Chronicles of ordinary racism 2011 - Cronache di ordinario razzismo

After an animated discussion at a city council meeting, the motion presented by
Francesco Villani of the People of Freedom (Pdl) party to restrict the number of street
vendors is rejected. According to the councillor “we need to consider that tourists only
tolerate the phenomenon up to a point and that, on top of this, there are hygiene and
sanitation issues to consider.” The Arci association remarks: “Villani’s ‘bathers versus
street vendors’ equation belongs to a political culture inspired by the Northern League
that borders on the barbaric. The municipality cannot and does not wish to act as a beach
ranger which hunts down immigrants selling their merchandise along the seafront. The
flipside is represented by the state of immigrants’ rights, something which does not
seem to overly concern Villani; he forgets that our Constitution guarantees the right of
asylum on Italian soil to foreign nationals, according to the conditions established by
law.
Source: Il Tirreno
30 May 2010 Florence (FI), Tuscany
The “Paladar” restaurant, belonging to Francisca Frias, younger sister of Mercedes, a
former Prc (Communist Refoundation party) MP, is under siege: first a car is set on fire
in the courtyard of the restaurant, then there are episodes of vandalism, smashed
windows, threatening and insulting emails and all kinds of of damage. More than ten
incidents are reported. The woman, 44, born in Santo Domingo, states: “I’m afraid these
episodes may be rooted in racism. I’ve been living this nightmare for three years. I don’t
think I have got in anybody’s way with my business. At first, I presumed they had it in
for me because of my sister’s political activity. But I’ve since discarded that theory as
well.”
Source: La Nazione
4 June 2010 Palosco (BG), Lombardy
The municipality refuses residence to a Pakistani man aged 28, Ashraf Tahir, on the
basis of a decree issued by Northern League Mayor Massimo Pinetti, which establishes
that an immigrant must declare an annual income of at least €5,000 in order to obtain a
residence permit. In 2009, the man had lost his job and earned under the required
amount. The issue is raised by the provincial secretary of the Fiom Cgil union: “This
ruling is unlawful and we denounce the situation, in the knowledge that the number of
immigrant workers who risk finding themselves in a difficult situation owing, in part,
to this type of decree, is extremely high. We will pass on a letter to the mayor, the head
of the police and the prefect, in which we stress the discriminatory intent of this decree.
Law 286 of 1998 clearly states that when an immigrant is in possession of a regular
living permit, income restrictions can no longer get in the way of his signing on at the
local registry, in the whole of Italy”. One year later, the Court of Bergamo allows the
appeal filed for by Ashraf Tahir and suspends the ruling.
Source: BergamoNews
13 June 2010 Turin (TO), Piedmont
Jorgovanka Nobilini, a young Roma woman, goes to the market in Via Di Nanni with
her sister Ramajana and her cousin Ornella in order to beg – the activity which
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