The time will come to put out the
neo-fascist Flame symbolising the one over Mussolini's tomb at
the centre of the logo of Premier Giorgia Meloni's right-wing
Brothers of Italy (FdI) party, an FdI bigwig told an Italian
newspaper Wednesday while stressing that this would be a free
choice and not one imposed on the party.
The neoFascist flame dates back to the Italian Social Movement
(MSI), a party founded by Mussolini diehards after the Second
World War.
It was ditched by one of the MSI's successor parties, but Meloni
restored it when she founded FdI in December 2012.
Meloni's critics have repeatedly urged her to remove it but she
says the call is anachronistic. The premier has repeatedly
condemned Fascism's suspension of democracy and its "odious"
laws against the Jews.
"If we want to move forward and we certainly want to look
forward, that is, to the future, then the time will come to put
out the Flame," Minister for Relations with Parliament Luca
Ciriani said in an interview with Il Foglio.
The time will come when we will remove it from the symbol.
"It may not be soon but it will come, but by our choice and
certainly not because someone imposes it on us.
"Already now we can say that the Flame belongs to a past
history, that of my youth that I certainly do not deny. Today
many young people of twenty or thirty years do not know its
meaning".
Speaking about the future, the Fratelli d'Italia representative
continued: "We have a conservative project, already implemented
in the European Parliament, which in general terms means
bringing together the tradition of the Right, mine, with the
liberal and Risorgimento tradition, with the Catholic one".
As for the MSI flame, Ciriani specifies: "It is part of our
history and our identity, even if we have already overcome it,
it is an established fact.
"With absolute tranquility.
"It is a symbolic element, and like many other symbolic elements
it will have its parable, but it will never be denied.
"Without drama.
"And without fanfare.
"It is not even a topic of urgent debate.
"It will just happen, also because only those of my age can be
fond of that outdated symbol.
"But for very respectable and romantic reasons".
"The Flame," Ciriani added, "was my youth and for that symbol we
would have thrown ourselves on the fire but a boy of today does
not care at all.
"It is right this way and I can understand it".
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