The Alleanza Nazionale continued in its attempts to detach itself from its historical roots. On the other hand, it fielded and supported candidates with a racist background in the 1997 municipal elections. In contrast to 1996, there were several serious attacks on Jewish sites, including Molotov cocktails and a firebomb thrown at Jewish institutions. Roger Garaudy's book The Founding Myths of Israeli Politics was translated and published in Italy by a right-wing publishing house. On March 28, 1998, a military court in Rome handed down a verdict of life imprisonment to former SS officers Erich Priebke and Karl Hass, for their part in the Ardeatine Caves massacre in 1944. Both men were appealing an earlier verdict, of July 1997.

THE JEWISH COMMUNITY

The Unione delle Comunita Ebraiche Italiane (UCEI) is the roof organization of Italian Jewry. In addition to providing religious, cultural and educational services, it represents the community in official matters. Several international Jewish organizations have affiliates in Italy. There are Jewish schools in the main communities. The Jews of Rome publish a monthly journal, Shalom, and the Milan community puts out Bolletino.

EXTREMIST MOVEMENTS AND HATE GROUPS

The Alleanza Nazionale (National Alliance -- AN) continued in its attempts to detach itself from its historical roots. Its leader, Gianfranco Fini, with a small group of executive members, is pursuing a double objective: to orient the party toward the Italian political center, and to increase its credibility as a democratic-conservative party in the Thatcherist mode, within the wide-ranging right-wing coalition Polo della Libertá, led by Silvio Berlusconi.

As part of its efforts to gain political legitimacy, the AN has been taking steps to dissociate itself from the anti-Semitic policies of the fascist regime (1922-43) and of the Italian Social Republic (Repubblica Sociale Italiana -- RSI ) (1943-45). In December the AN inaugurated the Centro Studi Giorgio Perlasca (Giorgio Perlasca Study Center) in Rome, which bears the name of the Italian citizen who saved thousands of Jews in Hungary from deportation. The promoters and organizers of this center include Franco Perlasca, Giorgio's son and a councilor of the AN, and the journalist Enzo Palmesano, author of the motion against anti-Semitism passed at the 1995 congress in Fiuggi. Both Perlasca and Palmesamo visited Israel to dedicate a forest in the name of Giorgio Perlasca. In December, Gianfranco Fini, in his capacity of deputy of the European Parliament, asked all EU members to exert pressure on their governments to return the property of Holocaust victims. Fini has also made several attempts -- unsuccessful up to now -- of organizing an official visit to the state of Israel.

Notwithstanding these initiatives, Fini has refused to openly repudiate his party's historical bonds with the RSI, claiming this was implicit in the Fiuggi congress motion that condemned all totalitarianism (see Continuity or Change in the Ideology of the Alleanza Nazionale). Moreover, some factions have been urging that the party "overcome" its fascist roots, without betraying them. Exponents of this line include Teodoro Buontempo, who was a candidate for deputy mayor in the November municipal elections, and who has made several controversial statements concerning Jews.

Further, in the 1997 administrative-municipal elections, the AN fielded and supported candidates with a racist background. In April-May, the AN candidate Mauro Ghefi elected to the Grottaferrata council (near Rome), was at one time a leader of the Movimento Politico Occidentale (Western Political Movement), a political organization akin to the skinheads, whose headquarters were closed in 1993 under the anti-racism Mancino Law. In November, the AN supported outgoing mayor of Chieti, and candidate of the Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore, Nicola Cucullo, who in 1994 expressed regret that Hitler had not "fried" all the Jews. He was elected by a 60 percent majority. Overall, the AN suffered a serious loss in these elections, forcing Fini to undertake serious organizational changes within the leadership.

Other signs that the AN has not truly broken with its fascist past include its objective, while not openly stressed, of abrogating the article of the Italian constitution which forbids the reconstitution of the fascist party. Further, AN leaders and party members participated in various neo-fascist events, such as the funeral of the son of dictator Benito Mussolini and the election meeting of Teodoro Buontempo, as well as other occasions at which classic neo-fascist symbols were displayed.

The AN presents itself as a party of law and order and is among the parliamentary parties demanding that restrictions be placed on immigration laws. Many of its followers organize or participate in rallies or popular initiatives against the "invasion" of male prostitutes from South America, or demand the closure of Italy's borders to immigrants. Recently, the party has adopted the populist action model used by the Lega Nord (see below), partly in order to compete for influence with the latter (see R. Borcio, La Padania promessa, Milan, 1997).

