still had the concrete roads built by Hitler and you could spot the Nazi architecture in Berlin. I felt like the ghosts of the past were talking to me through the built environment. I also visited Berlin when it was still divided, I felt like West Berlin was like an open prison with slightly mad inhabitants and I had trouble getting out of East Berlin because I had a different haircut to the one in my passport. A very small taste of the fear used in repressive societies.
I fear for the future, the more money that is sucked out of the general economy and hoarded by the wealthy, the more that people are displaced by war and famine, the more that people are under educated, the more that people are told look over at those people who are different they are the problem...the more I hear the echoes of history crashing into our current world.
To finish, that is a very painful family history for you to carry. I am ashamed of why my mothers parents emigrated to Australia. My Grandfather was an Ophthalmologist and was against the NHS.
HI Susan, thank you for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your experience. The "oh but we don't mean you" mainly to white immigrants is very common and no less painful for it. Also, Brexit still meant millions of EU citizens (mainly white for a variety of reasons, probably around 85%) had to reapply for the very right to live in the country. If we're going to look for a silver lining (hey, i'm desperate here) I'd say that the recent riots brought to the surface something that many in the UK chose to ignore. Facing up to it can only be a good thing. As you say we don't have Holocaust memorials in the UK in the same way as in continental Europe for obvious reasons, but the Imperial War Museum had a very interesting and powerful WW2 exhibition not that long ago. If it's still there it's definitely worth seeing.
Incredible account. Yes, history’s echoes. Sounds like a great book title. Seems like you might start writing… from a different perspective yet again. The more voices, the better.
I read your family story about your grand father with interest. I am Belgian. However, there is Italian blood line from my maternal grandmother (Palermo). My family immigrated in the Belgium Congo in 1954. For me, as a child it appears to be a paradise. However, sadly nothing stay the same for long. Independence came in 1960 and war started, killing, pillaging,etc..
I was sent to boarding school in Belgium at the tender age of 10. Far from my others seven siblings to a very strict Catholics boarding school.
I felt lonely for a while. However, i realised quickly that I had to "get on with it" as Brit would say. I did and became an "Independent minded person" that I am today. Life teach you to adapt or die. After some years in Belgium Institute my parents recalled for my return in Africa. Eventually they evacuated to another town with all of us including my paternel grand mother (altogether eleven of us).
Peace did not last long in Africa. The latest place was Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe. On and off my parents lost three times their homes. One of the good things to happened to me, is when I met my future husband. A Scottish man. Because of war, my fiance decided to go back to UK so I went with him. It was a cultural shock. From now on no more French speaking. I had to learn English and Scottish dialect fast as I went to live in a beautiful hamlet in Scotland with my future in laws. After few months, we decided to go in England as my fiancé had a sibling there. Years went by, I went to University, got a Post degree in Management Studies, worked for Local authorities, started my own Consultancy Limited company. After retirement I volunteer to be "An co-opted Independent Member for the Northamptonshire police, fire and crime panel for eight years. I resigned in February 2024 because of corruption and I was not prepared to remain silent. What I have seen in UK since those three little girls in Southport were murdered is very frightening. However, it appears to be caused by a very small group of people being directed by outside interest to undermine the British ways of life. I agree completely with your analysis of fascism because my spouse confirms that the British have no idea of the true meaning of fascism as they have never experienced it. Whereas in Europe we have. The last invasion that Britain had was in 1066. Everyone remembered that date even today!
As the child of German parents born in Berlin in 1931 and 1932, I get where you're coming from. They were too young to be participants in anything nasty and of course too young to have voted or agitated for/against the Nazis before 1933, unlike my grandparents. According to my mother, her father was vocally against the National Socialists until he was taken away by the authorities and didn't come home for 3 days. He never spoke to her or her siblings about what happened during that interval, but they observed that he stopped speaking against the Party afterwards. Would I persist in the good fight if I were in his shoes? I'd like to think that I would, but who knows? I wonder how many people today would be able or willing to tolerate a few hours of mistreatment, never mind a few days, before agreeing to adjust their principles.
I totally agree with you. My father was born in 1929, so of course blameless of anything his own father did, but I do often wonder about generational trauma, and how my dad, who was 16 at the end of WW2 so definitely old enough to understand some things, had been affected by it all. To my eternal regret, I never asked him about it. Whether he would actually have shared his thoughts is another matter.
I didn't need to ask. When she was past 80, my mother suddenly opened up about the more distressing aspects of her childhood. I'm glad that I know about them, I guess, but it took a metaphorical minute to assimilate the information. To your point about generational trauma, I've realized since her revelations that the information explains a lot about how she moved through the world and how she raised me.
I bet it did. I hope it brought your mother some relief to share her memories. My father never did. Some things I can guess but I'll never really know.
Yes, unfortunately Anglos generally, including many/most in the media, have virtually no idea at all about Italian fascism until 1945. At the same time, the words "fascist"/"fascism", as applied to any non-Italian phenomenon, long ago shed much meaning: as long ago as 1944 Mr E. Blair (George Orwell) said that the terms had become so meaningless that calling someone a "fascist" seemed to mean little more than saying you thought they were a bully.
I'd go as far as to say that the terms should be spelt differently (in English) to distinguish them, and since that strange man Mussolini, along with assorted ideological fathers (nessune madri, fortunatamente) of the movement such as Gentile, invented the term, rather inventively and deliberately harking back to cultural practices of Ancient Rome, I think the non-Italian terms should henceforth be spelt "fasshist" and "fasshism".
The low-foreheaded provincial UK rioters of the other day are really more trivial as a phenomenon than the media seems to be claiming, which isn't to say that immigration can be dismissed as a poltical concern in the UK, far from it. But really, comparing those "fasshists" to the elaborately constructed, although laughable, ideology underpinning Italian fascism of Il Duce is like comparing ... il gesso con il formaggio (per esempio).
