Exclusion of Immigrants on the Italian Agenda
Italy's Extremist Government Favours Less Permissive Laws
Italy has attracted numerous immigrants in the last 20 years. Although mainly an emigration state until the 1980's, Italy rapidly became an immigration country. Between 1986 and 2003, the foreign population with a legal resident status increased from 290,000 to approximately 2.2 million. Most of the immigrants are originally from Romania, Albania and Marocco, and were attracted by the more permissive immigration laws and the low-skilled labor demand in Italy. In 2008, the extremist party Lega Nord obtained a high percentage of the votes in the parliamentary elections, and the whole attitude towards immigrants changed to serve the ultra-nationalistic discourse of the party that helped Berlusconi win the Prime-Minister seat.
Lega Nord and the Extremist Discourse in Italy
Lega Nord, one of the winners of the 2008 parliamentary elections in Italy (with Berlusconi's centre-right coalition The People of Freedom), is well known for its populist and anti-immigration concerns. The Party defends cultural identity, security and the right of Italians to prioritize their own needs, such as work, housing and access to social services over the needs of foreigners, which are portrayed as intruders. The party cause a real storm in the media when one of its members declared that the navy and the coastal guards should defend the Italian coastlines and use the cannon against immigrants.
Recent Measures of the Italian Government against Immigrants
Silvio Berlusconi recently announced that the government was preparing a law that would make illegal immigration punishable by law. Although the Prime Minister changed his mind about this bill, stating that only irregular immigrants who are committing crimes should be put in jail, the Italian Home Affairs Minister, Roberto Maroni, declared that the measure is already in force, introduced in the security package and that he is determined to make illegal immigration a criminal offense. Maroni also announced the construction of detention facilities for immigrants on the whole territory of Italy, and the prolongation of detention from 2 to 18 months, according to the European Law (the controversial Return Directive adopted in June 2008). This is especially delicate when it comes to refugees and asylum seekers, who are treated as irregulars under this particular directive.
Another "delicate" measure was taken by the Italian government in the case of Roma (Gypsy) immigrants. On June 25, 2008, Roberto Maroni announced that a census of the "Nomads" was needed, according to which fingerprints had to be taken only from Gypsy children. The measure was heavily criticized as an act of racism and discrimination and Italy had to give it up at the request of the European Union.
The most recent attack on immigrants started after the infamous case "Mailat", in which a Romanian citizen was jailed after raping and killing and Italian woman. The discourse of Lega Nord started to generalize criminality as being a feature of Romanian immigrants. The government announced that Italy desires to reintroduce visas for Romanians, even if freedom of movement between members of the European Union is a fundamental value. As a consequence, the Italian public started to see immigrants as a menace and there were even a few cases were Italian citizens were involved in violent attacks against people whom they perceived as being a threat to their nation's well-being: Romanian immigrants.
The case of Italy illustrates the power of political discourse and the impact that it has on public perception. Immigration became one of the most politicized issues on the agenda of extremists, who play their card on people's fear of outsiders.
References:
Jessika ter Wall. "Minacce territoriali, sociao-economiche e di sicurezza: L'Immagine degli immigranti nella stampa quotidiana". In Incontri no. 16, p.69, 2001.
Venice, Italy
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