Between 2015 and 2017, nearly 1,500 cases of racism and discrimination have been reported in Italy, according to data collected in the fourth white paper on racism by the Lunaria Association, which said the results showed an "unheard-of intensity."
Cases of racist violence and discrimination in Italy reached a total of 1,483 between January 1, 2015 and May 31, 2017. Of these, 1,197 were verbal aggression, 84 were physical violence, 44 were damage against objects or property, and 158 were cases of discrimination. These figures are part of the fourth white paper on racism compiled and released by the Lunaria Association, presented in the Lower House of the Italian Parliament.
'Unheard-of intensity' in racism over past three years
Lunaria Association President Grazia Naletto said this fourth edition of the white paper was "the most difficult ever made." The previous edition came out in 2014, and Naletto said the past three years have seen "an unheard-of intensity" of cases. She said the majority of cases monitored in the report regard actions by institutions (615), followed by groups (359), individuals (337), sports figures or sports fans (117), and those in the media (35), with 20 cases reported as anonymous.The report said in addition to deaths clearly linked to racism, there have been many others that, although not directly caused by racist violence, are in any case unacceptable and could have been avoided. The white paper cites, for example, the case of Pateh Sabally, a 22-year-old asylum seeker from Gambia, who committed suicide in Venice by jumping into the Grand Canal on January 22, 2017, after his asylum request was denied. At least 150 people witnessed the suicide, but no one among them attempted to save him. What's more, one of the observers filmed the man while he was drowning and another mocked him, calling him "Africa." In the video, which Italian daily Il Gazzettino made public on its website a few days after the suicide, a person can be heard yelling at a nearby boat to "throw the life preserver" and another saying "this idiot wants to die." The man apparently refused to grab hold of life preservers that were thrown to him and allowed himself to drown, and none of the bystanders jumped in the cold water to help.The Venice prosecutor's office opened an investigation into one suspect charged with failure to rescue.
'Cowardly and shameless' racism
Naletto said the most recent period has seen ordinary racism joined by a type of racism that she said is "cowardly and shameless." "It's cowardly because not all of the people who denigrate, threaten and insult online would dare to do so in front of a person in the flesh. It's shameless because today, much more than 10 years ago, violence is an ordinary way we characterise social relationships and public debate, above all online," Naletto said. She said racism is "considered more legitimate than in the past" due to "a context that encourages the definition of one's own identity not by who one is but by what distinguishes them from others" which she said results in racism that's committed in particularly arrogant ways, "which can condemn someone to a ferocious death." The authors of the white paper make a "heartfelt" appeal to the Italian Senate to approve a legal reform on Italian citizenship, which they said is "being awaited by millions of young people who were born and have grown up here."