Florida is now a laboratory for fascism There is a very specific reason why Gov. Ron DeSantis targeted African-American history for erasure Salon · Feb 7, 2023
Dante was the founder of Italy’s right wing, claims culture minister – an expert explains why he’s wrong “Dante was the founder of right-wing thinking in our country,” proclaimed Italy’s culture minister, Gennaro Sangiuliano, at an electoral meeting of the prime minister Giorgia Meloni’s party, Fratelli d’Italia, in January. The Conversation · Jan 25, 2023
Guillermo del Toro and the 'joyous melancholy' of the 'Pinocchio' song 'Ciao Papa' In the animated "Guillermo del Toro's Pinocchio," the titular wooden boy decides he must leave home — and his beloved father, Geppetto — with a ragged traveling circus in the hopes of earning needed funds for the family. He's shown onstage (voiced and sung by young Gregory Mann) performing a… Los Angeles Times · Jan 9, 2023
How Guillermo del Toro’s 'Pinocchio' became the darkest musical of the year Co-screenwriter Patrick McHale talks about writing songs with del Toro, why they chose to include Benito Mussolini, and more. Inverse · Dec 17, 2022
Iran leader's niece slams her uncle's 'child-killing regime' amid mass protests Farideh Moradkhani said people in Iran are fighting the regime’s "Satanic forces of evil" with remarkable courage and called on the world to support Iran’s "lions and lionesses" Daily Mirror · Dec 1, 2022
Guillermo del Toro’s Pinocchio review – a superbly strange stop-motion animation The director of the Oscar-winning The Shape of Water has turned the timeless fable into a magical Mussolini-era parable The Guardian - UK · Nov 27, 2022
Pinocchio review – Guillermo del Toro’s dark, sombre riff on the Disney-sweet fairytale The wooden puppet-boy turns fascist in a Mussolini-era, fantasy-horror rework of the classic tale The Guardian - UK · Nov 24, 2022
Is the perfect World Cup achievable or an impossible dream for football? Past tournaments have had great settings and matches for the ages … but terrible formats. Will the stars ever align? The Guardian - UK · Nov 17, 2022
Discipline the poor, protect the rich – it’s the same old Tories, same old class war Brexit didn’t change the party: austerity was as heartless under Cameron and Osborne as it is under Sunak, says Guardian columnist Aditya Chakrabortty The Guardian - UK · Nov 10, 2022
Italy's right-wing government slammed for anti-rave decree Italy’s new interior minister has defended the government from criticism that a decree banning rave parties could be used to clamp down on sit-ins and other forms of protest The Independent UK · Nov 2, 2022
Mark Z. Barabak: Is Arizona paving 'the road to authoritarianism' with its slate of GOP election deniers? On a recent weekday morning, Steve Arechiga swung by the library to pick up a book he'd reserved. It was a history of authoritarian strongmen, starting with Mussolini. The topic seemed unnervingly immediate. Los Angeles Times · Nov 2, 2022
GOP: No longer a legit political party Republicans' only unifying agenda is hate, fear and groveling to billionaires. They want to rule, but not govern Salon · Oct 21, 2022
Dublin woman who shot Mussolini 'brought home' to Merrion Square Violet Gibson, who had a privileged upbringing as daughter of a Lord Chancellor of Ireland, shot 'Il Duce' as he walked among a crowd in Rome in 1926 Dublin Live · Oct 20, 2022
The cracks in the Cult of the Dead Leader What worshipping Margaret Thatcher can’t do for UK Conservatives Financial Times · Oct 6, 2022
Evening Standard · Sep 27, 2022 “Not surprise, but disgust” - Italians react to the triumph of Giorgia Meloni Ben Munster reports from Rome on the reaction on the streets and in the press to Meloni victory - and why her “post-fascism” has stolen into a deeply flawed electoral system.
The Guardian - UK · Sep 27, 2022 Personality and Power by Ian Kershaw review – follow the leader… for good or ill The great historian’s analyses of a dozen 20th-century democrats and dictators are individually cogent but his conclusions tend to the obvious
The Guardian - UK · Sep 26, 2022 Italy’s drift to the far right began long before the rise of Giorgia Meloni A normalisation of far-right parties dating back to Berlusconi has paved the way, says the author David Broder
The Conversation · Sep 26, 2022 What will its first far-right leader since WWII mean for Italy? “Una vittoria storica” – a historic victory. That’s how the website of one of Italy’s major newspapers, the Corriere della Sera, reacted to the exit polls released after voting closed in Italy’s general election on Sunday night.
Salon · Sep 22, 2022 Trump's QAnon rally: Chaos reigns Yes, it really was that bad. Mussolini-style rants, revenge fantasies and now murderous cult symbols. With music!
The Guardian - UK · Sep 21, 2022 The Guardian view on Italy’s resistance anthem: sing it loud, sing it proud Editorial: Attempts by Italy’s radical right to ghettoise Bella Ciao are part of an attempt to airbrush history
The Guardian - UK · Sep 16, 2022 Tough, determined, fascinated by Mussolini: Rome neighbours recall Giorgia Meloni Residents in traditionally leftwing Garbatella district not surprised by rise of woman poised to be Italy’s next PM
The Guardian - UK · Sep 3, 2022 Orlando Figes: ‘Gorbachev was a very sharp and likable person’ The award-winning historian on Putin’s cult of personality, why he loves Turgenev, and giving up on books after 20 pages
The Guardian - UK · Aug 31, 2022 The March on Rome review – Mark Cousins dissects Mussolini and the grisly founding myth of fascism In his trademark subjective style Cousins uses archive and contemporary footage to show the dictator’s dishonesty and brutality
The Guardian - UK · Jul 14, 2022 ‘Two out of five stories should be hot’: why pre-code cinema was a golden age for women Prior to the proscriptive Hays Code, films were populated by adulterous, marijuana-smoking gold diggers – wildly entertaining and more modern than the roles that came next
Los Angeles Times · May 27, 2022 Commentary: White replacement theory is fascism’s new name Since Anders Breivik killed 77 people in Norway in 2011, mass murders in the name of white replacement theory (WRT) have become prevalent. Many of these killers, including Breivik; Brenton Tarrant, the Christchurch shooter; and Payton Gendron, the suspect in the massacre in Buffalo, New York, are self-identified as fascists.