Anti-gay general Roberto Vannacci on
Thursday scrapped his participation via videolink at a political
event in Puglia Sunday saying he had not known it would be of a
political nature.
"I was given the invitation days ago for Ceglie Messapica. I was
not familiar with the event and I had initially given an outline
availability. Then, seeing that it is an event that despite
being promoted by associations has a political connotation, I
decided to decline the invitation. I reserve the right to
communicate this to the organisers', said the 55-year-old
general, who was removed from his post as head of the military
geographical institute after self-publishing a book, The World
Back To Front, which slams gays, Jews, migrants,
environmentalists and feminists among others after Defence
Minister Giudo Crosetto ordered disciplinary proceedings against
him.
Vannacci was due to have opened, by video link, the online media
outlet Affaritaliani event 'La Piazza-Il bene comune' (The
Square-The Common Good) scheduled for Sunday 27 August in Ceglie
Messapica, in the province of Brindisi.
Vannacci added that, despite a furore which has seen him slated
by the left and hailed by the right, he planned to present his
book early next month but might pull out of those presentations
because of the row.
"The first presentation of the book is scheduled for 9 September
in Versilia (on the northern Tuscan coast) and another a few
days later, but I am still evaluating them, given the media
clamour", he said.
Other participants at the Puglia event include Deputy Premier
and Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani and Deputy Premier and
Transport and Infrastructure Minister Matteo Salvini.
Crosetto said on Tuesday that Italy's defence top brass had made
a mistake in sacking Vannucci because they had turned him into a
martyr.
His free-speech rights have in fact been defended by many
members of Premier Giorgia Meloni's rightwing Brothers of Italy
(FdI) party, of which Crosetto was a co-founder, while rightwing
League leader Salvini, a key Meloni ally, has had a very cordial
phone call with the general, defended his right to speak out,
and said he would gladly read his book.
Culture Undersecretary, art critic and libertarian polemicist
Vittorio Sgarbi, who has noted Vannacci's position on gays is
the same as the Vatican's, said the sacked general could
probably stand for the League in next year's European elections.
"The League is a buffer party which is not extreme right and
Salvini has said that he recognises himself in the values of the
book written by Vannacci," Sgarbi told Affaritaliani.it.
"The way to reiterate that could be to put him up for the
European elections".
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