Alone, Bleeding, and Illegal
A commentary on the violent reality facing Bangladeshi Migrants
Kartik a 27-year-old Bangladeshi immigrant was walking home after a busy nightshift in Rome, when he was overwhelmed by racist Italian curse words by a group of Forza Nuova coworkers. They yelled, “Dirty nigger, what are you doing here?” but because Kartik didn’t understand Italian, he couldn’t anticipate the violent attack. Soon, he was on the floor, close to death. Unable to breath, move, or call for help, his family in Bangladesh worried about him because they didn’t receive his daily phone call. This racially driven incident is common for Bangladeshi immigrants who try to assimilate into the Italian culture, but even that harsh reality isn’t enough to make them return to their economically bare homeland. [1]
It may seem confusing where such a degree of hatred could originate from, but understanding the political rhetoric that implies an immigrant as a criminal, the economic and legal circumstances in Italy, and the recent influx of immigrants in such a short time span, coupling it with strong dehumanizing and anti-immigrant rhetoric from the northern right-wing party, we can see how the transit country of Italy is retaliating.
Looking at the history of Italy, we see it is made up of a divided nation. Because of the wealthy north and laborious south discriminating against each other, the social atmosphere isn’t even welcoming to their own people. On top of that Italy has a long endowing economic crisis that creates an additional strain.
Historically until now, Italy has seen both, large numbers of migration and emigration since the 70s. Emigration due to the lack of economic opportunities and jobs for educated Italians, and immigration because of Italy’s geographical position, making it a transit country between the warring and poverty stricken east, and the destination countries of France, Britain, and Germany. Additionally, during the late 20th century, Italy was not as strict on their immigration policy, and accepted millions of migrants and refugees. [2]Thus, the Italian people saw a huge influx of foreigners in a short amount of time. This created an identity crisis for the young country, which the North League catalyzed on when pushing its anti-immigration rhetoric and criminalizing the immigrants. It’s not difficult to see why their party has now attracted followers, thus allowing empowering Italians to violently lash out against the immigrant community.
Criminalizing a human’s physical body makes it disposable, and thus we can see the violence towards the Bangladesh community skyrocket.
However the story for Bangladeshi immigrants ring different. Today, like many years ago Bangladesh is overrun with people, economically unstable, and strewn with poverty and thus migrating in search of economic security seems like the only choice to escape it. Kartik, like many labor migrants who moved to Italy during a time the country had “a relaxed foreign policy,” is now facing attack by a country who is now siding with the anti-immigrant right-wing party. Today, Forza Nuova, Italy’s most famous political campaigns push anti-immigrant propaganda which makes it dangerous for millions of immigrants.
One political group that is gaining traction through the anti-immigrant campaign is Forza Nuova, or Italy’s conservative right-wing northern group. One part of Forza Nuova’s leading campaigns calls for the, ““rejection of a bill that would grant Italian citizenship to those born and schooled in Italy with foreign parents; and tighter controls on immigration.” [3]They reject the ius soli citizenship argument based on the ideals that they would rather deport the immigrants and give the jobs and rights to Italian citizens—generating anger around the most essential living method, money.
Many years prior to the current social climate, Italy’s center-right coalition introduced the “safety package” which were a set of laws that, “made illegal immigration a felony and allowed municipal governments to organize security patrols.” [4] This again furthers the anti-immigration narrative because, linking a body to criminality is problematic because it gives right-wing followers the moral backing that their actions towards this community is justified.
… dehumanizes them and allows any laws to be accepted because now you have separated the physical human from a social construct of laws.
Criminalizing a human’s physical body makes it disposable, and thus we can see the violence towards the Bangladesh community skyrocket. The article quotes Forza Nuova (right-wing) followers’ justifications for their violent actions, and due to indoctrination explained it was to discourage foreigners for coming to Italy. [5]
The concept of a foreigner infiltrating “your” land is a scary thought with the media pushing the “terrorist agenda,” and anyone fitting the vague profile of a terrorist is subjugated to being treated less than human since that label validates any action against them.
There is also an issue with the Jus sanguinis principle that Italy currently follows. Italy is a country that grants automatic citizenship to any decedent of Italian blood whether they live in Italy or not. However, those who have immigrated to the country are unable to apply or benefit from the status as a citizen until they live in the country for 10 years, apply for citizenship and then wait for a judge to rule it valid or not. [6] Because of this there are thousands of immigrants contributing to Italy’s labor force without reaping the benefits or voting. Not only does this render them powerless to vote against the right-wing party, it also plays into the rhetoric that these people don’t belong to the country and casts them as the “other,” which puts them at a social disadvantage and a target of hate crimes.
The future for immigrants in Italy looks rocky.
Linking immigration and those who are immigrants to criminality pushes an agenda that dehumanizes them and allows any laws to be accepted because now you have separated the physical human from a social construct of laws. Thus, any legal ramifications are supported, and the human body is an afterthought. Categorizing these people strip them of their individual characters and don’t recognize that they could be fleeing their country because of persecution, economic crisis, poverty, and in Karitik’s case, as many Bangladeshi immigrants to try and provide for his family in a land that had more economic growth than Bangladesh. In his book, Kosher Khalid explains that it is very hard to categorize immigrants because there is a plethora of intertwined reasons as to why they chose to leave their country.
The future for immigrants in Italy looks rocky. With hatred for immigrants imparted on the younger generation, and a need for immigration due to economic and politically unstable countries, the tension will remain. Rhetoric needs to change, education about race and immigration needs to be explored, and media needs to shed light on this silenced topic.
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Sources:
[1] TRTWorld. “Mobbed and Beaten in Rome, This Bangladeshi Man Refuses to Go Home.” Mobbed and Beaten in Rome, This Bangladeshi Man Refuses to Go Home. March 03, 2018. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/mobbed-and-beaten-in-rome-this-bangladeshi-man-refuses-to-go-home-15648.
[2] Scotto, Angelo. “From Emigration to Asylum Destination, Italy Navigates Shifting Migration Tides.” Migrationpolicy.org. January 30, 2018. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emigration-asylum-destination-italy-navigates-shifting-migration-tides.
[3] The Local. “Italy Won’t Vote on ‘ius Soli’ Citizenship Reforms before Election.” The Local. December 21, 2017. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.thelocal.it/20171221/italy-vote-citizenship-reform-ius-soli.
[4] Scotto, Angelo. “From Emigration to Asylum Destination, Italy Navigates Shifting Migration Tides.” Migrationpolicy.org. January 30, 2018. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.migrationpolicy.org/article/emigration-asylum-destination-italy-navigates-shifting-migration-tides.
[5] TRTWorld. “Mobbed and Beaten in Rome, This Bangladeshi Man Refuses to Go Home.” Mobbed and Beaten in Rome, This Bangladeshi Man Refuses to Go Home. March 03, 2018. Accessed April 19, 2018. https://www.trtworld.com/magazine/mobbed-and-beaten-in-rome-this-bangladeshi-man-refuses-to-go-home-15648.
[6] Koser, Khalid. 2017. International Migration A Very Short Introduction. New York: Oxford University Press Inc.