Teens 'Protest' Far-Right Politician by Photobombing Their Selfie with Kiss: 'Fighting Hate with Love'
Late last month, two 19-year-old girls in Italy posed for a selfie with leading far-right politician Matteo Salvini — then surprised him by kissing each other in what they described as “protest” against his conservative policies.
“We queued with his supporters and when it was our turn, we kissed while I was taking the photos,” one of the girls, Gaia Parisi, told BuzzFeed in an article published on Wednesday. They had been protesting at an event in Caltanissetta, Sicily, where Salvini spoke, according to CNN.
She continued:”An officer immediately separated us, as you can see in the second photo. Salvini’s reaction was giving a pat on [the other teen, Matilde Rizzo]’s head and saying, ‘auguri e figli maschi.’ That’s an Italian saying that could be translated with ‘I wish you all the best and male sons.’ “
The girls responded with, in Parisi’s words, an ironic “thank you” and were off. In the ensuing days, however, their kiss-photobomb spread widely on social media.
Salvini — the Italian deputy prime minister, interior minister and head of the League political party — also posted the photos with the two girls, along with the seemingly lighthearted caption “Auguri, pace e bene sorelle,” or (roughly) “Greetings, peace and love sisters.”
But Parisi told BuzzFeed the kiss was a political statement that may have evaded Salvini’s grasp, or which he may have been shrugging off given his own carefully crafted social media strategy. (His team told CNN they had no further comment.)
“Our photo was a protest, we had an important message to share,” Parisi told BuzzFeed, explaining that the kiss was about “fighting hate with love.” She and Rizzo are friends.
Parisi told CNN: “We decided to use all the means at our disposal to protest peacefully, to be able to send our message through the platforms that unfortunately, today, seems to be the main platforms by which our ministers communicate with citizens. If the inadequacy of the medium was not enough, I think that the use they make of it is really improper.”
Echoing what she told BuzzFeed, Parisi told CNN that her focus with Rizzo was on “a message of love and tolerance against the language and the attitude of hatred that politicians like Matteo Salvini keep spreading.”
“Even a simple and natural act like a kiss can open a political debate,” she said.
Salvini, described by the New York Times as “the anti-immigrant politician who is the most powerful figure in Italy’s government,” endorsed the World Congress of Families, a gathering of religious conservatives with anti-abortion and anti-LGBTQ stances held earlier this year in Verona.
Salvini was the keynote speaker, according to CNN.
