Italy's homophobic general

The usual political storm every summer in Italy on this occasion has a name and surname. And also medals. His name is Roberto Vannacci, and until very recently he was a general laureate at the head of the Military Geographic Institute. His case has created another episode of tension in the Italian Government, dividing the Prime Minister, Giorgia Meloni, and her Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Infrastructure, Matteo Salvini.

Vannacci, who was commander of the military unit Task Force 45 during the war in Afghanistan, has written a provocative book titled The world on the contrary (The World Upside Down), a self-published volume that has become a best seller. It is the best-selling book on the Amazon Italy charts, with more than 20,000 copies since it was published in early August and more than 1,500 reviews.

In it, he attacks everyone: feminism, the LGTBI community, immigrants, environmentalists, Jews or animal rights activists. Everything he considers the “dictatorship of minorities.” For example, he tells homosexuals that they are not “normal” and that if this is considered so it is because of the “conspiracies of the international gay world. “Dear homosexuals, you are not normal. Get over it! Not only does nature show you this, which allows all normal healthy beings to reproduce, but society also shows it: you represent a very small minority in the world.”

“Dear homosexuals, you are not normal,” Vannacci writes in an essay that is already a best seller

Nor does he bite his tongue, with racist phrases, attacking the Italian volleyball champion Paola Egonu, of whom he says that "she is not fully Italian" because "it is evident that her physical features do not represent Italianness", because she is black and of Africans. He denies climate change, and calls feminists “modern sorceresses” for “opposing the female figure understood as a mother,” believes that women should stay at home and take care of children, and even criticizes them for “promoting institutions like the divorce or abortion.”

The essay has generated a lot of dust, not only because of the importance of this general, who was also a commander during the Iraq war, led the main parachute brigade of the Italian army and among his decorations has the Order of Merit of the Republic. Also because of the diverse reactions on the Italian right. Meloni has remained on the sidelines, but not his Minister of Defense, Guido Crosetto, very close to the prime minister, who has called Vannacci's ideas "personal ravings", has opened a military file against him and has removed him from his position. . “The general has expressed opinions that discredit the army, the Defense and the Constitution,” said the minister, while the Army General Staff has communicated that it was not aware of the content of the publication and that it had not been subjected to evaluation. of military cadres.

Salvini opens the doors to the military man to be the party's candidate for the next European elections

But not everyone liked the punishment. Especially Salvini, who believes that a soldier “should be judged by what he does in service” and not by his political ideas. “General Vannacci has been described as a danger. I will buy his book because before commenting and judging it is fair to read,” the League leader defended him after having a “very cordial” telephone conversation with the soldier. The deputy secretary of the League, Andrea Crippa, says that he agrees with him on 80% of his positions, and the party has offered him a place on its lists for next year's European Championships, which Vannacci has thanked but declined. because for now he wants to “continue being a soldier.”

In the background of the brawl is Salvini's discomfort at feeling cornered behind the pull of the Brothers of Italy, and the imminent electoral campaign for the European elections, in which the League will try to differentiate itself to capture the far-right vote. Also the discomfort of some sectors with the moderate (or institutional) version that Meloni is trying to demonstrate since he came to power after years raising his voice in the opposition. The president did not like at all that her deputy prime minister had disavowed the Ministry of Defense in an issue as sensitive as this, and she let him know this in a private meeting.

The matter has provoked the intervention of the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, as head of the armed forces, who in a speech in Rimini recalled without citing anyone that Italy is “the fruit of the meeting of various ethnicities, customs, experiences and religions.”