Migrations
Second generations and the paths to integration
“Italy has made no choices as far as the issue of cultural integration is concerned, addressing the subject of immigration only from the perspective of public order or the economy.” Renzo Guolo is a professor of Sociology of Islam at Turin University’s Faculty of Political Science and a professor of The Sociology of Cultural Processes at Padua University’s Faculty of Humanities and Philosophy. The subjects of his research include contemporary extremisms, relations between politics and religion, the sociology of Islam and cultural pluralism in contemporary societies. We met with him in Turin at the Conference entitled G2 Muslims: the rights and duties of citizenship of second generation young Muslims.
Interview by Sara Hejazi.
«Coexistence is more difficult if we do not respect their religion»
The main problems faced nowadays in Europe by young immigrants are traditional racism, based the colour of a person’s skin, and widespread anti-religious sentiments. This is the opinion expressed by Olivier Roy, professor at the Ecole des Hautes Etudes en Scieneces Sociales (EHESS) in Paris. His most recent book, “La Sainte Ignorance” (2009), speaks of religious revivalism as the consequence of globalisation and a crisis of cultures.
There is no integration without work
According to Eurostat sources, foreigners represent 6.2% of the EU population. In Italy, according to ISTAT sources, in 2008, the number of immigrants has increased by 13.4%, for a total of3,891,295 units on the 1st of January 2009. The increase in migration, however, collides with an economic crisis that affects especially the poorest classes, making cohabitation of natives and immigrants even more difficult. But it is important to remember that the economic integration of immigrants is essential for a complete social integration and for the peace of all society.
«If we follow this path, we will be like Alabama in the Twenties»
“Since the Nineties Italy has been experiencing a real social creation of an enemy. The result is that, over time, a number of reflexes and slogans become sedimented in the collective imagination and in symbolic frameworks of daily life, contributing not only to social instability but also to the business of fear.” Jean Léonard Touadi, Congolese by birth and Italian by adoption, a university professor and a member of parliament for the PD, comments for Resetdoc on the “hunt for the black man” that took place in Rosarno, Calabria, at the beginning of January.
Spartacus in Calabria
Clashes in Rosarno, reported by newspapers and television stations, were filled with images of rage, despair and shame. It was rather like watching a remake of Stanley Kubrick’s “Spartacus” in modern times. The dramatic situation in Rosarno was the result of the failure of agricultural policies in Southern Italy. The globalisation of markets has resulted in new challenges. Excessive reductions in production costs has led to a slave economy with foreign labourers working for no wages and constantly supervised and controlled by illegal recruiters often of the same nationality.
A mix of racism, ‘Ndrangheta and fear
During a meeting held with students protesters from the Berchet High School in Milan, ResetDoc interviewed the Corriere della Sera leader-writer and correspondent Gian Antonio Stella, fresh from the success of his recent book Negri, froci, giudei & co. L’eterna lotta contro l’altro, a history of racism in Italy. This subject is currently headline news after recent events in Rosarno, a municipality in the Province of Reggio Calabria, that was the setting for clashes between central-African immigrants and members of the local community.
The silent symbols of Islam and their importance in the European public sphere
Islam becomes a political and cultural source for identifying immigrants, their quest for acknowledgment. They in turn manifest their particular citizenship within the European public arena. This visibility marks the end of a stage in the migratory phenomenon, that of integration, as well as experiences and ways of appropriating the public sphere in Europe. It is the difficulty in acknowledging this passage from foreigner to citizen that lies beneath the controversies surrounding Islam. The concept of acknowledging Islam and Muslims as a phenomenon endogenous to Swiss society has been rejected.
The media’s wrongdoings
57.5% of Swiss citizens have voted in a referendum that it is illegal to build minarets. Since this is one of the world’s most civilised countries, where one fourth of the population are in some way immigrants, the controversial result cannot simply be dismissed as a lack of democratic culture. Hence this issue needs greater reflection and we debate the subject with Hassan El Araby, the first openly Islamic politician elected by a Swiss administration and municipal councillor for Chiasso.
