Dear President Boldrini:

In April del 2013, I filed a petition on Change.org opposing the monument dedicated by the town of Affile in the region of Lazio to the memory of the Fascist boss Rodolfo Graziani. That monument was built by Mayor Ercole Viri using public funds that had been set aside to restore a local park. Not only was Radimonte Rark not restored, but a pitiful structure sprang up instead: a structure not only esthetically ugly (a brute cube) but also a complete negation of Italy’s republican history as it had grown out of the battle against Fascism, and of a constitution that is based on the principle of anti-Fascism.

Rodolfo Graziani was one of the most vicious war criminals Italy ever produced, responsible for savage acts of war in Italy and in Africa. He ordered senseless massacres, used poison gas outlawed by the Geneva Convention against helpless civilian populations, and interned millions of innocent people. Would Germany permit a similar monument to Himmler to be built in its territory? Frankly, it’s unthinkable. Yet here in Italy, this outrageous construction was boldly put up at Affile, not very far from the capital Rome.

Last year’s petition was signed by more than 20,000 people, and—along with the work done by the real heroes in this tale, the anti-Fascist committee of Affile—helped put a stop to the flow of funds from the region of Lazio. The present regional government headed by Nicola Zingaretti thus righted an intolerable wrong done by their predecessors in Lazio.  

Yet despite numerous demonstrations and protests, the monument is still there.

In these months not only I, but an entire galaxy of indignant citizens, in primis the anti-Fascist committee of Affile, have been fighting to keep Italy from repressing the memory of its colonial past, and even worse, from sugar-coating that past, an approach so harmful to our present. The photographer Rino Bianchi and I wrote a book, Roma Negata, that tries to lift that veil of repressed memory, and in it we speak of Affile.

Nicola Zingaretti and his regional government made a real difference when they stopped those scandalous payments for this scandalous public building project. Now, however, the time has come to knock it down. Those who built it still intend to make Affile a place of worship for Fascists, and those of us who have opposed it cannot watch this take place in silence.

I turn to you, President Boldrini, knowing how deeply you care about this country you represent. The repression of the memory of colonialism (like that negationism that is sadly widespread among the young) is a cultural problem that can only be dealt with by means of ideas, examples, education, and which can only be promulgated by public institutions. That monument needs to come down, as part of a process by which we restore memory. Many of the ideas and reflexes of the regime and of Italian colonialism are still very much alive today. The migrants arriving in Italy from afar are the first to pay the price. Allow me to recall, among the many, Samb Modou e Diop Mor, assassinated by Italian racism in Florence on December 13, 2011.

As I write this letter, Italy is about to assume the six-month presidency of the European Council. To speak of anti-Fascism is to consider how to combat racism. It means building Italy (but also Europe) on a new foundation, open to the rest of the world, more welcoming to migrants and their children. The shameful racial laws that went into effect in Italy in 1938 were aimed at Jews, Eritreans, Somalis and Libyans. I hope never to see such laws again. Italy, which endured so much, does not deserve more hatred. Let us work together to tear down the walls between peoples. The monument at Affile marks us with infamy; we cannot permit racism to be fueled by subterfuge. Italy must become a republic founded on love and mutual respect.

PETITION IN ITALIAN >>