http://rt.com/files/news/1e/a7/00/00/f-1.jpgItaly's hard-right CasaPound movement is keen to change the bad name of
fascism. Its members say they are
not responsible for what happened in the past, insisting fascism is “a way to govern the economy and the country” to cope with the
economic slowdown.
The challenge for the grouping created in 2003 and named after the celebrated American poet Ezra Pound who sided with
Mussolini during the war, is to rewrite history for pure political ends.
“We cannot be responsible for what was happening some 70 years ago. I can’t judge events of the past, since I wasn’t alive back then; so I cannot be judged for things that happened that far back,” the movement’s vice president Simone Di Stefano told RT.
According to Di Stefano, CasaPound has been expanding across Italy gaining public support. They claim to have up to 5,000 members and say fascism has never been so popular since
WW2.
Like their notorious predecessors, the movement also supports sports and popular culture but is against immigration. But unlike similar organizations elsewhere in Europe, most supporters of the CasaPound movement have named
economy,
corruption and unemployment as the main reasons for joining the party, a research conducted by the Open Society Foundation has revealed.
Now, Simone Di Stefano says “Italy’s sovereignty” is the group’s primary objective.
“We’re
against pan-European tendencies; we’re against a dictatorial Europe, because, for example, we don’t want production of Italian goods to move to other countries,” he explained.
