The scope of this blog is to explain for the world what Neapolitan Independentism is.
Tuesday, November 15, 2011
Friday, November 4, 2011
Terroni: All That Has Been Done to Ensure That the Italians of the South Became "Southerners"
English publication of "Terroni" - A book about the Neapolitan genocide. In my opinion the english title and subtitle sounds horrendous, more horrendous than in italian, it should be "All That Has Been Done to Ensure That the Neapolitans and Sicilians became Southerns", but never mind.
This book can be "a spark that lights the fire" and awaken the old national pride of Neapolitan emigrants. When they discover that they have been cheated because of Italy's unification and the general history of Italian unification is a fake written by the winners.
In his book, Aprile explains, through a series of anecdotes and historical events, how Neapolitans and Sicilians has been robbed, how those people have been transformed to a poor and derided "minority". Napolitania's and Sicily's decline began with the unification of Italy, today resulting in an abyss in comparasion with the socio-economic development experience by northern Italian regions and the rest of Europe. Naples for 150 years ago, culturally and socio-economic development was at same level as Paris, just after London.
The book's title is a political statement. Aprile uses the word "terroni", which is a pejorative term used by North Italians to denigrate Neapolitans and Sicilians. Into the subtitle, Aprile uses the word "Meridionali", which translated means "southerners," and even that word is used by North Italians as a pejorative term, rather than in geographical mean.
Aprile relates events happened for 150 years ago to the present day in a skilful manner, he shows the similarity between the past and current events, or he shows causal connections between the events of the past and the present. He talks about how the government of Piedmont put up the first concentration camps in 1860, where thousands of Neapolitans soldiers loyal to the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was deported and left to die of cold and starvation, this happened about 80 years before the Nazi's infamous concentration camps in Europe. The similarities between the Nazis and the Piedmontese soldiers are reported by Aprile, when he describes how villages Pontelandolfo and Casalduni was destroyed by troops from the Bersaglieri, the infantry in August 1861, just as the Nazis destroyed the Marzabotto in September 1944. In both cases, civilians were massacred in response to attacks on occupation troops from irregular troops. Aprile also makes a comparison between the torture used by the U.S. military at Abu Graib with the Piedmontese were doing in the years after the unification of Italy. His comparisons between then and today's events, making it easier for the reader to immediately relate to the horrors that happened 150 years ago.
Aprile is based on an extensive amount of data from official government sources in Italy in order to demonstrate causal relationships between historical events and the current situation in Napolitania and Sicily.
One of the most surprising fact in this book is the value of the Treasury in the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, which was in excess of 443 million lire in gold, compared to just 20 million lira in paper money that the invading Kingdom of Sardinia had (as the Piedmont State was known as the unification of Italy ). The kingdom of Two Sicilies contributed with actually 60% of the total aggregate value of the new state of Italy, money that of course was brought to north, and was used to pay the debts of the Royal House of Savoy, the royal family that ruled the newly formed Kingdom of Italy, and who had been involved in wars against their neighbors for years. This money was used also unfairly to finance industrial development in Northern Italy.
Aprile remarks that money from the Kingdom of Two Sicilies, ironically, has been used to modernize northern Italy and to a small proportion has been allowed to rifle back to the South in the form of public aid and loans. In short, Neapolitans and Sicilians had ended up having to borrow their own money.
The book tells the story of pioneer industries in Napolitania, as the unification of Italy either shut down or run out of business due to a bias-driven competition from northern Italy, or as a result of specific political decisions of the newly formed Italian state. Metal Industries in Mongiana and Pietrarsa, shipyard of Castellammare, textile industry in Salerno, and sulfur mines in Sicily was the crown jewels before the unification of Italy and pretended to go over or reduced to second-class activities after the unification of Italy.
The most striking aspect of the book for a Neapolitan or Sicilian is that coincidence with the Italian unification withe mass immigration from southern Italy. The so-called "Questione Meridionale" was only a product of the invasion by Piedmont. Millions of Neapolitans and Sicilians left her occupied and impoverished countries to reach the shores of America, South America, Australia and other destinations.
Aprile says that immediately after the unification of Italy, Neapolitans and Sicilians realized that they were ripped off and revolted, by forming irregular armies, which came to be called "Briganti" of enemies from Piedmont. The book says that these soldiers' heroic resistance against an occupying power that sent 120,000 regular soldiers who fought in more than 10 years to quell the rebellion. The irregular troops were composed of former soldiers from the defeated Neapolitan Army, farmers and idealists who were unhappy over the Piedmontese occupation of their homeland.
Aprile is not particularly generous to the Italian national hero, Garibaldi, who made agreements with local criminals to conquest the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
Aprile's book is a call to action for Neapolitans and Sicilians, with emphasis on theirs proud history, to take their courage to stay up and combat the prejudices and the injustices.
This book has been i bestseller in Italy, and now when it is translated into English, we hope that it will open the eyes of millions of Neapolitans and Sicilians spread beyond the sphere. It would make them understand why they were born in America, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, Australia, etc.. They also will understand how heroic their ancestors were when they fought against a brutal occupying force, supported by Britain, France and other major powers who wanted to eradicate the Kingdom of Two Sicilies.
1860 News from Europe
Reinforcements for Garibaldi. The Crisis in Naples and Rome. DEBATES IN THE BRITISH PARLIAMENT. The San Juan Dispute and Recall of Gen. Harney. FUNERAL OF PRINCE JEROME. Independence Day in Paris. SPREAD OF THE WAR IN SYRIA.
Published: July 21, 1860
(source: http://www.nytimes.com/1860/07/21/news/interesting-europe-africa-revolution-southern-italy-reinforcements-for-garibaldi.html?pagewanted=print)
The Royal Mail steamship Africa, Capt. SHANNON, which sailed from Liverpool at 10 o'clock, on the morning of the 7th, and from Queenstown on the evening of the 8th inst., arrived at this port yesterday morning.
The advices by the Africa are not so late as those brought by the Connaught and telegraphed from St. Johns; but our correspondence and details from foreign journals are interesting, and are of two days later date.
No movement is reported either in Sicily or on the mainland.
GARIBALDI, in a letter to the Italian Committee in London, points out the urgent need he has for a flotilla, and suggests that they might possibly procure for him a couple of steamers armed with Armstrong guns.
A Naples telegram of the 2d inst., says:
"The state of siege has been raised; the Constitution of 1848 has been proclaimed, the Press laws of 1848 and 1849 have been reestablished, the Chambers are convoked for the 10th of September, and the National Guard has been provisionally reestablished. Naples is tranquil.