A gift to extremism
Like the crucifix for Christians, minarets are one of Islam’s distinctive symbols. They are the expression of a religion that, with great difficulty, is in search of legitimacy in the European public sphere. In Switzerland Muslims are 5% of the population and many have been welcomed as political refugees and are well-integrated in society. Why are they are today seen as a threat and not as a resource? Influencing voters who fear Islam, is not a religious issue but rather a political one. Do these poor Muslims have the right to have their own places of worship, to openly express their religion or not? This should be the question posed in a national referendum.
The Prophet Mohammed and the DIY expert
During a talk show on Canale 5, Daniela Santanché described the Prophet Mohammed as a “paedophile.” Offending a billion or more Muslims becomes irrelevant when what matters is not being forgotten by the media. The primary objective was to rescue a floundering political career. Santanché expressed an extremely serious opinion since it addresses a mainly historical event (the Prophet Mohammed lived 14 centuries ago) without putting it into context. My mother married in 1953 when she was 16 years old and hence a minor. Should I consider my father a paedophile?
«An excuse for saying that ‘Muslims will never integrate’»
“The burkini is the last in an endless line of intelligent entrepreneurship that has created supply for a confused demand for consumer goods that allow “redemption of the soul,” in this case for women who wish to “undress” to go swimming while respecting the rules of modesty.” These are the words of Enzo Pace, a professor at Padua University and an expert on the sociology of religions, when referring to the burkini, a full-body bathing suit, the controversial creation by Muslim designer Aheda Zanetti.
“You see? We are not xenophobes or isolationists”
Switzerland has said yes to the free movement of labour coming from countries who have recently joined the EU. This issue, which the Swiss were asked express an opinion on in a recent referendum, resulted in a lively debate both within and outside the Confederation. In fact, had the Swiss approved the position of the right – in favour of closing the frontiers to avoid social dumping – all bilateral agreements between Bern and Brussels would have become obsolete. These are agreements that in the course of the last few years have proved advantageous to both, as explains Giancarlo Dillena, editor of the Corriere del Ticino.
Romania and Bulgaria celebrate (cautiously)
How did Romania and Bulgaria respond to the Swiss referendum on labour mobility with the European Union? The two countries have been strongly affected by the Swiss right parties propaganda against the deal. As a Romanian newspaper wrote: “Switzerland accepts us, surely not because it likes us. The fear to loose the agreements with the EU played on our side”.
A model for Europe
According to Eurostat, more than 200.000 persons daily cross Swiss borders for work and the daily trade volume of Switzerland and EU amounts over 1 billion euro. The figures coming out from the analyses made by the Swiss Business Federation point out that immigrants’ labour force is still today not sufficient to match the needs of Swiss economy and that this labour force is complementary and not substitutive of the Swiss one. In a time like the present one, characterized by the global economic crisis, a different attitude to the external world could be a mean for a concrete renewal of the established globalised economic models and could be an instrument for facing new challenges.
“The financial crisis will result in greater racism”
Small daily gestures and fears generated by the economy, this is what leads to racism according to the author Tahar Ben Jelloun, interviewed in the video-chat room on Telecom’s new website Avoicomunicare.it. “I fear that this economic and financial crisis will have consequences in European society. It will result in greater unemployment, and therefore people will look for a scapegoat, and it is possible that they will find it in foreigners”, warned the author, who also spoke of what it is like to be a foreigner, the role played by religion and what questions he would ask Mahatma Gandhi today.
The twofold exploitation
The ‘illegal immigrant equals delinquent’ equation has become irrefutable. It seems that the ‘witch-hunt’, in the sense of persecuting our enemies, still holds a strong fascination today, making an alibi a fundamental role in a society led by fear. It is, however, easy to forget that the majority of illegal immigrants are not included in this ‘delinquent’ bracket, on the contrary, many of them are victims of a system based on a twofold exploitation: politics and economics. Unfortunately the current Bossi-Fini immigration law makes it all too easy for immigrants to lose their chance of renewing their residence permit, and as a result they become illegal.
