classmates. "Two years ago, around November, there's a new student in my class IIB: he would become a great friend of mine," says diego96, junior high school student. "We were told only that it was in Côte d'Ivoire and that he did not speak Italian. When the caretaker came to announce the news, I remember being questioned in science and this article saved me from a vote is not really that great. The first time I went into class, my friend was accompanied by his mother, who spoke pretty good Italian and he explained that in the Ivorian town where they lived, did not speak French but a mere dialect. So it could happen that our French teacher did not understand well everything that B said in that language. We called the teacher who asked the main things translated for him and after some thoughts that we wanted to tell us. I remember that my classmate asked B. Which team tifava and he said the AC Milan. Then we all realized that we were putting him in trouble and then we stopped him so many questions we would have known well over time and slowly. And so it was. Now I'm lucky to have him stand next to me says the economic difficulties of the Ivory Coast and Africa in general. He tells me that Cote d'Ivoire is not in great difficulties but also in neighboring countries and neighboring there are serious problems of hunger and money. I am enriching my knowledge and all of us and him, we are enriching the sake of our friendship. "
Experience: Meetings and memories. Often children tell of personal experiences, moments of their life when, in a Either way, they came into contact with racism and xenophobia. Many scenes take place on buses, crossroads of meetings often "unhappy" between Italians and immigrants, but also in the classroom to the streets or in shops. "The other day I was walking home on a tram frequented by foreigners from Italian," says blanche10. "I admit that I have noticed that we were in 'minority' on that half the public, but I have not given weight. There was a lady, however, that has been literally turned upside down. Instinctively, his eyes lost, he grabs his bag brand, as if watching a black man, even a group of people 'different', had given her the urge to immediately protect themselves and seek a friend and look comforting that in this case, it would have be my own ...".
In some cases, racism and injustice crystallize in an image, as in the tale of aledin (high school): "A boy about eight years old stood at the edge of a busy street, close to a rumpled jacket and shivering with cold. I do not remember if it was one of the many foreigners who have come from the east at that time Milan got this crowded his face pale, blond hair and eyes marked by great suffering. I remember in particular those scratched hands, swollen and swollen and rhythmically dipped in water is a battered bucket to collect a clean rag with which the windshield of annoyed drivers. The baby was coming slowly to cars, and without a word, looking down, it did make its work quickly, obedient, perhaps, invisible orders. Pennies were collected from a small difference of insults and gestures angrily. I did not want to think about the people of the past, the lives of burned Rosarno and other Italian towns where discrimination and the local mafias make life unbearable for immigrants. Perhaps he thought that child to find a hospitable place and better. Perhaps the same thought crossed the mind of everyone he comes in our country, hoping to put something together. Who will meet tomorrow at the traffic lights in the fields, the corners of the station? Only our brothers but much less fortunate than us. "
Sometimes the jokes, phrases such as a joke to offend the sensitivities of the boys. "I have a friend Romania - writes zippo27 - is one of the best people I've ever met, always helpful and cheerful, generally when they insult him smile, even if you have it. A few days ago gave the practical examination of the license and was rejected with an excuse. And the unfortunate phrase, 'Here things are not made to Romania'. " "Too often I witness acts and racial slurs, including the indifference of some people and almost smug smile hidden people," it said in a joja93, high school student. "Then, returning home, I wonder why I even intervened, and I am convinced that Meanwhile, some fools would not understand, and maybe so do all others. "
" Welcome to Rosarno. Italy. Europe ". Many people from here, from the scene of guerrilla warfare by the news broadcast in the early days of the new year. Scenes that triggered the urge in boys to read, to learn, to understand why so much violence. There who, like lullaby2 a response if the date is already. "I wonder if we do not feel guilty about the fact that in our country must come to shed blood to notice the miserable living conditions of thousands of people. I wonder - writes lullaby - is more important to get rid of what we think differently from us, rather than engage to settle definitely the biggest problem of all: organized crime. And then I say yes, my grandfather was right. You should always learn from your mistakes. But above all we should learn from the horrors we have seen and we see every day. "
Rosarno Immigrants are central to many other articles, including that of the psyche, high school student." The origin of the dispute concerns all African . Italy undergoes passive mafia, while in Italy the African struggle. "And again:" If there were no immigrants, our country would be no economy. The problem is that some wanted arms, men have arrived. "There is bitterness in the words of qert92, who writes: "People who live in deep holes and hundreds of cardboard and tin shacks, people who barely survive, the existence of which has a sad ending from moisture, dirt, the stench of mold and a broken dream paradise and a future. Welcome to Rosarno, Italy, Europe. And 'where the revolt broke out, fires hung in the streets, bins uprooted, cars overturned and terrified bystanders running close to home. Urla, riots, violence and fear: so the new year is announced in Calabria. " Yet, he continues qert92, just read the article 3 of our Constitution that says that "all citizens have equal social dignity, without distinction of sex, race, language and religion."
