We have certainly heard of salutations like Laal Salaam, Dandwat Pranaam and Fursi Salaam and there would have been possibly more types. However, the Roman salute stirs a hornet's nest in Italy. What the PM Meloni urged to ban was not acceptable to the Italian top court of law. She urged to ban of neo-fascist groups after crowds were filmed saluting in Rome.
While it has never been easier to convey the refrain, it stands harder to stop functioning. The slow politicians are rarely dictated by algorithms, making it hard to develop a tangible gathering around their rationale. The ruling means that the very gesture of saluting, also known as the Roman salute, is not a crime if performed at events akin to a recent rally in Rome that evoked a harsh uproar.
The decision of the cassation court establishes that the Roman salute is not a crime unless there is a concrete danger of the reconstruction of the fascist party, as provided by Article 5 of the Scelba law, or there are concrete aims of racial discrimination and violence, as provided by the Mancino law.
Italy's top court ruling comes after a chilling video emerged of hundreds of men making fascist salutes during an occasion in Rome marking the 46th anniversary of the killing of three militants from the youth wing of the now-defunct Italian Social Movement (MSI), a neo-fascist party founded after the World War II which ultimately morphed into Brothers of Italy, the party led by Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni.
The 1952 Scelba law banned apologies for fascism and the reorganisation of Benito Mussolini’s fascist party, while the 1993 Mancino law banned racist violence and hate speech, as The Guardian reports.