Signor FRESCOBALDI, the representative of the Duke of Tuscany, has taken down the escutcheon of the Grand Duchy."
It is asserted that the most violent pressure was being exercised by the French Emperor on both the Courts of Naples and Turin, for the enforcement of a confederation equally repugnant to the one and the other.
The semi-official Opinione, of Turin, in reference to the proposed alliance with Naples, says:
"The Ministry firmly adheres to the national principle, and refuses to enter into any engagement which might carry them away from the line of policy they have always followed. It is necessary to temporize, in order to neutralize the activity of diplomatists, who think that Piedmont, to save the Neapolitan dynasty, should adhere to the proposed alliance. Such an alliance is inadmissible on account of the opposition of public opinion."
The Independence Belge says that Piedmont has placed conditions on the acceptance of the alliance with Naples, which are equivalent to a refusal. For instance, the Government has demanded that the Neapolitan Government not only recognize the annexation of Romagna, but the probable annexation of the Marches and of Umbria. The relations between the Court of Naples and the Holy See renders such a course impossible.
The northern states that the conditions which the Court of Turin desire to impose on Naples were as follows: 1. The Government of Naples shall definitively break with Austria. 2. It shall give, and cause to be accepted at Rome, the counsels which itself has received and accepted. 3. It shall adopt a line of policy tending to the complete independence of Italy. 4. Promised reforms shall be really effected.
A letter from Genoa says the Sicilian loan of 45,000,000 francs was almost concluded. It would be issued at 85, and to be reimbursed in fifteen years by annual drawings.
Provisions, arms and camp materials were being continually sent off to Sicily, and as to men, Genoa contained quite an army of volunteers from all parts.
The French Consul at Genoa had refused to sign the papers of a captain of a French steamer who had engaged to convey volunteers to Palermo. There were 4,000 volunteers ready at Genoa to depart.
A telegram dated Naples the 5th announces that a Commission had been appointed to draw up laws on the following subjects: The National Guard, Administrations, Council of State and Ministerial responsibility.
Naples was tranquil, and the Constitutional party was described as more consolidated.
A telegram dated Naples, July 5, announces that GARIBALDI had marched against Messina.
A rumor was current that a movement of Roman troops towards the Neapolitan frontiers had taken place.
The reforms which the Papal Government had decided upon granting were to be promulgated shortly in a motu proprio. Among other concessions the Pope grants to the Consulta of State a deliberative vote on all financial questions, in which, until now, it had only a consultative vote; but these reforms are to be granted on condition of the integrity of the patrimony of St. Peter being guaranteed.
The state of affairs in Southern Italy had been the subject of debate in both Houses of the British Parliament.
The only additional suspension of importance in the leather trade is that of LAWRENCE, MORTIMORE & CO., of Liverpool, the corresponding firm of STREATFIELD, LAWRENCE & CO., of London, with liabilities estimated at £300,000. Efforts were being made to avert forced sales and thereby avert any extravagant depreciation in the value of hides and leather. The London Herald believes that 12s. to 14s. in the pound may be obtained all round from the suspending firms if moderation be shown.
The British steamer Bulldog had sailed for the purpose of taking soundings on the projected route of the North Atlantic Telegraph Cable. The late Arctic cruiser Fox was expected to leave Southampton about the middle of July for the same destination.
The vote of credit, on account of the war with China, required by Government, amounts to £3,800,000 sterling.
The Dublin Evening Post gives a rumor that the Galway line had concluded an arrangement for a transfer of the mail subsidy to a rival Company. The Galway Vindicator says that the negotiations were still pending, and that the Canadian line had offered £200,000, while the London Directors demanded £240,000 for the interest of the line. The Irish shareholders were averse to the transfer.
The Russian Ambassador at Paris had officially notified the French Government of the adhesion of Russia to the proposition for the assembling of a European Conference at Paris on the Savoy question.
The session of the Corps Legislatif, which was to be concluded on the 14th inst., would be prolonged to the 21st on account of the amount of business remaining for discussion.
It is confirmed that the Neapolitan Minister at Paris had sent his resignation to Naples.
The American residents in Paris gave a fete champetre on the 4th of July. Mr. COBDEN was present.
The Paris Bourse was firm and animated. Rentes closed on the 6th at 68.95.
It is asserted that the leading members of the Council of the Empire had agreed to advise the Emperor to grant a Constitution to his subjects, and that a motion to that effect would soon be formally brought before the Council.
Messrs. BARING BROTHERS & CO. had announced that the subscriptions in Amsterdam and London to the new £8,000,000 Russian loan amounted to £5,000,000, and that the allotments for that amount had been issued. Russia engages not to offer the remaining £3,000,000 before January, 1861, and then not below the prices or conditions of the subscription just closed. The new stock was quoted in London at par to 1/2 premium.
Prince BARIATINSKI had undertaken an expedition against a tribe of the mountains near the Caspian sea, who were giving trouble to the Russians.
The civil war in Syria was raging with unabated violence at latest dates.
The Druses had attacked the town of Zahli, the last refuge of the Christians, and burnt it down. It is said that 1,000 Christians were murdered.
Upwards of 60 villages are reported to have been destroyed.
The Bombay Mails of June 7th, and Melbourne of May 18th, reached Marseilles on the 6th.
The only items of news telegraphed are -- that disturbances had taken place at Bansweera, and that Gen. OUTRAM's protest against the amalgamation of the two armies in India had been published.
Published: July 21, 1860
(source: http://www.nytimes.com/1860/07/21/news/interesting-europe-africa-revolution-southern-italy-reinforcements-for-garibaldi.html?pagewanted=print)
The Royal Mail steamship Africa, Capt. SHANNON, which sailed from Liverpool at 10 o'clock, on the morning of the 7th, and from Queenstown on the evening of the 8th inst., arrived at this port yesterday morning.
The advices by the Africa are not so late as those brought by the Connaught and telegraphed from St. Johns; but our correspondence and details from foreign journals are interesting, and are of two days later date.
No movement is reported either in Sicily or on the mainland.
GARIBALDI, in a letter to the Italian Committee in London, points out the urgent need he has for a flotilla, and suggests that they might possibly procure for him a couple of steamers armed with Armstrong guns.
A Naples telegram of the 2d inst., says:
"The state of siege has been raised; the Constitution of 1848 has been proclaimed, the Press laws of 1848 and 1849 have been reestablished, the Chambers are convoked for the 10th of September, and the National Guard has been provisionally reestablished. Naples is tranquil.
Signor FRESCOBALDI, the representative of the Duke of Tuscany, has taken down the escutcheon of the Grand Duchy."
