The Big Cover-up: Iranian President in Rome

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€17bn WORTH OF REASONS FOR THE BIG COVER -UP?

Italy would sign €17bn worth of deals when Rouhani arrives in Rome today (5bn with #Saipem) http://on.ft.com/1nsiQjG

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtUyLmHyXO8

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GS9XcxlmJns

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‏@IranWire1

What happened when #Rouhani visited Rome? A miracle, that’s what. by Shahrokh Heidari http://ow.ly/XA7XO

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‏@GeneralBoles

‘did you cover up all the nudes for President Rouhani‘s visit?’ ‘yes Monsignor’ ‘are you sure?’ ‘pretty sure’

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‏@Omid_M

Funny!The left photo is the real one & the right photo is the photoshopped version of Rouhani‘s meeting w the pope!

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‏@PersianRose1

Botticellí’s Venus censored by Italian gov. for president Rouhani‘s visit:

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‏@SoheilAsefi

Italy has covered up ancient nude statues ahead of Hassan Rouhani‘s visit to Rome! Another solution by cartoonists:

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‏@LisaDaftari

Twitter reacts to Rouhani‘s arrival in France, day after Italy covered nude statues for the Iran President’s visit

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‏@OeiNicolette

From Rome, with love. #Rouhani #Statuenude @matteorenzi

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‏@STcom

#Iran‘s Rouhani denies asking for Venus cover-up during #Italy visit http://bit.ly/1RNnpBz

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ROME (AFP) – Iranian President Hassan Rouhani said on Wednesday (Jan 27) he had not asked his Italian hosts to cover up classical nude statues in a Rome museum he visited with Prime Minister Matteo Renzi.

A smiling Rouhani told reporters he had “no contact on the subject” with Italian authorities.

“I know that the Italians are very hospitable, a people who seek to make their guests’ visits as pleasant as possible and I thank them for that,” he added.

Rouhani and Renzi made speeches in Rome’s Capitoline Museum on Tuesday, with a huge statue of Roman emperor Marcus Aurelius on a horse featuring prominently in many of the photographs of the event.

But nude statues, including a Venus dating from the second century BC, had all been covered up in temporary wooden cartons, removing the risk of them creeping into any of the shots – or catching Rouhani’s eye.
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The Italian media on Wednesday railed against an “excess of zeal” and placed the blame on the office in charge of protocol during visits by foreign dignitaries.

Sources in Rome’s city hall, which manages the museum, assured the press that the municipality had played no role in the decision.

http://www.straitstimes.com/world/europe/irans-rouhani-denies-asking-for-venus-cover-up-during-italy-visit

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‏@haaretzcom

Rome‘s cover-up: What Hitler and Rohani’s visits to the Eternal City have in common http://dlvr.it/KKqgnQ

Rome’s decision to hide its nude statues behind large white panels for fear of offending Iranian President Rohani is Europe’s latest round of cultural appeasement.

Ariel David Jan 27, 2016 2:39 PM

In modern history, Rome’s ancient treasures have been covered up for the sake of political expediency only twice: once for Adolph Hitler, and once for Iranian President Hassan Rohani, who this week visited the Eternal City as part of his first European tour.

Back in 1938, Benito Mussolini had decided that the crumbling ruins of the past were not sufficiently grandiose and imperial-looking for Hitler’s upcoming visit, so he had them hidden behind huge cardboard reconstructions that, from afar, gave the impression that the ancient Roman monuments had been rebuilt or perfectly restored.

The locals were unimpressed, and despite the Fascist regime’s stranglehold on freedom of expression, they made their feelings known by reviving an old tradition from papal times: posting anonymous protest leaflets on Roman statues displayed around the city.

One of these so-called “talking statues” – a battered image of a Greek hero – was nicknamed Pasquino; and here is what he had to “say” about the Fuhrer’s visit:

“My poor Rome made of marble,
They’ve dressed you up in cardboard
To show you off to a bad painter
Who comes to be your new master.”

Today, it is difficult not recall Pasquino’s “words” when seeing how some of Rome’s cultural treasures were covered up for Rohani’s visit. In the famed Capitoline Museums, where the Iranian leader met with Italian Prime Minister Matteo Renzi to discuss trade relations and other moves to revive the Rome-Tehran relationship, large white panels went up to cover the nude statues of Venus, Dionysus and others mythological figures in order not to embarrass or offend Rohani’s cultural sensitivities.

While apparently done for different reasons and in completely different circumstances, the two great Roman cover-ups can both be seen as a portent of things to come, and share a common trait: they stink of surrender.

The Hitler cardboard job was a pathetic show of nationalistic bluster and grandeur that tried to hide the fact that Italy was slowly submitting to Germany, becoming, as Pasquino correctly predicted, Hitler’s lapdog in an alliance that would spell disaster for both countries and the rest of Europe.

While Rohani should not and cannot be compared to Hitler, the cultural cover-up that was done in his honor represents another form of capitulation that now involves not just Italy, but all of Europe’s democracies. The entire continent appears to have given up on defending its core values and on demanding that its culture and beliefs be respected, whether by visiting heads of state or refugees streaming across its borders.

It is an ideological surrender that is evident in the cover-up of the nude statues; the sluggish reaction of German authorities to the mass sexual assaults in Cologne by groups of foreign men, or Europe’s inability to integrate its millions of Muslim immigrants. For how can there be integration and respect for our values of democracy, freedom and equal rights, when we ourselves are so poorly attached to them and unwilling to stand up for them?

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@irajorak

#StopExecutionsIran #No2Rouhani #HumanRights #Droitdelhomme #IRAN #Hold_Rouhani_AccountableFor2000_Executions