Word: calabria
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Riots in the southern region of Calabria exposed deep conflicts over race and immigration in Italy. A Jan. 7 attack on African residents sparked clashes in the town of Rosarno that left more than 50 people hurt, including migrant workers, native Italians and police. Opposition leader Pier Luigi Bersani blamed the melee on "Mafia, exploitation, xenophobia and racism," while Interior Minister Roberto Maroni said Italians had been too tolerant of illegal immigration. Hundreds of immigrants were evacuated and more than 10 suspected mafiosi arrested...
...riots in Rosarno, which reportedly began after three Italian teenagers fired air rifles at two African immigrants, unsettled a nation that prides itself on its bella figura - the beautiful image. About 2,500 migrants live in the Rosarno valley in the southern Calabria region, moving with the seasonal agricultural jobs. Many have political asylum or are otherwise legally in Italy, but legal or not, the migrants are managed by a Mafia-run employment system, the caporalato, that operates like a 21st century chain gang. Saviano says that those who object to low wages or poor working conditions are simply eliminated...
...labor, they create this atmosphere of tolerance," Saviano says. "They actually live better down there than in Milan. They are treated and paid like slaves, but the human relationships are warmer than those you would find in Milan. Africans say the Italian girls look them in the eyes in Calabria, while in the north they wouldn't." (See pictures of migrants being forced out in France...
...region of Calabria, where Rosarno is located, makes up the toe of Italy's boot. Seasonal migrants - mostly from Africa and Eastern Europe - have long been employed to work in the citrus orchards there. The hours are long, and the wages average less than $30 a day. When Fabrizio Gatti, a journalist for the Italian newsweekly L'Espresso, posed as a migrant worker in 2006, he uncovered a world where beatings were common and exploitation was rife. "You have no contract - no rights," Gatti says. "So if they don't pay you, you cannot go to the police...
...Just in the past two days, in separate operations, police have made dozens of arrests on drug-trafficking charges in Calabria and Milan. Though no arrests were made in connection with the Café de Paris operation, Colonel Daniele Galimberti of the Carabinieri investigative unit says that following the money trail is a key to breaking the organization, which is largely protected by a widespread vow of silence. "They are more and more diversified," says Galimberti. "Confiscating property is one way to get them to talk." (See pictures of the dangers of printing money...