It is asserted that the most violent pressure was being exercised by the French Emperor on both the Courts of Naples and Turin, for the enforcement of a confederation equally repugnant to the one and the other.
The semi-official Opinione, of Turin, in reference to the proposed alliance with Naples, says:
"The Ministry firmly adheres to the national principle, and refuses to enter into any engagement which might carry them away from the line of policy they have always followed. It is necessary to temporize, in order to neutralize the activity of diplomatists, who think that Piedmont, to save the Neapolitan dynasty, should adhere to the proposed alliance. Such an alliance is inadmissible on account of the opposition of public opinion."
The Independence Belge says that Piedmont has placed conditions on the acceptance of the alliance with Naples, which are equivalent to a refusal. For instance, the Government has demanded that the Neapolitan Government not only recognize the annexation of Romagna, but the probable annexation of the Marches and of Umbria. The relations between the Court of Naples and the Holy See renders such a course impossible.
The northern states that the conditions which the Court of Turin desire to impose on Naples were as follows: 1. The Government of Naples shall definitively break with Austria. 2. It shall give, and cause to be accepted at Rome, the counsels which itself has received and accepted. 3. It shall adopt a line of policy tending to the complete independence of Italy. 4. Promised reforms shall be really effected.
A letter from Genoa says the Sicilian loan of 45,000,000 francs was almost concluded. It would be issued at 85, and to be reimbursed in fifteen years by annual drawings.
Provisions, arms and camp materials were being continually sent off to Sicily, and as to men, Genoa contained quite an army of volunteers from all parts.
The French Consul at Genoa had refused to sign the papers of a captain of a French steamer who had engaged to convey volunteers to Palermo. There were 4,000 volunteers ready at Genoa to depart.
A telegram dated Naples the 5th announces that a Commission had been appointed to draw up laws on the following subjects: The National Guard, Administrations, Council of State and Ministerial responsibility.
Naples was tranquil, and the Constitutional party was described as more consolidated.
A telegram dated Naples, July 5, announces that GARIBALDI had marched against Messina.
A rumor was current that a movement of Roman troops towards the Neapolitan frontiers had taken place.
The reforms which the Papal Government had decided upon granting were to be promulgated shortly in a motu proprio. Among other concessions the Pope grants to the Consulta of State a deliberative vote on all financial questions, in which, until now, it had only a consultative vote; but these reforms are to be granted on condition of the integrity of the patrimony of St. Peter being guaranteed.
The state of affairs in Southern Italy had been the subject of debate in both Houses of the British Parliament.
The only additional suspension of importance in the leather trade is that of LAWRENCE, MORTIMORE & CO., of Liverpool, the corresponding firm of STREATFIELD, LAWRENCE & CO., of London, with liabilities estimated at £300,000. Efforts were being made to avert forced sales and thereby avert any extravagant depreciation in the value of hides and leather. The London Herald believes that 12s. to 14s. in the pound may be obtained all round from the suspending firms if moderation be shown.
The British steamer Bulldog had sailed for the purpose of taking soundings on the projected route of the North Atlantic Telegraph Cable. The late Arctic cruiser Fox was expected to leave Southampton about the middle of July for the same destination.
The vote of credit, on account of the war with China, required by Government, amounts to £3,800,000 sterling.
The Dublin Evening Post gives a rumor that the Galway line had concluded an arrangement for a transfer of the mail subsidy to a rival Company. The Galway Vindicator says that the negotiations were still pending, and that the Canadian line had offered £200,000, while the London Directors demanded £240,000 for the interest of the line. The Irish shareholders were averse to the transfer.
The Russian Ambassador at Paris had officially notified the French Government of the adhesion of Russia to the proposition for the assembling of a European Conference at Paris on the Savoy question.
The session of the Corps Legislatif, which was to be concluded on the 14th inst., would be prolonged to the 21st on account of the amount of business remaining for discussion.
It is confirmed that the Neapolitan Minister at Paris had sent his resignation to Naples.
The American residents in Paris gave a fete champetre on the 4th of July. Mr. COBDEN was present.
The Paris Bourse was firm and animated. Rentes closed on the 6th at 68.95.
It is asserted that the leading members of the Council of the Empire had agreed to advise the Emperor to grant a Constitution to his subjects, and that a motion to that effect would soon be formally brought before the Council.
Messrs. BARING BROTHERS & CO. had announced that the subscriptions in Amsterdam and London to the new £8,000,000 Russian loan amounted to £5,000,000, and that the allotments for that amount had been issued. Russia engages not to offer the remaining £3,000,000 before January, 1861, and then not below the prices or conditions of the subscription just closed. The new stock was quoted in London at par to 1/2 premium.
Prince BARIATINSKI had undertaken an expedition against a tribe of the mountains near the Caspian sea, who were giving trouble to the Russians.
The civil war in Syria was raging with unabated violence at latest dates.
The Druses had attacked the town of Zahli, the last refuge of the Christians, and burnt it down. It is said that 1,000 Christians were murdered.
Upwards of 60 villages are reported to have been destroyed.
The Bombay Mails of June 7th, and Melbourne of May 18th, reached Marseilles on the 6th.
The only items of news telegraphed are -- that disturbances had taken place at Bansweera, and that Gen. OUTRAM's protest against the amalgamation of the two armies in India had been published.
Interview held with Arrigo Petacco
Here is an interview held with Arrigo Petacco, author of "Il regno del Sud" (The Kingdom of the South). One thing is certain, namely that everything we were taught and that our children are being taught in school is false. We are living in a historical never-never land called the “Risorgimento” without ever having risen the first time around and we are about to enter into another new era, that of Padania, something that has never before existed. As they say, the important thing is to believe it.
A.Petacco: "Cavour, Garibaldi and Mazzini are acknowledged as being the fathers of the Homeland but, if the truth be told, they hated each other, all of them hated each other with a passion. Cavour played Garibaldi, he exploited him, and Garibaldi defended himself. Mazzini was hated by both of them, however, the history books insist on having them side by side because, when all is said and done, all three of them contributed towards national unity."Blog: "It is believed that the Unity of Italy is the fruit of the ideas of the “Risorgimento”, yet it was actually entirely the result of a plot cooked up in a health spa?"A. Petacco: "There are plots everywhere. In actual fact, no one really wanted the unity of Italy. At the time, they were all federalists at heart, including Cavour. Indeed, Cavour was definitely a federalist and Mazzini was the only one that really wanted national unity, which Cavour labelled as “tomfoolery” because he didn’t believe in it. After all, he thought in French, spoke French and had never travelled further south than Florence. But he dreamt of an Italy consisting of three States, a Northern State (see the Savoias), which he claimed would be the wealthiest in Europe, a Central State, a Franco-Italian combination, and he also wanted to retain the Kingdom of the Bourbons. He did everything possible to save the Kingdom of the Bourbons. Unfortunately, Francesco II, the one they nicknamed “Franceschiello”, who was a great fellow but was only twenty years old, didn’t get the picture, the deal that Cavour had offered him, and refused. He refused, putting the fate of his kingdom on the line.
