the PDL against Racism League is like that of fascism 
According to recent polls , today 10% League of Italians would vote. But the party of Umberto Bossi has a very heavy most of his (eventual) electoral weight of public opinion.
In terms of immigration has become, to quote Gramsci, the party hegemonic: that what the tone of the dominant mentality.
And often the outputs of the League on immigration are taken as found in folklore. But they are not at all: there is an ideology behind structured and consistent, which owes much to the fascist racism. This is demonstrated by a study by the University of Milan Bicocca, conducted by Chiara Volpato
. It is titled "Picturing the Other
: Targets of Delegitimization across Time" (portrayed others, works to discredit the time) and was published on '
International Journal of Conflict and Violence .
The researchers compared the posters of the league with the fascist magazine
The Defense of the Race and found that "
images used by the Northern League in an impressive manner similar to that published it Defense Race . A chilling result, past general indifference. The following interview with Chiara Volpato published
City.
We're going back to the Fascist racism
Social Psychology, Chiara Volpato studies prejudice. It found that in today's force took over the racist stereotypes of fascism.
The study of his research team claims that the Italian mentality is "permeated with words and pictures" that are from the repertoire razzista della dittatura fascista. Ma in Italia nessuno, ormai, parla di razze inferiori...
Oggi difficilmente qualcuno oserebbe sostenere apertamente una supposta inferiorità di altri popoli, come facevano nazisti e fascisti nei confronti di ebrei e neri. Eppure nel dibattito pubblico e politico si usano senza pudore le stesse “strategie di delegittimazione”, come si dice in termini scientifici. Soprattutto nei confronti degli immigrati.
Strategie di delegittimazione? Cosa sono?
Sono quei meccanismi che vengono usati per caratterizzare in termini negativi particolari gruppi di persone, in modo da emarginarli dal resto della società e quindi giustificare un trattamento diverso, discriminatorio, nei them. In relations between groups does not matter so much what "really", but as they are seen.
And what is the risk of these mechanisms?
to take action: the persecution of the Jews, to speak of history, was possible because there was a widespread mentality which regarded them as different, less than people.
In other words, the Nazis knew they were not "Nazis", believed to be right.
's right: had the belief that in their view were true and justified their behavior. Today, all scientific research shows that in Italy are increasing, racist stereotypes, along with those homophobic and sexist.
Is there a link?
Yes, usually these different forms of discrimination go hand in hand. In particular, however, we saw that against foreign immigrants have spread the same procedures used by the fascist dictatorship derogatory toward Jews and peoples "of the colonies."
How did you see it?
We analyzed all the numbers from the defense of the race, the magazine with which the regime was racist propaganda - was also distributed in schools. And we compared his drawings with posters of the Northern League.
Why League?
Why is the party that has put the focus of its political activity the subject of immigration, making it central to public debate. And why is the government and therefore his views are reflected in the practical decisions that affect the public life of the country.
In your analysis you write that "the images used by the Northern League in an impressive manner similar to those published in The Defense of the Race." What?
For example, insistence on the size of the group opposed. There is a poster of the League which is titled "Their integration" and shows a growing number of men blacks who, year by year, rises above and to eliminate the white men. It is almost the same image the "proportion of Jews in relation to the population" contained in the journal propaganda of the dictatorship.
What message it gives?
That the Jews then or now have many immigrants, too many. In fact, research statistics show that the Italians overestimate the presence of immigrants expected to be many more than those really present in our country.
At the time of the Nazis was the conclusion that the Jews were to become less ... Other examples?
Another strategy used to discredit then and now is the comparison between groups, we met with a positive to their negative. In Defense of Race images of black women portrayed with simian features were associated with those beautiful West. The League has done the same thing with the image of a veiled woman behind bars next to Italian women sitting at the desk: it suggests that she is a slave, their free and emancipated working women.
addition to these, you identified other strategies to discredit. According to your analysis of these images are false?
are exaggerations or manipulations of aspects of reality, which are passed to the only true reality. The world is full of emancipated Muslim women, who study and work. But the propaganda does seem to foreigners other than those that are less than us. And if you see them that way, treat them that way. The risk is considered less than human reach,
The danger is thinking that the rights should be different for different people?
This is the real risk, in my opinion. If you exceed certain barriers, if we do not realize what it means to speak a certain way and treat the "other" pay a heavy price.
What price?
Certain prejudices are destructive: the civil society, democracy, our sense of humanity. The Italians are a people that has always been proud of his humanity: we must not lose it.
Elena Theban
elena.tebano [at] rcs.it
