Posted on 08/18/2017 8:05:56 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Every now and then, for the more than 80 years it has stood outside Soldier Field on Burnham Harbor, the Balbo monument — a slender, 18-foot tall column of greenish breccia rock, perched at the foot of the bike path — has unnerved many Chicagoans. That is, the ones who knew its history.
It was a gift to Chicago from fascist dictator Benito Mussolini, erected in 1934 to commemorate a celebrated trans-Atlantic flight of 24 11-ton seaplanes from Rome to Chicago. The namesake of the monument was the leader of that voyage, General Italo Balbo, an Italian aviator who had been central to Mussolini’s rise to power and later became one of his most feared warlords. Not long after his visit to Chicago, Balbo led the bombing of unarmed Africans in Ethiopia. As fascism spread across Europe in the 1930s, his tactics were celebrated in speeches by no less than Hitler.
Should you lean in, the faded inscription at the base to the Balbo monument is chilling. It reads, in part: “Fascist Italy with the sponsorship of Benito Mussolini presents to Chicago” this commemoration of a flight by Balbo “in the 11th year of the Fascist Era.” It is, in short, public art from a fascist, honoring a fascist.
Not surprisingly then, over the past century there have been many spirited attempts to remove it. And now, in the wake of the white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Va., that brought a fresh questioning of Confederate statues across the country, calls to remove the column — and for good measure, rename Balbo Drive — have a renewed weight. …
(Excerpt) Read more at chicagotribune.com ...
Which is about 1 in 10,000
After eight years of a Muslim seditionist traitor as commander-in-chief.
I'm kind of getting a vibe as to how these people need to be clubbed like baby Harp seals...
Balbo has quite a cult following. He’s very popular in certain (small) circles.
Mussolini gave a wolf statue to Rome, Georgia. Romulus and Remulus or some sort of spelling. It was placed in front of the local court house. WW2 came along and the statue was taken down. WW2 ended and the statue was placed back up. Eventually, East and West Rome High Schools were merged into one Rome High School and the animal mascot was the Wolf. Rome High Wolves. Like the statue from Benito Mussolini. They won the state football 5A championship this past year. The statue was and is ugly as all get out and yet there it is. Basically, my comment is so what. The previous mascots were Gladiators and Chieftans. They are no longer using an Indian Chief for a mascot. The libs liked it. Hopefully end of story.
Italo Balbo was a genuine aviation pioneer.
He was also a genuine hero of WWI.
One of the allies of the US in that war.
Sounds like it’s from the mythical story of the founding of Rome. Romulus (the city’s mythical founder) and Remus were twins supposedly sired by the god of war, Mars, with a vestal virgin named Rhea Silva; the legend goes that the king of Alba Longa, Amulius, ordered them put to death by throwing them in the Tiber river, but Tiberinus, the god of the river, rescued them, and a female wolf was summoned to nurse them in the Lupercal cave. The image of the twins being nursed by the wolf is an old symbol of Rome.
The wolf-bitch was the totem of Rome.
The legend says she suckled Romulus and Remus, the founders of the city. I suspect the statue was a copy of the very famous ancient one, the Capitoline Wolf.
It’s clear that Chicago needs to rename Balbo Drive after it’s most famous son of Italy —— Al Capone.
Yes, the statue in Rome, Ga. Is a copy of the original. The copy is a source of pride to the city of Rome,Ga. Rome, Ga. also claims to be a city of 7 hills just like the Rome in Italy. Still, the copy is from Mussoline. And I say so what. History is history. We are just here on Planet Earth. Maybe heaven is more perfect. I have not been there yet. Let’s praise the goofiness. It just simply is what it is.
“The statue was and is ugly as all get out ...”
I had to look it up. It’s a good copy of the “Capitoline Wolf” which supposedly was on display in ancient Rome. About ten years ago, scientist found out it’s only 900-1000 years old, but it’s still pretty interesting. The Pope used to own it.
If the school wants to get rid of it, I’ll take it off their hands. My dad got some stuff from Nazis after WWII during the Occupation, and I never minded having that in my mom’s house at all.
Let us face it. Liberals wanted Obama to be their fascist for life, they wanted a sign so they would be the designated beneficiaries, and thus back then any fascist figure was the great thing to keep.
Now that Trump is here, all of a sudden Russia is evil!
Liberals only play the morality for useful idiot centrists in America who still think there is something to offer with Rinos or democrats as a choice. Because at the bottom liberals do not want to see a fascist Trump because that would steal their Alinsky capital and fascism loot opportunity
I believe he was also the architect of strategic bombing as practiced in WWII.
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