Anpi against FdI: “Balbo was a squadrista. It is intolerable to name a club in his name”

The controversy continues after the decision of the Brothers of Italy, the premier’s party Giorgia Melonito name a club after the politician and aviator Italo Balbo in Retorbido, in the Pavia area. A member of the National Fascist Party, Balbo was one of the quadrumvirs of the march on Rome

“An intolerable fact”, denounced on Facebook theAnpi. “Balbo was a squadron member, he was part of the quadrumvirate who led the March on Rome and was a member of the Fascist Grand Council – writes the Anpi – We recall that last March the Defense Ministry had his name removed from a plane of the Air Force. We strongly associate ourselves with the protests of the Anpi of Pavia against this destruction of the memory of the Resistance and of the victims of fascist crime”.

The parliamentary question

A parliamentary question had been presented on the matter in recent days by Arthur Scott of Article 1. “Giorgia Meloni has declared that she has never been fascinated by fascism – observes Scotto -. Just a month ago she pronounced this sentence speaking in the Chamber of Deputies. A month later in the province of Pavia, her provincial secretary inaugurates a club of Brothers of Italy named after Balbo. Fascist hierarch, one of the promoters of the march on Rome, minister of the Mussolini governments as well as governor of Libya for six years. I wonder how it is possible that a party in government of a western country can choose to valorise and commemorate the figures who gave birth to the most ruthless dictatorship in the history of the country”.

“At every opportunity Fratelli d’Italia confirms that it has not distanced itself from fascism. – denounced the Lombard regional councilor of the 5 Star Movement Simone Verni – The value of continuous facade declarations is of little value, when at every opportunity the representatives of Giorgia Meloni’s party never miss an opportunity to celebrate ideologies and protagonists of the darkest season in contemporary history”.

FdI’s reply

After the parliamentary question, the provincial secretary of FdI Claudio Mangiarotti, who was present at the ceremony in recent days, stated that “Balbo’s name was chosen because he was a national hero, a patriot, the man who made the transatlantic flight”. “His raids against anti-fascists in Emilia? I don’t know the story so well, but we’re talking about a gold medal for military valor, a pioneer. I don’t see anything wrong with this title, whoever makes these controversies carries them forward because he has no arguments against Brothers of Italy”.

Mangiarotti recalls that “Balbo dissociated himself from the racial laws and from the alliance with Germany”.

“Balbo was a ras of fascism, among the protagonists of assaults and beatings in the Chambers of Labor and in the socialist headquarters in Emilia and among those responsible for the death of Don Minzoni. – the reply of Santino Marchisellipresident of the Anpi of Pavia – Fratelli d’Italia has a small pantheon of people to name clubs after”.