FTR #267 Update on Euro-Fascism

Lis­ten:
MP3 One Seg­ment ^[1]
RealAu­dio ^[2]
NB: This RealAu­dio stream con­tains FTRs 266 and 267 in sequence. Each is a 30-minute broad­cast.

1. The re-emer­gence of fas­cist move­ments in Euro­pean coun­tries is fur­ther devel­oped in this broad­cast. The pro­gram begins by high­light­ing a bomb­ing in Rome, alleged­ly by a vet­er­an of past fas­cist ter­ror cam­paigns. (“Bomb Attack Rat­tles Cen­tral Rome, Ital­ians” by Alessan­dra Stan­ley [New York Times]; San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle; 12/23/2000; p. A14.) The sus­pect, Andrea Ins­aba­to, was a mem­ber of the fas­cist group known as Terza Posi­tione (Third Posi­tion.) The Third Posi­tion is an ele­ment of inter­na­tion­al fas­cism that tries to com­bine ele­ments of extreme left-wing phi­los­o­phy with fas­cist polit­i­cal sen­ti­ments.

2. Fur­ther devel­op­ing the sub­ject of the Third Posi­tion, the pro­gram sets forth infor­ma­tion about Rober­to Fiore, an Ital­ian fas­cist and one of the lynch­pins of the Terza Posi­tione. (“Fiore Ter­ror Exposed” by Ger­ry Gable; Search­light; 11/2000 [#305}; p. 30.)

3. Fiore has recent­ly been indict­ed in Italy. (Idem.) Hav­ing been pro­tect­ed in Britain by ele­ments of British intel­li­gence, Fiore recent­ly returned to his native land. (Idem.)

4. Fiore’s thugs have recent­ly been agi­tat­ing on behalf of the Pales­tini­ans, despite attempts by Ital­ian fas­cists in his milieu to form polit­i­cal alliances with the Israeli right. (Idem.)

5. Italy has recent­ly been in an uproar over a vis­it by Joerg Haider, the so-called “Yup­pie Fas­cist.” (“Haider Irks Ital­ians With Inter­view” by Ellen Knick­mey­er; San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle; 12/18/2000; p. E4.)

6. Haider was in Italy for an audi­ence with the Pope. Recent­ly, Car­di­nal Ratzinger and oth­er cler­ics have been sound­ing a reac­tionary note rem­i­nis­cent of the Vat­i­can’s past cozy asso­ci­a­tion with inter­na­tion­al fas­cism. (“Papal Can­di­date Sparks Racist Fears” by Ger­ry Gable; Search­light; 11/2000 [#305}; p. 31.)

7. One of those cler­ics is Father Gian­ni Baget Bozzi, the spir­i­tu­al advis­er to Sil­vio Berlus­coni. (Idem.) Berlus­coni was for­mer­ly Prime Min­is­ter of Italy, par­tic­i­pat­ing in a coali­tion gov­ern­ment with Fiore asso­ciate Gian­fran­co Fini, the head of the Allian­za Nazionale. The AN is the direct suc­ces­sor to Mus­solin­i’s fas­cist par­ty.

8. Next, the pro­gram high­lights the bru­tal killing of a 6‑year old boy by Ger­man neo-Nazis. (“A Death in Ger­many” by Lewis Dolin­sky; San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle; 11/29/2000; p. A16.)

9. Joseph Abdul­la (a Ger­man of mixed Iraqi-Ger­man parent­age) was sur­round­ed by about 50 skin­heads at a pub­lic swim­ming pool, har­rassed (“you for­eign pig”), beat­en, forced to take a drug, shocked with a stun gun and drowned. (Idem.)

10. More than 200 eye­wit­ness­es remained silent, even declin­ing to report the inci­dent to police. (Idem.)

11. Sub­se­quent­ly, the Ger­man author­i­ties have attempt­ed to dis­cred­it eye­wit­ness­es, and have denied that the boy’s death was a mur­der. (“Pros­e­cu­tors Say Boy Not Slain by Neo-Nazis;” San Fran­cis­co Chron­i­cle; 11/30/97; p. C7.)

12. Ger­man Nazi ele­ments have been tak­ing their cues from ele­ments of the main­stream Ger­man polit­i­cal estab­lish­ment, which has tak­en a xeno­pho­bic atti­tude toward for­eign­ers and minori­ties. (“CDU Demands For­eign­ers Adopt the Ger­man Way of Life;” Ger­many Alert, germanyalert.com 10/21/2000.)