2/4/2010 by Sav D'Souza United Kingdom
On March 1 2010 millions of immigrant workers in Italy and France are expected to go on strike for 24 hours. The immigrants will be striking in protest to highlight some of the harsh immigration laws that they face along with xenophobic coverage in the media.Just stop to think about the amount of immigrants who work in Rome providing essential services now imagine all of those having a day off? There could potentially be a lot of disruption for a lot of people. Well, that’s hopefully all part of the plan of the March 1st strike. To open the eyes of more people to the role immigrants play in their daily lives.It’s an all too familiar problem of how immigrants are perceived of in countries fuelled by politicians wanting to stir up emotions and to be seen to be getting tough on immigrants. They are lazy, commit a lot of crime, peddle drugs and take away jobs from local people, this kind of sensationalist reasoning is an easy sell for newspapers looking for striking headlines. Seeing as most of the media is owned by Prime Minster Berlusconi is probably not a coincidence. Immigrants for right wing politicians and right wing newspapers have always been harshly evaluated.The arguments don’t really make too much sense neither. You can see daily examples of hard working immigrants who work long hours in Rome. Without the luxury of having generations of family behind them most immigrants have to work pretty hard to build a life for themselves and their families. In Italy like a lot of other countries immigrants play a vital part in the economy. Take away the immigrants and an essential part of what aids commerce vanishes into thin air. Far from taking away jobs from local people immigrants generally work in low skilled or semi skilled jobs that typically involve long hours and low pay, essentially the jobs that local people would not do. In agriculture men work the fields for 12 or 14 hour days for very little financial gain to provide fruit and vegetables to end up in average households or to be exported to other countries. The crime argument in Italy has been proved by researchers that year-on-year growth in the number of immigrants in Italy has resulted in no extra crime statistics. Also if you were an illegal immigrant would you risk drawing attention to yourself by committing a crime at the risk of deportation?The current laws are such that any immigrants who do not have documents proving that they can work in the country are deemed illegal. So in effect any one losing their job can be deported straight away or more likely drift into being even more exploited by being employed illegally with no rights if they get sick or need any other public services. The organisers of the March strike see this as wrong and are seeking redress of the situation. But is this any different from other countries? Whether in the UK, US, Australia or Canada the situation is the same, if you have no working visa you are deemed by virtue illegal in that country. In Italy in fact the high percentage of immigrants working are legal. But by employing illegal immigrants, with low wages, poor living conditions in some part of the country and the lack of benefits means that Italy like other countries can keep their costs down and be competitive. Without poorly paid immigrants many Italian businesses could not be profitable and ultimately cease to exist.Arguably the immigrants strike will highlight and bring to the fore a greater problem in Italy that of racism and attitudes towards immigrants which without a political lead will continue to be perpetuated. The problem is more prevalent in Italian cities outside of the capital. In the centre of Rome you can see greater interaction between Italians and immigrants in daily life which leads to greater acceptance and tolerance. But plans by the Italian government for segregated schools for the children of immigrants is surely a step in the wrong direction.But any kind of positive redress to racism does not seem like it will take place in Italy led by politicians who continue to openly make outrageously racism comments.The deputy major of Treviso, Giancarlo Gentilini of the Northern League said that ‘Muslim immigrants should go and piss in their own mosques’. Minister for Reforms Umberto Bossi remarked that Italians don't want "the Bingo Bongos" living here.Ever the playful cad even Senor Berlusconi got in on the act with a typically subtle remark about President Obama, saying that ‘he's young, handsome and deeply tanned’The Immigrants Strike on March 1st is more about just the legal rights of immigrants in Italy it’s about taking a step towards greater tolerance. For many Italians this can not come quick enough.
Leave your comment 
Log in
NEWS
