I’ll start from the end of this post: either we change the text of our national anthem or they change the name of the parties Giorgia Meloni and Ignazio La Russa. Now your wind melon blows up everything, in a kind of nationalist contagion, is becoming more and more frequent, concerts, performances, lectures begin with the notes of Michele Novaro and the words of Goffredo Mameli: “Brothers of Italy, Italy has woken ….”. This doesn’t just happen at the Sanremo Festival. I recently lived in a town in Lombardy.

On the stage of the theater there was a small orchestra ready to perform its repertoire. Suddenly, the announcer, a city councilor from Elly Schlein’s party, asked everyone to stand up as the national anthem was going to be played. And the whole theater started to sing, as if we were at the Berlin Olympic Stadium for the 2006 World Cup final. More than a solemn moment, this is exactly what the atmosphere looked like: somewhat, towards the end of the concert, Vasco’s Rossi sings the anthem of his generation: “I want a rough life. …”. And the stadium follows him in chorus.

Fratelli d’Italia belongs to all Italians

I got up too, but preferred to listen quietly. For two reasons. First, I’m out of tune and the music of an orchestra deserves respect. The second is just a personal opinion: the national anthem, which is shouted like this everywhere, except in corporate and sporting moments, resounds like a hypocritical spectacle. It would be enough to ask those present, especially those who sing for attention: Would you really be ready to die if Italy called you? Would you be willing to mix your blood with Polish blood to drink “With a sweater but your heart is burned”? In these days when Russia is once again bloodthirsty and imperialist, it is no longer just a historical quote.

The European cheer of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony is certainly more reassuring: “Embrace one another, crowds! A kiss to the whole world…”. The bold patriotism that the Fratelli d’Italia (officially called “Il canto degli italiani”) celebrates daily is instead mixed with the rhetorical nationalism of the Fratelli d’Italia (the party). At this rate, the question “Where is the victory?” We will have to ask. at school every morning, before every public event. And maybe even at condominium meetings: the President, after identifying the identity and legitimacy of those present, invites them to stand up and pam parapam…

Seriously, it’s about political etiquette: Can a party get hold of the anthem of all Italians, especially since it represents the majority of the government? Silvio Berlusconi, after whom Forza Italia is named, limited himself to taking advantage of sporting advice. Prime Minister Meloni, Senate President La Russa and defense minister Guido Crosetto, co-founders of the Brothers of Italy, seized the popular title and the text established by a provincial law. What would they say if the copy was made by Pd and 5Stelle?

Continue reading Today.it