In cruel and unusual concert, Italy's new government, its police and paramilitary carabinieri, and even its gangsters, have turned their joint might against the nation's enemy number one: the Gypsies. Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI and a small number of left-wingers raised lonely voices in central Naples against the national hardening of hearts towards Europe's perennial outsiders. To little avail: the Pope's appeal for a spirit of welcome and acceptance was met with a hail of angry rejection in blogged comments on news websites. But what will remain scorched in the nation's memory - as a mark of shame, or a beacon pointing the way forward, depending on how you see it - are the flaming structures of the Gypsy camp burnt in the Ponticelli district of Naples on Wednesday. Residents of the former communist stronghold on the northern outskirts of Naples have been raising hell about the camp since Saturday, when a woman claimed a Gypsy girl had entered her flat and tried to steal her baby.
In cruel and unusual concert, Italy's new government, its police and paramilitary carabinieri, and even its gangsters, have turned their joint might against the nation's enemy number one: the Gypsies.
Yesterday Pope Benedict XVI and a small number of left-wingers raised lonely voices in central Naples against the national hardening of hearts towards Europe's perennial outsiders. To little avail: the Pope's appeal for a spirit of welcome and acceptance was met with a hail of angry rejection in blogged comments on news websites.
But what will remain scorched in the nation's memory - as a mark of shame, or a beacon pointing the way forward, depending on how you see it - are the flaming structures of the Gypsy camp burnt in the Ponticelli district of Naples on Wednesday.
Residents of the former communist stronghold on the northern outskirts of Naples have been raising hell about the camp since Saturday, when a woman claimed a Gypsy girl had entered her flat and tried to steal her baby.
a woman claimed a Gypsy girl had entered her flat and tried to steal her baby
Roma steal babies, Jews want Christian children's blood, witches have succubus teats, burning is the answer, I feel sick. When locusts move on, they leave nothing behind
The camps were assaulted throughout Naples which has provoked an exodus of Rom. It is suspected that the camorra may be behind the acts of arson, as a way of "siding with the people."
In the meantime throughout Italy there are police operations against camps, very much a show since no more than a few dozen will be expulsed. It reminds me of all these ineffectual "get-tough" theatrics that Poniatowski and Pasqua pulled off to inaugurate their tenures as Interior Ministers in France.
Napolitano does not approve of a decree law on expulsions as expected. And of course any decree law would likely violate European law.
Some of the police operations are reportedly done with the collaboration of Romanian authorities but this would simply be in coincidence with all the "get-tough" staging. The idea would be to arrest some alleged Romanian criminals at large so as to beef up statistics at the end of the day.
Both Milan and Rome want an extraordinary Commissar for the Rom "problem." A lot of hot air for a Rom population esteemed at 7000 in Rome.
Full english translation: http://www.indymedia.ie/article/87592 The admirable group who saw this coming: http://www.everyonegroup.com/
I think Italy has enough problems and, however much the politicians colluded with their creation, think it would be better if they concentrated on those in preference to a bit of blaming the auslander. keep to the Fen Causeway
The EU has also declared that there will be no modification of Schengen as Frattini proposed.
This whole "show of macho muscle" will appease the acolytes in Italy and also enflame anti-European sentiment. It's just what this government is aiming at. Consensus, demagogy, a spineless Europe.
We'll see how this plays out, but Austria had its voting rights in the Council suspended for less than this. When the capital development of a country becomes a by-product of the activities of a casino, the job is likely to be ill-done. — John M. Keynes
As we said other day, there's this schism between fact and the perception of reality. Even the left perceives danger where there isn't any. It looks like the apotheosis of consumerism. Ever see a commercial with a clochard scratching himself in the background? People want to live in a commercial hype world where the unsightly is banned. The disenfranchised are a menace, It's a mass of underproletariat at the gates of the empire that aspire to possess gadgets. They're the danger, the menace. They can steal your cell phone, your hifi, your baby.
So show off all this military might and make police blitzes against an "enemy" that doesn't exist. And of course at that point just stop front paging this crime crap so that people perceive that they're safer. A winner. Berlusconi for life. If he could only rule Europe and show all those wimpy fags in Strausbourg want it means to be a real hunk.
...and of course if a particularly brutal crime does occur despite all this macho crap it will be Europe's fault, never theirs.
By the way, page 3 today. Corriere. A small paragraph barely visible: An Italian raped a Romanian.
The latest tally is around 400 arrests throughout Italy. M-T Fernandez de la Vega, 2° in command in Zapatero's gevernment has condemned Italy's acts qualifying them as violent, racist and xenophobic.
