Thursday, September 29, 2022

The Return of Italian Fascism

 RANDOM JACK POETRY HOUR: GLOBAL DEMOCRACY


Fascism with a Pretty Face

 

Mussolini rose to power in Italy

As an elected prime minister in 1922

In three years he became dictator

In 1940 he entered the great war

On the side of the Nazis

Five years later he was captured

And executed by his own people

 

Five decades later

In the tradition of Italian fascism

Italy elects Giorgia “Mussolini” Meloni

Fascism with a pretty face

She represents Italian nationalism

Praises Mussolini

Condemns multiculturalism

Shows sympathy for Nazi collaborators

And repressive morality police

 

Despite past support for Putin

She has promised to support Ukraine

We will see, we will see

Would Mussolini have opposed Hitler

If his election required it?

 

Let’s not pretend it cannot happen

It can and anywhere

Where fear of others supplants patriotism

Where racial purity a silent virtue

Where years of austerity

Poverty and homelessness

Feed our biases and terror

It happens when we forget who we are

And what we stand for

It happens when we care only for

Ourselves and nothing for others

 

No comments:

Post a Comment