Trieste, new censorship attempt: junta dislikes exhibition poster on racial laws, controversy

In Trieste the right-wing city council must have a serious problem with posters: after the case of the poster for the Barcolana (Trieste’s historic regatta), signed by Marina Abramović and on which a furious controversy broke out in August, now attempts at censorship hit a school in the city, the Liceo Petrarca, the promoter, together with the Department of Humanistic Studies of the University of Trieste, the Jewish Museum “Carlo and Vera Wagner” and the State Archives of Trieste, of an exhibition on racial laws, entitled Racism in the Chair, which was supposed to be held in a hall of the City Hall. The exhibition, however, was skipped: according to what the school director, Cesira Militello, told reporters from Il Piccolo of Trieste, the problem stems from the poster designed to promote the exhibition.

The poster shows a black-and-white photo of three girls from the Liceo Petrarca smiling and embracing and, just below, the front page of Il Piccolo of Sept. 3, 1938, which headlined “Complete elimination of Jewish teachers and pupils from fascist schools.” Militello reports that the project’s contact person was summoned on August 31 by Trieste’s councillor for culture, Giorgio Rossi: “during the meeting she was asked to modify the initiative’s manifesto. At that point I wrote asking for details about the changes, but I did not receive any more response, just as I did not receive confirmation of the availability for co-organization and therefore close to the inauguration we sent notice of renunciation of the hall.” Rossi then explained to the newspapers that he had asked for changes to the poster as he wanted to move “prudently and mindful of a whole series of precedents, from a disputed exhibition dedicated to Palestine to the recent Barcolana poster.” Thus, the organizers decided to drop the idea of setting up the exhibition.

However, the Trieste junta was overwhelmed by the controversy, and in the end the mayor, Roberto Dipiazza, who moreover claimed the idea of not passing the poster as it was conceived, was forced to turn around: “the exhibition can be done even in the morning, even with that poster,” he declared. Without, however, avoiding a quip: “when I saw that headline in the Piccolo at the time, so extremely heavy, and with that writing under there about racism, it seemed exaggerated to me. I say, do we still have to raise those things? I am going to condemn the enactment of the racial laws with a big demonstration in the city council and with the inclusion of a plaque made by the union of Jewish communities. I was only asking for that poster to be softened: that is, not to kindle resentments on either side.” However, regarding the junta’s reconsideration, organizers told the press that they had not yet received any official communication.

Trieste, new censorship attempt: junta dislikes exhibition poster on racial laws, controversy

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