01:12USA: Protesters demand removal of Chicago monument honoring Fascist general's historic flight
Protesters rallied to demand the removal of a monument, gifted to the city by Italian dictator and leader of the National Fascist Party Benito Mussolini. in Chicago's Burnham Park on Wednesday.
Originally brought to the US for the Italian pavilion at the Century of Progress World Fair in 1933, the 2,000 year old Ostian column was presented by Mussolini to Chicago's Mayor Edward Kelly to commemorate aviation General Italo Balbo's transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.
On July 1, 1933, twenty-four seaplanes, led by Balbo who was then Italian Secretary of State for Air, took off on an eight leg flight that took them across Europe, Iceland and Canada before landing on Lake Michigan near Burnham Park on August 12, 1933 as part of the Chicago Fair.
The Balbo monument has long divided Chicagoans. Some see it as a monument to an age of progress and to the history of flight and argue for it's preservation. Others decry it's link to facism.
One of the protesters addressed the crowd, saying, "No more hatred, no more racism and no more reminder of white supremacy in America. We are sick and tired of being treated like this and we will say 'No more'. Hey hey, ho ho, every racist monument has to go."
The protesting crowd exhibited numerous antifascist and anti-Trump placards and also called for the renaming of a local road, Balbo Drive.
01:12Protesters rallied to demand the removal of a monument, gifted to the city by Italian dictator and leader of the National Fascist Party Benito Mussolini. in Chicago's Burnham Park on Wednesday.
Originally brought to the US for the Italian pavilion at the Century of Progress World Fair in 1933, the 2,000 year old Ostian column was presented by Mussolini to Chicago's Mayor Edward Kelly to commemorate aviation General Italo Balbo's transatlantic flight from Rome to Chicago.
On July 1, 1933, twenty-four seaplanes, led by Balbo who was then Italian Secretary of State for Air, took off on an eight leg flight that took them across Europe, Iceland and Canada before landing on Lake Michigan near Burnham Park on August 12, 1933 as part of the Chicago Fair.
The Balbo monument has long divided Chicagoans. Some see it as a monument to an age of progress and to the history of flight and argue for it's preservation. Others decry it's link to facism.
One of the protesters addressed the crowd, saying, "No more hatred, no more racism and no more reminder of white supremacy in America. We are sick and tired of being treated like this and we will say 'No more'. Hey hey, ho ho, every racist monument has to go."
The protesting crowd exhibited numerous antifascist and anti-Trump placards and also called for the renaming of a local road, Balbo Drive.