You're absolutely right, I almost added a line or two about how the term 'fascism' when used in English is a generic term whereas in Italian it's obviously anchored in the two decades of Mussolini's rule. Then that leads to a discussion about what makes fascism distinct from other dictatorships, if anything does.....and I felt it would lead to another post! But thank you for pointing it out. Il gesso con il formaggio made me laugh!
Barbara, I look forward to your book on your grandfather! You touch on an important truth when you say that we in the English-speaking world think ourselves incapable of fascist horrors. I wrote an essay recently in which I grapple with that same issue. I hope you enjoy it. https://katesusong.substack.com/p/is-anything-worse-than-this-election
It is not clear from your comments here how many Italians supported Mussolini, or at least overtly went along with fascism, before Mussolini came to power. Often, once a regime such as this is in power, many will go along to get along, without necessarily believing sincerely in the regime's ideology. Perhaps your film addresses this.
Hi David. The film is 48 minutes long and as you know the topic is vast do I don't get into this particular aspect in too much detail. But the end of WW1 was crucial to support for Mussolini, especially among men who had come back from the front. Italians felt aggrieved with the peace settlements post WW1 and felt they hadn't got their due (called vittoria mutilata in italian - the mutilated victory) so there was huge resentment towards the government, and also fear of rising communism, in light of events in Russia. Mussolini capitalised on all of this and, through violence, silenced (and also had murdered, in the case of socialist and anti-fascist politician Giacomo Matteotti) many within the opposition. So there was definitely support for Mussolini before he took complete power in 1925.
My grandfather for example had been a fighter pilot il WW1 and that definitely had an impact on his decision to join Mussolini.
Barbara, I absolutely LOVE your perspective on things. Your documentary was fascinating to me. I’m a Yank, and among other things you’ve taught me, had no idea Mussolini was in power for almost 20 years BEFORE the war.
But I’d like to hear your thoughts on something. To me, the recent right wing riots reminded me of the protests the right wing launched in the US after Obama was elected: the “Tea Party”, who protested deficit spending and our federal debt; the anti-abortionists, wanting to ban abortions; the anti-immigrationists;…. You didn’t hear a SOUND out of these folks while Bush was president. It’s like they waited for Obama to get elected. Granted, the protests here weren’t riots, but you had to wonder where all these people had been for the previous 8 years.
I know immigration has been a huge issue in the UK for a long time, creating an opportunity for the likes of Farage, et al., to foment Brexit. However, I don’t believe these riots would’ve happened if the Tories had retained power. The timing is almost like the rioters had waited under a rock, and the election of Starmer had them looking for the tiniest spark. What do you think?
Hi Lou, thanks for the comment. I'll put my hands up and say that I wasn't in the UK while these riots happened, so while I obviously followed events, I wasn't as connected as I would have been had I been on air. My sense is the two weren't really connected. The spark was the horrific killing in Southport. The question I'd ask an expert is whether the Far Right has felt emboldened by the anti-immigration Reform UK party doing well, and the impact (well-documented) of social media. But I'll be honest, those are the areas I'd explore in an interview rather than passing judgement on them. What's for sure is the Kier Starmer has had one heck of a baptism of fire!
The distancing aspect is excellently put - the major problem with the way that many understand Fascism is that they mentally localise it to a specific time & space. When post-Brexit the UK showed increasing signs of the right and far-right sliding into even word-by-word repetitions of 1930s Goebbelsian propaganda, many reacted quite vehemently to the labeling of these aspects as Fascist. Their mental image was and is entirely formed by Hollywoodian images of marching boots and rallies - the fact that Fascism started well before that is lost on them. So is the key symptomology of the early stages and how it matured. On top of this, that aforementioned distancing gives extra oomph to these (entirely wrong) reactions. It is astonishing how as a result those large groups and even layers of populace are as easy to manipulate as their predecessors were just 90-odd years ago.
Thank you - I also think the distancing/demonising issue is so important. Not the easiest concept to explain either sometimes. There's a lot of resistance to it, unsurprisingly perhaps
Indeed, especially as it is uncomfortable for some... In the same way that I, having grown up during a communist dictatorship, found that looking at the totalitarian elements of it was dismissed by some as lesson to be learned for the future. Simply because not localising something in the past and in one geographical area, accepting it as a general phenomenon that can occur anywhere and has been surfacing in many places on the map, was uncomfortable. It was much more comfortable to say that totalitarianism's lessons and warnings are quarantined safely in time & space and we look at it as an inert museum piece.
I'm reading this in March 2025 from the Disunited States of America.
Thank you for this family history that underscores the great political divides that occur in families.
We're having those divisions here, right now.
I wonder what our descendants will be saying about us in 2125. I sincerely hope they will be reflecting on how some of their families may have went down the path of fascism, but thank goodness Democracy survived.
Thanks for your comment, funny how this post that I wrote last year is suddenly going viral. Or maybe it's not surprising at all. I like your point about 2125. I do think people sometimes need distance to fully appreciate how events unfolded and the forces behind them. I think we're in a period of transition, and we haven't seen the violence which was/is the hallmark of fascism. When I look at the details of Italian fascism, it's the way that internal violence was used to suppress dissent which strikes me. And also how gradual Mussolini's take over was.
After yesterday's events (3/14/25), I had to write about it. At the Department of Justice, DJT declared, “Now, as the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.” Under the Constitution, the president is not the "chief law enforcement officer in our country." He is assuming another made-up role that allows him to wield retribution for his perceived wrongs.
Ten Senators of the Democrat part also refused to stand up to him and gave him and Elon Musk six more months to slash and burn the structure of the federal government and replace it mainly with AI coded by the Muskrats under Musk.
2125 popped into my head again. I had to write about it.
