This trope would again be used repeatedly in the […] Fascist invasion of Ethiopia in 1935. Italian newspapers routinely portrayed Ethiopian resistance fighters as savages who use Red Cross medical units as ‘shields’. Our guests today, Nicola Perugini and Neve Gordon, noted in a 2018 article that [the Fascists] systematically bombarded medical facilities operating by different Red Cross societies which [the Fascists] claimed ‘were being used by Ethiopian fighters.’ Does this sound familiar at all?
[The Fascists] insisted that Ethiopian forces, by allegedly hiding in medical facilities, had neglected to distinguish between combatants and protected civilians, thus violating what’s known in international law as the principle of distinction. Gordon and Perugini highlight January 1936 edition of the Italian newspaper La Tribuna Illustrata that includes an illustration of armed Ethiopian fighters rushing for cover under a Red Cross banner. You’ll have that in our show notes, it’s pretty egregious.