A series of plotsBlog: "Why was General Garibaldi’s expedition set up at a certain point?A. Petacco: "Well, the expedition was a surprise because no one wanted it. Cavour didn’t want it and even tried to send in the Carabinieri. He wanted to send in the Carabinieri to halt the expedition because he knew that by invading Sicily he would be violating his pact with Napoleon III to create a federal Italy. There was actually a whole series of plots because King Victor Emmanuel II, who wanted to enlarge his kingdom instead, secretly told Garibaldi to go ahead while officially ordering him to stop. Garibaldi disobeyed the king’s orders and invaded Sicily. This was incredible because everyone thought, indeed Cavour thought: “They will meet the same fate as Pisacane”, in other words, they would be pitchforked by the farmers as happened before elsewhere. Instead, by some miracle, these thousand men, of whom only 18 were native Sicilians while the remainder were all northerners from the Bergamo area, were almost all grandfathers of the current members of the Lega and they were the ones that went down and conquered Sicily and the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. So he conquered a kingdom and handed it over to King Victor Emmanuel II, saying: “I give you the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies”. Then he went off to Caprera because he was an honest man, somewhat naïve perhaps, and was convinced that he had created a united Italy, and indeed he had because, without him, Italy would never have been united.Blog: "The people hailed him as a hero and a liberator, but the question I have to ask myself, a reality call if you will: what propaganda machine was set up at the time to spread Garibaldi’s message?A. Petacco: "Well, the propaganda at the time was very refined and extremely subtle, because 90 percent of the population was out of reach and because 90 percent of the population was illiterate, they didn’t really give a damn about national unity, so the population did not participate. There were no labourers or farmers amongst the thousand men than went to Sicily, they were all lawyers, doctors, mainly lawyers and students, let’s say all members of the ruling Middle class."Blog: "Who was it that took up arms " A. Petacco: "Those that took up arms were the middle class, on behalf of their king. The general population did not take and was indeed sympathetic to Bakunin che voleva l’anarchia."Blog, who was preaching anarchy."Blog: "In other words, the Italy that we know today is in fact the result of contrivance rather than a natural process?" A. Petacco: "Absolutely not. I don’t know that it was entirely a natural process but, on the other hand, as Franceschiello was wont to say, they call it Risorgimento (Resurgence), but in order to resurge, you have to have surged in the first place, while Italy has never really existed. Poor Franceschiello used to say that “My kingdom has been here for centuries, but since Roman times there has never been a united Italy”. It was therefore somewhat paradoxical to call it Risorgimento”, but the word had a certain attraction."Blog: "Shall we say that, if he were alive today, Cavour would not claim this united Italy?" A. Petacco: "No, it’s a pity that Cavour died accidentally at age 50, just two months after national unity, it was said at the time that it was his punishment from God. The Kingdom was proclaimed in March 1861 and he died in May, so he didn’t actually get to see the united Italy, but he did have some very different plans than those that were later implemented. At that stage Italy was united and he too had become a unificationist by necessity, however, he wanted to create a number of large autonomous regions with large autonomous localities. Instead, the King and his successors chose to centralise, or rather “piedmontise” the whole of Italy and immediately after the proclamation of the kingdom, all of the Piedmont laws were made fully applicable both in Lombardy and in Sicily, including military service, milling taxes and, above all, things that were not particularly palatable, so much so that in the south, ….."Blog: "Shall we just say that they were not perceived as being particularly good for the purposes of creating order?A. Petacco: "But then there was a rebellion, and what was labelled as banditry was actually the actions of partisans, not bandits. These were partisans that occasionally acted like bandits, as often happens in war, however, they were mainly former Bourbon soldiers that had been abandoned by their former generals who had sought refuge. They had fought, they had fought for five years and for five years they had kept some 120-thousand men of the Piedmontese army busy. So these were not merely common chicken thieves, no, this was something very serious.
The federalist Italy and Cavour’s dreamBlog: "Now let’s move on to modern times. Italian politics witnessed the eruption of a phenomenon that had previously been just that, merely a phenomenon, but that has now become an organised regional political party known as the Lega Nord. Today the newspapers talk about a northern bank, northern industry, northern workers and differentiated taxation. Are these merely a throwback to those earlier ideals?A. Petacco: "No, no, that has nothing to do with it. The truth is that, in essence, these two Italies were never really united and they remain two separate Italies: the Lombardy farmer is different from the Sicilian farmer. They have different mentalities, different traditions, different habits and then there is also a kind of racism – if we can call it that – that we have never quite been able to completely eradicate, also because the south does not always set a good example."Blog: "The plans for a federalist Italy, in your opinion, are these merely a resurgence of Cavour’s ideals?"A. Petacco: "Yes. He tended to see things more in a political light than any other, but in the book, I seem to remember that there was a note regarding what he wanted. Each region, he called them large regional airports, namely three or four regions that he wanted to call the Kingdom centrally controlled by the police and the army, with the rest delegated to local authorities, so our world would have looked very different indeed. The South, instead, was not merely an abandoned country as the history of the Risorgenza would have us believe. Naples had a railway system before Turin did. In Naples, they were building the first large steamships well before Genoa did. The Kingdom of Naples already had steel factories, iron, cast iron and they were already building steel bridges! They already had a significant potential industrial system going. The northerners took everything. A man called Bastogi from Livorno came along and created a railway monopoly and essentially the north prevented the growth of the south and so, that is what happened. In a meeting with the young industrialists of Naples, Tremonti himself stated that: “Well, after all is said and done, we are truly indebted to you and you deserve to be compensated”. Tremonti himself said this so, obviously these things really did happen."Blog: "Certain people might classify this as the Lega Nord ideology, but instead I hear you using very different terms."A. Petacco: "Lega Nord ideology you say?! You’re crazy! I sympathise because at the moment, I have to admit that where they are governing, the politicians are different. I have had the opportunity to meet some of them and I must say, they seem to feel that they are better than everyone else and they tend to look down on you. When you ask them a question and they look down their noses at you, like D’Alema for example, who is essentially thinking: “Let’s hear what bullshit this guy wants to tell me!” You can see it! While these people are just like you, that is what makes them likeable, but unfortunately they too will get worse. I don’t believe in perfection and as soon as they manage get their hands on power, corruption will undoubtedly follow. Corruption follows democracy and wherever there is democracy, there is also corruption because politicians need votes and they are prepared to do anything to get those votes. Instead, in a dictatorship, no votes are needed so there is less corruption because there is less of everything, except for pitchforks, hangings and deaths by firing squad. So perhaps it’s better for us to keep these thieves! I don’t know if I am making myself clear."
