By: Annalise Metcalf
As the middle-aged group of well-off Venetians had their eyes glued to the tiny television tucked into the corner of the houseboat, they watched in disbelief as a charity ship of fatigued immigrants were finally allowed to land on the small Italian island of Lampedusa.
The viewers complained in rapid fire Italian that too many African immigrants were arriving in Italy and squandering the government resources without giving anything back.
One woman says in frustration, “Vedi, l’Italia diventa come America– ”, which means “Look, Italy is becoming America.” It is a powerful statement that crystalizes their strict stance on immigration. It is a stance that is popular in Northern Italy and is quickly gaining momentum throughout the rest of Italy.
For a little over a year, the traditionally territorial party, Lega Nord, had immense power within the government and were able to push the anti-immigration policies that their passionate supporters wanted. The young leader of Lega Nord, Matteo Salvini, can be seen posed in pictures with a friendly, inviting smile despite many online claiming he is a racist. Salvini has been extremely successful in the past due to his desire to put Italians first and his necessary ability to lead the crowd. However, he fell from power in a messy political crisis in August, and a new set of leaders eased Italy’s stance on immigration.
Enter the 5 Star Movement (M5S), an anti-establishment party, and the Democratic Party (PD), a pro-immigration, pro-democracy party; the two that once harbored immense hatred for each other are now struggling to maintain the fragile coalition that made them the new leaders. It is easy to see stagnant tension is hanging in the air when it comes to the new, weak coalition.
To further learn about the tangled mess of Italian politics, critical information was obtained from one of the five Florentine Democratic Party local representatives, Edoardo Amato, who has a vast array of first-hand knowledge. When asked about the immigration crisis many think Italy is facing today, Amato replied calmly that Salvini has been immensely successful in the past due to his ability to morph the problem of immigration into something far grander. He stated that the problem isn’t the sheer number of hopeful immigrants coming to Italy, but rather the low-quality lifestyle they receive when here, that makes it difficult for them to assimilate into Italian culture and life.
Almost as if on cue, as Amato spoke a heated fight in the Florentine neighborhood park broke out between a scrawny middle-eastern immigrant and much bigger Italian man. Quickly it attracted attention. Within seconds women watching the fight began screaming in incoherent Tuscan-dialect. Amato said he did not know what the fight was about specifically, but he quickly noted that such extreme altercations, while rare, accurately demonstrate the growing mistrust, racism and high-tension dynamics between Italians and immigrants.
Some hostility stems from a misguided belief that immigrants are taking all of the Italian’s jobs despite there being a significant difference in the pay and working conditions the immigrants receive. Amato stated that Florentine schools have many second-generation immigrant children who grow up immersed in Italian culture, learning Italian history, speaking even in Florentine dialect- and yet are not recognized as Italian citizens. Therefore, they are denied basic rights that their classmates automatically receive.
It was obvious by his tone that Amato refused to accept that Italy’s biggest problem was the quantity of immigrants both coming in illegally and legally, which surprisingly amounts to around just 10% (6,200,000) of the Italian population, although it is important to point he is one of the representatives for the pro-immigration party. When asked if the quality of treatment immigrants receive is this biggest problem currently, he immediately disagreed.
He passionately replied that the biggest problem in Italy is the economic divide between the economically better-off north and the increasingly impoverished south. He asked me if I knew that 43% of men between 19 and 35 in the South of Italy are unemployed, and thus making the South of Italy one of the poorest regions in Europe now. That’s not something people think of when visiting the Colosseum and consuming the great gelato.
Amato said the main effort of Italian politics should be on bridging this widening divide. He wholeheartedly believes that this should be the problem Italian politicians work together to resolve, not the immigration ‘crisis’.
Finally, he was asked what the future of Italian politics would be? Would this new coalition between the M5S and the DP last long enough to make lasting changes? To this, he shrugged his shoulders and indifferently said, “This is the million-dollar question.” He estimated that this coalition would last less than three years, if even that, due to the growing weakness within the PD. As this is coming from someone deep within the PD, it seems like a grim future ahead. However, Amato ended by saying that the new coalition was simply meant to block Salvini from gaining more power.
It seems that the political future hangs in the air, although it is too early to see if the sentiment towards immigrants will slowly shift to a more accepting stance due to the change in power. One has to ask if the problem of immigration, that is eagerly discussed everywhere and used as a tool for power-hungry political parties to run on, is really the biggest problem today in Italy, or if it’s actually widening the economic fracture between the north and south. This is not a new problem either as it dates back centuries but with the growth of globalization, the south is being left behind further than ever. There are advertisements from the small, poor region of Molise that the local government will pay a monthly stipend for people to move there as long as they promise to eventually start a business.
Should the focus be on the quantity of immigrants entering Italy, despite the number being relatively low, or should Italian politics shift to aiding the way of life that the immigrants have after arriving so they can be productive members of society, or perhaps they should look to bridging the economic gap? It seems like just as the answer may be found with time, there could be a shift in politics that brings forth a new way of thinking. Only time will tell in this case.