We are a racist country and what happens every day, when we look with suspicion or we avoid, or even when we offer a job to those who have a color or physical features different from ours shows this. We are a racist country and it is shown by how we treat desperate people who arrive on our land, by the humiliations to which we submit tjem in the temporary identification centers where they are held
for months without being able to do anything. We are a racist country and this time also Egypt is yelling this.
The African
state has strongly condemned the violence that occurred in recent days
in Rosarno from which almost all immigrants, illegal or not, have fled. It was a very tough report the one of the Egyptian
foreign minister against the "vast campaign of aggression" to which
immigrants were submitted. And the criticism came not only from Egypt. Because the story of the Calabrian city has attracted critical comments of
the UN Special Rapporteur on migrants' rights and against racism,
Jorge Bustamante and Githu Muigai who, in a statement issued today in
Geneva, noted that the outbreak of violence in Rosarno "is extremely
alarming because it reveals serious and deeply rooted problems of racism
against immigrant workers."
The Egyptian foreign minister, Aboul Gheit, "announced that he would ask the Italian government to take necessary
measures for the protection of minorities and immigrants."
According to the statement released today by the Foreign Ministry in Cairo, the episode is merely another example of violence against foreigners that has led to "similar incidents" in recent days in other Italian cities.
Organizations for Human Rights, the statement said, have reported
several times uncomfortable conditions of immigrants in Italy due to "conditions of detention, violations of their economic and social rights and the practice of forced expulsions."
This afternoon, the minister Maroni, speaking at the Parliament about the clashes in Rosarno, clarified that the majority of immigrants involved in the riots are in order with the residence permit, but not with the employment contract, announcing that there will be more controls in agriculture in the next months. Meanwhile, with the northward
migration of all immigrants of this area, the campaigns have been
abandoned and in a few weeks we will begin to have repercussions in
markets, with growing prices of fruits and vegetables.
Italian Foreign Minister, Frattini, said that undeclared work has to be hit hard and that he had dealt with this problem when he was at the European Parliament. But it is hard to believe that, once the problem settle down, the current Parliament majority will face the immigration problem. On the agenda there are much more "important" things, for example, the bill on the "short trial" (processo breve) to aid Berlusconi.
The Church has reacted strongly to incidents of racism, first with an article in the Osservatore Romano critical of the conduct of Italy, then with the speech of the CEI Committee on Migration President, Msgr. Bruno Schettino, who highlighted the weakness of the reception system and described these clashes as "a struggle between the poor where the most affected was the poorest: the immigrant."
Instead Umberto Bossi, Northern League leader, commented caustically critical of the Egyptians, "See how they treat Christians in Egypt: they kill them all," referring to the massacre of Coptic Christians in recent days. And his comment suggests how the immigration issue, once again, does not count much in politics.
Marianna Lepore
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