Lucca Comics and Israel, the designer also deserts the event Michael Rocchetti. Salvini-Amnesty clash
The controversy does not stop after the announcement of Zero limestone which will not be at the next edition of Lucca Comics due to the patronage of the Israeli Embassy. The Roman designer defined it as “a problem” and today returned to the topic, responding to some polemical comments that accuse him of siding with jihadist groups, he reported that he had “been to Syria several times when ISIS was there to support the Kurds and those fighting on the field jihadism” and “ I still do it every day however I can. Friends of mine who were braver than me went and shot the jihadists directly.”
After Zero limestone And Michael Rocchetti, aka Maicol & Mirco (designer of the same publishing house Bao Publishing), too Amnesty International he decided to desert the event for the same reason. “The patronage of the Israeli embassy pushes us to renounce our presence. We understand that the patronage of the embassies of the countries of origin of the artists who create the image of the festival is a consolidated practice, but we cannot ignore that the Israeli forces are incessantly besieging and bombing the Gaza Strip, with enormous losses of civilian lives”, reads the humanitarian organization’s post.
Salvini: “Amnesty does not participate in Lucca Comics against Israel? This is racism”
But the case did not remain confined here. It has extended to the political world. In fact, it was the deputy prime minister who responded to these positions Matteo Salvini who after announcing that he will do everything to be present at the event which will open its doors on November 1st, returned to the topic by branding Amnesty’s choice with these few words published on social media: “this is racism”. The response from the spokesperson for Amnesty International Italia, Riccardo Noury, to Today.it was not long in coming. declared: “With his comment, Salvini on this occasion demonstrated that he does not know what racism is. Strange, because as demonstrated by the various ‘hate barometers’ of Amnesty International Italy, he appears to be definitely an expert in that matter” .
While according to the deputy group leader of the Brothers of Italy in the Chamber, Alfredo Antoniozzi “many artists, always, they sense the most convenient area of dissent for doing business. Refusing participation in a cultural event because there is Israeli patronage is absurd, just as it was absurd to censor Dostoevsky, as was also done by us, a month after the invasion of Kiev, because he is Russian”. From the left came the the defense of the national secretary of the Italian Left Nicola Fratoianni: “We are on the side of peace, on the side of those who do not want to resign themselves to the fact that the only response is weapons against civilian populations. And this is why we demand that there be great respect for the choice of ZeroCalcare and Amnesty “.
In the end, Mario Pardini – mayor of Lucca from 2022, but from 2018 to 2020 president of the comics fair that attracts audiences from all over the world – he toned down his tone a bit at the Corriere. “Zerocalcare and Amnesty are boycotting Lucca Comics? I respect their choice, but I don’t agree with it. Culture should always unite and never divide”. “The truth, he continues, is this: the patronage of the Israeli embassy dates back months and months, long before the war broke out.” The poster for the 2023 edition was in fact created by the twins Asaf and Tomer Hanuka: “Great Israeli artists”. For this reason: “The reason for the patronage is sacrosanct: there is absolutely no correlation with the war.”
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