Reggio Emilia - May 01 2008. Irregolar work, extreme precariusness, working men’s death: Stop!

We are the women and men who succeed to don’t suffocate in a container on a truck. We are the women and men who did not drown into the sea. We are the women and men who crossed the frontiers in search of a better future.

We are the women and men who work in big cities. We are those who fill the pockets of the illegal part of the economy because for us there is no other possibility to survive. We are obliged to spend a part of our lives lined up in front of the prefecture and now also at the post office. We are the ones who wait at length for the renewal of our residence permits and for our families to join us in this country.
We are those who wait for legal documents from the Embassy and a new law on immigration with higher quotas. We are the mothers who are unable to go and see our children because we do not have a residence permit. We are the masons who work on building sites and are not paid or beaten up when we ask for our salary. We are the peddlers who sell handkerchiefs and cds in parking lots and on the beaches.
We are the women who look after children and elderly people, hired with a part time contract, but we are people who work 24 hours a day. We are those who work as artsans or partners even if in reality we are hired as workers. We are those who accept any kind of work under any condition in order to be able to renew that "piece of paper". We are those that without a permit are unable to have a regular job and therefore we support the illegal work force on which the neoliberal economy is based on,which exploits us on building sites or in agriculture.
We are those who live in constant fear of being deported; B series citizens submitted to a form of slavery thank’s to racist and discrimimatory laws. We are those who contribute to illegal rental contracts living in houses no bigger that 30 square meters with as many as 10 people. We are the "guests" of the C.P.T.
They would like us to be invisible and yet we are men and women who live in Reggio Emilia and have organized ourselves to fight daily for the recognition of the rights which are denied to us. We are tired of working without dignity, we are tired of being considered just numbers and to be constantly afraid of inspections by the labour department which often end in deportation or arrest.

On the 1st of May 2007 we have emerged from beeing invisible(which is what "they" would like us to be) and we have walked the streets of Reggio Emilia. Let us join forces to fight for:

- immediate legalization of all foreigners
  abolition of the Bossi-Fini’s law
  the possibility of having a resudence permit without a job contract.
  access to decent housing and an adeguate salary in order to build our future
  the immediate shut down of all CPTs
  Everyone says no to the prejudice that all foreigners are criminals. Everyone says no to work "off the books". Let’s put a stop to our hard life!

Città Migrante - Reggio Emilia