CasaPound

History

Previously, 2006 CasaPound was associated with Tricolour Flame but now has its own movement, CasaPound Italy, extending all over Italy with many social centers.

While CPI does not recognize the classic definitions of right and left, it is commonly placed in the view of the political groups and movements of the Italian radical right.

In 2011 it was estimated that CasaPound Italy had 5,000 members.

Ideology

One feature of this movement, according to sociologist Emanuele Toscano, is to present "a different interpretation of fascism aimed at overcoming the dichotomy of right-left".

Casapound has an anti-immigrant, Fascist Ideology. The name, inspired by the poet Ezra Pound, in particular, refers to his Cantos against usury, criticisms of the economic positions of both capitalism and Marxism, and his membership of the Italian Social Republic. It also gives particular attention to the Manifesto of Verona, the Labour Charter of 1927 and social legislation of Fascism itself. The symbol is a stylized turtle with an octagonal shell. There has been collaboration with the Identitarian movement which propagates a "White, Christian Europe".

Activities

The social center has its own musical band, Zetazeroalfa, an association of civil protection and promotes sports (hiking, parachuting, diving and other disciplines), union activities, and recreational activities, including a theater company, web radio, web television and a monthly magazine.

CasaPound has promoted initiatives outside the Italian territory through its non-profit organization Solidarité Identités. The activities of the movement have been the subject of attention by some foreign media.

From the period of activity of the first social center then were organized and cultural meetings with several guests, including writer Nicolai Lilin, the LGBT deputy Paola Concia, an ex-Red Brigades Valerio Morucci, and the Chinese community.

The main CasaPound political proposal is the so-called Mutuo Sociale (Social Mortgage), as a response to the problem of housing which, according to official data, involving approximately 23,000 households throughout Italy. In October 2011, the Lazio Region officially approved it within its "House Plan".

Starting with the 2011 elections CasaPound presented their candidates in local elections in civic lists or center-right and succeeded in electing its representatives. At regional and national elections of 2013 CasaPound Italy announced that it will present its civic lists throughout Italy.

Youth wing

In 2006, the movement that arose around the first community center was endowed with its student organization, under the name Students' Block (Italian: Blocco Studentesco). Francesco Polacchi is the General Secretary of Students' Block.

Their logo resembles that of the British Union of Fascists.

Questions have been submitted by parliamentarians of the Democratic Party about fascist propaganda and the violence of the student movement.

International meetings

Over the years the leaders of CasaPound Italy have been invited to explain his “political model” in many of the major European capitals (Paris, Madrid, London, Lisbon, Brussels) and has been the subject of some reports by foreign media.

In 2011 the Finnish Resistance Movement also invited members of CasaPound to a seminar in Helsinki. This shows an ability of the European nationalists to organize beyond ideological differences. The Finnish Resistance Movement represents national socialism. The Finnish Security Intelligence Service researched the connections of the Finnish Resistance Movement to CasaPound after the Gianluca Casseri shootings.

Symbolic figures

The party's choice of American poet Ezra Pound as a symbol of the movement has caused controversy with his daughter, Mary de Rachewiltz, who claimed it distorts the meaning of Pound's work and represents a "misappropriation" of his image.

They have also caused controversy with their celebrations of some characters from the world of culture and politics such as Che Guevara and Bobby Sands who are not usually associated with the extreme right.