Racism & fascism - in brief (7)
01 September 2000
Italy: March against mosque: On Saturday 14 October, the Lega Nord (LN) held a demonstration in Lodi in response to the mayor's decision to grant permission for the building of a mosque, with the participation of Forza Italia (FI) and Fiamma Tricolore (FT). Around 300 people took part and minor clashes between demonstrators and locals were reported. Roberto Calderoli, national secretary of the LN-Lega Lombarda said: "They will never build a mosque here. If they try to we won't let them build it. We will break it apart even if we have to remove the bricks one by one at night." Anger against Muslims had been exacerbated when Cardinal Biffi declared that christian immigrants should be given preference over Muslims. However, the bishop of Lodi, Monsignor Giacomo Capuzzi, criticised the march and refused to authorise local priests to hold a mass near the site of the mosque. "There is religious freedom and, according to the clergy, there are no problems with the Muslims having their own mosque" he said, adding that Muslims have a right to come to Italy and attempt to spread Islam, "like we have a right as Christians to announce Christ throughout the world". The mass was celebrated by a priest the LN brought in from Mantua, Venito. An initiative by the LN-Liga Veneta in Venice collected 300-400 signatures against the proposed construction of another mosque in San Giuliano (Venice). The Lega Nord has often been involved in racist activity, and Forza Italia's involvement signals the continuation of a shift which started with Bossi and Berlusconi's draconian joint proposal on immigration before the summer recess. "It's a question of asserting the natural predominance of Catholic and Christian culture ...", commented Alessandra Mussolini of Alleanza Nazionale. The Spanish leader of the Socialist (PSE) group at the European Parliament criticised the initiative commenting "What the Italian right is doing is very serious." He expressed "alarm for the phenomena of racism and xenophobia of which the LN has been a protagonist in Italy, with the participation of some members of FI." Repubblica, 14-16 & 18.10.00.
UK: Ex-Economic League director in sterling campaign: Stan Hardy, the former director general of the far-right employment vetting agency the Economic League, which compiled 30,000 files on "subversives" during the 1980s, has been named as a regional chairman of the anti-euro "Business for Sterling" (Yorkshire and Humberside branch) organisation. The League, which was founded in 1919 and which had close links to the UK's internal security service, MI5, had over 2,000 companies subscribing to it before it was disbanded in 1993 following complaints about the accuracy of its information. In 1994 the League was briefly relaunched through Hardy's family firm Caprim Ltd which promised to vet left-wing campaigners, trade unionists, environmental and animal rights activists (see Statewatch vol 3 no 3, vol 4 no 3). He detached himself from the company when he became the Yorkshire director of the Institute of Directors last year. He was involved in the launch of the "euro no" campaign at the beginning of September; the campaign is jointly run by Business for Sterling and former Labour and SDLP MP, David Owen's "New Europe". Guardian 9.9.00.