Word: rosarno
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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...
...Still, as the Rosarno riots illustrate, the immigrants are far from accepted by most Italians. Shootings like the ones that sparked the unrest are not uncommon. "We used to learn how to use our guns down there by shooting at dogs," says Saviano, who was brought up in the Naples area. "Now the 14-year-olds shoot at immigrants. It can look like kids fooling around, but it's not; it's target practice." The town's African population responded by burning cars and smashing shop windows, prompting retaliatory attacks by white residents. It was the fourth outbreak of violence...
...workers are becoming a burden," Saviano says. Authorities have also turned a blind eye to their problems. Rather than increase social services or workplace regulations, Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's administration has taken an increasingly popular anti-immigrant stance. About 1,000 of the African migrants in Rosarno were carted off to detention centers after the violence - some at their own request, the government says. Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, a member of the anti-immigrant Northern League party, said that "too much tolerance" had caused the unrest...
...they're racist, but it would be hard to find a dark-skinned resident who agrees. "We're creating a group of people who are heavily marginalized and will react the way that marginalized people react," says Sciortino. If the country wants to avoid clashes like the one in Rosarno, it will have to shift its efforts from keeping immigrants out to finding a way to fit them...