I was cruising down the Prinsengracht today, heading towards home, and wondering what had become of my dear friend Krizushka who last I heard, had moved to the Pijp neighborhood of Amsterdam. I had forgotten about the exciting and bizarre project she is involved in; tonight when I found her on skype, she had just returned from doing research in Italy, and immediately starting talking about it.
“.. I dined with 6 hardcore fascists who invited me to sleep in Mussolini’s house,” she reported. She didn’t sleep there, but she told me she went to his family home in Predappio, saw his bed, along with a mirror that when the light falls on it, you can still see his face. She also noted that these modern fascists still salute each other with the Il Duce/Hitler salute thing. I asked about political parties and she pointed out two: the movimento sociale italiano – the neo fascists, and the alternativa sociale – old school fascists; led by none other than Alessandra Mussolini, granddaughter and outspoken supporter of grandpa.
I did a little research into it, and it is pretty unbelievable: Alessandra Mussolini was elected to the European Parliament!! Not only that, as both she and her party are homophobic, I was extra horrified to find she sits on the parliamentary committee for Civil Liberties, Justice, and Home Affairs – THE HORROR. Oh, and as a sidenote, she posed in Playboy long ago, not that it matters.
K seemed pretty shocked about the whole experience, she probably won’t be thrilled I’m writing about it, but it is pretty ponderous. I think we forget that some history wasn’t so long ago, and is always connected to the present, sometimes in a most disturbing and dangerous way.