Description
Book SynopsisThis book offers an original and comprehensive study of the memory of the Rogo di Primavalle, a fatal arson attack on the home of a far-right family on 16 April 1973. Perpetrated by members of the militant left group Potere Operaio, this was the first attack on a domestic space during Italy’s Years of Lead. Through analysis of media coverage, books, and social media; observation of commemoration ceremonies; visits to sites of memory; and oral history interviews conducted by the author, The Politics of Sacrifice argues that memory of the Rogo di Primavalle has been instrumentalised by neo-fascist groups over the past 50 years. Drawing on contemporary theoretical debates relating to public and private memories, King connects the construction of a narrative of sacrifice to challenges faced by the institutional far right from the time of the Movimento Sociale Italiano in the 1970s, Alleanza Nazionale in the mid-1990s, and Fratelli d’Italia today. With the far right on the rise in Italy and abroad, the book identifies the characteristics of remembering that define far-right memory culture and investigates the role of memory in building support for the far right over time.
Table of ContentsPart I.- 1. Introduction.- 2. Mediated Memories and Contested Narratives.- 3. Political Martyrdom and Counter-Memory.- Part 2.- 1995-2012: After the Svolta di Fiuggi.- 4. Honouring a Lost Heritage.- 5. Pacification of Memory after Lollo’s Confession.- Part 3. From Fratelli d’Italia to CasaPound.- 6. Historicising Far-Right Sacrifice in the Populist Era.- 7. Afterword: The Legacy of Divided Memory.
