[ExI] Stefano Vaj's background. Was: Neo-fascist transhumanists?

[estropico]

>  Date: Tue, 4 Mar 2008 09:14:54 +0000
>  From: estropico <estropico at gmail.com>
>
>  I would be interested to see Stefano clarify to the list whether "Vaj"
>  is a pseudonym and whether, on his business website (where the name
>  "Stefano Vaj" does NOT appear), there might or might not be a little
>  something that gives the lie to his claims that he has nothing to do
>  with the far right. Perhaps he might even provide the list with the
>  url in question, just in case it's just me seeing things.

The silence is defeaning.

I am not surprised, though. I originally included the above
information in an article on my website regarding the neofascist (?)
transhumanists, but I was forced to remove it following legal threats
from Stefano "Vaj"'s lawyers. Would he have won in court? I doubt it,
but he's the managing partner of a big law firm and I'm not... That's
way I'm going to be careful about what I say on a public forum such as
this.

First of all: I have no problem with pseudonyms on mailing lists, but
it's a different story if someone wants to be a high-level
representative of an organisation (any organisation), and Vaj is after
all the (unelected) "national secretary" of the Italian transhumanist
association. Also, his business bears his *real* name and is therefore
hidden to those that only know him as Stefano Vaj  - that's why I
think it's appropriate to mention the fact that "Vaj" is a pseudonym
(it's a very poorly kept secret anyway: his real surname has been
mentioned at least once on the Italian transhumanists' mailing list
and it has been put on the web next to "Vaj" -by mistake, I guess- by
people quoting his writings).

In case you're curious about what I'm talking about when I say that on
his business website I've noticed "a little something that gives the
lie to his claims that he has nothing to do with the far right", I can
say that we're not talking about a vague resemblance to some obscure
bit of nazi iconography. We're talking about what is probably the
second best-known bit of nazi iconography after the swastika! Vaj is
obviously not ignorant of history, or politically naive, so I am at a
loss to explain what on earth he was thinking. I can only *guess* that
it's a bit of bravado he thought would never surface, as he has tried
to keep the activities of his two identities separate.

When confronted with this, some time ago, on an Italian list, all he
could do was to sidestep the question, saying that his legal practice
is well known and respected and that it has many important clients
including some multinationals and that nobody ever complained about
its logo. Fair enough, but the question stands: why on earth should
someone that has nothing to do with the far right choose a logo that
is virtually identical to the unmistakeable SS lightning bolts?

At any rate, I find it very telling that Stefano XXX, the "successful
lawyer and law professor" would rather not be associated with the
political writings of his alter-ego Stefano "Vaj", the borderline (?)
neofascist (?) and "overhumanist".

Cheers,
Fabio
PS: Here's the Google translation of the article on the Italian
"overhumanists" I've already posted (a proper translation is almost
ready - working title: "Cyborg Mussolini")
http://translate.google.com/translate?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.estropico.com%2Fid314.htm&langpair=it%7Cen&hl=en&ie=UTF-8