“Ethiopians should not be despised or humiliated, but there had to be a clear distinction between whites and niggers.”
Difficult reading, not scheduled in the Booktomi calendar at the beginning of the year.
We felt the need to insert and share this book on the wave of street demonstrations that are shaking the world after the violent death of yet another African American by the police.
Although at first glance there may seem to be no connection between the theme of the book and today’s facts, the new theory on the historicity of racism reported by the author clearly explains today’s facts and, we feel we can say, those of tomorrow.
The conquest of Ethiopia was the last coup of the nineteenth century on the African continent. An action out of time brought to completion by Italy to give physical substance to nationalist propaganda, and to be recognized as a great European country. In reality it was a sad carnival to distract the population from much more important problems.
A war waged with the use of unconventional weapons, and other crimes against humanity, of equal atrocity to those that would have followed during the Second World War. The use of gas, unjustified reprisals (such as the three days of violence following the attack on Graziani) and summary executions represented a modus operandi only partially condemned by the international community. After all, the only demerit in Italy seemed to be that of arriving too late at a table where the other diners had already served themselves, and not because of the violence of the actions taken.
From archival research to tell the latest Italian colonial adventure, historical neologism called homologated racism takes shape.
Racial discrimination tested and accepted by a large part of the international community, with a single clear division between whites and non-whites. A sense of biological and cultural superiority visible to the skin, so it was right to treat non-whites as animals, and deprive them of all rights. Today as yesterday (however partially sweetened).
We liked the book, despite some editing errors, which affect the absolute value of a well-done scientific work, with a powerful and ponderous bibliography.
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Valentino De Bernardis, The last Italian colony in Africa, Bonanno Editore, Acireale-Roma, 2007
