This morning as I left my apartment to meet one of my English students I heard megaphones and drums. Around the corner from my apartment there was some kind of demonstration going on. As I got closer I saw that they were holding up banner which said "Esquilino is Catholic" (Esquilino is my neighbourhood which I love because as a foreigner I feel completely at home here - it is the most multicultural neighbourhood in Rome) and "Alleanza Nazionale" (the party which used to be called the Fascist party but changed it's name, if not it's political platform, a few years ago) and a man was shouting into a megaphone "foreigners out of Esquilino!" I stood watching for a minute and started talking to the Chinese-Italian man next to me. The man with the megaphone stared at us and shouted again "foreigners out of Esquilino!"
Wow - way to make me feel welcome.
As I walked through Piazza Vittorio - groups of Chinese, Bangladeshi and Italian kids running around pretending to be Francesco Totti whilst speaking perfect Romanesco Italian - I actually felt slightly sorry for those racist demonstrators. How hard it must be to live in fabulous, multicultural Esquilino but hate foreigners. Every time you walk down the street you have to glare at 2/3 of the people you see. If you run a coffee bar you have to be rude to most of your customers. Poor them!
But I also thought of a racent experience in the coffee bar across the street from our apartment. Rene goes there every day for a caffe d'orzo (barley coffee - he's stopped drinking caffeine) and a croissant and he's a pretty friendly guy who always chats with bar owners, waiters etc. Last week, I went with Rene to the coffee bar, we went up to the bar where the owner was filling the display case with pastries. She ignored us for a full 10 minutes while she finished filling the case. It was only after she had finished filling the case that she unsmilingly served us. Rene tells me that he has heard them say racist things about the Chinese who live in our neighbourhood - but it seems they don't like Dutch or Australians either.
As a white person, it is very strange to experience this type of racism for the first time. I guess I'd better get used to it though.
Saturday, March 17, 2007
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9 comments:
it's hard to get used to racism in Italy, I've found, but I'm pretty surprised that in such a multicultural neighborhood, there would be actual demonstrations! that's crazy.
i think one of the hardest parts of living in Italy is being blatently stared at for being a foreigner. I've got Asian background, so in America I've never really been a majority, but I have never had many problems back in the states--in fact, I've always felt proud of my Asian heritage. I've found that, living here in small town Italy, I've NEVER felt more aware of my identity (and which identity: Asian? American? some people just assume I'm Hispanic). And it's not a proud awareness of "hey I'm different and that's a great thing to be!" but instead a "hey, would you STOP staring at me!" sort of awareness. oh well. (there's my 2 cents! :))
jackie
Whoa. One of the things I hate about Italy is that some Italians can be quite racist at times. But I've never seen it so blatant as to scream "out foreigners!" from a megaphone during a demonstration. I am shocked. And I bet some of those "foreigners" that live in Esquilino and speak perfect Romanesco are Catholics too. Not that being a Catholic even matters in whether you are foreign or not, but, ugh. The whole thing is really disturbing.
I get stared at a lot too, even in multicultural Esquilino and it gets old very fast. I hate people thinking that they can make snap judgments about me and my nationality based on my appearance. In Esquilino everyone seems to think I'm Polish or Russian and in more touristy areas people tend to think I'm German or Scandinavian (not completely crazy since I'm half Swedish).
Anyway - the good thing about this demo was that it was pretty sparse - maybe 60 people total - and they were all quite old. There were actually more police around than demonstrators.
From the banners (and flyers I've started to notice around the place) this group is called something like "Defenders of Esquilino".
I'm pretty shocked by this.
I've not been here long and don't know much about Italy yet and whether this also happens in different neighbourhoods throughout Roma??
This is typical of the closed mentality of some Italians.They need to get out of their boxes and see the big world out there!
Woah, and I thought I had it bad here with every Italina that walks into the shop stating,"Oh, you're a foreigner!". Do these idiots with the microphone realise how many Italians live in other countries and are completely accepted? I have heard that there are more Italians living in NYC than in Rome, why should they not accept some 'foreigners' in place of those that left?
I would not worry about these 60 lowlife idiots. They are just underemployed and have nothing better to do. Sooner or later Italy will come to terms with having a country with foreigners. With the negative birthrate, they'll have to!
Yes Italians will HAVE to accept the fact that there are immigrants living among them and NOT ALL immigrants are criminals. But WHEN will they accept this fact? Honestly, I do not think it will be in the near future.
Ann
http://www.blogcharm.com/amborg
First of all, forgive my errors 'cause i'm not a native speaker.
Sometimes i feel ashamed for being italian...the amount of xenophobia and racism which have been building up in Italy in the last decade or so have grown so pervasive i cannot believe it. Sometimes i have to pay attention to what i say if intend to carry a conversation on immigrants rights, in fact i was rudely cut off a couple of times (i live in the North and it's really crazy up here).
Many things have chanhed throughout the years, but racism and religious intolerance are the things that shock me the most.
The reasons for my contempt are mainly ethical but cultural also: the intolerance spurts i've been assisting during the last years in my country reflect, in my opinion, a cultural degeneration.
Back in the past people were more informed, read the newspapers everyday, were more interested in to politics...The last 10-15 years lassitude and political/cultural disengagement didn't do any good to the country as people start slipping back to ignorance and stupidity which, coupled with arrogance form a disturbing (and dangerous) trio, to say the least!
It wasn't like this at all when i was a kid, this is definitely not the country where i grew up : ok, there was corruption and disorganization (they have always been there unfortunately), but people in general were more tolerant and well informed, included the not so-cultured industrial workers (operai).
School system has changed for the worse, and mass culture has replaced awareness and cultural or political competence (just take a look at TV, oh, i miss the old RAI!). No wonder that the right wing won so much praise and approval then...it's a sign of the times, like the black celtic cross with the words "Dux mea lux" that some jerk painted on my building.
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