Introduction & Updates in National Landscape
One of the major topics was the elections in Italy. Giorgia Meloni, who in the past praised Mussolini and said that Dalmatia and Istria should return to Italy, became the new prime minister there. Earlier this year, she published a status about Josip Broz Tito. In a post from February, she wrote that it is absurd to honor someone who is responsible for the massacre of Italians. And demanded that Tito be stripped of the orders of the Italian Republic. In Italy, after the breakup of Yugoslavia, the fascists crimes during the occupation were forgotten, and Italian losses are repeatedly exaggerated and compared to the Holocaust.
Many Croatian far-right politicians and activists of prominent far-right organizations and groups congratulated the Italian neo-fascists on their excellent election results. The unspoken logic is impeccably nationalist: although they still consider Istria and Dalmatia to be Italian territories, and although in the 1990s in Belgrade they negotiated the dismemberment of Croatia, the future work of their fascist neighbours should be welcomed because they share with their Croatian fellow soldiers a hatred of women, LGBTQ + persons, and other races.
Transnational Activities & Group Interactions
Željka Markić, president of the Croatian right-wing movement** In the Name of Family, was together with Giorga Meloni at the World Congress of Families in Verona in 2019. She sat there in the front row and gave a speech. At a similar meeting held in Rome in 2020, where both Meloni and Orbán made an appearance, as well as **Homeland Movement representative Stjepo Bartulica. The National Conservatism Conference, organized by the American Edmund Burke Foundation, is an annual gathering that has become a key meeting place for the new global far right. Although they strive to radiate freshness, their ideas are ancient and banal.
Ladislav Iličić, vice-president of the Croatian Sovereigns and member of the European Parliament, boasted on his Facebook profile about his conversation with Jordan B Peterson. He introduced him as: “one of the most influential thinkers today whose lucidity, wisdom and rhetoric help preserve order in a world of chaos. We discussed how to promote common sense thoughts in an environment that is not prone to such thoughts.”
Citations:
The new Italian prime minister wants Istria and Dalmatia and hates Tito https://www.index.hr/vijesti/clanak/nova-talijanska-premijerka-mrzi-tita/2398081.aspx
Giorgia Meloni Is a Global Phenomenon https://antifascist-europe.org/italy/giorgia-meloni-is-a-global-phenomenon/
Ladislav Iličić facebook picture with Jordan B Peterson https://www.facebook.com/story.php?story_fbid=pfbid0fzSSXUQnTCfF1dCJPqj3qDrnbYkSh7KJ2GPqRtUhNveKSeYZG9vGcbkQ8BoZ8RjJl&id=100064042932415