For me this was an extremely interesting read, thank you. Maybe as I deal with and write about similar subjects, and I share a common identity of bilingual person straddling borders and cultures between Italy and Britain. My grandfather was never a fascist, he was a communist, made prisoner and fighting against the regime, but then made 'prisoner' by the Americans after Sept. 1943. I have collected his story and written about him. I share a similar story also in being a bilingual person with an Italian father and English mother; I am so fascinated by unearthing the memories from that time and all that followed. And I really resonate with what you've written in your article: as Italians, we have a first hand experience of what Fascism was and meant, while when I talk about it in the UK, jaws mostly drop. But one thing we should understand (as you rightly point out) is that no-one is immune: the "I would never do that" reaction is typical of those who respond to the issue by denial and projection. Fascism (and Nazism) are far from dead: they are deeply embedded in the psyche not just of Italians and Germans, but any culture (and what an apt time to say this, given what's going on across the pond). In fact, I would even maintain that Americans, not having known this reality first-hand, cannot see it and recognise it. Otherwise they would have never elected Mr T. I am also wary of what C. G. Jung said, very aptly in his time: when an archetype holds sway, and has a culture ensnared in its grip, it's very hard to recognise it. It applied to the German world of his time as it applies to today. This is the power of the archetype. Anyway, this is a long, complex and multilayered subject, and I could write about it for ages. So I am going to stop there and thank you again. I would really be interested in seeing your film. And if you ever wished to and had the time for it, I would be grateful if you could give a look to my Substack page and articles. Many thanks. I attach a link to my latest article; this would take you to all the other ones, should you wish to. https://open.substack.com/pub/maxcalligola/p/mother-tongue-9-the-italian-job?r=1ms4k0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
This is my first post on this substack. Unfortunately I didn't watch your documentary, but will dig it out. My reaction when I saw the trailer for it at the time was I recall one of "oh here is someone seeking absolution or an excuse or using their family to mine for a story." Reading your article here I wish I had watched it. Your article has given me food for thought. I am English / British and my grandfathers both fought in WW2, one against the Germans & Italians in North Africa, Italy and France leading a tank squadron. The other against the Japanese in Burma with the RAF. Both survived. Neither spoke of the horrors of war, of the consequence of "good peoples" risking all to over through the evils of Nazi and fascist intent. A significant part of our national narrative for those who grew up in the shadow of the cold war was the overcoming of a great evil, of equating Hitler to the Devil himself. We make fun of the ridiculous nature of British Fascists. Maybe because we know them as 'normal' British people if makes their parody easier, and creates a 'them' in our consciousness. I understand your point very well that Fascism seeps into the political situation through various guises, and morphs over time unchecked into what it became. I can understand the reaction of British people to you saying your grandfather was a fascist. Firstly they are reacting to the fact you are volunteering information that closely links you to this overwhelming evil that cost us so much to overcome (lives, our national wealth, our empire even - for good or bad), but also to calibrate from your statement where your agenda is going - to explain / excuse his behaviour, or (as I think is your intent) that without understanding how prosaically this evil could begin, we are not sufficiently prepared - as individuals or as a people - to spot the early signs and to steer away from allowing the situation to arise. As we are reliant on Holocaust survivors and their offspring to remind us of their horrors, so maybe we are reliant on the people who lived through and supported fascism, or their offspring, to remind us of the perils of ignoring the early signs. It is interesting that you bring 'Islamophobia' into the article. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on whether you think the British public's reaction around Southport is fundamentally a 'racist' reaction to 'others', or if indeed it is one of seeing the similarities within the hatred and violence of extreme Islamist doctrine and actions, and those of the Nazi regime in the lead up to the war and during it? I take fully your point that Fascism involves the use of violence. But so does anti-fascism, such as the response to the British Fascist Party in east London in the 1930s. As did the Allies need to do to overcome the Axis powers in WW2. It would be interesting to also have Soviet or Chinese perspectives on the social manipulations, violence and coercion (or willing participation in) their respective dictatorships through the 20th century. There must be, I just can't recall any that I've watched or read. My final thought is the worrying similarity between your description of those who joined the fascist party in Italy to secure jobs, positions, advancement, etc. (This is also documented in Germany, of course), and the recent phenomena of needing to publicly exhibit only woke views or else risk losing your agency in the public spaces, of being ostracised and losing the ability to earn a living, as you described happening in Germany. Of course the modern British experience of this is mainly on-line and to do with opinions, rather than because the victims are of a particular race, but the parallels are clear. Thank you for posting this article - I will seek out your documentary soon. Yours, thoughtfully
Peter, thank you so much for your comment, lots of food for thought. Thank you also for perfectly phrasing what I feel happens when I tell Britons about my family history "they're trying to calibrate what your agenda is". I'm genuinely looking at the issue because I think it's important to fully understand it, and I think there's a difference between explaining my grandfather's behaviour and excusing it. But it often feels like a minefield. Regarding the Southport murders riots, I think we'll be analysing the issues behind them for years. Some of the attacks against mosques and refugee hotels were definitely racist, but disinformation played a part, the horror of the crime itself, a lack of trust in institutions and a sense of exasperation felt by many over a lack of control (real or perceived) of migration. I wrote the original article in August when we were still in the thick of it, but I still think those riots were a wake up call for the UK. The documentary is currently offline due to the expiry of some archive rights, but I'm trying to sort it and I hope it will be back up soon.
Fascinating discussion here. I am American, with both sides of my family heritage from The Two Kingdoms of Sicily: paternally from Palermo and Ragusa in Sicily, and maternally from Basilicata in the Puglia region of Southern Italy. I would love to read your book.
