Results 1 to 1 of 1
Thread Information
Users Browsing this Thread
There are currently 1 users browsing this thread. (0 members and 1 guests)
-
07-27-2013, 12:38 PM #1
Outrage as bananas thrown at Italy's first black minister
Outrage as bananas thrown at Italy's first black minister
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...-minister.html
Italy has seen an outpouring of disgust after a spectator at a party rally threw bananas at the country's first black minister, who has suffered an onslaught of racist slurs since taking office in April.
Italian Minister for Integration Cecile Kyenge Photo: REUTERS
By Hannah Strange and agencies
11:57AM BST 27 Jul 2013
Integration minister Cecile Kyenge, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, was making a speech at the Friday rally when a member of the audience began to launch the pieces of fruit towards her. The bananas missed the podium where she was speaking but the incident drew a deluge of condemnation in the media, where politicians and commentators lamented the shame brought on the country by the actions of the far-right.
"Another shameful and disgraceful gesture. Solidarity with the Minister Kyenge. Now let's just isolate the idiots," Rome Mayor Gianni Alemanno said.
"I am ashamed to share the country with people like this," wrote one Twitter user, Eugenio Iannelli, reflecting the dismay of many on the social media network.
The treatment of Ms Kyenge has thrown a spotlight on the ugly racist currents running through some strands of society in Italy, a country grappling with tensions over rising levels of immigration, particularly from North Africa.
Since her appointment in April she has suffered a campaign of harassment from far-right groups angered by her campaign to make it easier for immigrants to gain Italian citizenship.
Related Articles
- Italian senator apologises for comparing black minister to an orang-utan
16 Jul 2013 - Italy race row 'has shamed whole country'
15 Jul 2013 - Italy's first black minister compared to orang-utan by Northern League senator
14 Jul 2013
Shortly before Friday's incident, members of the right-wing Forza Nuova group left mannequins covered in fake blood at the site of the rally in Cervia, central Italy, in protest against Ms Kyenge's proposal to make anyone born on Italian soil a citizen.
"Immigration kills," was written on leaflets left with the dummies - a slogan Forza Nuova has previously used to highlight murders committed by immigrants in Italy.
Ms Kyenge, who has largely maintained a dignified silence in the face of the abuse, issued a restrained condemnation of the act, calling it "sad" and a waste of food, considering the economic crisis.
"The courage and optimism to change things has to come above all from the bottom up to reach the institutions," she added.
The insults directed at Ms Kyenge since she took office have frequently come from other politicians. Earlier this month a senior parliamentarian in the anti-immigration Northern League party likened her to an orangutan and only apologised after a storm of criticism.“In questions of power…let no more be heard of confidence in man, but bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution.” –Thomas Jefferson
- Italian senator apologises for comparing black minister to an orang-utan
1,300 Migrants swarm NYC’s City Hall over false rumor of green...
04-25-2024, 07:27 AM in General Discussion