LETTER FROM ROME
In just a few months, he has established himself as a recurring and popular figure in Italian public space. General Roberto Vannacci, 55, has embodied since the release in August of a self-published pamphlet, Il Mondo conversely (“the world turned upside down”, untranslated), the role of an outspoken reactionary soldier who calls for “ common sense ” and who, from public meetings organized throughout Italy to interviews in the national press, claims to say out loud what the deepest country would think quietly.
The man is ready to get into trouble with his superiors and is open to the possibility of inventing a new career in politics after having exercised the profession of arms. The rise of the soldier, increasingly present in the Italian media, could however be thwarted by a legal offensive against him, launched at the end of February.
For General Vannacci, belonging to the real Italian nation excludes black people, ecology “ideological” is a ” pseudo-religion »Benito Mussolini was a ” statesman “ and femicides are a progressive invention, no more legitimate in describing the reality of the phenomenon than the possible concept of “ merchanticides » would not be able to describe the murder of a tobacco shop owner.
Also denouncing the “rules of inclusion and tolerance imposed by minorities”he considers that homosexuals are not “normal people”. When he speaks about the adoption of children by same-sex couples, he also writes: “If it is not in man’s nature to be cannibalistic, why should the right to parenthood be? »
A book sold 200,000 copies
The positions set out in his first book, one of the biggest publishing successes of the past year with 200,000 copies sold despite the absence of a distributor or press service, have earned him increasing admiration asserted by the Italian extreme right. They must also be supported in a new work, an autobiography with announced success, The coraggio vince (“courage wins”), which is scheduled for release on March 12 by Piemme editions.
Four months before the European elections and while Matteo Salvini, secretary of the League (far right), vice-president of the council and minister of infrastructure in the government of Giorgia Meloni, repeatedly repeats his desire to see General Vannacci appear on the lists of her party, the new muse of the hard right must face recent and numerous obstacles.
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