Migrations
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.