"Bannon? It depends on the angle of the arm": Augias out of control at Floris | Video
By now, the gestural forms of greeting at rallies have become of primary importance, almost more than the content of the speeches of those who make them. This is also discussed on DiMartedì , a political and social analysis talk show on La7, hosted by Giovanni Floris .
Among the guests is also a historian and long-time journalist like Corrado Augias , who tries to explain the salute of Steve Bannon , ideologist of the “MAGA” (Make America Great Again) movement, directly from the stage of the conference of US conservatives. Floris, provocatively, asks him: “Is Bannon doing the Nazi salute , the fascist salute, the ancient Roman salute or not?”.
Augias explains it like this: “No, you see, that salute can be defined as Nazi or fascist depending on the angle of inclination of the arm . If it is almost parallel to the ground, and I refrain from doing so, it is Nazi. If it is raised in relation to the head, almost parallel, then it is fascist. However, it is not the Roman salute, because the Romans greeted each other in a different way. The gladiators greeted each other on the forearm , while the Romans greeted each other by raising their arm, which is also a blessing gesture . The statue of Marcus Aurelius that stands in the Campidoglio has his right arm raised, but it is a bent arm and with a soft hand, like that of Adam in the Sistine Chapel painted by Michelangelo".
"The fascist salute, in reality, was born in the times of Fiume from the stylization of those salutes - continues Augias in his lectio magistralis -. It became a virile salute, Roman in fact. The Nazi salute was accompanied by the clicking of heels , it was military. D'Annunzio was a great inventor, including the salute, I would like to point out one thing: he invented the battle cry of fascism ' Eia Eia Alalà' , listen to that rhythm, which in itself is captivating. Two dry bars and three. Now D'Annunzio was a great inventor: the Rinascente, salsa rubra instead of ketchup, sangue morlacco instead of sherry, etc., he was a great copywriter and he also stylised the Roman salute".
So, Augias makes a reference to Kubrick 's cinema: "The Roman salute is proof that today everything can be subverted. In the early '60s, a film called Dr. Strangelove came out and Stanley Kubrick was brilliant, because the protagonist was called Jack D. Ripper and took the name of Jack the Ripper (in English Jack the Ripper, ed. ), the killer of Victorian London. The protagonist was continually tempted to make the fascist salute, but with the other arm he repressed himself, because at the time it was not polite, educated and appropriate for that salute to be made. Today, as you can see, the boundary has been crossed".
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