Stories and News

Stories and News No. 1030 Because Citizenship, before being a Right, has been and still is a Dream for many... I’m talking to you. Yes, you, who’s saying no to Citizenship . “It’s not a priority,” you explain. Or, maybe, you’d never want to see that time, what you really think. You used to say that what was born here is not necessarily from here. That’s not enough to belong to this land. Maybe you're right, you know? Look at freedom . It was born with you. It's from this world, but that’s not what we've built. Prisons and bars, boundaries and walls, those are our actual flesh, what our nightmares are made of. But freedom… you have to choose it, because you are struggling for it, you commit yourself at any costs, even to never touch it. And what about justice ? It’s rooted in the same place where you came to light. However, it would have been great, if it were engraved next to our name, at the very first registry. Perhaps we would not need so many words ...

Stories and News No. 750 I read that an eight years old Ivorian child named Abou was stopped in Spain at the border town of Ceuta. He was hidden in a suitcase. A trolley... Once upon a time there was a trolley. A magic trolley. Making things disappear. And so the magic works trust is necessary. Because when all returns. The world must necessarily be more beautiful than before. In the magic trolley there was a hidden child. So far, dismay in eyes and heart. At least in the trace of remained humanity. But I am here to tell you that the hidden child in the trolley there was unseen another child. A girl, to be precise. Smaller, undoubtedly. But with no less authoritative aspirations. Among the many one only in the guise of the most improbable dream. To be the older child, the greater. Secreted in the trolley. Nevertheless, the story is not satiated of confidences and here I find myself adding the unusual. The girl child who dreamed of being the hidden one in the tro...

Stories and News No. 472 A dialogue between uncle and nephew on an old sea boat, which can help us to give a different meaning to the words community outsider, immigrant and clandestine. THE FUTURE OF MY PEOPLE By Alessandro Ghebreigziabiher On a ship. On the sea. Somewhere. "Uncle Amadou?" "Yes ..." "Uncle?" "Yes." "Are you listening?" "Yes I am." "But you're not looking at me ..." The man turns round to satisfy his nephew. "Don't worry," he says, raising his left eyebrow, "my ears work well even without the help of my eyes ..." And he turns to study the waves. The boy, not much more than six years old, looks at him doubtfully; however, he trusts him and starts again: "Uncle ... do you know Italian well?" "Of course, I've already been there twice." "Do you really know all the words?" "Naturally, Ousmane." The nephew looks round, as if he wer...

Stories and News No. 237 It's true that reality almost always exceeds the imagination. I ever thought this. For this reason, I consider the media news an extremely fertile source from which drawing to invent my own stories. As many in Italy know, the Minister for Reforms to federalism , Mr. Umberto Bossi , referring to citizens of the capital of the Italian Republic - which he has sworn allegiance to, said this: " These Romans are pigs… " The not so original change of the true meaning of the abbreviation SPQR has obviously shocked the hearts of many. That was just an ironic joke . This is the way how Berlusconi called the offence, I repeat, by the Minister for Reforms to federalism . Yesterday Mr. Bossi, speaking to Radio Padania , added: " We expect to be respected and not stolen. If they (the Romans) could, they would steal even our sidewalks… " Eh, you all know: everybody in the world envies the northern Italy sidewalks... Now, the sardonic fate made that ...

Stories and News No. 221 "Everyone in Europe must respect the law, and the governments must respect human rights, including those of minorities. Racism and xenophobia have no place in Europe. On such sensitive issues, when a problem arises, we must all act with responsibility. I make a strong appeal not to re-awaken the ghosts of Europe's past." These words are taken from the first State of the Union message made today by European Commission President José Manuel Barroso. The very first statement is enough to do not just post but to make an authoritative and detailed request to the President for early intervention in our country: " Everyone in Europe must respect the law... " I did not find this part in any Italian newspapers. Everyone means all , right? That is, all means all people , not just immigrants , isn’t it? No, because thinking about Italy, I have a doubt, indeed, many. If we then add that racism and xenophobia have no place in Europe , the di...

Stories and News No. 128 The Story: Erzan is six years old and comes from Albania. Thanks to the recent ruling of the Italian Court of Cassation his father, being an illegal immigrant, was deported from Italy. He’s a very smart child and always follows the news with dad, at least while he was still with him. So he decides to write a letter to the Court . Dear Court of Cassation, I make you my compliments. Observance of the rules is vital for a healthy society. Dad was an illegal immigrant and the law says it must be expelled. The law is the law and must be applied without exception, even facing the pain of children like myself, who now is without dad. That’s because I want to be clear. For newspapers an illegal immigrant was taken away. I just lost my father. View points. The fact is that your country, which is now also mine, is truly the land of the points of view. For you, the rule of law comes before everything, but not everyone thinks so. For example, President Napolitano belie...

