The election of another center-right government led by Silvio Berlusconi in Italy has led to a swift move against illegal immigrants, most of them coming from southeastern Europe. Der Spiegel reports that while the Italian government claims no specific immigrant groups have been targeted, most of those arrested in raids have been Roma (gypsies) from Romania.
The raids are really just a typical hysterical reaction against ethnic immigrant groups seen around the world today. Whether hispanics in the United States, Turks in Germany, or Algerians in France (to name a few) ethnic groups, especially those that enter these wealthy nations illegally, are often targets for mass hysteria and deportation. In Italy’s case, the deportations are a reaction to mass hysteria and attacks on Roma in Naples, where Italians burned many Roma immigrants out of their shacks by throwing molotov cocktails into them. Italians were angered of reports that a teenage Roma girl tried to kidnap an Italian baby. Personally, I think the story of a gypsy kidnapping a baby is a rumor and a false one at that, but the Der Spiegel article gives no detail as to the validity of the claim. The whole “gypsy stealing babies” story has been around Europe for a few centuries now, and the gypsy story has also been substituted with “Jew” whenever it suited the situation. The Italian government is responding by honoring its pledge to fight growing concerns over immigrant crime in true populist fashion.
The sweeps began on May 7th and have continued through last week. On Thursday, Italian authorities detained 50 Bosnian and Romanian immigrants without proper papers in Rome. Also on Thursday, Italian Interior Minister Roberto Maroni met with Romanian Interior Minister Cristian David to discuss cooperation on the crime issue. Romanian Prime Minister Calin Popescu-Tariceanu expressed his concerns about the raids and Italian xenophobia towards Romanian immigrants, and rightfully so. Xenophobia is still endemic in all of Europe (though Europe is not alone) and in my opinion the Italians should be taking a harsh stance towards their own racial prejudice.
The Roma are still the persona non grata of Europe. It may be taboo to express anti-semetic views today (though becoming less so) anti-Roma opinions are still very much a part of mainstream European society. In addition, people of the Balkan region are discriminated against. I am very much a Europhile, but the xenophobia and racism of Europe makes me sick. Xenophobia and racism make me sick in general, no matter where I see it, but Europe’s attitude towards ethnic minorities is the area where Europeans need the most improvement on.
In addition to this, the rich countries of the world, Italy included, need to adopt different strategies towards immigrant workers. People are immigrating from the Balkan region to western Europe because there is a demand for their labor, and immigrants will continue to move from east to west regardless of new vigilance or “cracking down” against illegal immigration. If Italy doesn’t want so many illegal immigrants, it needs to improve on its system for admitting foreign workers legally and legitimately. Like Mexicans who continually cross into the United States regardless of how many times they are deported, I imagine these Balkan immigrants will be back in the future, because there will be a job waiting for them when they arrive.
