Jewish Italian lawmaker launches petition against neo-Nazi parties

ROME (JTA) – A Jewish Italian lawmaker has launched an online petition to bar “neo-fascist, neo-Nazi and racist” movements from fielding candidates in upcoming elections.

Milan Member of Parliament Emanuele Fiano launched the petition, addressed to Italy’s interior minister, after the newly formed Italian section of Greece’s extremist Golden Dawn Party announced it wanted to run candidates in general elections scheduled for February.

Golden Dawn Italy held its constituent assembly in Rome on Dec. 21. Fiano called on authorities to prevent this by enforcing a 1993 law that bars incitement to racial, ethnic and religious discrimination, and Nazi and fascist ideology.

“We appeal to you and the judiciary that this law be rigorously applied,” reads the petition, distributed on the website www.change.org. It urges authorities not to be “indifferent” to the “increasingly aggressive and arrogant recurrence of neo-fascist movements, neo-Nazis and racists in our country: They are an affront to our national community and to our constitution . . . and a real danger for free and civilized coexistence. We believe that any underestimation of these phenomena is serious and guilty.”