Blog: "Is the Kingdom of the North a very real risk or is there merely a possibility that it could materialise?"A. Petacco: "If things continue as they are, it could become a very real possibility."Blog: "Can you picture an Italy that splits up? Is this a possibility in your opinion? We have a very rigid Constitution that contains some very specific restrictions ….. "A. Petacco: "I cannot see this happening, but what I do see is that federalism will undoubtedly increase the existing gap between certain regions and others and between the north and the south."Blog: "History is written by the victors. Do you also have a very noble vision of revisionism? I ask because the things that are written in this book are very different from what we find in the school books."A. Petacco: "The fact is that there is one inescapable rule in life, namely that whenever war breaks out, the first casualty is always the truth, because the truth is bothersome and if you wish to demonise the enemy, you also have to tell some lies about him. Once the war has ended, these lies told by the losers are inevitably revealed for what they are, while those of the victors become history. Furthermore, it is not easy to chip away these untruths that have become history. Even my books attract some interest, however, it will remain extremely difficult to erase certain untruths. Let me give you an example: if you care to remember the first War of Independence (1848), when Piedmont very courageously declared war on Austria, Naples and the Vatican came to its aid and took sides in the early days of the war. Also, a number of Neapolitan and Pontifical military units fought in Lombardy.At Curtatone and Montanara, a historical event occurred that went down in history. The schoolbooks tell us that the university students of Pisa stopped the Austrians that were about to outflank the army of Carlo Alberto. In reality, it was not the university students of Pisa. The students of Pisa were indeed there, but they ran away at the first sign of gunfire and all that remained was a Neapolitan battalion under the command of a Neapolitan colonel, who held fast and managed to repel the Austrians. This is an historical fact and indeed the Austrian Army’s war diaries in Vienna also mention the name and number of the commander in question. When the first War of Independence ended and Naples had meanwhile retreated, the Pope and the Piedmontese historians that were writing about the war faced some embarrassment and thought: “Oh dear, the only true and noble act was performed by a Neapolitan. There’s no way that we can give credit to the Neapolitans, it will be a disgrace for us!” So they invented the story that the Pisa students had not only gloriously stopped the Austrians, but also that their commander was Giuseppe Montanelli. They even managed to arrange that the peak of the university hats be cut in half, something they didn’t deserve.This is the story that I told to my friend Indro Montanelli, a descendant of the aforesaid commander. I told him that: “Look Indro, this is the truth” and he answered: “Oh, I know that, but I can’t exactly get upset with my grandfather!” and then proceeded to confirm the affair of the Pisa students in his history book. Get it? That is the way history works! "
A.Petacco: "Cavour, Garibaldi and Mazzini are acknowledged as being the fathers of the Homeland but, if the truth be told, they hated each other, all of them hated each other with a passion. Cavour played Garibaldi, he exploited him, and Garibaldi defended himself. Mazzini was hated by both of them, however, the history books insist on having them side by side because, when all is said and done, all three of them contributed towards national unity."Blog: "It is believed that the Unity of Italy is the fruit of the ideas of the “Risorgimento”, yet it was actually entirely the result of a plot cooked up in a health spa?"A. Petacco: "There are plots everywhere. In actual fact, no one really wanted the unity of Italy. At the time, they were all federalists at heart, including Cavour. Indeed, Cavour was definitely a federalist and Mazzini was the only one that really wanted national unity, which Cavour labelled as “tomfoolery” because he didn’t believe in it. After all, he thought in French, spoke French and had never travelled further south than Florence. But he dreamt of an Italy consisting of three States, a Northern State (see the Savoias), which he claimed would be the wealthiest in Europe, a Central State, a Franco-Italian combination, and he also wanted to retain the Kingdom of the Bourbons. He did everything possible to save the Kingdom of the Bourbons. Unfortunately, Francesco II, the one they nicknamed “Franceschiello”, who was a great fellow but was only twenty years old, didn’t get the picture, the deal that Cavour had offered him, and refused. He refused, putting the fate of his kingdom on the line.
A series of plotsBlog: "Why was General Garibaldi’s expedition set up at a certain point?A. Petacco: "Well, the expedition was a surprise because no one wanted it. Cavour didn’t want it and even tried to send in the Carabinieri. He wanted to send in the Carabinieri to halt the expedition because he knew that by invading Sicily he would be violating his pact with Napoleon III to create a federal Italy. There was actually a whole series of plots because King Victor Emmanuel II, who wanted to enlarge his kingdom instead, secretly told Garibaldi to go ahead while officially ordering him to stop. Garibaldi disobeyed the king’s orders and invaded Sicily. This was incredible because everyone thought, indeed Cavour thought: “They will meet the same fate as Pisacane”, in other words, they would be pitchforked by the farmers as happened before elsewhere. Instead, by some miracle, these thousand men, of whom only 18 were native Sicilians while the remainder were all northerners from the Bergamo area, were almost all grandfathers of the current members of the Lega and they were the ones that went down and conquered Sicily and the entire Kingdom of the Two Sicilies. So he conquered a kingdom and handed it over to King Victor Emmanuel II, saying: “I give you the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies”. Then he went off to Caprera because he was an honest man, somewhat naïve perhaps, and was convinced that he had created a united Italy, and indeed he had because, without him, Italy would never have been united.Blog: "The people hailed him as a hero and a liberator, but the question I have to ask myself, a reality call if you will: what propaganda machine was set up at the time to spread Garibaldi’s message?A. Petacco: "Well, the propaganda at the time was very refined and extremely subtle, because 90 percent of the population was out of reach and because 90 percent of the population was illiterate, they didn’t really give a damn about national unity, so the population did not participate. There were no labourers or farmers amongst the thousand men than went to Sicily, they were all lawyers, doctors, mainly lawyers and students, let’s say all members of the ruling Middle class."Blog: "Who was it that took up arms " A. Petacco: "Those that took up arms were the middle class, on behalf of their king. The general population did not take and was indeed sympathetic to Bakunin che voleva l’anarchia."Blog, who was preaching anarchy."Blog: "In other words, the Italy that we know today is in fact the result of contrivance rather than a natural process?" A. Petacco: "Absolutely not. I don’t know that it was entirely a natural process but, on the other hand, as Franceschiello was wont to say, they call it Risorgimento (Resurgence), but in order to resurge, you have to have surged in the first place, while Italy has never really existed. Poor Franceschiello used to say that “My kingdom has been here for centuries, but since Roman times there has never been a united Italy”. It was therefore somewhat paradoxical to call it Risorgimento”, but the word had a certain attraction."Blog: "Shall we say that, if he were alive today, Cavour would not claim this united Italy?" A. Petacco: "No, it’s a pity that Cavour died accidentally at age 50, just two months after national unity, it was said at the time that it was his punishment from God. The Kingdom was proclaimed in March 1861 and he died in May, so he didn’t actually get to see the united Italy, but he did have some very different plans than those that were later implemented. At that stage Italy was united and he too had become a unificationist by necessity, however, he wanted to create a number of large autonomous regions with large autonomous localities. Instead, the King and his successors chose to centralise, or rather “piedmontise” the whole of Italy and immediately after the proclamation of the kingdom, all of the Piedmont laws were made fully applicable both in Lombardy and in Sicily, including military service, milling taxes and, above all, things that were not particularly palatable, so much so that in the south, ….."Blog: "Shall we just say that they were not perceived as being particularly good for the purposes of creating order?A. Petacco: "But then there was a rebellion, and what was labelled as banditry was actually the actions of partisans, not bandits. These were partisans that occasionally acted like bandits, as often happens in war, however, they were mainly former Bourbon soldiers that had been abandoned by their former generals who had sought refuge. They had fought, they had fought for five years and for five years they had kept some 120-thousand men of the Piedmontese army busy. So these were not merely common chicken thieves, no, this was something very serious.