The Lega Nord per l'independenza della Padania (formerly, Lega Nord; Northern League for the Independence of Padania -- LN), under Umberto Bossi, remained in conflict with the central government over its demand to separate the north-central region of the country from the rest of Italy. Following the declaration of an independent Federal Padanian Republic, the LN announced the establishment of institutions parallel to those of the state and of civil society, such as law courts and a police force. It should be noted that at the ceremonial opening of the so-called republic's constitutional assembly in November, one of the twelve invited delegates of independent movements was the nationalist and anti-Semitic Russian leader Vladimir Zhirinovsky.

In order to develop Padanian nationalism and territorial identity, the LN has been focusing on the socio-economic differences between northern and southern Italy, and on the dangers of immigration from outside the EC. This political emphasis has in fact legitimized and reinforced certain prejudices already present in the population, and has given rise to some anti-Semitic episodes. Among these was the parliamentary question posed in June by a LN senator concerning "the disability deriving from religious traditions practiced even in Italy," referring to infibulation performed on Arab girls and circumcision "widespread even in developed societies such as the Jewish community." The senator asked the minister to find out if such practices were compatible with Italian law, and requested preventive measures "to protect the minors." Another senator from the same party, commenting in July on the trials of Priebke and Hass (see below), denounced the existence of a "Jewish lobby" in Rome, which was spreading "hatred in every way and on every occasion." It should also be noted that a leaflet was circulated in May in the city of Verona, signed by Gruppo di fuocco Ernst Nikish (Ernst Nikish Firing Squad), which is linked to the LN. The leaflet accused the unified Italy (of 1866) of having robbed 60 percent of the land of the Venetians and sold it to "Italians and Jews." In certain areas of the Veneto, in Verona for instance, there is collaboration among sympathizers of the Catholic fundamentalist movement, the radical right and the LN.

During the April-May municipal elections the LN suffered a slight loss nationally compared with 1996: 6.7 percent versus 7.6 percent in 1996. While losing some support in several important centers such as Milan, Mantova, Pavia and Gorizia, its appeal grew in small provincial towns and villages. A similar tendency was observed in the municipal elections of November, in which the LN obtained mayoralties in two cities: Varese (stronghold of the party) and Alessandria.

The small Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (Social Movement-Tri-Colored Flame -- MS-FT) party, led by Pino Rauti, a deputy of the European Parliament, obtained 1.2 percent of the vote in the November municipal elections. The only city of importance where this party gained a mayoralty was Chieti (about 50,000 inhabitants in the Abruzzo area), where Nicola Cucullo obtained the majority of the votes in a coalition of the MS-FT and the Polo della Liberta. Among the candidates for the Milano council was Sergio Gozzoli, a frequent contributor to the rightist, anti-Semitic publication L'Uomo Libero and one of the ideologues of the skinhead movement.

Ideologically, the MS-FT's program is very similar to the corporativism of the MSI (Movimento Sociale Italiano). Like the AN, it presents itself as a party of law and order, and serves as a focus for the right's most radical wing. The MS-FT's approach to the problem of immigration from underdeveloped countries is based on differential racism.

Rauti, who during the fifties founded the Ordine Nuovo (New Order) study center which revived anti-Semitic and racist subjects and slogans of the fascist era, declared in April that he did not support the statement made by French FN leader Le Pen that the gas chambers were a detail in history. According to Rauti, the gas chambers were an enormous fact, which conferred a grave moral responsibility, and that the time had arrived to discuss the Holocaust as a phenomenon of unimaginable cruelty in human history.

Two representatives of the MS-FT, Tomaso Staiti di Cuddia and Adriano Tilgher, both former leaders of radical movements, were expelled from the party. Tilgher founded in September the Fronte Nazionale (National Front), a very small movement which follows the political line of Le Pen, who was invited to Rome during the election period last November. The original National Front, founded in 1990 by Franco Fredda, was dissolved after the conviction of its leader and another 45 members in 1995.

Extra-parliamentary Groups

Few groups are organized on a national level, but many small groups operate at the neighborhood or city level. The militants of some of the groups dissolved in accordance with the 1993 Mancino Law continue to be active, but without a defined structure, especially in Rome. In the Veneto area, particularly Verona, some minute organizations, imbued with a mixture of extreme right and Catholic fundamentalist ideologies, fight either for the moral health of the family or against Muslim immigrants and the organizations that help them.

