On Monday, October 31, Giorgia Meloni (Italy’s new PM) announced that she would be criminalizing “dangerous gatherings” -otherwise known as raves. However, whilst Meloni expresses that the new law is aimed to protect people from harm, critics question whether this is the right thing to focus on.  

 

The March on Rome was a march wherein the fascist dictator Mussolini conquered strategic points around Italy and gathered around Rome to inevitably conquer it and now 100 years later we are seeing fascists commemorate his actions.    

 

On the 28th of October, thousands of black-clad fascist sympathizers marched to Mussolini’s crypt singing and chanting praise in his favor. Many sporting fascist symbols whilst singing hymns from Italy’s post-colonial era. Moreover, the crowd in Predappio (Mussolini’s birth and final resting place) was further emboldened by the fact that residing in their government was a party with neo-fascist roots; the first time since World War II.  

 

Additionally, the crowd stopped outside the cemetery where Mussolini lay to flash the Roman salute (despite being advised against it) whilst listening to Mussolini’s great-granddaughter, Orsola, who listed her great-grandfather’s achievements stating : 

“After 100 years, we are still here to pay homage to the man that this state wanted and who we will never stop admiring”   

 

Never before has Italy’s inability to come to terms with its fascist past been so glaringly apparent, as the PM Georgia Meloni condemns the fascism stating its anti-democratic and that the historic racial laws which sent thousands of Ita;Ian Jews to Nazi death camps, a “low point”. 

 

However, just because she says she wishes to distance herself from the far right does not mean she actually has with the organizer of the march, Mirko Santrelli saying that he is “happy there is a Meloni government” and whilst it doesn’t “reflect” his “ideas… it is better than nothing.”