Seeking fortune abroad
All it takes is a small loan, using the money to pay school fees or the foundations for a house. To repay it they are obliged to leave “in search of fortune in another country”, adding to the debt the money they must pay to the people smugglers. At best the result is a journey in brutal conditions, hoping not to be discovered during the crossing or when arriving at destination. However, as reported by Radio France journalist Jean-Pierre Boris – in his moving book entitled Per cercare fortuna altrove. Una storia di clandestini (published in Italy by L’Ancora del Mediterraneo, 2008) – this is rarely the outcome. It is not a guaranteed result because so many different things might happen.
“There was greater solidarity during the Middle Ages”
“Our societies seem to be congested as far as their social set-ups are concerned, in which the gap between an extremely wealthy minority and an impoverished middle class increases frenetically, and these extremes share the same lack of solidarity as far as those less fortunate are concerned. These are culturally repetitive and not very creative societies”. This is the bitter result as expressed by Adriano Prosperi, Professor of Reform and Counter-reform Era History at the Scuola Normale in Pisa and one of modernity’s most important historians, as he describes our relationship with those coming from abroad, or those who for some reason are weaker, alienated or different.
The rights and duties of Muslims in Italy
The relocation of the mosque from Viale Jenner to the Vigorelli Velodrome in Milan turned into a show of political propaganda with regards to popular consensus. The mosque also becomes synonymous with urban decay, after being given the label of ‘terrorism’. It’s true that Milanese Muslims have to look unto themselves and examine the extremely harsh history of the mosque in Viale Jenner, but this does not justify the fact that Islam in Italy continues to only be an issue of law and order. Islam is hardly mentioned as a religion and as a culture, and more interest is given to the darker parts of its history. The democracy of this country is at stake, and should be measured with regards to rights for minorities and not by the power held by the majority. Yet the mosques need to learn how to develop their religious and cultural tasks.
The Belgian case and the role played by the State
“Muslims quite rightly expect these Councils to represent their interests and their expectations. Serious interference - as happened in Belgium - seriously undermines the credibility of some organisations in the eyes of their coreligionists, and this results in a dangerous sense of bewilderment regards to the real representatives of Muslims". Hossam Shaker, a Viennese journalist and an attentive observer of the dynamics of Islam and Muslims in Europe, assesses with these words the various approaches of European States in their dialogue with Muslims, starting with the recent election in France of Muslim representatives, that according to Shaker, is an "important and also problematic experience”.
Interview by Khalid Chaouki.
“Germany’s progress”
"Second and third generation Muslim immigrants have a different approach to Western society than the previous one. They perceive themselves as an integral part of it". PD Dr. Dietrich Reetz - from the Zentrum Moderner Orient ZMO in Berlin, coordinator for the project entitled " Muslims in Europe and Their Societies of Origin in Asia and Africa", funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research within the program "The social sciences in the social dialogue". The programme studies the current relationship between European societies and their diverse Muslim communities, groups and organizations as well as the social-religious traditions introduced by the new German citizens of Muslim faith.
Power games in Paris
Mohammed Moussaoui, the new President of the CFCM, France’s most important organisation representing the Muslim community there, presents himself as an enlightened and polyglot Muslim. However, he too appears to be a representative of a French Islam that has “been imposed from high above”. Only 4900 people voted in the first ballot, out of a community counting almost 5 million members. The CFCM increasingly appears to be an empty institution and distant from the Muslim population: “Those elected by the French Muslims – as scholar Fiammetta Venner explained to Resetdoc.org – are only the representatives of the number of square metres the mosques occupy”. Now Moussaoui will have to deal with the UOIF, which has suddenly become the second most powerful force after the CFCM. And it is precisely this that worries French public opinion.
“We need to clean-up Islam’s image”
“We need to rehabilitate the image of Islam, darkened by the violence enacted in its name, and also work on reconciliation for all that is Islam and Muslim”. These were the words spoken to Resetdoc by Mohammed Moussaoui, the newly elected President of the French Council of the Muslim Faith, the highest institution representing French Muslims. A Professor of mathematics, forty-four year old Moussaoui said that interreligious dialogue will be one of his priorities, that Muslims need “worthy, open and reconciled places of worship”, and added that “We need a communications strategy emphasising above all the image of a moderate Islam”.
