Rototom, the Benicàssim reggae festival, brings Putin apologists from Italy

2023-08-12 16:32:21

Rototom Sunsplashthe most important reggae festival in Europe, directed by the Italian Philip Giunta and held annually since 2010 in the Castellón town of Benicássim, It has brought from Italy in its latest editions, to participate in its political debates on human rights, emblematic figures considered in the transalpine country as apologists of Russian President Vladimir Putin. In 2015, a year after the annexation of Crimea, to explain the conflict between Russia and the West, the organization invited the historic journalist and politician Juliet Church, deceased in 2020, author of books such as ‘Putinophobia’, member of the Izborsky club, an elite nationalist organization close to the Kremlin, and an outspoken supporter of Moscow’s takeover of the Black Sea peninsula. This year, his panel of speakers includes Alexander of Baptistaformer deputy of the 5 Star Movement, who, like Chiesa, has also publicly praised the Russian leader, attending Moscow congresses of United Russia, Putin’s official party, and making frequent business trips to the Eurasian giant both before and after the invasion of Ukraine. The massive event in Castellón receives subsidies from the central governmentfrom Valencian government and of the Castellón Provincial Council.

In a response email, the organization’s press department has argued that Rototom “is open to the free expression of diverse opinions at the level of debate.” “This prism is what gives meaning to our Social Forum“, points out the note, which recalls that Chiesa came in 2015 “to talk about Europe and Islamophobia” while Di Battista will participate in a talk “on the freedom of expression and human rights at the table ‘In support of Assange'”.

Juliet Churchformer member of the Italian Communist Party in the 70s, former correspondent in Moscow for the Italian newspapers ‘L’Unita’ and ‘La Stampa’, he was a speaker in 2015 in the debate ‘Ukraine, Europe at war?’ moderated by Juan Carlos Monedero, one of the founders of Podemos and in which he also participated Oleg Yasinskya Ukrainian journalist now based in Russia who, like the Italian, considers the Maidan revolution of 2014 as a coup carried out by ultra-rightists. During his speech, the journalist and politician repeated one by one the Kremlin’s arguments to defend the annexation of Crimea, considered by many to be the first modification of borders by military force in Europe since the Second World War. “There has been no Russian invasion… the Russians in the Crimea have made a legitimate referendum, legaly 98% has decided to return to Russia”, he stressed then. As he also stated, the Crimeans simply exercised “one of the two fundamental rights” that the international community considers, which is “the right to self-determination”, after in Kiev “the a Nazi coup.” The annexation of Crimea has been recognized by only a handful of countries, including belarus, Nicaragua o North Koreawhile it was declared “invalid” by a large majority of countries in a vote at the UN General Assembly.

Chiesa has been known in Italy as one of the great defenders of Putin’s policy, “appearing often in prime time TV shows”, building “communities and online networks” and promoting a “television-web”, assures from Italy to El Periódico de Catalunyafrom the Prensa Ibérica group, James Jamesjournalist specializing in russian disinformation in the transalpine country. On Pandora TV, the channel he founded, “content produced by RT was often broadcast entirely”, the Russian propaganda television banned in the EU after the invasion, recalls the specialist. In these media, Chiesa has come to air conspiracy theories about the shooting down in 2014 of the Boeing of Malaysia Airlines in eastern Ukraine, the product, according to him, of a plot by “the Western countries” and the work of “the Ukrainian secret services to attribute the blame to Russia”. The Dutch court has sentenced two Russian citizens and one Ukrainian in absentia, and considers it proven that the battery that shot down the device belonged to the Russian Army.

Chiesa, in his youth a leftist militant, maintained excellent relations with prominent members of the ultra-conservative elite in Russia, and starred in 2018 at the Rome headquarters of CasaPoundan ultra-right movement, a debate with the controversial Russian philosopher and political scientist Alexander Dugin, ideologue of one of the most aggressive branches of Russian nationalism. Chiesa has been a figure especially appreciated by the director of the event, Filippo Giunta, whom he does not seem to treat as a mere occasional guest. In a post on Facebook on the occasion of his death, Giunta was pleased to have “shared so many battles” with the politician and journalist. In addition, Rototom’s organization published an obituary at the time of his death on its page on the same social network, a very rare gesture towards guests.

with more projection

The former parliamentarian Alexander of Baptista, much younger than Chiesa, was one of the most prominent personalities and with the most projection of the M5S at the time of its birth. Like Chiesa, he has publicly praised the figure of the Russian president. In a post also on Facebook published in 2019 entitled “Thank God we have Putin”, he stated that “for world peace it must be recognized that a politically strong Russia is fundamental”. For a long time, the populist politician acted bluntly as a lobbyist Kremlin interests in his country, including being part of political delegations visiting the occupied Crimea peninsula and violating EU travel recommendations, or visiting Moscow and meeting high-level politicians such as Sergei Zheleznyak, then vice-president of the Duma and author of controversial laws that curtail freedom of expression. Di Battista promoted with such impetus the interests of Russia in Italy that in 2014 “accompanied the leader of M5S Beppe Grillo to Villa Abamelek, the private residence of the Russian ambassador in Rome”, recalls the journalist Iacoboni. From that transcendental moment, the grillista formation fully assumed the Russian argument in the Ukraine conflict: they called for the lifting of sanctions and reduced the annexation of Crimea to a mere bilateral “tension. Di Battista also subscribes to the pro-Kremlin conspiracy; on his YouTube channel with 162,000 subscribers, he has interviewed Tony Capuozzoa journalist who has raised doubts about the bucha massacre. In the conversation, the guest also airs new questionsthis time on the mass grave found in the town of Izium after the withdrawal of the Russian troops while the interviewer himself agrees.

Rototom is an event that receives generous public support. According to documents to which this newspaper has had access, this year it obtained 15.000 euros grants granted by the National Institute of Performing Arts and Music, under the Ministry of Culture. In 2022, the official newspaper of the Generalitat Valenciana includes the concession, by Turisme Generalitat Valenciana, of a financing of 71.070,30 euros in concept of “promotion of musical, sporting and cultural events“.