Stories and News No. 79 In recent years in Italy and the rest of Europe racism has become ever more a serious problem. Indeed, when an ignorant person is throwing out his madness he seems to be many, when the clever one talks, no one hears. Web and moreover social networks are a truly perfect house for the hate sellers. In particular, some of them say and make actions against Romanians. I ask myself: why Romanians? If you search the net you may find this kind of racist remarks: Romanians steal . So I replied: what about Italians? Are they all honest? Romanians do not respect women . Well, do you think Italians are all gentlemen? Really? Romanians come here and take our job. Everyone must stay at his home . And what about Italian emigrants? So I start to reflect on it, until today, when I read an interesting Eurostat survey. Poll says that regarding immigrants from member countries in Europe chart, Romanians are the first in the rank, with one million and se...

This morning, if I were a Catholic I would try to answer a question: what would happen if the Immaculate Conception occurred today, in Italy? Here, the Virgin Mary would be an immigrant without a residence permit, an illegal immigrant, pregnant too. The mother of Christ should request a residence permit for health reasons , which is valid for the entire pregnancy and up to six months of the child. So Jesus would have only six months to start spreading the Christianity. Assuming that Mary is not rejected on the sea… Share the post:

Stories and News No.70 The Story: Italian citizens, like those of the rest of the world, are not all equal. Some have lost their lives for the country... And others have lost the country to save it... Someone was dismissed for his integrity... And others were employed for the same reason... Some people used the film to give viewers a trip... And others uses viewers to travel himself... Some found death for the sake of truth... Others kills truth for the sake of tv share... Some people attacked the immigrants to gain voters... And now they defend them because soon they will vote too... PS: Many years ago, a person who was often victim of discrimination told me: "I do not need that people defend me. I wish not to need it..." The News: Gianfranco Fini : "Asshole who says that foreigners are different". Stories and news : “invented” Stories, fruit of my imagination, inspired by “true” media News. Share the p...

Original post Yesterday the United Nations Development Program , UNDP , presented the 2009 Report . The results are very interesting, especially for those who try to pay more attention to the truth of numbers, rather than gossip. Reading the report on the web, especially the interactive section , you can find a clever quiz, which I believe can be considered a good test to measure our level of understanding migration issues. We all know that ignorance on this subject is one of the first reason of intolerance towards immigrants. Here are some questions from the United Nations Quiz (Answers are at the bottom of post): Question 1 : How many internal and international migrants are there in the world? 1 Over 168 million internal and 45 million international migrants 2 740 million internal and 214 million international migrants 3 2.5 billion internal and 835 million international migrants Question 2 : Relative to the total world population, when was there the highest propor...

Stories and News No. 34 The Story : The hall of the Caravaggio’s Municipality is almost deserted. The stranger, the non Eu citizen, the illegal immigrant, soon no longer such, is accompanied by his wife and some family friends. They are not many but good ones. Mayor Giuseppe Prevedini waits in the background with a fake smile on his face. He is not alone and with him we can see the inevitable counsellor, assistant, trusted employee, all together in the same person. "Look at this guy..." Prevedini murmurs to the latter. "He married one of our women..." "It’s a shame,” the counsellor comments. He always speaks like this. He underlines, stresses and supports the mayor's words, whatever they are, almost always. "Good morning", the future Italian says, with wife’s left hand in his right one. The voice is a little tremulous. The man is obviously excited. This explains the black sunglasses to reassure his eyes and the uncertain walk, sustained by the wom...

The Story : Here is the transcription of the phone call : My name is... No, I don’t tell you my name. After all, it doesn’t matter to you… I am an illegal immigrant, for you I am just an illegal immigrant. I haven’t your citizenship and your law says that I have no right to put my feet on your country. I have just the licence to stay here, in this CPT (Centro di Permanenza Temporanea), this Temporary Residency Centre, where illegal people are collected before to be deported. Indeed, they are now called CIE, Centre for Identification and Expulsion. Left or Right style, the substance doesn’t change. I have not much time; they will soon notice that I have stolen a mobile phone to a guard. He was distracted watching the Big Brother. Fortunately the TV transmits this boring shit. So, this is my request: could I remain here? Please, don’t let me out! Here I live in a kind of container. I'm not complaining. Containers are what Abruzzo quake’s people dream as replacing of the tents. The hy...

Today I inaugurate a section that I hope I will have the perseverance to follow continuously. This fresh space on my Blog will be called Stories and News , two words that have much in common, in my humble opinion. Because we must never forget that when someone gives us some news, he tells a story that may be true as false, incorrect as honest, impartial as biased. Sometimes, fortunately for us, the vice versa is true too... Jesus the illegal immigrant The Story Approximately 2000 years ago a married couple, Joseph and Mary and their baby Jesus, because of the hate of Herod king were forced to escape to Egypt . In this foreign land the three were in fact illegal immigrants, homeless and without a residence permit. The News Ansa.it ( Rome , February 5): The Italian parliament on Thursday approved a measure requiring doctors to report illegal immigrants, unleashing a barrage of criticism. The measure, which would lift confidentiality provisions for illegal immigrants that ...