Skinhead numbers have been much reduced due to the measures taken by the police and magistrates since the enactment of the Mancino Law. Nevertheless, some individual skinheads or small bands of them continue to be involved in violent episodes against immigrants from African countries.

In July a comprehensive police operation in about twenty cities led to the discovery of a new organization Hammerskins, whose activities even extended to the south of the country. It appeared to be a strongly hierarchical, military-type organization, with a low political profile, but with symbols and cultural references similar to those of the disbanded organizations. It also had strong links, through the Nazi music network with the British followers of Combat 18 and Blood and Honour (see UK).

The neo-Nazi organization Forza Nuova (New Force) was founded by Roberto Fiore, ex-leader of the national revolutionary Terza Posizione (Third Position), and by Massimo Morsello (ex-leader of the extreme right subversive Nuclei Armati Rivoluzionari - Armed Revolutionary Nuclei). Documents discovered during the searches carried out by the police in the Hammerskin case revealed that the Forza Nuova extended throughout Italy, particularly in the Lazio area, and had its center in Rome. Its apparent aim was to embrace all the radical right, to the right of the AN. The police also think that Fiore could have used MS-FT facilities in order to build a neo-Nazi movement "with the purpose of disseminating hatred and racial discrimination." The manifesto published by the movement indicates a political line which could be considered as a meeting point between the extreme right and Catholic integralism. In June, Fiore and Morsello published an appeal in a national newspaper calling for the abolition of the Mancino Law, as well as discriminatory clauses in the Italian constitution, such as the ban on the reconstitution of the fascist party. Among the signatories were representatives of the AN. A text with similar content appeared in the electronic magazine Foglio di Lotta di Bologna (Document of the Struggle of Bologna). Among other claims, it attributed the initiative for this law to the dictates of the international oligarchy, and particularly the ADL, "executive (and frequently armed) branch of the Jewish Freemasonry of the B'nai B'rith," which acts through representatives of the Italian Jewish community.

It should also be noted that among the numerous fan clubs of the various Italian soccer teams, many are formed by militants or sympathizers of extreme right-wing parties or organizations, which frequently instigate episodes of racism or anti-Semitism during the matches by means of slogans or banners. In this atmosphere, calling the opposite team or its fans "Jew," is a frequently used insult.

ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES

In contrast to the previous year, there were several serious attacks on Jewish sites. Twice, in February, Molotov cocktails were thrown at a building on an island in the Tiber River housing the Temple of the Young and a Jewish hospital. No casualties were reported. In addition a firebomb hurled at Rome's central synagogue on the night of March 29 caused minor damage to the entrance. Italian police detained a 34-year-old Egyptian who seemed drunk or mentally disturbed. As in previous years there were also anti-Semitic graffiti and threats. Anonymous telephone threats were received, for example, at the office of the Venice congregation and the home of its cantor. They included anti-Semitic curses and slogans such as "Hitler did not finish the job and we will continue."

Anti-Semitic Propaganda and Holocaust Denial Anti-Semitic and Holocaust denial articles continued to be published in extreme right publications such as Orion and Avanguardia. The Jewish financial conspiracy to control the world (Mondialismo ) was again the main theme in anti-Semitic articles. In April, Avanguardia published articles from the fascist press of 1944-45 stressing that the sole enemies of fascism were the Jews and their main instrument, the Freemasons. Orion, on its January issue, published two articles by the Holocaust denier Robert Faurrison.

The book of Holocaust denier Roger Garaudy The Founding Myths Of Israeli Politics was translated and published in Italy by the rightist publishing house Graphos. Following the publication, a conference was organized by Orion, Graphos and Circolo Culturale Amis - Il Fondaco dei Mori (Islamic cultural institute). The main speaker was Garaudy. A special edition of his lecture was published by the organizers.

A book written by Mg. Vitaliano Mattioli, a historian at the Papal University, who embraces Holocaust denial theses, provoked tensions between the Italian Jewish community and the Holy See. The book The Jews and the Church, blamed the Jews themselves and their presumed characteristics and defects for the calamities brought upon on them, as well as for the plutocratic-Masonic-Judaic and Bolshevist conspiracies to dominate the world. Following protests from the Jewish community, Mattioli's book was withdrawn from Vatican and other bookstores.

ATTITUDES TOWARD THE HOLOCAUST AND THE NAZI ERA

RESPONSES TO RACISM AND ANTI-SEMITISM