An interview by Marco Cesario
Waiting for the Italian Obama
Barack Hussein Obama is the son of mixed nationality parents. His mother is an American from Kansas and his father is originally from Kenya. Therefore Obama is the son of an immigrant, making his case the highest expression of the American dream. Turning our attention back to Italy, it immediately comes to mind whether, in the not so distant future of this country, we will ever witness the son of an immigrant become President of the Republic, as happened in France with Nicolas Sarkozy, or President of the Council, or at the very least a Minister? Looking at the case of Mario Balotelli, it’s very hard to imagine.
Elections and the immigrants. Watching the match from the stands
I do not come from a country that is a member of the European Union, and although I pay tax here I cannot even vote in local elections! So I “took part” in these recent elections not sitting on the bench, but watching from the ‘stands’. The day before the polls opened, I had dinner with some friends. We spoke mainly about the elections. The tone used was similar to Hamlet’s; to vote or not to vote? A useful vote or a pointless one? Is voting a duty or a right? A very undecided friend even envied me, saying: “Lucky you! You can’t vote!”. But if one adds to the balance of power the fact that they cannot vote, there is no protection for immigrants outside their own communities. It is thus that ghettos appear and flourish.
Not just xenophobes. The Northern League’s success
Faced with a massive increase in immigration, the Northern League was perceived as the most coherent and combative political party, even capable of criticising Berlusconi when he acknowledged the possibility of allowing immigrants with residency papers to vote in local elections. The Northern League on the other hand seems to be the party most sensitive to growing demand for security arising from globalisation’s impact on local society. The party speaks above all of fiscal federalism, and attracts both the votes of labourers and those of the great middle-class. The model pursued nowadays by the Northern League’s political leaders seems similar to the Bavarian one implemented by the CSU: a solid alliance with a conservative party such as the PdL, so as to make progress with regional federalism.
The 'return' of the Palestinians – a myth to be given up
In total there are around 4 million and 300,000 of them, these Palestinian refugees, the “children” of the 800,000 who in 1948-49 were forced to abandon the homes and lands. Abu Rami and Jihad belong to two different generations of Palestinian refugees in Lebanon who have never seen their motherland. After dinner, Jihad returns to his internet-point and doesn't want to talk about 'returning' nor about 'Annapolis'. Closing the door behind him, he has only one laconic comment: “I want to live maybe in Canada or in Europe, but somewhere far away from here.” It is a logic that the leadership of the PNA accepted some time ago. But there was no talk of this at Annapolis.
“Integration is not achieved with diggers”
“Of course security is a problem, and it needs a well thought out response. But it makes me shudder when I see the virile exultation of bulldozers razing camps to the ground. It makes me think of Marchais driving his caterpillar lorry to demolish the small dwellings on the outskirts of Paris”. Andrea Riccardi, President of the Community of Sant'Egidio, has always been in close contact with immigration and diversity. His experience has taught him that “with correct integration policies foreign nationals can be integrated well, and without difficulty.” Which is why, in the wake of recent news events concerning Romanian nationals, he calls for the identification and punishing of individuals, not groups. And puts forwards an original proposal – to strengthen the presence of the Romanian Orthodox Church in Italy.
Those ‘soft’ identities which help integration
The term “mixed couple” alludes to a form of heterogamy, to an alliance of couples socially different. The mixed couples include those where the partners are different for religious beliefs, or skin colour (“race”), or national origin, or ethnicity. Mixed marriages are made possible from a weak identification, on the part of both partners, with their own differences, seen by the fact that one of the two renounces giving importance to their own differences. Children of religiously mixed marriages are on average less religious, and identify less with one religion or another and the related behaviour, compared to children from religiously homogamic couples.
Inter-marriages on the rise also in the U.S.