As a descendant of Jewish refugees who fled the continent for the UK to escape the Shoah, I am often struck by how people have taken Never Again to mean “I don’t need to worry about this because it could never happen here” and not “we are all — me personally, my parents, my children, my spouse, my friends and family — capable of being appalling versions of ourselves and behaving just like the ordinary Germans who ran the camps; and we had better face that fact straight on if we want to avoid that fate”. I guess it’s just easier to kid ourselves about this.
I agree and that's exactlywhat I felt. I think the UK (and i would guess the US is even worse) have a slighlty black and white approach becuase they never even had to deal with occupation and collaboration, as well as not having a home-grown dictatorship. That's what I take from that comment from the Holocaust expert (who worked in the States but is of European descendence). Saying 'they acted that way because they were evil' doesn't explain why people acted the way they did. You have the extreme cases like the Eichmann trial and the banality of evil, and then you have so many people lower down the chain. But, as I'm sure you know, it's not an easy conversation to have. Thank you for your comment and your insight.
We’ve seen it many times. Cambodia’s killing fields, oh I can’t be bothered making a list ….. We’re watching it again right now in Gaza.
Are you implying that Israelis and Jews should just hang around and wait to be slaughtered to one short of a man because Hamas are hiding behind a "civilian" shield?
Every effort is made by the IDF to avoid civilian "Palestimian" casualties. The same can't be said of their vicious overlords who seem more than content for their "countrymen to die to further their obscene, evil propaganda.
I saw a BBC article about how Palestinians are starting to tell Hamas to go fuck off. Considering the brutal methods Hamas has used to keep Palestinians in line, it takes a level of desperation and courage no American has ever had to live through to do that. As Hamas is the Palestinians' worst problem so the Israelis' own worst problem is their own West Bank extremists - remember Menachem Begin was gunned down by an Israeli.
This is what happens when you hold back a population for decades. After reading her post, I don't see why you are surprised. The people who should know what marginalization looks like, and guard against it are the Jewish people. But once in power, a government does many things "the people" would never want done. Keep denying Palestinians a country, and this continues for another decade or more. I could be wrong, but if they keep doing what they are doing, it won't solve the underlying problem.
"Palestinians" do not exist in history as there is no country and never was a country called Palestine. It was an invention from the 1960s of a certain group of terrorist Arabs to weaponize and legitimize their intent to rid the world of Jews and to claim the verifiable homeland of Israel.
Do you think it is just and moral for any group of people throughout the world to come together, write a fictitious history and claim to a tract of land and declare that you will wipe out the people who are living there?
Perhaps a group of people of immigrant settler stock from the USA may care to write a history of themselves which claims that their ancestors were there before the indigenous "Red Indians". Are they to be allowed their "rights"? Are they to be told "That's fine. Go ahead and slaughter us all."?
1200:49,000
It wouldn’t be happening if Europe hadn’t decided to export their post war Jewish problem. It wouldn’t be happening if Palestinians had not been dispossessed and herded into camps. It wouldn’t be happening if the Israeli population hadn’t expanded and required/enabled ever more appropriation of Palestinian land. The people of Gaza didn’t cause any of that. Poor devils.
Besides deaths of civilians, there is zero correlation between these two events. But go ahead, describe complex historical events in two sentences. And we wonder why social media has made us dumber.
Maybe social media has made you dumber, maybe it’s just made you aware of how dumb you always were. But go ahead with your ‘winning’ arguments. And you wonder why you can’t make friends and influence people.
A very close friend of mine is Dutch. One of her grandfathers was very kind, gentle, friendly. Liked by everyone. One was difficult, abrasive, isolated from his community and borderline abusive to his closest family. The nice one was a passive collaborator with the Nazi occupiers- he didn‘t do anything *terrible* but he turned a blind eye and benefited from the occupation (job etc). The terrible grandfather is in the list of righteous among the nations. He was an asshole, and he saved lives…..
I think the like between good and evil is super blurred. And none of us really know where we would be. I like to think I would do one thing but what is that meant my child’s safety was threatened if I stood up? It’s so complicated.
I think 'turning a blind eye' sums up the sins of many Europeans at that time. What an amazing story. I guess so many people would also never have got over the trauma or guilt - or both. Who knows what the 'terrible' grandfather had seen, and his coping mechanisms.... A whole generation was traumatised in a way I don't think we (westerners who have known decades of relative peace) can fully comprehend.
You appear to literally be ‘turning a blind eye’ to the fascist far-right holocaust being done right now to thousands of families in Gaza by the Zionist war machine. And it is done with near complete support from Western and continental European powers. So it is no longer ‘inconceivable’ that it should happen again: as John Gray says, the best proof of possibility for historical events is their actual (re)occurrence
My mother was a Fascist, more precisely the Secretary of the women's chapter in her place (a suburb of Pisa). She joined for opportunistic reasons (to keep her family in the system) and dealt mainly with social events. In 1943 she did not join the Repubblica di Salo', was denounced as antifascist by an anonymus, likely a man she had rejected; the Repubblichino official who received the letter shredded it and told my mother to be careful. My father was a member of the Partito Popolare di Sturzo, but married the "wrong" girl (the daughter of a prominent Fascist family - not my mother, this was his first marrige), and when applied for a job in the Naval Academy the Carabinieri got a very negative reference letter from the local Fascist authorities. The officer who received the letter threw it into the bin, said that he never received anything and my father got the job - thankfully, the Armed Forces never required an oeth of allegiance to the regime, only to the King. My parents were both lucky - many others weren't. So, I agree with you - Fascism was less extreme than Nazism, but still arbitrary - dictatorships always are.
Wow what a story! Thank you for sharing. Another thing that I think always bears highlighting to a non-italian readership is the huge difference that coming from areas that were occupied by the Nazis caused. For example Sardinia never fell under Nazi occupation (and fascist collaboration) after 1943. Speaking personally, my grandfather's story would have been much harder to tell if that had been the case.Presumably he would have been asked to hand over the Jews that had been identified by the 1938 census. The South of Italy lived its own horrors, but the areas North of Rome that bore the brunt of Nazi Fascism bear very different scars. I've met very few Brits or Americans (apart from historians of course) who have any idea about that, and to me it's a key difference.
