Chronicles of ordinary racism 2011 - Cronache di ordinario razzismo

If the State’s influence is felt little in Rosarno, in Rome, even though it is strong, it
pretends not to understand what is happening. On 8 January the Interior minister goes
as far as to declare, during a TV broadcast: “We have been too liberal. For all these years
illegal immigration has been allowed to continue, without effective measures in force to
counter it, and this has fuelled crime and created situations of serious urban decay like
that in Rosarno”. 262
Sadly for him, both IOM and ACNUR ascertained that most of the Africans evicted
from Rosarno werein possession of a residence permit and that among them were also
many refugees and asylum seekers. Nonetheless, crowd‐pleasing is stronger than
evidence and, in Parliament, the Minister, although forced to admit that “the majority of
the immigrants involved in the clashes holds a residence permit”, insists: “The Rosarno
incident also highlights all the negative consequences of illegal immigration against
which, for precisely this reason, the Government is fighting and will continue to fight
with no reserves. Illegal entry into our country lays the basis for the ostracising and
exploitation of many foreigners (and of their labour), and often represents a breeding
ground for the recruitment of a criminal workforce”. 263
Therefore, according to the minister, the African workers of Rosarno are not the victims
of exploitation and violence, rendered necessary by an economically weak agricultural
system, impoverished by competition on a global scale and controlled by the local
mafia; 264 on the contrary, it is “illegal” immigration that boosts crime levels. A reversal
of reality that, fortunately, finds limited consensus even in sectors of the media less
inclined towards critical autonomy. 265 Among the less lucid (to say the least) articles, is
one by Angelo Panebianco that unquestionably stands out. Posing as an expert on
“integration”, the best he can manage is to accuse local priests of being too welcoming,
teachers and magistrates too democratic and intellectual “troublemakers” too “liberal”,
thus contributing to the shortcomings of immigration policies and losing sight of the
distinction between illegal and regular immigrants. He is one of the few who endorses
the Interior Minister’s “interpretation”: “last but not least there is the issue of illegal
immigration, which brings with it the phenomenon of exploitation on the part of
organized crime (as in the case in Rosarno)”. The journalist goes as far as to legitimize
the establishment of the crime of illegal entry and residence just introduced by Law n.
94/2009” 266 .
Leaving aside the exceptions, much of the daily press coverage portrays the
immigrants’ riots and the subsequent racist violence in a very different way, trying to
with his car at a very high speed, and then the Carabinieri who intervened to the foreigner He was condemned to three years for
obstruction justice and assault. We still know nothing about the authors of the two aggressions carried out on 7 January. The text
of the verdicts is published by Human Rights Watch cit. pag. 35.
262 The TV program in question is Mattino 5, presented by Maurizio Belpietro.
263 Cf. Senato della Repubblica, cit.
264 See A. Mangano, Gli africani salveranno l’Italia, (Africans will save Italy), Rizzoli, 2010.
265 The reversal of responsibilities proposed by the Minister was discussed by Alessandro Dal Lago, Alessandro Portelli, Enrico
Pugliese, Annamaria Rivera and even Eugenio Scalfari. Cf: A. Dal Lago, Con loro, (With them) 9 January 2010, “Il Manifesto”;
A. Portelli, L’amore dei bianchi, (The love of the white) 12 January 2011, “Il Manifesto”; E. Pugliese, Non è solo questione di
‘ndrangheta, (It is not an ‘ndrangheta problem) 10 January 2010, “Il Manifesto”; E. Pugliese, Le colpe rovesciate, (The reversed
blame) 29 January 2010, “Il Manifesto”; A. Rivera, Dopo Rosarno, (After Rosarno) 15 January 2010, “Liberazione”; E. Scalfari,
L’inferno di Rosarno e i suoi responsabili, (The living hell of Rosarno and those responsible) 10 January 2010, “La Repubblica”.
266 A. Panebianco, La fermezza e l’ipocrisia, (Firmness and hypocrisy) “Il Corriere della Sera”, 8 January 2010.
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