Racism in Italy? Let’s not talk nonsense!

Racism in Italy?

Let’s not talk nonsense! It’a a hearing problem, it can be solved with a good hearing aid.

Between busts of the Duce, lovingly preserved by the President of the Senate, frequent and punctual omissions of historical responsibilities by the Prime Minister, a multitude of Roman greetings and intimidating identifications by Digos, this is exemplary sentence in a country that loves to pretend of not seeing, not hearing, not knowing, not remembering.

Italian football fully reflects these deplorable and toxic attitudes and behaviors. There isn’t civil impulse, there isn’t a shred of conscience, the Power is closed in its own dark control rooms and is far away, light years, from all the social issues that are discussed in the world.

We pretend to care, we hypocritically dedicate entire days of reflection or memory to these events, but, in reality, we absolutely don’t care and we remain attached to our insulting and petty provincialism.

If our political class, our leaders and our institutions make self-absolution their rule of survival, their magic formula, their daily practice, it’s natural and it’s obvious that there cannot be any culprit, any evildoer, no racist, but there’s only one guy who didn’t understand well.

Maybe this guy is a little slow on the uptake? 

What elsewhere would be considered a pure and vulgar form of intolerance or racial prejudice, in Italy, is often tolerated, belittled or hidden, guiltily justified, downgraded to simple irony, to harmless teasing, as if it were just a game!

Racism in Italy? Yes, certainly!

But not all is lost, because today two contrasting cultures coexist in the country. The surface, institutional and governmental one, which looks to Roman politics and the large industrial and financial groups of the North and the underground, rebellious and elusive one which takes to the streets, which opposes the truncheons of the police, which claims its right to exist and celebrates, with pride, partisan struggles that transformed a monarchical, fascist and dictatorial nation into a modern nation.

As always, it’s only up to us to make right choice, not to give in to hatred, prejudice, intolerance and racism. After all, we can be better than those who governed us in the past and are governing us today!