Stupidity has made enormous progress. It is a sun that one can no longer gaze at without blinking. Thanks to mass communications, it isn’t even the same thing any longer, it feeds on other myths, it sells at an extremely high price, it has turned good sense into something ridiculous, it spreads terror all around itself.
Ennio Flaiano, “The Via Veneto Papers”, 1973
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The Marlene Kuntz (feat. Skin) present, in preview on la Repubblica website, an unedited version of Italian Resistance song “Bella ciao” with a videoclip filmed in Riace, the small town in Calabria that thanks to its Mayor Domenico Lucano and citizens gained worldwide attention through its innovative approach to dealing with refugees.
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The Blavatnik School of Government, University of Oxford, celebrated the International Romani Day (April 8) in the most constructive way, proudly announcing that “thanks to our Roma Education Fund Scholarship we are able to support one Roma student each year to study public policy here in Oxford”. For further information visit: https://www.bsg.ox.ac.uk/study/mpp/mpp-fees-and-funding.
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Video shows boy known as Simone saying Roma people should not “be abandoned”. [Read more].
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John Sato, 95, one of only two Japanese servicemen in the New Zealand army in the second world war, took two buses from Howick to join the march against racism at Aotea Square in Auckland, New Zealand. Photo: Fiona Goodall/Getty Images.
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While cold weather was hitting, a right-wing deputy mayor in Italy’s northeastern city of Trieste — who is also a fellow member of the interior minister’s far-right party — boasted on his social media accounts about throwing a homeless man’s clothes and blankets into the trash. The boast by the “first citizen” in pectore caused severe indignation among most city residents, who hurried to bring warm clothing and bedding to the same spot, along with a sign reading: “Dear friend, we hope that tonight you will suffer less from the cold. We apologize on behalf of the city of Trieste”. Photo: Diego D’Amelio (@_damelio_).
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The wave of hatred whipped up against Africans who haven’t yet even set foot in the country is being visited on the migrants who are already living here. Italians are going backwards, socially, amid an upsurge of nationalism that displays racist animus against anything perceived to be an alien body. [Read more].
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The OHCHR (UN Human Rights Committee) ruled on Friday that jailed former President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva must be allowed to run as a candidate in the Brazilian presidential election in October. Lula, nominated as a candidate by the Workers’ Party, is leading the polls by a wide margin, despite he is currently serving a 12-year sentence on political charges – which his opponents considered more than enough for getting him out of the race. Instead, the Committee issued the finding following an urgent request filed by Lula’s lawyers on July 27, urging Brazil “not to prevent him from standing for election in the 2018 presidential elections, until his appeals before the courts have been completed in fair judicial proceedings”. Because Brazil has ratified both the CCPR – International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the CCPR-OP1 – Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights treaties, it is technically and juridically obligated to abide by the Committee’s findings. Photo: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters.
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A young man removes graffiti reading “Free Mandela” from a wall of King’s College Chapel in the University of Cambridge, Cambridge, England in 1965. Nelson Mandela was imprisoned in 1964 for opposing the Apartheid of the South African government and was not released until 1990. He later became South Africa’s President. Photo © Hulton-Deutsch Collection/Corbis via Getty Images.
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The Wikipedia page on “Racism in Italy” recaps the story of racism in Italy, from the infamous “racial laws” promulgated in 1938 till the racists attacks, shootings and murders in 2018.
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Minorities including a one-year-old Roma child shot following far-right gains, but discrimination often unacknowledged. [Read more].
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Giovanni Malagò, President of the Italian National Olympic Committee (CONI), said that Daisy Osakue – the black Italian athlete injuried in an alleged racial attack last Monday – might not be able to take part in the 24th European Athletics Championships. “She will be treated with a massive dose of cortisone, and it is apparently too much to request a Therapeutic Use Exemption. What’s happened is an extremely grave fact”, Malagò said.
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Vessel allegedly broke international law by returning 108 people rescued from Mediterranean to Tripoli
A search and rescue charity has alleged that an Italian ship returned scores of people rescued from the Mediterranean to Libya, even though Libya is not regarded by Europe as a safe place under international law. In what would be an unprecedented case if confirmed, the Asso 28, an oil rig support vessel, allegedly saved 108 people from a dinghy and then took them to Tripoli. [Read more]. |
It is against the law for one country to return people to another territory that is at war, or where they could be subjected to the death penalty, torture or other inhumane conditions. Photo: Jon Nazca/Reuters.
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Black Italian athlete Daisy Osakue was injured early on Monday in Turin, Italy when unidentified assailants hurled an egg at her face. “I don’t want to play the sexism or racism card, but people should be able to go out without someone attacking you out of the blue”, Osakue said, wearing a patch over her eye. Doctors said Daisy, whose parents are Nigerian, should recover in time to take part in the 24th European Athletics Championships in Berlin, Germany next month where she is due to represent Italy in the discus throw.
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Fascism is demagogic but master-like, rhetorical, xenophobic, culture-hating, despiser of freedom and justice, oppressor of the weaker, servant of the stronger, always ready to point at the “others” as the reason of its own impotence or defeat.
Ennio Flaiano, “Diario degli errori”, Milano, Rizzoli, 1976
English translation by Andrea Gaddini |
NGOs say bringing parents and children back together is an enormous puzzle with no clear system from the administration. [Read more].
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The Trump administration has backtracked on its policy but offered no immediate plan for reuniting families. Photo: Guillermo Arias/AFP/Getty Images.
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New York, United States: People protest against the Trump administration practice of separating immigrant families. Photo: Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters.
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