Salvini's Lega (League) party have compared Cecile Kyenge, Italy's former integration minister the country's first black minister " to an orangutan, described the government she served in as a "bongo bongo" administration and worn blackface to a debate. In 2013, the Padua local-level League councilor Dolores Valandro called for Kyenge to be raped.
The League is taking Kyenge to court for defamation charging Kyenge's accusation tars the entire party and not just the individuals concerned for calling the League is a racist party. Kyenge's MEP, job protects her against prosecution, has chosen to stand trial as a public statement against racism.
"I have waived my diplomatic immunity," said Kyenge. "I'm here not for Cecile Kyenge, but for everyone. I'm here for people who can't defend themselves. I'm here to start saying there are some things that shouldn't happen."
Salvini has previously dismissed accusations of racism as "an invention of the left."
Italy's aging population and low birth rate has led opposition lawmakers to celebrate the arrival of a mostly younger generation ready to kick-start the economy. But a persistently high youth unemployment rate has left many Italians wary. Perceived competition for jobs and "cultural upheaval" has fed a sense of threat to Italians' national identity, said Nicoletta Cavazza, a social psychology professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
"Some political parties, like the League, have cleverly taken advantage of this situation," said Cavazza, "because their proposed representation of the world — primarily based on a distinction between 'us' and 'them' — fitted well with the dynamic we are facing."
Salvini's xenophobic tirades have coincided with a rise in hate crime that has drawn widespread condemnation from rights organizations. Nine shootings targeting ethnic minorities took place over just 50 days this summer, including one incident where a former government employee shot a 13-month-old Roma child in the back with an air gun, and another in which a Senegalese street vendor's thigh was fractured by shooters on a scooter.
This has legitimized thoughts, feelings and behaviors that many citizens would otherwise suppress, suggests Cavazza, who points to social science research showing a difference between "manifest racism" that is conscious and "latent racism" that simmers underneath. "Nowadays, I think that it would be easier to find that the two dimensions converge," said Cavazza, "because the public discourse is so openly discriminatory toward foreigners."
https://www.dw.com/en/italian-populists-sue-black-politician-for-calling-their-anti-immigrant-party-racist/a-45732919
The League is taking Kyenge to court for defamation charging Kyenge's accusation tars the entire party and not just the individuals concerned for calling the League is a racist party. Kyenge's MEP, job protects her against prosecution, has chosen to stand trial as a public statement against racism.
"I have waived my diplomatic immunity," said Kyenge. "I'm here not for Cecile Kyenge, but for everyone. I'm here for people who can't defend themselves. I'm here to start saying there are some things that shouldn't happen."
Salvini has previously dismissed accusations of racism as "an invention of the left."
Italy's aging population and low birth rate has led opposition lawmakers to celebrate the arrival of a mostly younger generation ready to kick-start the economy. But a persistently high youth unemployment rate has left many Italians wary. Perceived competition for jobs and "cultural upheaval" has fed a sense of threat to Italians' national identity, said Nicoletta Cavazza, a social psychology professor at the University of Modena and Reggio Emilia.
"Some political parties, like the League, have cleverly taken advantage of this situation," said Cavazza, "because their proposed representation of the world — primarily based on a distinction between 'us' and 'them' — fitted well with the dynamic we are facing."
Salvini's xenophobic tirades have coincided with a rise in hate crime that has drawn widespread condemnation from rights organizations. Nine shootings targeting ethnic minorities took place over just 50 days this summer, including one incident where a former government employee shot a 13-month-old Roma child in the back with an air gun, and another in which a Senegalese street vendor's thigh was fractured by shooters on a scooter.
This has legitimized thoughts, feelings and behaviors that many citizens would otherwise suppress, suggests Cavazza, who points to social science research showing a difference between "manifest racism" that is conscious and "latent racism" that simmers underneath. "Nowadays, I think that it would be easier to find that the two dimensions converge," said Cavazza, "because the public discourse is so openly discriminatory toward foreigners."
https://www.dw.com/en/italian-populists-sue-black-politician-for-calling-their-anti-immigrant-party-racist/a-45732919
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