Italian classical fascist group CasaPound portrayed itself as NGO and trying to mislead Karen National Union

Italian classical fascist party CasaPound portrayed itself as NGO and trying to mislead Karen National Union

First of all, CasaPound Italia is an Italian neo-fascist movement that adhere to classical fascism which advocates for the state corporatism that is both anti-capitalism and anti-communism (Casapound, n.d.). CasaPound is also known to be praising the legacy of far-left figures, like Che Guevara and Hugo Chávez (Briotti, 2013), making it harder for the people in Burma to notice their classical fascism which is a mixed of both far-left and far-right politics. Furthermore, CasaPound indeed supports Ukraine (when it comes to Russia invasion) and Palestine (against Zionism), on the questions of geopolitics and anti-imperialist politics. In addition, CasaPound is well-known for its rock songs criticising the government, pro-working class ideology, and squatting crew—all of which the general public typically associates with left-wing populist activities.Their positions would virtually make it hard for someone with a cursory understanding of world affairs to identify them as fascists.
The Karen National Union is a political organisation with two armed wings, the Karen National Liberation Army (KNLA) and Karen National Defence Organisation (KNDO) that claim to represent the Karen people of Myanmar (Union, n.d.). Karen National Union is one of the strongest ethnic armed organisations in Burma and it has been training a lot of People’s Defence Forces since 2021 (Smith).
The spokesperson of an Italian non-government organization, Popoli, Franco Nerozzi was detained on suspicion of international terrorism and was given a one-year and ten-month term. Then, he returned to his activities in Burma with Casapound's assistance as soon as he had served out his sentence. He works closely with the group named La Terra dei Padri and appears on their YouTube channel for several times. La Terra dei Padri used to platform a Russian fascist philosopher named Aleksandr Dugin who is popular for his new ideology that combined Neo-Stalinism, National Bolshevism, and Neo-Eurasianism. The spokesperson of Popoli has confirmed that they have been working in Karen State since 2001 according to Karen News. The spokesperson for Popoli reportedly told Karen News that the organization raises money through "private donations, raising funds in charity events like fundraising dinners, sports events, private parties, music events and concerts, selling artisans goods, and through a small percentage of taxes from Italian citizens who can decide to which charity organization donate to part of their taxation to" (Karen News, 2012)
According to L'Espresso, in 2011, Gianluca Iannone, the president of CasaPound, secretly traveled into Burma from Thailand with a group of his allies and spent a week touring the Karen settlements with Nerdah Mya and his Black Special Forces (Fantauzzi, n.d.). Major General Saw Nerdah Mya is the second son of the late KNU chairman General Saw Bo Mya. He was a colonel around 2011, later became the Major General of KNDO in 2020s. Nerdah Mya studied in USA for a Liberal Arts degree and have visited multiple European countries. So, it’s possible that they might have met in Italy or Thailand.

 

The full name of “Popoli” is “Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community” according to their official website. Popoli claimed that they focus on three values: Identity, Tradition and Solidarity according to their website. Besides, according to their statement, Popoli indeed had a clear political point. They mentioned the following sentences in their statement on the website.

• “A battle for Identity, a term that today risks being considered blasphemous and criminally relevant in our country in the aberrant interpretations of judges who identify the natural feeling of pride in one's roots with crude racism, very often constructed at the table in the editorial offices of prestigious disinformation organs dedicated to brainwashing the masses. We tried to make it clear that supporting a Peoplewho fight not to leave their Land would be an example of great impact for those who are wondering, disoriented, what solutions to adopt to contain the phenomenon of uncontrolled migration.”
• Not allowing multinationals to penetrate this regionmeans saving it from certain ecological disasters.

(Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community, n.d.)
According to the information from their official website, they’re actively working on three projects: health project, education project, and development project. Popoli has 7 teachers, distributed in 4 schools, each educational centre has between 40 and 80 students (Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community, n.d.). Teaching children in warzone where economically disattended is something that can be appreciated even if it’s carried out by a fascist movement. However, what sort of education are they giving to the children in the region?

Popoli claimed that POPOLI ONLUS schools are in areas where Burmese teachers, a vehicle of colonization, are not allowed to enter (Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community, n.d.). That’s where it comes problematic. In Myanmar’s politics, Burmese colonization was carried out by General Ne Win and his Burmese way of Socialism, not by Burmese peasants and working class. There were several uprisings against Burma Socialist Programme Party and the military juntas which resulted the thousands of Burmese peasants, working class and student activists dead. Popoli seems to bring their ethno-socialist politics of classical fascism here, portraying Burmese teachers as vehicles of Burmese cultural hegemony. However, it holds some truth that some state-appointed Burmese teachers can be the vehicles of Burmese cultural hegemony. What is to be investigated here is whether Burmese teachers are not allowed on the basis of ethnicity or on the basis of their affiliation of employment.

POPOLI stated that they have provided free health care for approximately 30 thousand people, education for 600 children of the Karen ethnic group, training of Karen ethnic paramedic personnel employed in the clinics and mobile teams, the creation of organic farms along with supplying seeds and agricultural tools as well as the construction of 4 agricultural villages for refugees. Those are some truly remarkable accomplishments from POPOLI, an organization that originated from a classic fascist political movement like CasaPound. Without a doubt, with all these community works, they were astute enough to maintain a low profile regarding their fascist beliefs. Nobody would have predicted this kind of group carrying out such sincere acts of community service. Additionally, Popoli collaborates with "Solidarité Identités Onlus," an Italian non-governmental organization or charitable organization.