The federalist Italy and Cavour’s dreamBlog: "Now let’s move on to modern times. Italian politics witnessed the eruption of a phenomenon that had previously been just that, merely a phenomenon, but that has now become an organised regional political party known as the Lega Nord. Today the newspapers talk about a northern bank, northern industry, northern workers and differentiated taxation. Are these merely a throwback to those earlier ideals?A. Petacco: "No, no, that has nothing to do with it. The truth is that, in essence, these two Italies were never really united and they remain two separate Italies: the Lombardy farmer is different from the Sicilian farmer. They have different mentalities, different traditions, different habits and then there is also a kind of racism – if we can call it that – that we have never quite been able to completely eradicate, also because the south does not always set a good example."Blog: "The plans for a federalist Italy, in your opinion, are these merely a resurgence of Cavour’s ideals?"A. Petacco: "Yes. He tended to see things more in a political light than any other, but in the book, I seem to remember that there was a note regarding what he wanted. Each region, he called them large regional airports, namely three or four regions that he wanted to call the Kingdom centrally controlled by the police and the army, with the rest delegated to local authorities, so our world would have looked very different indeed. The South, instead, was not merely an abandoned country as the history of the Risorgenza would have us believe. Naples had a railway system before Turin did. In Naples, they were building the first large steamships well before Genoa did. The Kingdom of Naples already had steel factories, iron, cast iron and they were already building steel bridges! They already had a significant potential industrial system going. The northerners took everything. A man called Bastogi from Livorno came along and created a railway monopoly and essentially the north prevented the growth of the south and so, that is what happened. In a meeting with the young industrialists of Naples, Tremonti himself stated that: “Well, after all is said and done, we are truly indebted to you and you deserve to be compensated”. Tremonti himself said this so, obviously these things really did happen."Blog: "Certain people might classify this as the Lega Nord ideology, but instead I hear you using very different terms."A. Petacco: "Lega Nord ideology you say?! You’re crazy! I sympathise because at the moment, I have to admit that where they are governing, the politicians are different. I have had the opportunity to meet some of them and I must say, they seem to feel that they are better than everyone else and they tend to look down on you. When you ask them a question and they look down their noses at you, like D’Alema for example, who is essentially thinking: “Let’s hear what bullshit this guy wants to tell me!” You can see it! While these people are just like you, that is what makes them likeable, but unfortunately they too will get worse. I don’t believe in perfection and as soon as they manage get their hands on power, corruption will undoubtedly follow. Corruption follows democracy and wherever there is democracy, there is also corruption because politicians need votes and they are prepared to do anything to get those votes. Instead, in a dictatorship, no votes are needed so there is less corruption because there is less of everything, except for pitchforks, hangings and deaths by firing squad. So perhaps it’s better for us to keep these thieves! I don’t know if I am making myself clear."
Blog: "Is the Kingdom of the North a very real risk or is there merely a possibility that it could materialise?"A. Petacco: "If things continue as they are, it could become a very real possibility."Blog: "Can you picture an Italy that splits up? Is this a possibility in your opinion? We have a very rigid Constitution that contains some very specific restrictions ….. "A. Petacco: "I cannot see this happening, but what I do see is that federalism will undoubtedly increase the existing gap between certain regions and others and between the north and the south."Blog: "History is written by the victors. Do you also have a very noble vision of revisionism? I ask because the things that are written in this book are very different from what we find in the school books."A. Petacco: "The fact is that there is one inescapable rule in life, namely that whenever war breaks out, the first casualty is always the truth, because the truth is bothersome and if you wish to demonise the enemy, you also have to tell some lies about him. Once the war has ended, these lies told by the losers are inevitably revealed for what they are, while those of the victors become history. Furthermore, it is not easy to chip away these untruths that have become history. Even my books attract some interest, however, it will remain extremely difficult to erase certain untruths. Let me give you an example: if you care to remember the first War of Independence (1848), when Piedmont very courageously declared war on Austria, Naples and the Vatican came to its aid and took sides in the early days of the war. Also, a number of Neapolitan and Pontifical military units fought in Lombardy.At Curtatone and Montanara, a historical event occurred that went down in history. The schoolbooks tell us that the university students of Pisa stopped the Austrians that were about to outflank the army of Carlo Alberto. In reality, it was not the university students of Pisa. The students of Pisa were indeed there, but they ran away at the first sign of gunfire and all that remained was a Neapolitan battalion under the command of a Neapolitan colonel, who held fast and managed to repel the Austrians. This is an historical fact and indeed the Austrian Army’s war diaries in Vienna also mention the name and number of the commander in question. When the first War of Independence ended and Naples had meanwhile retreated, the Pope and the Piedmontese historians that were writing about the war faced some embarrassment and thought: “Oh dear, the only true and noble act was performed by a Neapolitan. There’s no way that we can give credit to the Neapolitans, it will be a disgrace for us!” So they invented the story that the Pisa students had not only gloriously stopped the Austrians, but also that their commander was Giuseppe Montanelli. They even managed to arrange that the peak of the university hats be cut in half, something they didn’t deserve.This is the story that I told to my friend Indro Montanelli, a descendant of the aforesaid commander. I told him that: “Look Indro, this is the truth” and he answered: “Oh, I know that, but I can’t exactly get upset with my grandfather!” and then proceeded to confirm the affair of the Pisa students in his history book. Get it? That is the way history works! "
Thursday, November 3, 2011
The root of Italian racism against Neapolitans
The figure and the work of Cesare Lombroso is of a highly controversial character and a shame for a so called civilized society. His scientific work has been classified not just as worthless but also prejudicial against Neapolitans and Sicilians.
