On June 5, 2009, during an annual celebration dedicated to the Arma dei Carabinieri (the Italian military police force that generally keeps civil order but is also called into combat overseas), TV crews (and several others) caught Minister of Tourism, Michela Vittoria Brambilla, in a one-armed Fascist salute following the playing of the Italian National Anthem.
Brambilla, who is frequently mentioned as the likely political successor to Silvio Berlusconi, serves as an Undersecretary in Berlusconi's cabinet. The event was an official state function, and she was present as a government representative.
A photo of the event was published in the Repubblica on June 6.
Meanwhile, the YouTube video (below) has been making the usual rounds.
Brambilla has also been accused of attending a separate event on May 29, 2009, said to have been an official "Black Shirt" assembly, and at which, it is alleged, she was also seen giving the Fascist salute.
Brambilla responds as follows: "The Italian Left really makes me laugh. They don't have any political issues to talk about so our adversaries are reduced to commenting on the angle of my elbow or the height of my arm when I salute the citizens of Italy."
In other words, not exactly a denial. Rather, Brambilla's snotty riposte is a typical example of the Italian Right's media strategy (which, it has to be said, they sort of borrowed from Reagan, after Sarah Palin got done using it: Neither the Great Communicator nor American's Favorite Soccer Mom particularly liked answering questions they didn't write themselves, and neither do the emissaries of Berlusconistan).
Someone is going to alert me before they start building the work camps, right?
17 June 2009
How Paranoid is Paranoid Enough?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Links
- Charles Lambert "A Place for Everything That Doesn't Fit Anywhere Else" (A blog about the Italy I recognize.)
- The Still Blue Project: More Writing By (For or About) Working-Class Queers
- Wendell Ricketts | Portfolio
- Everything I Have Is Blue
- Petition: Professional Standards for Written Translations in English
Blog Archive
VitaVagabondisti
VitaVagabondisti - the Global View
Well, if they give me a moment, I will!
ReplyDeleteYou're WAY paranoid enough, to answer your question. The gesture was a simple one (the guy to her right did the same thing, but no one made a big deal about that.) She was not making a Fascist salute and I agree with her--the Italian Left needs to get a life, if this is all they got. Sorry.
ReplyDeleteThe "guy to her right" is her father, just for the record, and this was the second incident (in the meantime, there's been a third). Just adjusting her dress all three times? I think you'd have to understand the political context here a little better before deciding that it was or wasn't what it quite appears to be....
ReplyDeleteI'm talking about the guy to her far right that is also saluting (not the guy who looks like Hitler). No, I don't think that anyone is suggesting that she's adjusting her dress. She's saluting. But, yes, you're right. I should probably read more about her political affiliations and sympathies before shooting off at the mouth. (Hey! I'm American and we love to talk about that which we know NOTHING about. It's fun.) Okay. I will become a Brambilla expert, but I'm still guessing that the Italian Left is making a big deal out of nothing.
ReplyDelete