Italy forms a new government

[Deleted]

It's nice whenever Italy doesn't have a government headed by Silvio Berlosconi, but I find it particularly nice this time to have a young prime minister (age 46), Enrico Letta.

Also, I am very pleased that Italy has its first black cabinet minister ever, since there are quite a few black people in Italy although you could never tell it from looking at their sports teams. Cecile Kyenge, of Congolese origin, will be minister of equal opportunity. Even though it is a token job, it's a start, and she said that she has jus soli on her agenda, because Italy is a country of jus sanguinis, and children born in Italy of immigrant parents are not Italian citizens.

Frankly, this is a subject that I would like to see treated at the European level in a perfect world so that jus soli could be extended to everyone born in the EU.

[lagatta]

Absolutely. Isn't jus sanguinis also the case in Germany?

Indeed it is odd that there are still relatively few Black Italian footballers. It seems to me that there are some Somalian runners; East Africans seem to corner marathons and other long-distance events. There is still gross, crude racism in Italy. I studied with Michaëlle Jean, who later became a top journalist and then Governor-General (her choice, not mine...). A stunning beauty of Haitian descent, and a brilliant student (we were both on scolarships in Italy). And some arsehole bus driver in Rome called her the N-word and other equally nasty things... (I'm trying to maintain a "family-friendly" level of language here - it is difficult to do so just thinking of that crap).

46 is astonishingly young for a government leader in Italy.

The coalition seems unworkable though...

[fumobici]

Yeah, its an untenable ad hoc stitch up between the PD and PdL, but they had to do something to avert the M5S from meaningful participation in governance and this was all they had. Look for new elections within the year. Once the status quo realized real danger existed, sworn enemies became allies but all that's holding them together is a shared fear of 'i grillisti' and real reform.

[Deleted]

Clearly, it's going to be a big struggle to vanquish racism.

New Black Appointment Showcases Racist Italy

[bjd]

One down already: www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-22413438

[lagatta]

The racism against "extracomunautari" (who are always immigrants from poorer countries, not "expats") is a shameful example of lack of historical memory. Actually, there was a lot of racism in Italy 40 or 50 years ago, but it was on the part of Northerners against southern Italians "sotto il Po, è Africa"...

Italian migrants to other continents or other European countries were often treated shabilly indeed.

[Deleted]

Even though Berlusconi's conviction appeal still has to go through the supreme court, every judicial hurdle at least continues to keep him out of (most) other michief.