In 2017, it was reported that CasaPound participated in a training camp organized by a Ukrainian neo-Nazi militia, Carpathian Sich (Giornalettismo, 2017). Saw Nerdah Mya is closed to the personnels from CasaPound. Given his records of studying in USA and the travel history across Europe, Saw Nerdah Mya is likely to be fully aware of what CasaPound is and what CasaPound flag stands for.

Karen National Union used to have some nationalist leaders who took mixed blood individuals especially when they share Burmese ethnicities as unpure and spy in the history. Also, Karen National Union endorsed Karen nationalism as well as ethnic based self-determinism as an ideology. Given these records, that raised a question whether the leadership of Karen National Union is aware of the ideological background of both POPOLI and CasaPound or not. Regardless, POPOLI seems to have been granted with some community areas by the Karen National Union.

In 2022, KNDO Commander Maj-Gen Saw Nerdah Mya dismissed from duty and replaced by deputy commander due to his involvement in Wawle massacre. KNDO under the leadership of Nerdah Mya and Saw Ba Wah killed 25 civilians at the Uhu Creek Bridge construction site connecting Kanelay Village and Mawkhi Village in Wawle, Myawaddy District, Kayin State according to announcement made by the information team of the State Administration Council (SAC) on June 13, 2021. However, on July 11, 2021, Major General Saw Nerdah Mya issued a statement expressing his opposition to the decision of the KNU (Eleven Media Group, 2022). As a result of the conflict, Major General Saw Nerdah Mya split from Karen National Union and founded a separate government called “Kawthoolei Government” with a military wing namely “Kawthoolei Army - KTLA”.

CasaPound through Popoli is active through clinics and community centers within the regions controlled by the 5th Brigade of the General Baw Kyaw of KNLA and the regions controlled by KTLA (led by Major General Saw Nerdah Mya) according to their website. Even though I’m appreciative of the tangible works they did for the people in Karen, I have no doubt that their political beliefs will later harm the community more than they’re helping the community now. According to the statements on website, it’s apparent that they still align themselves with the original political ideology. POPOLI has fascist roots, which is already alarming for the revolutionary forces in Burma, especially the Karen Ethnic Armed Organisations like Karen National Union and Kawthoolei Army. It’s overwhelmingly safe to consider that Nerdah Mya might be someone who agrees with the ideology of CasaPound. That raises another question of how democratic activists and progressive revolutionaries in Burma should handle him as a leader of Kawthoolei Army that claimed to be the official government of Kawthoolei. Nonetheless, the relationship between CasaPound through Popoli and the General Baw Kyaw of KNLA is still unknown.

In conclusion, it should frighten and worry all progressive activists, rebels for democracy, and humanists since Burma's resistance, particularly Karen resistance, has allowed the classical fascists to remain in the country and be deeply involved in politics for more than ten years. That's concerning since it's unclear how much of their ultranationalism, identity politics, and state corporatist doctrines have influenced the leadership of the Karen National Union as well as the grassroots populace.

Information:

• Official Facebook page of POPOLI - https://www.facebook.com/popoli.onlus/
• Official website of POPOLI - https://www.comunitapopoli.org/chi-siamo/

References

Briotti, L. (2013, March 11). “Patria, socialismo o muerte”. Casa Pound ricorda Chavez: striscioni in 50 città. Retrieved from Blitzquotidiano: https://www.blitzquotidiano.it/foto-notizie/patria-socialismo-muerte-casa-pound-ricorda-chavez-striscioni-50-citta-1499402/
Casapound. (n.d.). About Us. Retrieved from Casapound: https://www.casapounditalia.org/casapound/
Eleven Media Group. (2022, January 20). KNDO Commander Maj-Gen Saw Nerdah Mya dismissed from duty and replaced by deputy commander. Retrieved from Eleven Media Group: https://elevenmyanmar.com/news/kndo-commander-maj-gen-saw-nerdah-mya-dismissed-from-duty-and-replaced-by-deputy-commander
Fantauzzi, P. (n.d.). Casapound, war in Burma. Retrieved from L'Espresso: https://web.archive.org/web/20171220095215/http://espresso.repubblica.it/palazzo/2012/11/05/news/casapound-guerra-in-birmania-1.48032
Karen News. (2012, November 19). Italian NGO to work only in KNU controlled areas in Karen State. Retrieved from Karen News: https://karennews.org/2012/11/italian-ngo-to-work-only-in-knu-controlled-areas-in-karen-state/
Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community. (n.d.). EDUCATION PROJECT. Retrieved from Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community: https://www.comunitapopoli.org/progetto-istruzione/
Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community. (n.d.). WHO WE ARE. Retrieved from Popoli Onlus Solidarity Community: https://www.comunitapopoli.org/chi-siamo/
Smith, M. (n.d.). Burma: Insurgency and the Politics of Ethnicity. Bloomsbury Academic.
Union, K. N. (n.d.). About KNU. Retrieved from Karen National Union: https://knuhq.org/public/about/background
Y’know - interviews with the famous (2012) Gianluca Iannone, politician, Y’know - interviews with the famous. Available at: https://yknow-interviews.blogspot.com/2012/03/gianluca-iannone-politician.html?m=1 (Accessed: 12 August 2024).