Italian Racism?

Rather, Italian integration

I wish to return to the question of racism in Sicily and Italy in particular, and I may say a few things on the UK by the way.

Recently there have been a spate of crimes committed by foreigners in Sicily: the murder of a pastry-chef in Palermo by an undocumented migrant from Zimbabwe with a criminal record and the gang rape of a thirteen year old girl by an Egyptian gang in the Villa Bellini, Catania, are just two examples. There have also been running battles between various ethnic gangs in otherwise up to now peaceful towns. I have written about them all. The more this happens, the more people in Italy associate violent crime with immigrants; and when these crimes are carried out by the clandestini (people who have no legal status in Italy), particularly ones with criminal records, this reminds people that the immigration system is not working. It is especially frustrating for people to hear of repeat offenders, who should have been deported after their first offence, but who have gone on to worse crimes. In addition, we know that the Sicilian prison service reached breaking point long ago, because the trade union representing prison officers has told us so. And a contributory factor to that is the huge amount of foreign prisoners in Sicily.

On top of all this, one has to remember the longstanding frustration of the Italians in general with public services. ‘Swedish taxes, African services,’ as the politician Mario Segni once put it. The immigrants are costing the state money which it really does not have to spare; and the state is not just under strain, it is collapsing.

All of this could lead to a feeling of resentment towards foreigners. And yet that feeling is not much in evidence, which is the good news.

If you are a foreigner living in Italy, people will tell you in no uncertain terms that you have to leave your foreign ways behind you and adopt the Italian way of doing things. If you do that, they will accept you; they might even like you. Italians have a very high idea of the superiority of their culture; once you accept that, things will be OK.

In practice what does this mean?

First, you speak the language, which they consider to be the most beautiful on earth, the language of the angels. They will not congratulate you on making an effort to do this, they expect it as a minimum. I can speak good Italian, but I remember being a little deflated some years ago by someone remarking ‘Lei parla un italiano sofisticato, ma con un accento marcatamente anglo-sassone.’ (You speak sophisticated Italian, but with a markedly Anglo-Saxon accent.) So, five out of ten to me. The Italians do not value Anglo-Saxon culture (or any other, as far as I can see) ot think they have things to learn from it: deal with it. If you can’t, don’t live in Italy.

Next, eat the food, and enjoy it. They think it is the best in the world. Let them know that you agree. Do not pine for curry or Christmas pudding, which they consider to be vile imports, and do not ever say anything dismissive about their offerings. (Not all Italian food is good, by the way, but don’t even whisper it.)

Thirdly, if the above two do not seem to be working, go to Church, get involved in the local parish. Even just be a flying buttress, supporting the Church from outside - every Church has an oratorio, a youth club, to which Italians go in huge numbers, as well as other secular activities. Many Italians would not dream of going to Mass, but they respect those who do. ‘Ma lui e una brava persona,’ (He is a good person) they will say if you show yourself sympathetic to Catholicism and its practices.

Fourthly, start supporting your local team in football. Never mind if you cannot stand the game: fake it until you make it.

The Elephants. Integrated. From the team website.

What you must never do it follow the example of Adel Smith, a half-Scottish half-Egyptian Muslim who campaigned to have the crucifix removed from his child’s classroom. His campaign against the crucifix seriously backfired (‘Il croccefisso non si tocca/Hands off the crucifix’) which gathered considerable momentum from a wide range of Italians who maintained that the crucifix was at the heart of Italian culture; the courts agreed, and at one point Smith was imprisoned for insulting Christianity.

What all this shows is that if you want to settle in Italy people will accept you (Italians are very kind-hearted people) if you integrate. And this is the key point: you can integrate, because there is something to integrate into. There is such a thing as Italian culture: language, food, religious practices, football, a general belief that il bel paese is the best place on earth. In Britain, by contrast, integration is pretty hard, because there is nothing to integrate into. We tolerate those in our midst who do not speak English, for example, and who show no sign of wanting to. We are not strongly attached to our cuisine, indeed we hardly have a national cuisine any more. Football teams are no longer geographically rooted. And we have lost our religion.

Once upon a time British identity was based on the values of the Glorious Revolution of 1688 and the Protestant Succession that was meant to safeguard those values. The monarchy and the Church of England are both looking pretty threadbare these days and both have reinvented themselves as multicultural, perhaps realising that the traditional 1688 values were in some places very divisive and have created divisions that endure to this day. Italy is a much better off country that the UK, because people who turn up from some far off place can speak Italian, love Padre Pio and the Madonna, support the Elephants or whoever, enjoy Italian food, and by and large people will shrug and say ‘Ma lui e una brave persona.’

I feel sorry for immigrants to Britain, who thanks to our failed multi-culturalism, can’t integrate, much as they would have liked to.