About the Project
In September 2018, Dr. Brian J Griffith moved to Rome, Italy to complete his Ph.D. dissertation. Unbeknownst to him, however, Griffith had relocated to one of Rome's most active neo-fascist neighborhoods. Located approximately four kilometers north-west of Vatican City, Balduina – along with a handful of other Roman neighborhoods – has long-since been closely associated with some of the country's most outspoken far-right groups. Upon his arrival, Griffith was immediately confronted by spray-painted swastikas, Roman fasces, tributes to the "Duce," as well as neo-fascist posters, handbills, and stickers affixed to billboards and walls everywhere (Figs. 1, 2, and 3).
The symbols of today enable the reality of tomorrow. Notice the swastikas and the other signs of hate. Do not look away, and do not get used to them. Remove them yourself and set an example for others to do so.
— Timothy Snyder, On Tyranny: Twenty Lessons from the Twentieth Century
In his 2017 monograph On Tyranny, historian Timothy Snyder encourages his readers to "[t]ake responsibility for the face of the world" and "[n]otice the swastikas and the other signs of hate." "Remove them yourself," he insists, "and set an example for others to do so." In reflecting upon Snyder’s wisdom, Griffith decided to do something about these "signs of hate" in Rome.
While his immediate motivation was to simply remove these posters, handbills, and stickers from public display, Griffith gradually came to the realization that these materials were, in fact, valuable historical sources on the various ways in which far-right groups push their illiberal politics of collective – and selective – memory into Italy’s public sphere. This realization led to an idea: Why not collect, or "harvest," these materials, photograph them, and showcase them in an Open Access digital archive?
To gather physical copies of these neo-fascist propaganda materials, Griffith adopted a somewhat primitive repertoire of make-shift tools: a putty knife and a razorblade (Fig. 4). Although some materials were collected during the day, the majority were gathered at night, when Griffith could go unnoticed by curious, or critical, passersby. In total, Griffith “harvested” thirty-five posters, seven stickers, two handbills, and one banner, all of which are featured in this collection.
In recent years, Western democracies have, once again, come under assault from a variety of far-right movements, groups, militias, and political parties. Ranging from CasaPound Italia (House of [Ezra] Pound Italy), Chrysí Avgí (Golden Dawn), and Alternative für Deutschland (Alternative for Germany) in Europe to Patriot Front, the Proud Boys, and the "Make America Great Again" movement in the United States, these groups – much like their twentieth century counterparts in Italy, Germany, and elsewhere – have slowly chipped away at the foundations of their societies’ commitments to democratic values and practices (Froio et al. 2020; Karpozilos 2018; Hockenos 2014; N/Da; N/Db). Given these conditions, scholars of twentieth-century fascism, authoritarianism, and far-right populism have a duty to share their knowledge of these types of movements and organizations with the public.
The old world is dying. The new one is slow to appear. And in this interregnum [chiaroscuro], monsters are born.
— Antonio Gramsci, Prison Notebooks
Named after Antonio Gramsci's observations of post-World War I Italy's struggles with ultranationalism, political violence, and creeping dictatorship, Where Monsters Are Born (WMAB) is intended as an Open Access resource for exploring the visual and spatial strategies deployed by contemporary Italy's neo-fascist community between October 2018 and July 2019 towards the popularization of their illiberal worldviews. While this collection represents a snapshot of one year in Rome, however, its lessons are, sadly, applicable to many socio-political contexts throughout the contemporary West.
Viewers can take several pathways through the collection. In the Groups section, users can find an alphabetical list of the neo-fascist organizations and political parties represented in this collection. In the Materials section, viewers are presented with the individual posters, stickers, handbills, and banners that Griffith “harvested” in Rome. The Themes section showcases the thematic overlaps between the collection's various materials, ranging from "Patriarchs," or the early neo-fascist leaders who laid the ideological foundations for today's Italian far-right community, to "Resistance," which highlights Rome's anti-fascist opposition via those groups' street-level memory politics. In the Tags section, users are provided with some of the collection’s key topics which, in one way or another, are either textually or visually referenced by the various materials. For viewers interested in exploring the materials chronologically, the Timeline displays the order in which the materials were collected. And for users interested in examining the materials spatially, the interactive Map compiles the locations in which they were “harvested.” Lastly, the Pedagogy section includes classroom-related resources, including lesson plans, films and documentaries, and a bibliography.
In highlighting these materials, co-curators Dr. Griffith and Dr. Amy King intend to make a modest contribution to the struggle against neo-fascism on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean by illuminating the primary visual and spatial strategies deployed by far-right groups within Italy’s public sphere. In promoting a visual literacy of neo-fascism, Griffith and King hope to equip their viewers with the skill sets required for identifying, as well as combatting, the spread of far-right values, agendas, and practices within their respective societies.
Thank you for taking the time to explore WMAB.
Dr. Brian J Griffith
California State University, Fresno (USA)
Dr. Amy King
University of Bristol (UK)
November 2024
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