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The anatomy of controversy, from Charlottesville to Rome

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 March 2019

Joshua Arthurs
Joshua Arthurs*
Affiliation:
Department of History, West Virginia University, Morgantown, USA
*
*Email: Joshua.Arthurs@mail.wvu.edu
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Abstract

This article compares two recent memory controversies in the United States and Italy – the removal of the Robert E. Lee statue in Charlottesville, Virginia and the Legge Fiano, the abortive ban on Fascist propaganda proposed by Emanuele Fiano and the Partito Democratico – in order to identify a common set of challenges now confronting liberal democracies on both sides of the Atlantic. While acknowledging the longue durée of memory politics surrounding the Confederacy and Fascism respectively, the article argues that disputes over their monuments and symbols must also be situated in terms of contemporary debates over national identity, race, populism, citizenship and speech.

Italian summary

Attraverso un paragone tra due controversie recenti negli Stati Uniti e nell’Italia – la rimozione della statua del generale sudista Robert E. Lee a Charlottesville, Virginia e il dibattito sulla Legge Fiano contro l’apologia del fascismo – questo articolo esamina una serie di sfide affrontate da democrazie liberali da entrambi i lati dell’Atlantico. Anche riconoscendo la ‘lunga durata’ della politica della memoria, sia del sudismo che del fascismo, l’autore colloca queste polemiche nel contesto di dibattiti attuali attorno all’identità nazionale, il razzismo, il populismo, e i diritti di cittadinanza e di libera espressione.

Keywords

ItalyFascismmemoryUnited StatesConfederacymonumentspopulism
Type
Special Issue
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 24 , Issue 2: Special Issue: The Difficult Heritage of Italian Fascism , May 2019 , pp. 123 - 138
Copyright
© 2019 Association for the Study of Modern Italy 

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