That is why the statue of Indro Montanelli was smeared
For anyone who has followed the news on the news and newspapers in recent days, it will have been impossible not to notice a phenomenon that is taking hold in various cities, both in Europe and overseas. We are talking about the demolition of certain celebratory monuments by some activists who took part in the demonstrations of the Black Lives Matter movement following the killing of George Floyd, the African American who died during a police stop in Minneapolis.
The statue of Christopher Columbus is also in the sights
Excited by yet another racist episode, some of the demonstrators have begun to target the statues dedicated to great personalities of the past who, filtered from a contemporary perspective, appear rather controversial. After the demolition of the statue of Edward Colston, a Bristol merchant accused of having accumulated wealth also through the slave trade in 600, it was the turn of that of Christopher Columbus in Boston. The Italian explorer has always been at the center of public debate because, although the discovery of the New Continent is attributed to him, he is considered the main proponent of the merciless colonization and the consequent genocide to which the native populations were subjected.
See also
The controversy surrounding Indro Montanelli
The same treatment also fell to Indro Montanelli, the Italian journalist to whom a statue and its park in the center of Milan is dedicated. Yesterday, his memorial sculpture was found smeared in red with a rather eloquent inscription at the base: "racist rapist".
It is not the first time that the statue of the man has been vandalized. It was March 8, 2019 when activists of the feminist movement Non Una Di Meno stained it with red paint for the first time.
The writer, in fact, whose talent and journalistic legacy are absolutely not questioned, was stained with an ignoble gesture before getting stained with paint. At the age of 26, Montanelli is in Abyssinia with the troops of the fascist regime and there he buys and marries an African girl of just 12.
This episode re-emerged in 1972, during the program "The hour of truth" by Gianni Bisiach. Indro Montanelli, who is the host of the episode, submits himself to the questions of the audience, among which Elvira Banotti emerges, a feminist journalist who is cornering the man, asking him publicly how he understood his relationship with women since in Europe the marriage to a 12-year-old girl is considered violence. Montanelli, with a bronze face, the same material his statue is made of, claims the gesture without any shame, arguing that the 12-year-old girls there were already women.
The practice of the madamato and the accusations of pedophilia
From that moment on, the writer ends up at the center of the controversy and the accusation of pedophilia is poured out on him. Unfortunately, Montanelli's is not an isolated case. At the time, this practice, known as "madamato", was quite common. It was a more uxorio temporary relationship between Italian citizens - in most cases soldiers - and young local women, thanks to which the former could enjoy domestic and sexual favors, without assuming the responsibilities that a marriage relationship normally requires. In many cases, these unions also gave birth to mestizo children who were never recognized by their fathers and consequently abandoned in orphanages, institutions used for the reception of illegitimate babies. The madamato was abolished by the fascist regime not as an abuse, but as it was considered harmful to the integrity of the breed.
"This statue is an" offense to the city and its democratic and anti-racist values "
So in these days of high tension, in which protests rage in the cities with the specific aim of dismantling not so much the monuments as the racist and sexist structures on which society continues to support itself, the incriminated video of this interview has started to circulate again. on social networks, provoking - or reconfirming - the general outrage.
The Sentinelli movement has publicly asked Beppe Sala, mayor of Milan, that the statue of the writer be removed because "it is an offense to the city and its democratic and anti-racist values". In addition, a petition has gone viral on the web calling for the replacement of Via Montanelli with Via Destà (the name of the girl bought by the man in 1936), but not only. The creators and supporters of the request want the "Indro Montanelli Public Gardens" to be renamed "Public Gardens of Porta Venezia" and that the statue be transferred to the archives of the Galleria d'Arte Moderna in Milan to be replaced by a sculpture in memory of all victims of racism and gender discrimination.
Public opinion is split in half
But not everyone agrees, the Montanelli Foundation in the first place. The latter, in fact, responds to the accusations made against the now deceased journalist by reiterating that, although today this act may be - with good reason, I would add - reprehensible, "that type of marriage was even a public contract". A part of public opinion is also convinced that this is an "excessive moralism" useless to the cause and that Montanelli has every right to be celebrated as a "symbol of free Italian journalism".
In short, the question is really complex. When is it right to stop celebrating the public figure and start judging the private man?
