On Saturday 1 March, thousands of people gathered in Parma to take part in an antifascist march. In the midst of a worldwide resurgence of extreme right-wing ideologies, the demonstration was a response to an event – which included a concert by bands whose songs promote violence, discrimination and intolerance – organised in the city by Casa Pound. Casa Pound is a neo-fascist organisation with a history of violence.
A coalition of antifascist associations, worker unions and centre-left political parties called for citizens to demonstrate a collective stand against the resurgence of the extreme right. The large crowd marched along the streets of Parma to reach a park where the city mayor, representatives of the Provincial council and of the antifascist ANPI (National Association of Italian Partisans) gave speeches that reaffirmed the city’s long tradition of antifascism and the need to defend the values at the basis of the Italian Constitution.
The Italian Constitution, adopted in 1948 in the aftermath of World War II, stands as a bastion of antifascist principles. Underpinned by a profound determination to ensure that the horrors of fascism would never again overshadow the future of Italy, its articles affirm a commitment to guarantee the conditions for equality, human rights, civil liberties and the rule of law and prohibits the reorganisation, in any form, of the fascist party.
The city of Parma, which famously halted with its barricades the advance of fascism in 1922, was awarded the Gold Medal for Military Valour in 1947 for its contribution to the Resistance and the national liberation movement.
On 25 April each year Italians celebrate the liberation of Italy in 1945 from the dictatorship of Mussolini and the German Nazi occupation. I was born in Parma and despite having lived in the UK for most of my adult life, I rarely failed to attend the Liberation Day in this city – a day which commemorates the contribution of the Italian Resistance towards the liberation of the country and reasserts the commitment to oppose the resurgence of violence and intolerance. Never before this demonstration, however, had I perceived in the city similar levels of heartfelt concern for the spread of forces that in Italy and across the globe threaten democracy. Palpable was also people’s hope – particularly among the young – that a collective stand could make a difference.
