Speaking in front of a photograph of former Italian dictator Benito Mussolini at CasaPound’s Rome headquarters, Simone di Stefano does not hesitate when asked if he subscribes to the dictator’s brand of fascism.
“It’s our point of reference, a vision of the state and the economy and the concept of sacrifice,” said di Stefano, who is vice president of CasaPound, the movement that reportedly has 5,000 members in Italy, alongside 15 loyal local councilors and the support of key officials at Rome city hall, where Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno is himself a former neo-fascist.
By holding cultural debates on themes as diverse as revolutionary Che Guevara and author Jack Kerouac, CasaPound has sought to separate itself from Italy’s old-style, street-fighting neo-fascists. The group is named after Ezra Pound, the US poet who sided with Mussolini during the war.
Mussolini’s racial laws were “a mistake,” di Stefano said.
“We believe in the national community and the Jews in Italy are part of that,” he said.
As for Pound’s own anti--semitism, “at the time it was very common throughout the world.”
The organization steers clear of what di Stefano, 35, calls fascist “nostalgia” and focuses on promoting cheap housing and occupying empty properties. The movement also runs a telephone helpline to counter loan sharks and dispatches members to help out during natural disasters.
CasaPound’s approach to economics is pure Mussolini, with an emphasis on renationalization. On immigration, the stance is typical of the far right.
“We want to stop it. Low-cost immigrant workers mean Italians are unable to negotiate wages, while the immigrants are exploited,” he said.
Di Stefano denied claims of its members attacking left-wing rallies and defends the behavior of CasaPound supporters — who have got into the habit of whipping each other with their belts in the moshpit during gigs by the band led by CasaPound’s president, Gianluca Iannone.
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