For background you should read the article in Life in Italy News at COUNCIL OF EUROPE SLAMS ITALY FOR XENOPHOBIA ++ RPT++ | Italy.

I think both sides are wrong and both sides are right. The Council defends the Roma, regardless of their lack of contributions to the countries they live in. Italy, especially the Lega Nord, make political hay out of immigration. Nothing gets votes better than hate. Silvio just cruises along on the backs of the stupid and xenophobic.

My solutions:

1. The Lega Nord and their friends should move to a country more to their liking - Germany or Somalia come to mind.
2. Silvio should, towards the end of his life, develop some moral standards (unlikely, but I still believe in Santa Claus).
3. The Council should remove their collective heads from where the sun don't shine and recognise that it takes both sides to solve a problem. Neither the Lega Nord nor the Roma are looking for a solution.
4. I should be awarded a three-week, all expenses paid trip to Italy for my tremendous insight.

OK, #4 is more likely than numbers 1-3... That is sad.

Steve

Villa,

I shouldn't try to guess at the attitude of the people in the North but it seems to me that they are not so concerned over race as they are over immigrants who are poor and who they see as being responsible for crime, regardless of race. The Roma are easy targets for them because they prefer not to assimilate into any society (not just Italian). It is easier to blame these avowed outsiders for Italy's problems than it is to actually address the more pervasive problems of corruption, a zany judicial system, a bizarre voting system, a government bureaucracy run amok, labor unions that live in another dimension and criminal enterprises that permeate every segment of the economy. With so much that is wrong it is far easier to focus one's hate on outsiders than to try to address the real problems.

Still, I can think of no better place to enjoy life...

Well, you are right about their attitude towards the Roma. The Roma live in a world apart and have never been accepted in any country. Look what Hitler did to them.

And yes, just like in the U.S. they will focus on these poor immigrants blamming them for everything that's wrong with Italy instead of addressing the real problems. No different than the U.S.

Villa,

That's an excellent comparison. Mexican-Americans are all treated as if they are illegal immigrants - all it takes is an Hispanic last name to prompt whacko tirades about illegal immigration and "anchor babies", apparently the favorite topic for right wing nut jobs in the US. While the religious right goes gonzo about abortion their sympathy doesn't seem to extend to the off spring of Mexicans.

Here in Nevada the state legislature voted in favor of Cesar Chavez Day and the righties went off their nut. The strange thing is that Cesar Chavez was a strong opponent of illegal immigration because of the damage it did to the UFW labor movement. Who supported illegal immigration? The Republican party through the Bracero program. They encouraged undocumented workers to come to the US to break strikes. Now the Republicans see immigration as a way to stir up the stupid and get votes, much as the Lega Nord and Berlusconi's supporters did in the last election.

Still, I don't see the US being in as desperate straits as Italy is in. If you've read Gomorrah! you can see how much more difficult things are in Italy.

Steve, The state of Arizona didn't want to celebrate Martin Luther King's day and was one if not the last states to do so. In Arizona and New Mexico there is a lot of prejudice against Hispanics, Asians and minorities in general.

Ronald Reagan didn't much want Martin Luther King Day as a national holiday either. He actually said he would have preferred that Jefferson got it instead of MLK. What a guy!

Here in California we have the worst governor we've ever had. He's against minorities, the poor and the middle class. Yes, I'm talking about the Terminator.

I think Italians are not truly racist or, at least, they are racist in a very unusual way. I suspect Italians don't tolerate poverty.
If the issue is the color of skin there's plenty of soccer players from Brazil or some countries of Africa who are adored like idols (useless to say that soccer hooligans are all closed to the extreme right wing). Obviously these athlets are rich, talented and handsome. The situation shifts rapidly if Africans are not athlets and they are here to seek roof, job, health cares, etc. The tolerance is very low.

Xenophobia and immigration are stricly related. Actually many immigrants manage illegal activities (pronstitution, drug traffic, informatic thefts, rapes, etc.) and it's a phenomenon mainly created by Romanian immigrants. Media aim to create a general feeling of fear and confusion: they call them 'extra-communitarian'... but Romanians are not extracomunitarian. Romania entered the European Community thanks to the aid of Italy as many Italian businessmen have factories there and they were longing not to pay taxes and duties anylonger. These businessmen are all from the North-East of Italy and they are supporters of Berlusconi's government.
Useless to say that Berlusconi's political campain took advantage of this great confusion: he promised safer town, he promised severe anti-immigration laws striking extra-communitarian immigration.
But extra-communitarians (Indians, Ethiopian, Philippinians, etc.) are very quiet and honest people and they are here to work and make good life. The number of crimes commited by them is extremely low, almost near to zero.

Since I speak fluent Spanish I came in contact while in Italy in 2007 with many people from Peru, Ecuador,
Bolivia, Colombia, Argentina(South America). Just like you said they too are in Italy to work and make a
good life and the number of crimes commited by them is apparently exremely low if not almost zero. On the
other hand the people from Albania sure have a bad reputation in Italy. It was an Albanian couple who tried
to rob me outside the train station in Perugia. Then again I met some nice Albanians while in Italy.

Well.. reading the comment on the Malta news
ITALY RAPS MALTA MIGRANT RESCUE STANCE | Italy
it seems like Maltese want immigrant a lot less then Italians - ( I do understand them however since the size of their island surely cannot allow for much immigration ) -

Paolo,

Does rescuing the immigrants mean that they must be granted admission or is it just a matter of the cost of housing and returning them to their country of origin? It seems unfair, regardless of Malta's size, to transfer that cost to another nation. I'm not familiar with the international agreement Maroni is referring to but if it doesn't provide for cost sharing it probably should.

Well I live in Lombardia and it seems to me that like max said above its not a case of outright racism its selective unjust racism through ignorance and lack of good education. For example my wife's cousin just the other day would not go and drink a coffee in a bar were there was 'lots of indians outside' as it made her feel uneasy and didnt trust them. Now me being a half black man from north england and grow up around indian people was very offended because to me it was stange that she could sit with me but was scared of an Indian! Indians just work hard and do nothing else but as my wife pointed out she is a selective racist like lots of Italians as Indians dont play football and are not 'cool' immigrants like my half black self. the perceptions created in media, newspapers here create confusion and when you mix this with italians pride of what they are you get a strange paranoia that any immigrant that dost live like them or get involved in there interests food music is suspicious when in fact the real suspicious people are in the cafe with you.