With red t-shirts against Salvini

Many Italians expressed their solidarity with the refugees during the weekend. (Photo: Stefano Montesi / Getty (Rome, July 7, 2018))

Hundreds of thousands of Italians, including many celebrities and politicians, donned a red shirt or t-shirt on weekends. Humanity, against the cynicism of fear-makers who said that saving human lives was a crime, "said a call from the anti-mafia priest Don Luigi Ciotti, known throughout the country. The protest has been joined by numerous initiatives and citizen associations; #magliettarossa ("#roteshemd") was the most used hashtag in Italy on Twitter Saturday

The great success of the event proves that in Italy, the closure of the port is criticized and outraged by the minister Inside Matteo Salvini (Lega) growing for the NGO ships. For the blockade against private aid and the simultaneous withdrawal of the Italian Coast Guard from the Libyan coast have tragic consequences: since the closure of the ports, several hundred refugees have drowned before Libya, including many women and children. Many children would be dressed in red by their mothers before crossing, hoping that in case of shipwreck, they would be more easily recognized by rescuers in the floods, Don Ciotti says. This brought him to the idea with the red shirts

The money is barely enough for the bare necessities

Chiara Tommasello also put on a red T-shirt last Saturday. Aged 30, Reggio Calabria is a member of the Arci Cultural Association, engaged in projects of care and integration of migrants in the Calabrian city and supported the protest action. "There is a hostile atmosphere throughout the country of refugees, fueled by the incessant incitement of the Minister of the Interior." Tommasello points out that refugees, but also their guards, are perceived by the majority of the population as taking away something from the Italians.

Migrants, once they have a work permit, would be used almost exclusively to work that no Italian would accept anymore – in the south of the country. Italy mainly as aid to harvest.In the plantations of Apulia, Calabria, Campania and Sicily, tens of thousands of immigrants, mostly from Africa, have worked in catastrophic conditions for a pittance.

Davide Grilletto, head of a refugee project at Villa San Giovanni, also confirms that the work of refugee guards has become more difficult under the new government. Wire rack All the institutions and associations involved in housing and caring for migrants on behalf of the state are also systematically denigrated: "Salvini calls us" asylum seekers ". Asylum "and implies that we personally enrich ourselves with state subsidies" In truth, the money was barely enough for the bare necessities today. Last week, Social Democratic Senator Luigi Manconi spoke of a "constant and targeted campaign of misinformation and defamation" by the government against rescuers and private guards

. recalled by the dictator Benito Mussolini. "Today's approval of Salvini's extremist positions corresponds to the enthusiasm for the Duce in the thirties," says successful writer Andrea Camilleri at the newspaper "La Repubblica ". He now turns out to be "a bad side of the Italians: a subliminal racism, which is also manifested in indifference to the dead African children in the Mediterranean." Are not they children like everyone else? "For Salvini, as he has already said, "future offenders." "God can forgive him these words," said the 92-year-old author of Commissario Montalbano.

Closing Ports for Ships NGOs were also criticized by the UN refugee agency last week, UNHCR spokeswoman Carlotta Sami said over 1,400 people had already drowned in the center of the country. the Mediterranean since the beginning of the year and called on the Italian and European authorities to extend the "drastically reduced rescues."

19659009] Salvini, of course, does not think about it: "The ports will remain closed, NGO ships will only see Italy on buses your postcards, "he said after one of the last dramas with nearly a hundred dead. Not him, Salvini, have the dead children on their conscience, but "those who spread among the migrants the illusion that there is a future for them in Europe". In his opinion, therefore, the responsibility is assumed by the rescuers and the "good people", who then take care of the rescued. "Pacchia è finita", emphasizes Salvini: "The good life is over", for refugees as well as for rescuers and guards.

The difficult journey is shared by a clear majority of Italians, at least until now. In one survey, 59% of respondents said they agreed to close the ports. Salvini's Lega, which had reached the March 4 legislative elections at 17%, is now in polls more than 30%. However, Salvini's incessant invocation of refugees is no longer possible: thanks to the agreements with the Libyan authorities and tribal representatives, the previous Social Democratic government managed to reduce the number of refugees by more than 80%. refugees arriving by boat since last summer. The situation in the Italian reception centers is currently as relaxed as it has been for years.