Sometimes the coincidences of ceremonies do things well. Monday June 17, the Minister of Culture, Rachida Dati, knighted the Italian writer Antonio Scurati in the Order of Arts and Letters. The latter became known in France with his monumental work on Benito Mussolini. A Benedictine work which allows readers to follow, from the inside, the itinerary of the Italian dictator. The first volume, Mr. Child of the Century, was released in 2018 in Italy, and two years later in France (Les Arènes). The third volume, M. The last days of Europe, was published in France in September 2023. Volumes IV and V are currently being written.
A little over a month ago, Mr. Scurati was censored by Italian public television: he was to read a text, as part of the commemorations of the liberation of Italy, on April 25, 1945, denouncing the inability of the right in power today to rally around the anti-fascist base. This means that his coming to France resonated with the campaign for the legislative elections of June 30 and July 7, where the National Rally is the favorite.
“A decline of hope”
Under the gold of the magnificent Salon des Maréchaux, at the Ministry of Culture, Mme Dati said to herself “delighted and honored” to decorate Mr. Scurati, “in these troubled times” : “By telling us not to forget anything, to remember the abysses into which Europe has plunged itself in the past, you invite us to always keep our eyes open to the risks our democratic societies run,” she said, in a thinly veiled allusion to the current political situation. Before adding: “The culture we want is open, diverse and generous. » These will be his only forays into French politics, before a free-wheeling dialogue during the reception which followed.
Antonio Scurati is a Francophile writer who did part of his studies in Paris, at the School of Advanced Studies in Social Sciences. He did not directly mention the situation in France, nor the political weight exercised by the far right there. However, this was the heart of his intervention. “Fascism arose in my country a hundred years ago, at a time of serious crisis of confidence in democracy, similar in many respects to the one we are going through todayhe said. It was, then as now, a crisis of confidence in the future, a decline of hope. “, he explained.
Fear transformed into “hate”
And the writer continues: “Compared to a hundred years ago, the differences are numerous and profound. However, today the same reactionary wind has risen again which blows on the fear of the people, on the sad passions, on the resentment towards the system, on the resentment, on the feeling of disappointment and betrayal of the middle classes impoverished, on citizens frightened by epochal changes. » For the author, this wind “unhealthy” even transforms fear into ” hate “.
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