A documentary film comparing Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni to Benito Mussolini has reportedly been broadcast in at least two Italian schools, leading to complaints from a member of Meloni’s party.
The film, a documentary entitled “March on Rome” by Irish director Mark Cousins, examines the rise of fascism in Italy in the early 1920s and the propaganda used by dictator Benito Mussolini, comparing the former fascist leader to Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni and her party, the national-conservative Brothers of Italy (FdI).
“I believe her when she says I’m not a fascist, but this is very close to fascism and very close to white replacement theory, all that stuff,” Cousins said last year.
This week, FdI MP Chiara La Porta questioned Minister of Education Giuseppe Valditara about why the documentary was being shown in at least two schools in the province of Arezzo, stating the film showed “a clear juxtaposition and comparison with Mussolini and fascism, dangerous and inappropriate comparisons,” the newspaper Il Giornale reports.
While La Porta said everyone in Italy is free to express their thoughts, she took exception with the documentary being shown in schools, saying it had “no basis in reality.”
“I find it absolutely inappropriate and dishonourable to see feature films that are so openly displayed and poorly educational. This is why I asked Minister Valditara if he intends to take any measures to prevent this from happening again in other institutions,” she said.
Luca Ciavattini, a member of Matteo Salvini’s League, gave support to Ms La Porta saying, “The League has always fought against the political abuse that certain teachers carry out in schools, as well as the various gender ideologies, which are increasingly inculcated in the minds of young students.”
Cousins also reacted to the film being mentioned in the Italian parliament writing on Twitter, “Not every day you wake up to hear that you’ve been discussed in the Italian parliament.”
“The March on Rome is a serious work of history, designed to teach, amongst other things, critical thinking. Teachers know their students’ needs more than politicians,” he said.
The documentary is only one of the many smears against Prime Minister Meloni since her party won last September’s national election and she became the head of the government.
Establishment media across the English-speaking world made comparisons of Ms Meloni to Mussolini, to the extent that former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, a centre-leftist, had to correct broadcaster CNN on the topic.
“Personally, I was against Giorgia Meloni… we are, and will be, rivals, always… At the same time, I think [Meloni] is not a danger [to] Italian democracy,” Renzi said.
“She is my rival, and we will continue to fight each other, but the idea that now there is a risk of fascism in Italy is absolutely fake news… there is not a danger for fascism in Italy,” he added.