Anti-Fascist Resistance
Overview
Transnational Memory Forum (Portugal-Italy): Anti-Fascist Resistance
SolRem’s memory forums aim to educate and raise awareness about the history of resistance and solidarity against right-wing authoritarianism and dictatorships. This transnational memory forum focused on the anti-fascist resistance, in Portugal and Italy. There was a specific focus on the position of cinema as resistance to fascism before and after the Portuguese Revolution and on the current state of the democratic Italy and the challenges faced in today’s far-right government.
The event took place in Centro de Inovação Social, in Olivais, Lisbon, on the 10th of May 2024. It aimed to fulfill the purpose of understanding the similarities and differences between the anti-fascist resistance in Portugal and in Italy, bearing in mind the crucial difference in the context the fascist dictatorships ended in Italy (1945) and Portugal (1974). Besides this, the more current approach of solidarity networks based on community-based work provides knowledge about how men interact with struggles associated with the patriarchal society we all live in today.
There were 10 people in the audience engaging in the discussion of the topic of anti-fascist resistance in Portugal and Italy, and it was streamed online.
Agenda
| 10th May 2024 – 14:30-17:00 |
| Opening of the Transnational Memory Forum on Anti-Fascist ResistanceMargarida Malta, Project Manager of Young Educators |
| Cinema as a form of resistance before and after the Revolution: Hugo Barreira da Silva (Professor and Researcher at Faculty of Arts and Humanities of University of Porto) |
| Dynamics of democracy and anti-fascism in Italy today: Giuseppe Lipari (PhD student in Political Science and Sociology at the Scuola Normale Superiore of Sicily) |
Contributions
Cinema as a form of resistance before and after the Revolution
Under the topic of the Portuguese Revolution that marked the end to the Estado Novo regime, the fascist dictatorship, our guest Professor Hugo Barreira walked us through the journey of the relationship between cinema and fascism over time.
There were presentations of Portuguese films made and shown very short excerpts of subliminal messages related to the dictatorship, for instance in “A Canção de Lisboa”, a movie from 1933. The Professor highlighted other films, such as “Pátio das Cantigas”, which follows the comedic line of the first film mentioned, and “A Revolução de Maio”, the first propaganda film of the regime. Then, after the Revolution takes place, there is a shift in the Portuguese cinema and the films that come out like “Bom Povo Português” and “Fantasia Lusitana” highlight a balance between fascism and democracy.
Dynamics of democracy and anti-fascism in Italy today
On the topic of how democratic Italy is acting today, our guest Giuseppe highlighted some important issues that are happening in Italy that have been marking the political scene, such as the case of censorship of a political speech on a television show. In a conversation about the role of culture as something that goes beyond individual production and that has an intricate relationship with the context and the communities in which it is inserted, there was a warning regarding the control of the culture from the political institutions.
On a more general note, we engaged in a conversation about the revival of Italian nationalism under this recent government.
Conclusions
The transnational memory forum on anti-fascist resistance provided a secure environment for the exchange of knowledge and experiences related to the subject of anti-fascist resistance, in Portugal and Italy, where guests felt enlightened about the dynamics presented.