My mother was in Tuscany, and remained there throughout. In September 1943 my father was in Venice with the Naval Academy. The officers and cadets succeeded in hijacking a freighter and sailed down to the South; he remained in Brindisi until the end of the war. As I said, they were lucky. I also met another Fascist - a "fascista della prima ora", as was said at the time: my mother's family doctor. He was really a nationalist and had no particular understanding of the economic and social side (bth somewhat theoretical) of fascism. And I also had some conversation with a neo-Fascist - too young to have lived in the Ventennio: an entrepreneur who liked the social/economic doctrine of the early Fascism.
Looking back, I think that I benefited from the dfferences between my parents: age (fifteen years), class (middle and working), profession (artist and mathematician), politics (right and left); I was always exposed to more than one side of any matter. Plus, they were older than me - 43 and 58 years respectively. This gave them perspective. So, yes, I was lucky too.
Firstly, I have to admit that I am a Brit and a Brit with no known Italian ancestry, in modern times at least. However, I am also a Brit who has studied modern European history, who speaks fluent Italian, who attended university in Italy and who wrote two theses on fascism (with a small 'f'), one on Pétainism and one on the early years of Mussolini's Italy.
From this background, I am wondering if you, or your British side, have fallen into the usual British trap of only calling it fascism when it is practised by foreigners.
Leaving aside the race riots of 1919 and the 1930s (and post war, too), British history is replete with actions of the type we would today label as fascist or fascistic - from the response to Irish Nationalism, the Boer War, the Llanelli railway riots, gas attacks on Iraq (planned even if not carried out), Amritsar, the General Strike, the Bengal famine, blatant racism, suppression of the Mau-Mau, and ebullient praise for “the Roman genius” of Mussolini, “the greatest lawgiver among living men”.
Perhaps we are too quick to dismiss British Fascism are the rantings of a minority in the UK simply because to analyse the history of far-right thought in the country because to do so would mean that we have to look too closely at some of our long-held and treasured national myths.
But is it time now to start killing some of our sacred cows?
Hi Stephan, thank you for your comment. I would never argue that the UK has no historical sins to answer for (few former great powers don't), but fascism was first and foremost a dictatorship which erased democracy WITHIN Italy and suppressed and punished internal dissent. The UK has never been a dictatorship. Again, I'm not defending every action of the British government but I don't think we can say the the UK was fascist at any point, as the removal of all democratic rights is at the core of fascism.
I am with you only so far. The UK was frequently a dictatorship, which erased democratic and traditional rights, just not in England, as any Irishman, Highland Scot or Welsh-speaker, Australian Aborigine, native Canadian, Kikuyu, Bengali or Zulu would tell you
I would argue there is value in not using the word "fascist" in these discussions as synonyms with "bad", or even "authoritarian". There are distinctive fascist elements that were present in Fascist Italy, and in related European movements, which were fortunately never present in Britain. Think Blackshirts as just one example. It is proper that there be a separate word for that sort of thing which doesn't also include every instance of colonialism with very different elements and ideological underpinnings.
Fasshistssssss.
Grow up
We have a fascist dictator in power now. He has four and a quarter years left to arrange for the cancellation of future elections.
Yeah, fasshistssssss.
Which rather proves my point
Where to start, after the article and film I am left feeling quiet, saddened and thoughtful.
I am not surprised by the far right rioting in the UK. There has been a drip drip drip of hatred and blame towards immigrants for years from Nigel Farage and the then Tory Government. The BNP and Tommy Robinson.......Theresa May sending vans saying go home if you are here illegally through parts of London. I was an immigrant in the UK at the time. As a white Australian I know I wasn't the target audience but it still hurt me inside, I had made Britian my home and had contributed to my community but I felt the sting of discrimination and the knowledge that where would this end, would they eventually come for me.
I worked in Outdoor Advertising for a while and my two white male superiors would go on hate filled rants about immigrants. I got to a point where I couldn't stand listening to their ranting any longer for my sake and for the sake of other immigrants who had come to Britain. Of course their resposne was we don't mean you, you have a right to be here, (British mother), we mean illegals. As your film shows it is the standard but false response when one challenges these attitudes. I also put in a complaint about racism at the same company about my immediate superior, our mutual boss said what racism. In my innocence I was shocked by that response. I had sat there for months hearing someone using a derogatory tone of voice and making derogatory assumptions about a particular ethnic group and again I couldn't sit there listening to it any longer. The person I complained about was upset and didn't understand the problem......I had to explain about tone of voice, assumptions, etc. the upside was he confided in someone else who then felt able to call out the racism that was happening.
Your film also reminds me of seeing holocaust memorials in France. Something we don't see in the UK and very confronting emotionally. Being in Vence to visit the chapel built by Matisse and walking into town each day and seeing a little grouping of stones that was clearly meaningful. They were broken headstones with the details of the two deportations to death camps that took place and the names of the people sent to die. I cried then and the memory still brings tears to my eyes.
I spent a lot of time in and around Berlin in the early 90s, the Eastern areas outside of Berlin still had the concrete roads built by Hitler and you could spot the Nazi architecture in Berlin. I felt like the ghosts of the past were talking to me through the built environment. I also visited Berlin when it was still divided, I felt like West Berlin was like an open prison with slightly mad inhabitants and I had trouble getting out of East Berlin because I had a different haircut to the one in my passport. A very small taste of the fear used in repressive societies.
