While the Italian party of fascist origin Fratelli d’Italia is polled to lead next Sunday’s general election in Italy, left sectors and feminists are concerned about the extreme right’s view of the place of women in society.
A crowd took part in the candlelight march to commemorate Alessandra Matteuzzi, who police reports said was murdered in the street by her expartner a act of femicide. During the protest, the prospect of a far rightled government was seen as worrying.
“Women are poorly protected, it’s getting worse,” denounces Chiara from the Bologna Municipal Association, who also fears attacks on abortion rights. “In the Las Marcas area [leste]where Fratelli d’Italia rules, abortion is not possible due to a very high rate of opposition from doctors and the morningafter pill is only selectively sold,” she explains.
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The program of farright parliamentary candidate Giorgia Meloni includes measures such as the burial of fetuses without the consent of the aborting woman or the obligation to listen to the fetal heart before an abortion.
Obscurantism and macabre obsessions
“Denying women their rights, selfdetermination over their bodies, their own emancipation, is not only a setback but also a disaster for democracy,” says Rita Monticelli, an adviser to the centerleft Democratic Party in Bologna, which opposes obscurantism denounces and macabre obsessions. “When we talk about feminism, as leftists we’re not just talking about women, but about society as a whole. It’s about basic values,” she says.
Giorgia Meloni, whose motto is “God, family, fatherland”, wants to give women the right “not to have an abortion”.