Cesare Lombeoso was born in Verona, as an Austrian subject, on November 6, 1835, and was the second child in a family of five. His father Aron sprang from a Venetian mercantile family, whose origin can be traced back to a colony of North African Jews, expelled from Spain and settled in North Africa.
The name Lombroso or Lumbroso is a Spanish adjective in common use, denoting "clear" or "illuminating".
The formation of the Hapsburg Kingdom of Lombardy and Venice put an end for the time being to equality of civil rights for the Jews and Verona was one of the few towns of the district in which Jewish boys were allowed to attend the Gymnasium (public school), now removed from the control of the freethinkers, and handed over to that of the Jesuits.
When Lombroso's mother, Zefira Levi, married Aron Lombroso in the year 1830, she stipulated that her children must be brought up in a place in which it would be possible for them to attend the higher schools.
Aron's marriage with Zefira Levi, who belonged to a rich family engaged in the higher branch of industrial life, did not suffice to prevent the onset of poverty and the youth of the five children of the marriage was passed in narrow circumstances.
Inspired by Francis Galton's theories about natural born criminality and biological conditions, Lombroso argues that typical reasons for committing a crime don't depend on the socio-economic environmental components but rather on hereditary factors and/or neurological conditions therefore independent from individuals' own will.
Lombroso beliefs were mainly based on the thesis that "the born or atavistic uncultured offender", an individual that presents degenerative features in his physical build that differentiates him from a normal socially accepted man. In the pursuit of fame and in favour of his suspicious and anti-scientific thesis, Lombroso didn't hesitate to skin corpses, cut off and dissect heads, perform the most incredible and cruel operations on men who were believed criminals in order to measure parts of their skulls and bodies, outlining unbelievable theories about the physical features of the natural born criminal. His work was strongly influenced by physiognomy, developing a pseudo-science that dealt with forensic and psychosomatic phrenology inducing him to speculate like a wizard apprentice more than a scientist in a context based on eugenics and a precursory form of the scientific racism, whose consequences would be visible in the following decades during WWII and the advent of nazism. In fact these conjectures were adopted as the foundation of the theories of German doctors about the pureness of the Aryan race, extending Lomroso's false theory to the physical features of the Hebrew and the Rom and so on, justifying their extermination.
Historically the idea that criminality is connected to physical characteristic of a person was present in Iliad of Homer and in some medieval laws that state; when there are two suspects of a crime, the one most deformed must be considered guilty. Maybe it was therefore Lombroso became convinced that the physicality was the most powerful cause of criminality and, in his analysis, he considered the anatomical configuration of the skull a very important parameter. He found an element in the skull that he believed to be a degenerative character frequently occurring in the alienated and the offender. But in reality, from an anatomic point of view, it is a frequent characteristic in individuals and it doesn't have a scientific meaning.
Badly influenced by Darwin's theories, Lombroso came to support "the born offender's" atavistic characteristics, similar to those of animals and the primitive man: these characteristics make it difficult or even impossible to adapt to the modern society and push one again and again to commit offenses. Cesare Lombroso also delineates the legal consequences of his doctrine because "crime is not the result of free choice but rather of an organic disease". The sentence must not be understood as a punishment (because 'it makes no sense to punish those who did not act freely) but simply as a means of protecting society. He always strongly supported the need for the death penalty under the Italian legal system, believing that if the crime was because of his physical characteristics then any form of rehabilitation was not possible.
These bizarre theories were contested also by his pupils (one of all was Enrico Ferri - lecturer of criminal law in Bologna, Siena, Pisa and Rome), and nowadays nobody thinks these still have scientific value. The absurdity of Cesare Lombroso's theories was been ascertained for a long time by now and represent a valid reason to rethink the assignment of the street name to commemorate Cesare Lombroso.
The figure and work of Cesare Lombroso still represent a great vulnus for all Neapolitans and Sicilians, who one strongly offended by his activities. An offence that still now has consequence for majority of them.
After receiving his bachelor in Medicine at the University of Pavia in 1858, in 1859 Cesar Lombroso enlisted himself `in the Piemontese Military, into which he was invited in 1861, to Calabria as a "medical adviser" in the campaign of repression of brigantaggio.
In Napolitania, having an abundant fleet of humans at his disposition, the doctor began a deep and uncontrolled criminology study on Calabria's population hostile to the Piemontese invasion, looking for an improbable delinquent relationship between language - uses - ways of dressing and the physical characteristics of the residents. His theories took form and were applied without concern on poor peasants whose only guilt was having the measures of the skull similar to that of famous offenders of that period. Those were conjectures that, unfortunately, found fertile land in historical context and a military atmosphere very particular: for the army's leaders it appeared really providential to have found false scientific excuses to justify the bloody repression put into effect against populations unarmed and forced to defend themselves from an invasion with devastating effects.
In this way distortions were introduced to create a negative image of Neapolitans and Sicilians: Lombroso, far from being a rigorous scientist, as appeared later, was recruited to prove, on the false and absurd basis, that the southern people were offenders at birth. The doctor from Verona measures the size and shape of the skull of many rebels that were killed or deported from Napolitania and Sicily to Piemonte (caring military doctors sent him, for years, the body or at least the skull of "briganti" - who men and women killed in battle or died in jail - so that he could measure, dissect, study and then try to prove the theory of "the natural offender"), concluding that these atavistic traits related back to the "primitive man". In reality, it was one of the most brutal physical and psychological violence, deliberately put in place against the southern people, an event entirely unworthy of the alleged craftsman of the Italian Risorgimento, and indelible damage to all of humanity as a result of Lombroso's hatred towards Neapolitans and Sicilians.
Nowadays there are a Museum in Turin (Piedmont), dedicated to this freaking figure, and this museum are exposed lots of human rests of "Briganti", the last Neapolitan patriots.
Cesare Lombeoso was born in Verona, as an Austrian subject, on November 6, 1835, and was the second child in a family of five. His father Aron sprang from a Venetian mercantile family, whose origin can be traced back to a colony of North African Jews, expelled from Spain and settled in North Africa.
