Hate in football stadiums

During the qualifying game for the World Cup between Italy and Bulgaria (0:0) in Sofia Italian hooligans made a bad impression by singing fascist songs and making "il Duce" salutes. The left-liberal newspaper La Repubblica warns of the dangers of playing down the significance of such demonstrations. "For several years the extreme right has been trying to use World Cup games to spread patriotic and xenophobic propaganda. It would be wrong to brush this aside as a nostalgic phenomenon. Those who abuse the Italian flag and accompany the national anthem with fascist salutes have found the way that was paved ... by a cultural campaign against the values of the Republican constitution. ... The revisionists in government [who want the rehabilitation of the fascists] are in full sail. Their political instinct is in harmony with the impulses of their voters ... Neo-fascism in stadiums is a ... manifestation of the rebirth of reactionary thought."

» full article (external link, Italian)
More from the press review on the subject » Sport, » Italy
All available articles from » Gad Lerner

» To the complete press review of Monday, October 13, 2008