Once the inter-marriages were even forbidden in the United States. It was not until 12th June 1967 that it was legalised. Since then, the number of mixed marriages has risen exponentially: it has gone from 65 thousand in 1970 to 422 thousand in 2005. The sociologist from Stanford, Michel Rosenfeld, calculates that more than 7% of the 59 million couples who got married in 2005 were mixed, compared to a miserable 2% in 1970. There is an increase in inter-racial mixed marriages, and also inter-religious ones. “Being exposed to another culture helps facilitate integration – argues Jamal Najjab, expert on American Islam – A friend of mine once said: ‘I was thinking about Muslims and terrorists, and then you came into my mind and I understood that the equation Islam equals terrorism could not work’”.
A growing phenomenon throughout the West
In the U.S., social acceptance of interracial relationships and multiracial status is at any rate increasing: according to a Gallup poll, two thirds of white Americans said they would accept a marriage between one of their children and someone of a different race. An open-minded attitude towards intermarriages, as well as generally increasing in line with the level of education, is also more prevalent amongst the younger generations. The situation closest to the United States in Europe is that of the United Kingdom. In France, the number of marriages celebrated each year in which only one partner is French constituted around 5% of the total in the mid-1970s. This figure now stands at around 15%. According to statistics, in Italy such marriages which formed less than 5% of the total number in the mid-1990s now constitute 15%.
“Our law will help Muslim women”
You're a Muslim woman resident in Italy, who happens to fall in love with a non-Muslim man? You'd like to marry him in a civil ceremony? No problem – Italy certainly isn't a country subject to sharia law, which would forbid such a union. At most there might be some pressure from the Catholic hierarchy, but only concerning a church ceremony, if at all. And yet, as paradoxical as it may seem, this is not the case at all. No Italian town hall can marry a woman coming from a country such as Morocco, Egypt, Tunisia or Algeria, without the written permission of the relevant Embassy, which will, of course, issue the relevant document – providing that the husband-to-be converts to Islam. (The same stipulation does not apply to men wishing to marry non-Muslim women.)
Islamkonferenz - the first steps of a very long journey
On the 2nd May the second plenary session of the Deutsche Islam Konferenz (DIK), concluded with some controversy. Whilst the Federal Minster of the Interior Wolfgang Schäuble, of the Christian Democrats (CDU), described the discussions as ‘a success’, the Islamic organisations’ spokesperson, Ayyub Axel Köhler, declared “We cannot continue like this. These discussions are just a confusion.” A few days later there was consternation at the news that the Islamic organisations present at the conference had withdrawn the approval initially given to documents which, in addition to defining Islamism as dangerous, stated the respect of the constitutional democratic system as the duty of every Muslim.
“This is the Italian way towards integration”
“The French model? An artificial assimilation. The multicultural option? A path which subordinates rights to the membership of enclaves. No, we need an Italian way, which doesn’t force people to choose between their pre-existing identity and that of being Italian. We cannot nail Italy to customs.” Paolo Ferrero, the Minister for Social Solidarity, outlines in this interview the measures which need to be taken to ensure the genuine integration of immigrants (language and paths of cultural mediation) and explains why the new draft of the Amato-Ferrero bill will guarantee both more rights for those who want to enter our country, and more security for those who are already resident: “This law will reduce illegal immigration”.
Refugees are not allowed. Kenya closes the borders
According to Human Rights Watch, during the two years that followed the outbreak of the civil war (1991-1993), about 300,000 Somalis fled to Kenya. Things have not changed. Following the recent conflict in Somalia, thousands of Somalis fled once again, across the Kenyan border, but what they found was a closed boundary. Kenyan Foreign Minister Raphael Tuju explained that since Kenyan authorities cannot determine whether those asking to enter are refugees or combatants, they are not allowed to cross the border. Criticism by the United Nations.
Emirates: Booming and Abusing
Like China, the United Arab Emirates is undergoing an impressive economic boom. In a federation where foreigners represent 90 percent of the workforce, this boom has been at the expense of abuse of migrant workers. The Human Rights Watch (HRW) World Report 2006 rings the alarm bells and calls on the international community to stress improvement of UAE’s labour practices and legal standards as a condition for signing any trade agreement with them. Currently, the country does not hold elections for any public office, and political participation is limited to the ruling family in each emirate.