I fear for the future, the more money that is sucked out of the general economy and hoarded by the wealthy, the more that people are displaced by war and famine, the more that people are under educated, the more that people are told look over at those people who are different they are the problem...the more I hear the echoes of history crashing into our current world.
To finish, that is a very painful family history for you to carry. I am ashamed of why my mothers parents emigrated to Australia. My Grandfather was an Ophthalmologist and was against the NHS.
HI Susan, thank you for your thoughtful comment and for sharing your experience. The "oh but we don't mean you" mainly to white immigrants is very common and no less painful for it. Also, Brexit still meant millions of EU citizens (mainly white for a variety of reasons, probably around 85%) had to reapply for the very right to live in the country. If we're going to look for a silver lining (hey, i'm desperate here) I'd say that the recent riots brought to the surface something that many in the UK chose to ignore. Facing up to it can only be a good thing. As you say we don't have Holocaust memorials in the UK in the same way as in continental Europe for obvious reasons, but the Imperial War Museum had a very interesting and powerful WW2 exhibition not that long ago. If it's still there it's definitely worth seeing.
Incredible account. Yes, history’s echoes. Sounds like a great book title. Seems like you might start writing… from a different perspective yet again. The more voices, the better.
Dear Barbara,
I read your family story about your grand father with interest. I am Belgian. However, there is Italian blood line from my maternal grandmother (Palermo). My family immigrated in the Belgium Congo in 1954. For me, as a child it appears to be a paradise. However, sadly nothing stay the same for long. Independence came in 1960 and war started, killing, pillaging,etc..
I was sent to boarding school in Belgium at the tender age of 10. Far from my others seven siblings to a very strict Catholics boarding school.
I felt lonely for a while. However, i realised quickly that I had to "get on with it" as Brit would say. I did and became an "Independent minded person" that I am today. Life teach you to adapt or die. After some years in Belgium Institute my parents recalled for my return in Africa. Eventually they evacuated to another town with all of us including my paternel grand mother (altogether eleven of us).
Peace did not last long in Africa. The latest place was Rhodesia now called Zimbabwe. On and off my parents lost three times their homes. One of the good things to happened to me, is when I met my future husband. A Scottish man. Because of war, my fiance decided to go back to UK so I went with him. It was a cultural shock. From now on no more French speaking. I had to learn English and Scottish dialect fast as I went to live in a beautiful hamlet in Scotland with my future in laws. After few months, we decided to go in England as my fiancé had a sibling there. Years went by, I went to University, got a Post degree in Management Studies, worked for Local authorities, started my own Consultancy Limited company. After retirement I volunteer to be "An co-opted Independent Member for the Northamptonshire police, fire and crime panel for eight years. I resigned in February 2024 because of corruption and I was not prepared to remain silent. What I have seen in UK since those three little girls in Southport were murdered is very frightening. However, it appears to be caused by a very small group of people being directed by outside interest to undermine the British ways of life. I agree completely with your analysis of fascism because my spouse confirms that the British have no idea of the true meaning of fascism as they have never experienced it. Whereas in Europe we have. The last invasion that Britain had was in 1066. Everyone remembered that date even today!
Your story is very interesting Such a completely different recount and perspective, from Africa. I hope you will write more about it and share.
As the child of German parents born in Berlin in 1931 and 1932, I get where you're coming from. They were too young to be participants in anything nasty and of course too young to have voted or agitated for/against the Nazis before 1933, unlike my grandparents. According to my mother, her father was vocally against the National Socialists until he was taken away by the authorities and didn't come home for 3 days. He never spoke to her or her siblings about what happened during that interval, but they observed that he stopped speaking against the Party afterwards. Would I persist in the good fight if I were in his shoes? I'd like to think that I would, but who knows? I wonder how many people today would be able or willing to tolerate a few hours of mistreatment, never mind a few days, before agreeing to adjust their principles.
I totally agree with you. My father was born in 1929, so of course blameless of anything his own father did, but I do often wonder about generational trauma, and how my dad, who was 16 at the end of WW2 so definitely old enough to understand some things, had been affected by it all. To my eternal regret, I never asked him about it. Whether he would actually have shared his thoughts is another matter.
I didn't need to ask. When she was past 80, my mother suddenly opened up about the more distressing aspects of her childhood. I'm glad that I know about them, I guess, but it took a metaphorical minute to assimilate the information. To your point about generational trauma, I've realized since her revelations that the information explains a lot about how she moved through the world and how she raised me.
I bet it did. I hope it brought your mother some relief to share her memories. My father never did. Some things I can guess but I'll never really know.
Yes, unfortunately Anglos generally, including many/most in the media, have virtually no idea at all about Italian fascism until 1945. At the same time, the words "fascist"/"fascism", as applied to any non-Italian phenomenon, long ago shed much meaning: as long ago as 1944 Mr E. Blair (George Orwell) said that the terms had become so meaningless that calling someone a "fascist" seemed to mean little more than saying you thought they were a bully.
I'd go as far as to say that the terms should be spelt differently (in English) to distinguish them, and since that strange man Mussolini, along with assorted ideological fathers (nessune madri, fortunatamente) of the movement such as Gentile, invented the term, rather inventively and deliberately harking back to cultural practices of Ancient Rome, I think the non-Italian terms should henceforth be spelt "fasshist" and "fasshism".
The low-foreheaded provincial UK rioters of the other day are really more trivial as a phenomenon than the media seems to be claiming, which isn't to say that immigration can be dismissed as a poltical concern in the UK, far from it. But really, comparing those "fasshists" to the elaborately constructed, although laughable, ideology underpinning Italian fascism of Il Duce is like comparing ... il gesso con il formaggio (per esempio).
You're absolutely right, I almost added a line or two about how the term 'fascism' when used in English is a generic term whereas in Italian it's obviously anchored in the two decades of Mussolini's rule. Then that leads to a discussion about what makes fascism distinct from other dictatorships, if anything does.....and I felt it would lead to another post! But thank you for pointing it out. Il gesso con il formaggio made me laugh!
