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NB: This RealAudio stream contains FTRs 307 and 308 in sequence. Each is a 30-minute segment.
1. We document the May, 2001 election of Italian media mogul Silvio Berlusconi, and the extent to which his administration constitutes the return of the Italian fascist government of Il Duce, Benito Mussolini.
2. The broadcast begins with discussion of ideological and functional continuity between the milieu of convicted Nazi war criminal Erich Priebke and the Italian fascist forces grouped around Berlusconi. (“I Have a Nazi for a Friend” by Giorgio Ferrini; L’Espresso; 1/18/2001; pp. 68–69.)
3. Priebke has received financial support from Paolo Giachini, who has used his considerable wealth to support the efforts of an array of Italian fascists connected to the Berlusconi coalition. (Idem.)
4. Next, the program reprises a past article which highlights the explicitly fascist nature of organizations grouped around Berlusconi, such as the Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore. (“Fascists Who Read” by Peter Gomez; L’Espresso; 1/11/2001; p. 54.)
2. Much of the rest of the program consists of reading and analysis of an article about Berlusconi from the British anti-fascist publication The Searchlight. (“Mussolini’s Heirs Return to Power” by Alfio Bernabei; The Searchlight; June/2001; p. 32.)
3. This program documents, among other things, Berlusconi’s membership in the fascist P‑2 Lodge of Licio Gelli, Berlusconi’s formal alliance with Movimento Sociale Fiamma Tricolore, connections between Berlusconi and the fascist cadre of Roberto Fiore and Fiore’s connections to Guido Mussolini, nephew of the Italian dictator. (Idem.)
4. Berlusconi’s coalition partner is Gianfranco Fini of the Alleanza Nazionale, the direct successor to Mussolini’s fascist party. (Fini’s party was also a coalition partner with Berlusconi in his 1994 government.)
5. We then highlight connections between Fini’s forces and the Forza Nuova of Roberto Fiore. (“Political Posters of Forza Nuova” by Peter Gomez; L’Espresso; 1/11/2001; pp. 54–55.)
10. The program concludes with an examination of the institutional continuity between Italian fascist terror groups and the milieu of Berlusconi and Fini. (“Blackshirts, Here’s Your Fascist ‘Cosa Nostra’ ” by Peter Gomez; L’Espresso; 1/11/2001; pp. 54–56.)
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