Historical Dictionary of Terrorism Third Edition

482 • NEO-NAZISIn Italy the Alleanza Nazionale (AN), or National Alliance, replacedthe neo-Fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano (MSI), or Italian SocialMovement, in 1994 and was led by Gianfranco Fini. In the nationalelections of 27–28 March 1994, the AN won 12 percent of the popularvote and 17 of the seats in the lower house of parliament and becamepart of the right-wing coalition led by the Forza Italia party of SilvioBerlusconi. Among those AN candidates who won seats was AlessandraMussolini, granddaughter of the Fascist dictator of Italy, representinga district in Naples. Fini and his supporters celebrated their victoryin the Pazzo del Popolo of Rome, with hundreds of young peopleshouting “Duce! Duce!” and making the Fascist arm salute. WhileFascism is still revered among the estimated 40,000 skinheads of Italy,the AN has tried to portray itself as a moderate political party opposedto the racism of the Fascist era. In 2008 the AN merged into the newIl Popolo della Libertà (PdL), or People of Freedom Party, formed byBerlusconi out of the coalition partners of his previous governments.In Austria the Freiheitliche Partei Österreichs (FPÖ), or FreedomParty of Austria, led by the populist Jörg Haider from 1986 to 2000,was often accused of having neo-Nazi leanings due to its strident antiimmigration,nationalist, and anti–European Union policies. In Belgiumthe Vlaams Blok (VB), or Flemish Bloc, is a Flemish ethnonationalistparty that has been accused of violating the 1981 law againstracism and xenophobia due to its role in inciting demonstrations andriots directed particularly against Muslim immigrants. Its share ofelectoral votes has increased steadily since it was founded in 1978,from one seat in the 150-seat chamber of representatives to 18 seats inthe 2003 election, and from one seat in the 71-seat senate in the 1987election to five seats in the 2003 election. On 9 November 2004, whenthe Belgian Supreme Court upheld the dissolution of the party underthe 1981 law, the group merely dissolved and reconstituted itself underthe new name of the Vlaams Belang, or Flemish Interest.In the United States, the American Nazi party of George LincolnRockwell was the most prominent and earliest neo-Nazi group. Itsname was changed to the National Socialist White People’s Partyafter Rockwell’s assassination and later to the New Order. TheNational Socialist Liberation Front was a more militant groupthat broke away from the National Socialist White People’s Party.The National Alliance of William Pierce, a Rockwell disciple, isanother neo-Nazi group. Currently the National Socialist Movement