Michela Murgia’s complaint: “Roman greeting at the parade on June 2nd. La Russa makes the victory sign”. The government explains: absurd, it is a military gesture

«Enter the parade with the Roman salute». It is the writing that appears superimposed on a short film posted today on Instagram by the writer Michela Murgia on the fashion show at the Imperial Forums for the Republic Day. The reference is to the passage of the raiders of the Comsubin of the Navy: the specialists – green overalls and cap, faces distorted by a beige handkerchief – shout “Decima” when they parade under the stage of the authorities. The reference is to the Decima Mas, assault unit of the Regia Marina: after the 1943 armistice, the commander Junio ​​Valerio Borghese deployed a part of it in the Social Republic against the Allies.

The video shows the president of the Senate Ignazio La Russa smiling, clapping his hands and making the victory sign with his fingers. The soldier at the head of the company raises his arm in the air before bringing it to his forehead to salute. Yesterday, Michela Murgia comments, «under the impassive eyes of President Mattarella, this also happened. All normal, because the normalization process has been going on for years. If the meaning of the video is not clear, look for “X flotilla MAS” on Wikipedia. It will immediately be clear to you why La Russa smiles so much and makes the victory sign. (But what else is needed to understand what is happening?)».

Defense Minister Guido Crosetto does not intervene directly, but retweeted a post by journalist Massimiliano Coccia who defines the accusation as “absurd”: “The salute you see – notes Coccia – is not a Roman salute, it is a military march salute, which it consists in raising the right arm perpendicularly (in honor of the tricolor) and then lowering it to the temple for a salute. It is not just a greeting from a Navy troop but from many army corps». Even in the previous parades, he adds, “the same salutes are performed in the same way”.

Various exponents of the Brothers of Italy intervene on the matter. «By now there are no more fools from the left, even the more intellectual one, which sees fascism everywhere. The latest comes from the military parade of 2 June where, according to a video circulated on social media, in front of the impassive and, evidently, consenting President of the Republic, yet another fascist attack would have occurred: a real Roman salute from a department of the Navy facing the authority rostrum. Clearly, just watch the video and have a minimum knowledge of military language and gestures, to understand it was just a greeting from the body, maliciously interpreted by those who do not know how to attack the Meloni government and feed the bogeyman of fascism. We only give you one piece of advice: study the history of your nation and its armed forces which have always defended it. You would save yourself barbine figures », says the FdI deputy and group leader in the Defense commission, Paola Chiesa.

The words of another deputy from the majority party, Stefano Maullu, are of the same tenor: «Michela Murgia goes beyond Wikipedia. The writer loves controversy but does not get informed and also inappropriately mentions the X Mas, the greeting made by a Comsubin raider, which is a classic military salute addressed to the authorities just as the 10ª cry recalls the extraordinary valiant deeds of the men of the Decima Flottiglia Mas, certainly here too the Murgia has never heard of Luigi Durand de la Penne, Teseo Tesei and the other 34 gold medals for military valor belonging to that special unit of the Navy, many of which are “in memory” , for having sacrificed his life for our country. Here Wikipedia can help you».