What an extraordinary story, vividly told
Thank you John. I started working on this project (film, then book) back in 2019 and it keeps on getting more relevant, unfortunately.....
Barbara, I look forward to your book on your grandfather! You touch on an important truth when you say that we in the English-speaking world think ourselves incapable of fascist horrors. I wrote an essay recently in which I grapple with that same issue. I hope you enjoy it. https://katesusong.substack.com/p/is-anything-worse-than-this-election
It is not clear from your comments here how many Italians supported Mussolini, or at least overtly went along with fascism, before Mussolini came to power. Often, once a regime such as this is in power, many will go along to get along, without necessarily believing sincerely in the regime's ideology. Perhaps your film addresses this.
Hi David. The film is 48 minutes long and as you know the topic is vast do I don't get into this particular aspect in too much detail. But the end of WW1 was crucial to support for Mussolini, especially among men who had come back from the front. Italians felt aggrieved with the peace settlements post WW1 and felt they hadn't got their due (called vittoria mutilata in italian - the mutilated victory) so there was huge resentment towards the government, and also fear of rising communism, in light of events in Russia. Mussolini capitalised on all of this and, through violence, silenced (and also had murdered, in the case of socialist and anti-fascist politician Giacomo Matteotti) many within the opposition. So there was definitely support for Mussolini before he took complete power in 1925.
My grandfather for example had been a fighter pilot il WW1 and that definitely had an impact on his decision to join Mussolini.
Barbara, I absolutely LOVE your perspective on things. Your documentary was fascinating to me. I’m a Yank, and among other things you’ve taught me, had no idea Mussolini was in power for almost 20 years BEFORE the war.
But I’d like to hear your thoughts on something. To me, the recent right wing riots reminded me of the protests the right wing launched in the US after Obama was elected: the “Tea Party”, who protested deficit spending and our federal debt; the anti-abortionists, wanting to ban abortions; the anti-immigrationists;…. You didn’t hear a SOUND out of these folks while Bush was president. It’s like they waited for Obama to get elected. Granted, the protests here weren’t riots, but you had to wonder where all these people had been for the previous 8 years.
I know immigration has been a huge issue in the UK for a long time, creating an opportunity for the likes of Farage, et al., to foment Brexit. However, I don’t believe these riots would’ve happened if the Tories had retained power. The timing is almost like the rioters had waited under a rock, and the election of Starmer had them looking for the tiniest spark. What do you think?
Hi Lou, thanks for the comment. I'll put my hands up and say that I wasn't in the UK while these riots happened, so while I obviously followed events, I wasn't as connected as I would have been had I been on air. My sense is the two weren't really connected. The spark was the horrific killing in Southport. The question I'd ask an expert is whether the Far Right has felt emboldened by the anti-immigration Reform UK party doing well, and the impact (well-documented) of social media. But I'll be honest, those are the areas I'd explore in an interview rather than passing judgement on them. What's for sure is the Kier Starmer has had one heck of a baptism of fire!
The distancing aspect is excellently put - the major problem with the way that many understand Fascism is that they mentally localise it to a specific time & space. When post-Brexit the UK showed increasing signs of the right and far-right sliding into even word-by-word repetitions of 1930s Goebbelsian propaganda, many reacted quite vehemently to the labeling of these aspects as Fascist. Their mental image was and is entirely formed by Hollywoodian images of marching boots and rallies - the fact that Fascism started well before that is lost on them. So is the key symptomology of the early stages and how it matured. On top of this, that aforementioned distancing gives extra oomph to these (entirely wrong) reactions. It is astonishing how as a result those large groups and even layers of populace are as easy to manipulate as their predecessors were just 90-odd years ago.
Thank you - I also think the distancing/demonising issue is so important. Not the easiest concept to explain either sometimes. There's a lot of resistance to it, unsurprisingly perhaps
Indeed, especially as it is uncomfortable for some... In the same way that I, having grown up during a communist dictatorship, found that looking at the totalitarian elements of it was dismissed by some as lesson to be learned for the future. Simply because not localising something in the past and in one geographical area, accepting it as a general phenomenon that can occur anywhere and has been surfacing in many places on the map, was uncomfortable. It was much more comfortable to say that totalitarianism's lessons and warnings are quarantined safely in time & space and we look at it as an inert museum piece.
I'm reading this in March 2025 from the Disunited States of America.
Thank you for this family history that underscores the great political divides that occur in families.
We're having those divisions here, right now.
I wonder what our descendants will be saying about us in 2125. I sincerely hope they will be reflecting on how some of their families may have went down the path of fascism, but thank goodness Democracy survived.
Thanks for your comment, funny how this post that I wrote last year is suddenly going viral. Or maybe it's not surprising at all. I like your point about 2125. I do think people sometimes need distance to fully appreciate how events unfolded and the forces behind them. I think we're in a period of transition, and we haven't seen the violence which was/is the hallmark of fascism. When I look at the details of Italian fascism, it's the way that internal violence was used to suppress dissent which strikes me. And also how gradual Mussolini's take over was.
I'm glad I found it. Thank you.
After yesterday's events (3/14/25), I had to write about it. At the Department of Justice, DJT declared, “Now, as the chief law enforcement officer in our country, I will insist upon and demand full and complete accountability for the wrongs and abuses that have occurred.” Under the Constitution, the president is not the "chief law enforcement officer in our country." He is assuming another made-up role that allows him to wield retribution for his perceived wrongs.
Ten Senators of the Democrat part also refused to stand up to him and gave him and Elon Musk six more months to slash and burn the structure of the federal government and replace it mainly with AI coded by the Muskrats under Musk.
