Brothers of Italy, the far-right party of Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, has found a new ally in school nativity scenes in their traditional fight to protect what they call the “cultural roots” of the transalpine country. The group has introduced a bill in the Senate that aims to protect the custom of setting up nativity scenes in schools at Christmas time and would impose sanctions on officials who do not allow it or promote alternative, non-religious celebrations on those days.
The idea is to put an end to the general celebrations that many schools hold before the holidays to celebrate the growing diversity of Italian classrooms.
The Senator of the Brothers of Italy, Lavinia Mennuni, the main signatory of the bill, has stated that this initiative aims to prevent Christian symbols and celebrations from being banned in schools at all levels. “For several years we have been witnessing unacceptable and shameful decisions by some schools to ban nativity scenes or change the nature of Christmas, turning it into implausible “winter festivals” in order not to upset believers of other religions. Thanks to this bill, it will no longer be possible to cancel the Nativity, Christmas and Easter events in Italian schools,” said the senator. And he has pointed out that employees who oppose initiatives related to Christmas and Easter, such as the nativity scene, plays and other similar activities, face disciplinary action.
For the Brothers of Italy, “allowing the transformation of holy Christian holidays into another type of anonymous celebration” constitutes “discrimination against students and their families who practice the majority religion” and is, moreover, “an attack on the deepest values and traditions”. “our people.” According to the party led and founded by Giorgia Meloni, the measure is “absolutely essential to preserve and protect the cultural roots of Italy represented in the nativity scene.”
The proposal has caused a stir among opposition parties and associations of teachers and school principals, who believe it is inappropriate to legislate such topics. “Of course the country's traditions must be taken into account, but enforcing them by law is misplaced,” said Antonello Giannelli, national president of the Association of School Directors (ANP).
The unions also criticized the proposal. “Everyone must remember that we live in a secular country, the school is secular. Such operations, which, among other things, interfere with school autonomy, are unacceptable. Let them read the Constitution again,” said Gianna Fracassi, general secretary of the education workers department of the country’s largest union, FLC CGIL.
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The head of the union of principals Dirigentiscuola, Attilio Fratta, has expressed himself in the same vein: “We are faced with measures that only serve to divert the attention of Italians from the real problems of the school and the country.”
The opposition accuses the right-wing extremist group of exploiting religion for political purposes. “They are ridiculous, they want to ban by law everything they don’t like. Instead of running the country, a task they cannot cope with, they continue to use diversionary weapons like this law against school principals who accept the removal of the nativity scene at school. “The country has already recognized their bluff,” criticized Luana Zanella, spokeswoman for the Alliance of the Greens and the Left in the House of Representatives.
Nicola Fratoianni, general secretary of the Italian Left, also protested: “You have presented a proposal to “defend” the nativity scene in schools. Whose? It is unknown. “This is already too much for the secular state and too much for citizens who are increasingly struggling between poverty wages, collapsing health care and high costs of living, while having to listen to government talk about Christmas decorations,” wrote social networks.
“Just in time for Christmas, right-wing proposals to protect Italy’s Christian traditions return,” said Riccardo Magi, secretary of the left-wing More Europe party. And he has criticized the government's anti-immigration agenda: “This is the umpteenth hypocrisy of the right under the leadership of Giorgia Meloni, to which the Holy Family, who today are fleeing persecution, are probably in an internment camp, perhaps in Albania, “They need to know from a judge in Italy whether they are worthy of setting foot on Italian territory,” he said, referring to the Meloni government's recent announcement of a controversial plan to welcome up to 3,000 asylum seekers in Albania while they await trial. of their applications, which were initially blocked by the Albanian Constitutional Court.
Magi also criticized that “the same law that exploits religious symbols is at the same time doing everything to make it more difficult to rescue those who risk their lives at sea” and denounced the possible unconstitutionality of the proposal to attack religious freedom. “Once again it is confirmed that this party has a vision more similar to the regime of the Ayatollahs than to that of a secular, Western and European country,” he concluded.
Davide Faraone, spokesman for Italia Viva in the Chamber of Deputies, also criticized: “With Giorgia Meloni, 15 new crimes have been created. I don't want school principals to be punished for not setting up cribs.”
The proposal must be debated in parliament, first in the Senate, where the right-wing coalition has a large majority. Although the Brothers of Italy represent the largest formation with 63 of the 205 senators, they would need the votes of their partners in government, the conservative Forza Italia and the far-right Salvini League, are asked to advance the proposal, which may still be amended or even is rejected.
The defense of religion is a classic battlehorse of the extreme right in Italy. In 2018, the league put forward a proposal to make the crucifix mandatory in classrooms and other public places, and the initiative eventually fell into disuse, although the party saved it a few months ago.
A few years ago, the Minister of Education Marco Bussetti, a member of the League, was also an advocate of the sanctity of the nativity scene. He once pressured the principal of a school in Venice who had decided to decline a local politician's invitation to set up a nativity scene in her school's hallway. “The nativity scene and the story it contains are part of our cultural identity, I think it is an important symbol. And I think we should celebrate Christmas. Without a doubt: true integration does not happen by hiding, but by sharing one's own traditions,” said the minister.
References to religion and Christian identity are common in Meloni's speech, especially in the past. “I am Giorgia, I am a woman, I am a mother, I am Italian, I am Christian. “No one will take that away from me,” was his motto during the 2018 election campaign. It is also not the first time that his party has proposed a law to protect the Catholic religion. Last June, the Brothers of Italy presented a project to ban Muslim prayer rooms outside mosques, which also aims to veto the use of garages and industrial warehouses as mosques.
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