Chronicles of ordinary racism 2011 - Cronache di ordinario razzismo

The death of Yussuf Errahali
Lunaria
It is 12 January 2010 in Piazza Cavour, in the centre of Naples, near the rione Sanità, the
famously working class neighbourhood close to by the Museo underground station. At
around 10am, the half‐naked, soaking wet, lifeless body of Yussuf Errahali, a 37‐yearold
Moroccan immigrant, is found lying on a bench by the Fontana del Tritone. Yussuf
dies after untold suffering, amid the cold indifference of passers‐by, on a day like any
other. “Yussuf, the homeless people who frequent the square say, was a well mannered
man who had never got in anybody’s way”.
He was unable to rebel, stand up or find a way to keep dry and attempt to survive.
Yussuf was a homeless man and you might even say he was “used” to sleeping out in
the open, wherever he could. And to think that, had he remained in that “hospital for
the terminally ill”, where he was being treated for his drug and alcohol addictions until
a few days before his tragic death, he could be still alive. At first, his death was swiftly
dismissed by the few newspapers that reported the episode, as the classic “tragedy of
alienation”. However, thanks to the determination of a “Il Corriere del Mezzogiorno”
correspondent and with the backing of the social cooperative “Il Camper”, which offers
assistance to the Naples homeless, the case was brought to the attention of the
magistrature, who opened an enquiry against unknown individuals. Judge Massimo
Fini wished to prove that they were dealing with a murder with racist motives: Yussuf’s
death was partly caused by the cold, but above all by the harassment and the violent
treatment on the part of a group of youths who allegedly threw him into the fountain
“for fun”, leaving him to freeze to death. Concern and distress were expressed by local
politicians, on the pages of the same Corriere del Mezzogiorno. “The death of the
Moroccan Yussuf Errahali in Naples – Senator Anna Maria Carloni from the Democratic
Party states – is a blow to the stomach that obliges us to first and foremost to locate and
punish those responsible for such a brutal murder. This grave incident, brought to light
by the young volunteers of the municipality of Naples’ civil service who found several
witnesses among the homeless, certainly speaks to the conscience of all democratic
inhabitants of the city, but is sadly framed by a national context where the list of serious
instances of racism and xenophobia is exceedingly long, as the Rosarno episode
recently proved.” According to councillor responsible for social policy for the
Municipality of Naples, Giulio Riccio “the very fact that the judiciary authority did not
write off the case as a “natural death” is a positive result that suggests an increased
desire for truth and clarity. Our staff is at the complete disposal of the police to help
them in any way possible, should the statements already made prove insufficient. It is
now all too clear that the raids in Piazza Cavour, both of which ended in tragedy, have
become a problem of public security.” 376
The statements of the homeless witnesses put together by the “Il Camper” volunteers
paint a relatively unsettling picture: “It was them, the same people as usual: everybody
heard their laughter and insults and saw their wild, unjustified violence”. Moreover,
376 Cf: “Yussuf ucciso dal freddo e dall’indifferenza” - (Yussuf, killed by the cold and indifference), 16 January 2010,
giornalettismo.com. A similar attack occurred in September 2009: another homeless person was set on fire by a group of
unknown individuals.
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