2125 popped into my head again. I had to write about it.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mbmatthews/p/what-will-history-remember-about?r=hcg5&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5195950-trump-justice-department-speech/
For me this was an extremely interesting read, thank you. Maybe as I deal with and write about similar subjects, and I share a common identity of bilingual person straddling borders and cultures between Italy and Britain. My grandfather was never a fascist, he was a communist, made prisoner and fighting against the regime, but then made 'prisoner' by the Americans after Sept. 1943. I have collected his story and written about him. I share a similar story also in being a bilingual person with an Italian father and English mother; I am so fascinated by unearthing the memories from that time and all that followed. And I really resonate with what you've written in your article: as Italians, we have a first hand experience of what Fascism was and meant, while when I talk about it in the UK, jaws mostly drop. But one thing we should understand (as you rightly point out) is that no-one is immune: the "I would never do that" reaction is typical of those who respond to the issue by denial and projection. Fascism (and Nazism) are far from dead: they are deeply embedded in the psyche not just of Italians and Germans, but any culture (and what an apt time to say this, given what's going on across the pond). In fact, I would even maintain that Americans, not having known this reality first-hand, cannot see it and recognise it. Otherwise they would have never elected Mr T. I am also wary of what C. G. Jung said, very aptly in his time: when an archetype holds sway, and has a culture ensnared in its grip, it's very hard to recognise it. It applied to the German world of his time as it applies to today. This is the power of the archetype. Anyway, this is a long, complex and multilayered subject, and I could write about it for ages. So I am going to stop there and thank you again. I would really be interested in seeing your film. And if you ever wished to and had the time for it, I would be grateful if you could give a look to my Substack page and articles. Many thanks. I attach a link to my latest article; this would take you to all the other ones, should you wish to. https://open.substack.com/pub/maxcalligola/p/mother-tongue-9-the-italian-job?r=1ms4k0&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=true
This is my first post on this substack. Unfortunately I didn't watch your documentary, but will dig it out. My reaction when I saw the trailer for it at the time was I recall one of "oh here is someone seeking absolution or an excuse or using their family to mine for a story." Reading your article here I wish I had watched it. Your article has given me food for thought. I am English / British and my grandfathers both fought in WW2, one against the Germans & Italians in North Africa, Italy and France leading a tank squadron. The other against the Japanese in Burma with the RAF. Both survived. Neither spoke of the horrors of war, of the consequence of "good peoples" risking all to over through the evils of Nazi and fascist intent. A significant part of our national narrative for those who grew up in the shadow of the cold war was the overcoming of a great evil, of equating Hitler to the Devil himself. We make fun of the ridiculous nature of British Fascists. Maybe because we know them as 'normal' British people if makes their parody easier, and creates a 'them' in our consciousness. I understand your point very well that Fascism seeps into the political situation through various guises, and morphs over time unchecked into what it became. I can understand the reaction of British people to you saying your grandfather was a fascist. Firstly they are reacting to the fact you are volunteering information that closely links you to this overwhelming evil that cost us so much to overcome (lives, our national wealth, our empire even - for good or bad), but also to calibrate from your statement where your agenda is going - to explain / excuse his behaviour, or (as I think is your intent) that without understanding how prosaically this evil could begin, we are not sufficiently prepared - as individuals or as a people - to spot the early signs and to steer away from allowing the situation to arise. As we are reliant on Holocaust survivors and their offspring to remind us of their horrors, so maybe we are reliant on the people who lived through and supported fascism, or their offspring, to remind us of the perils of ignoring the early signs. It is interesting that you bring 'Islamophobia' into the article. I would be interested to hear your thoughts on whether you think the British public's reaction around Southport is fundamentally a 'racist' reaction to 'others', or if indeed it is one of seeing the similarities within the hatred and violence of extreme Islamist doctrine and actions, and those of the Nazi regime in the lead up to the war and during it? I take fully your point that Fascism involves the use of violence. But so does anti-fascism, such as the response to the British Fascist Party in east London in the 1930s. As did the Allies need to do to overcome the Axis powers in WW2. It would be interesting to also have Soviet or Chinese perspectives on the social manipulations, violence and coercion (or willing participation in) their respective dictatorships through the 20th century. There must be, I just can't recall any that I've watched or read. My final thought is the worrying similarity between your description of those who joined the fascist party in Italy to secure jobs, positions, advancement, etc. (This is also documented in Germany, of course), and the recent phenomena of needing to publicly exhibit only woke views or else risk losing your agency in the public spaces, of being ostracised and losing the ability to earn a living, as you described happening in Germany. Of course the modern British experience of this is mainly on-line and to do with opinions, rather than because the victims are of a particular race, but the parallels are clear. Thank you for posting this article - I will seek out your documentary soon. Yours, thoughtfully
Peter, thank you so much for your comment, lots of food for thought. Thank you also for perfectly phrasing what I feel happens when I tell Britons about my family history "they're trying to calibrate what your agenda is". I'm genuinely looking at the issue because I think it's important to fully understand it, and I think there's a difference between explaining my grandfather's behaviour and excusing it. But it often feels like a minefield. Regarding the Southport murders riots, I think we'll be analysing the issues behind them for years. Some of the attacks against mosques and refugee hotels were definitely racist, but disinformation played a part, the horror of the crime itself, a lack of trust in institutions and a sense of exasperation felt by many over a lack of control (real or perceived) of migration. I wrote the original article in August when we were still in the thick of it, but I still think those riots were a wake up call for the UK. The documentary is currently offline due to the expiry of some archive rights, but I'm trying to sort it and I hope it will be back up soon.
Fascinating discussion here. I am American, with both sides of my family heritage from The Two Kingdoms of Sicily: paternally from Palermo and Ragusa in Sicily, and maternally from Basilicata in the Puglia region of Southern Italy. I would love to read your book.