Controversy over spiked antifascist speech dominates Italy's Liberation Day anniversary
ROME (AP) — Italy on Thursday marked its liberation from Nazi occupation and fascist rule amid a fresh media controversy over suspected censorship and the legacy of Italian fascist complicity in the Holocaust and World War II-era crimes.
Premier Giorgia Meloni, whose Brothers of Italy party traces its roots to the neo-fascist movement that emerged after the fall of dictator Benito Mussolini, joined the Italian president at the tomb of the unknown soldier in Rome for the solemn Liberation Day commemoration.
This year’s anniversary was marked by a media storm over the decision by state-run RAI television to spike a planned Liberation Day monologue by an Italian author denouncing fascism and what he said was Meloni’s refusal to repudiate it.
The issue struck a nerve in Italy, where Meloni’s 2022 election as the first hard-right leader since World War II has revived criticism that Italy hasn’t fully reckoned with its fascist past, in the same way that Germany did with national socialism.