The name Lombroso or Lumbroso is a Spanish adjective in common use, denoting "clear" or "illuminating".
The formation of the Hapsburg Kingdom of Lombardy and Venice put an end for the time being to equality of civil rights for the Jews and Verona was one of the few towns of the district in which Jewish boys were allowed to attend the Gymnasium (public school), now removed from the control of the freethinkers, and handed over to that of the Jesuits.
When Lombroso's mother, Zefira Levi, married Aron Lombroso in the year 1830, she stipulated that her children must be brought up in a place in which it would be possible for them to attend the higher schools.
Aron's marriage with Zefira Levi, who belonged to a rich family engaged in the higher branch of industrial life, did not suffice to prevent the onset of poverty and the youth of the five children of the marriage was passed in narrow circumstances.
Inspired by Francis Galton's theories about natural born criminality and biological conditions, Lombroso argues that typical reasons for committing a crime don't depend on the socio-economic environmental components but rather on hereditary factors and/or neurological conditions therefore independent from individuals' own will.
Lombroso beliefs were mainly based on the thesis that "the born or atavistic uncultured offender", an individual that presents degenerative features in his physical build that differentiates him from a normal socially accepted man. In the pursuit of fame and in favour of his suspicious and anti-scientific thesis, Lombroso didn't hesitate to skin corpses, cut off and dissect heads, perform the most incredible and cruel operations on men who were believed criminals in order to measure parts of their skulls and bodies, outlining unbelievable theories about the physical features of the natural born criminal. His work was strongly influenced by physiognomy, developing a pseudo-science that dealt with forensic and psychosomatic phrenology inducing him to speculate like a wizard apprentice more than a scientist in a context based on eugenics and a precursory form of the scientific racism, whose consequences would be visible in the following decades during WWII and the advent of nazism. In fact these conjectures were adopted as the foundation of the theories of German doctors about the pureness of the Aryan race, extending Lomroso's false theory to the physical features of the Hebrew and the Rom and so on, justifying their extermination.
Historically the idea that criminality is connected to physical characteristic of a person was present in Iliad of Homer and in some medieval laws that state; when there are two suspects of a crime, the one most deformed must be considered guilty. Maybe it was therefore Lombroso became convinced that the physicality was the most powerful cause of criminality and, in his analysis, he considered the anatomical configuration of the skull a very important parameter. He found an element in the skull that he believed to be a degenerative character frequently occurring in the alienated and the offender. But in reality, from an anatomic point of view, it is a frequent characteristic in individuals and it doesn't have a scientific meaning.
Badly influenced by Darwin's theories, Lombroso came to support "the born offender's" atavistic characteristics, similar to those of animals and the primitive man: these characteristics make it difficult or even impossible to adapt to the modern society and push one again and again to commit offenses. Cesare Lombroso also delineates the legal consequences of his doctrine because "crime is not the result of free choice but rather of an organic disease". The sentence must not be understood as a punishment (because 'it makes no sense to punish those who did not act freely) but simply as a means of protecting society. He always strongly supported the need for the death penalty under the Italian legal system, believing that if the crime was because of his physical characteristics then any form of rehabilitation was not possible.
These bizarre theories were contested also by his pupils (one of all was Enrico Ferri - lecturer of criminal law in Bologna, Siena, Pisa and Rome), and nowadays nobody thinks these still have scientific value. The absurdity of Cesare Lombroso's theories was been ascertained for a long time by now and represent a valid reason to rethink the assignment of the street name to commemorate Cesare Lombroso.
The figure and work of Cesare Lombroso still represent a great vulnus for all Neapolitans and Sicilians, who one strongly offended by his activities. An offence that still now has consequence for majority of them.
After receiving his bachelor in Medicine at the University of Pavia in 1858, in 1859 Cesar Lombroso enlisted himself `in the Piemontese Military, into which he was invited in 1861, to Calabria as a "medical adviser" in the campaign of repression of brigantaggio.
In Napolitania, having an abundant fleet of humans at his disposition, the doctor began a deep and uncontrolled criminology study on Calabria's population hostile to the Piemontese invasion, looking for an improbable delinquent relationship between language - uses - ways of dressing and the physical characteristics of the residents. His theories took form and were applied without concern on poor peasants whose only guilt was having the measures of the skull similar to that of famous offenders of that period. Those were conjectures that, unfortunately, found fertile land in historical context and a military atmosphere very particular: for the army's leaders it appeared really providential to have found false scientific excuses to justify the bloody repression put into effect against populations unarmed and forced to defend themselves from an invasion with devastating effects.
In this way distortions were introduced to create a negative image of Neapolitans and Sicilians: Lombroso, far from being a rigorous scientist, as appeared later, was recruited to prove, on the false and absurd basis, that the southern people were offenders at birth. The doctor from Verona measures the size and shape of the skull of many rebels that were killed or deported from Napolitania and Sicily to Piemonte (caring military doctors sent him, for years, the body or at least the skull of "briganti" - who men and women killed in battle or died in jail - so that he could measure, dissect, study and then try to prove the theory of "the natural offender"), concluding that these atavistic traits related back to the "primitive man". In reality, it was one of the most brutal physical and psychological violence, deliberately put in place against the southern people, an event entirely unworthy of the alleged craftsman of the Italian Risorgimento, and indelible damage to all of humanity as a result of Lombroso's hatred towards Neapolitans and Sicilians.
Nowadays there are a Museum in Turin (Piedmont), dedicated to this freaking figure, and this museum are exposed lots of human rests of "Briganti", the last Neapolitan patriots.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
Neapolitan Nationality
Neapolitans have been a people, a nation and have had a nationality for more than 700 years. When the Kingdom of Two Sicilies was formed of a union of the Kingdom of Sicily and the Kingdom of Naples in 1816 and until 1860, during this period the secular right of Sicilians to have their own nationality was suppressed, so during this period even Sicilians had Neapolitan nationality.
Source:
http://tinyurl.com/68e5tan
http://tinyurl.com/6bps4c9
http://tinyurl.com/65ekrvo
http://tinyurl.com/5vlr4y6
http://tinyurl.com/65flj9k
http://tinyurl.com/5v25ryo
http://tinyurl.com/6ewxgsv
http://tinyurl.com/68dnqe5
http://tinyurl.com/6evxvzr
http://ilnapolitano.com/post/11652643707/i-duosiciliani-non-esistono
* The first image is from: "The boundaries of citizenship: race, ethnicity, and nationality in the liberal state" of Jeff Spinner
Tuesday, November 1, 2011
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