"Hey you, citizen of the world." So begins, almost like a song, the article with which mikittola91 turns to his peers. "Hey you ... Yes, you boast that you drive a German car, you do a display of a Swiss watch and listen to your favorite music with an i-pod American. You're wearing shoes or a French fashion designer polo English have a label but are actually made in China or third world countries, where workers, mostly women and children, are exploited by 'masters' unscrupulous. You can vacation in beautiful tropical atolls, of which the beyond the tourist areas hidden reality of poverty and neglect. You, cosmopolitan man, then you do scare from different skin color of your neighbor, a woman wearing a burqa or a God different from yours? How do you call yourself a citizen of the world? ".
The contradictions, in short, do not escape the eyes of children, as well Insomnium notes:" Our country is a land of promise for the contradictions: the election of Barack Obama throughout the Italian people celebrated, and one year after the men are brutally beaten for the only reason to be 'tanned'. "Another student (his nickname is aqualung) invites reflection" sull'ecatombe Haitian: "The suffering should remind us that those people who 'rob us work', as some say, are just looking for a better life. "
The invitation to the media. Some students go directly to the media, guilty, in their view, the distorted information that does nothing but feed the spiral of racism. "The protest immigrant Rosarno has rekindled a spark never died," writes Stephen C., high school student. "Whether they are considered inferior it is also noticeable from the interviews. For non-EU workers when he addressed you gave them the word of you, the citizens gave of her. Flicks normal and did not make headlines and show how normal sadly considered inferior." According cate92, "there should not be surprised of certain behaviors, if upstream is a chronicle focuses solely on the bloody history to by immigrants. In reality there are many positive stories, starting with all those people who do their job honestly, with commitment and passion. Give greater emphasis to these aspects - he concludes cate92 - help us to see the non-Italians in the right light, and help them to have courage and conviction to live with more on their work. "
" There is room for everyone, there is freedom for all. "Scrolling the many contributions left on the site, is also to gatolopez." Writing Against Racism, those four words there spitting fake right-thinking, oh how easy it is! The pen seems to even make fun of myself, yet another joke, another around a void of humanity. And the city feel the nervousness, anxiety, bustle of the flock that no longer holds the thrilling monotony in which the pastor has led. Listening in the silence of our cold winter closed minds that they learn the alphabet and forget the love. So we follow our shepherd along the path, around guard dogs, and beliamo, just as they sing the Pink Floyd in their famous song, with her eyes looking down before their sharp teeth, instead of us just anger , contempt, discrimination, shame, accusations, naive search for a scapegoat. Among us it is better that I'm first and you last, we count only between me and my path. Among us I shut myself in and walk away. Poor sheep! Fear drives them to be afraid of others, poor tired sheep that do not distinguish the more similar their shepherd dogs, poor sheep in the flock who walk in the valley. Poor sheep xenophobic and racist is the fault of those dogs, is the fault of the pastor. Sheep, take a moment, look around, there's room for everyone, there is freedom for all, there is ground for all, there is water for all and love for everyone. The pastor is very forward, but you'll stay there, you understand that there is a pastor within each of us. "( La Repubblica, January 27, 2010)
