Fill 2018: The Fascist Paradox

(This is a past event and is no longer running)

Neo-fascist groups are popular on social media and enjoy media exposure. In Italy, they are invited to TV shows, have their own fashion brand, and are even allowed to patrol beaches and streets in vigilante-style groups. Despite this, their typical rhetoric claims that the “liberal media” conspire to silence them; in a striking paradox, fascist groups appeal to freedom of speech and liberal democracy in order to express their “ideas”. In this panel discussion, two leading experts discuss their work, researching racist and hate groups in Italy and UK, and the latest evolution of far-right movements.

Speakers:
Paolo Berizzi is a journalist for Italian national newspaper La Repubblica. His book NazItalia. Viaggio in un paese che si è riscoperto fascista (2018) is a journey through Italy’s neo-fascist groups, their organisations and their ties with mainstream politics.

Joe Mulhall is a senior researcher at anti-racism and anti-fascist organisation Hope not Hate, where he monitors far-right and hate groups. He runs Hope not Hate’s anti-Muslim monitoring unit and sits on the board of the Holocaust Memorial Day Trust.

Chair
Angelo Boccato is a London-based journalist.