The iMussolini, an iphone application featuring over 120 of Benito Mussolini’s speeches in text or audio form or in film clips, has been withdrawn from sale by its creator a fortnight after its launch. The application, which quickly became the second most downloaded iphone application in Italy – the top seller being a wallpaper application - had doubled in price from 0.79 euros on 21st January to 1.59 euros by yesterday and had been downloaded 60,000 times.
Holocaust survivors and other Jewish groups in Italy and elsewhere have expressed their outrage about the application and its existence caused particular offence last week amid Holocaust Memorial Day ceremonies.
However, Mussolini’s granddaughter, the politician Alessandra Mussolini, has said,
“These speeches are historic and, like many others which are available on the internet, cannot be wiped out by censorship.”
The application’s creator, 25-year-old Luigi Marino from Naples, says that his purpose was not to glorify fascism but to document a “sad chapter in Italy’s history”. He has taken the decision to withdraw the application from sale “for now” not because of the number of objections received but because Italy’s National Film Archive, which is managed by Cinecittà Luce and state-owned, was threatening to sue over the use of its material without permission.
Mr Marino claims that all the material was free to use from the internet.
There is now some controversy over how the application was cleared for public distribution in the first place. Apple has yet to make any official comment regarding this.
The application’s popularity among the younger generation has surprised and perplexed many people in Italy.
Why do you think young people were so fascinated by the application?
Do you think it should have been banned in the first place?
