A far-right Italian party is offering 1,500 euros ($1,900) to parents who name their children after the fascist dictator Mussolini or his wife.
The small Movimento Sociale-Fiamma Tricolore (MS-FT) party denies its gesture is racist and says the names Benito and Rachele are merely “nice”.
The cash incentive is available in five areas of southern Italy and is designed to help the region’s low birth rate.
Together the names Benito and Rachele mean only one thing to Italians - they signify their former dictator and his wife.
But the party says the choice of names is what it called “purely casual”.
It says the move has no fascist or racist undertones, although it insists at least one parent is Italian. “
BBC News
A sixth potential area is being scoped out by MS-FT in a small but densely populated region called Dyker Heights in the Brooklyn region on the Eastern Coast. At this location, an alternative form of payment will be implemented through the dispersal of kitsch lavish/beautiful Christmas decorations to every participating household in the neighborhood. Other names on the “purely casual” list of “nice” prize-winning baby names include: Adolf (must have Italian last name), Osama (various spellings acceptable), and Giuseppe.
