Bruno Sereni and his son Umberto Sereni, Fascists ?

Umberto Sereni and the new Mayor of Barga Marco Bonini during 2009

Today the whole democratic process seems to be in some disorder here in Italy.  Rioting swept Rome after Silvio Berlusconi’s rightwing government narrowly survived a censure motion in parliament amid claims he had bought his way out of trouble. The elected parliament almost fell in a vote of confidence in the Senate and the chamber of deputies, Berlusconi winning with the most narrowest of margins. The chamber of deputies voted against the resolution amid tumultuous scenes, with Berlusconi loyalists and rebels brawling inside the house .

The vote – 314 to 311 – was greeted by scenes of wild jubilation among the prime minister’s followers, who waved Italian flags and shouted in chorus for his former ally Gianfranco Fini to resign as the Speaker of the house.

Fini led the rebellion against the governing majority that brought it to the brink of collapse. All this was with continuing rumours of bribes and bought votes and played off against a backdrop  of rioting demonstrators burning cars and attacking security forces outside in the streets of Rome )

Meanwhile, something  else happened nearby concerning local politics and local politicians which added to that sense of confusion and doubt here in Barga as to just where Italy is heading at the moment.

Umberto Sereni , who was the mayor of Barga  for two consecutive administrations before giving up the post as it is not possible to be elected in local government for more than two terms (unlike national government) has put himself up as a candidate for the next election in nearby Lucca.

Some of the details are still unclear but it would seem that Luilio Giannecchini, who is the Director of  the Istituto Storico della Resistenza recently sent a package to the Umberto Sereni containing documents which according to the Director prove that Umberto’s father, Bruno Sereni far from being the devout anti-fascist and fighter in the the Spanish Civil war against Franco* was in fact a supporter of Benito Mussolini and his Fascist party. Not only that but according to Giannecchini, his son, Umberto Sereni carries or carried on that tradition and he too should be tarred with the same brush.

Startling accusations for Umberto considering his avowed political position of being of the left.

Lilio Giannecchini claimed that he has other documents proving his case and if Umberto Sereni insisted on putting himself up for election in Lucca then he would publish the documents.

Umberto lost no time in reporting the accusations and threats to the Procura della Repubblica and pubblico ministero Fabio Origlio. From there it will go to the magistrates to decide just  who has truth on their side.

Benito Mussolini in Barga

This is not the first time that these accusations have surfaced about Bruno Sereni just as his son was preparing to take on a political battle. In fact the last time was right here in Barga when in the run up to the election, leaflets were distributed in the city quoting the same story of Bruno Sereni as a black shirt – a member of the Fascist party.

What is curious is that on a national level we have politicians who are actively involved in the Fascist party or are direct descendants politically of the Fascist party – Gianfranco Fini, for instance who during his time as national secretary of the MSI, a neo-fascist political party confirmed the MSI’s role as the inheritors of Benito Mussolini’s Fascist legacy with a number of famous polemical statements, including:

“Dear comrades, MSI claims its right to refer to fascism” (1988), “We are fascists, the heirs of fascism, the fascism of the year 2000” (1991), “After almost half a century, the idea of fascism is alive” (1992), “There are phases where freedom is not among the key values” (1994), “Mussolini was the greatest Italian statesman of the twentieth century”, “Fascism has a tradition of honesty, correctness and good government” (1994)

Is anybody threatening them with “disclosure” ? It would seem not.  The “sins” of the father are to be laid upon the children?

: Numbers 14
The LORD is long-suffering, and of great mercy, forgiving iniquity and transgression, and by no means clearing the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons to the third and fourth generation.

: Jeremiah Chapter 32
Ah, Lord Jehovah! You have made the heavens and the earth by Your great power and stretched out arm. Nothing is too great for You. You show loving-kindness to thousands, and repay the iniquity of the fathers into the bosom of their sons after them.

: Euripides (c. 485-406 B.C.), Phrixus, fragment 970:
“The gods visit the sins of the fathers upon the children.”

: Horace, “Odes,” III, 6, l. 1.
“For the sins of your fathers you, though guiltless, must suffer.”

:Shakespeare, “The Merchant of Venice,” act III, sc. V, l. 1
“The sins of the father are to be laid upon the children.” –

* Durante la rivoluzione spagnola la resistenza popolare antifranchista si autorganizzò militarmente in unità chiamate “Colonne“. Tra quelle anarchiche si distinse per l’importanza la Colonna Durruti (diverrà poi la 26a Divisione), formata da circa 3000 militanti coordinati dalla figura carismatica di Buenaventura Durruti, uno dei dirigenti di spicco della CNT 

Nella Colonna Durruti, ricordiamo, combatterono gli italiani Antoine Gimenez ed Agostino Sette, che sarà il primo caduto (31 luglio 1936) di nazionalità italiana nella guerra di Spagna. (Altre fonti danno come primo caduto Enrico Dal Bo, un antifascista veneto, arrivato a Melilla da poche settimane, dopo essere stato membro della sezione barcellonese della Lega italiana dei diritti dell’uomo, insieme a Bruno Sereni, Anteo Luzzatto, Giovanni Fassina, i fratelli Ornella, Lorenzo Musso e Umberto Calligaris, facente parte delle Brigate Internazionali).- source