1) Spain – UTG and Immigration Forum report of the difficulties seasonal workers have in finding accommodation
2) Rumania – Chants and banners against Roma citizens
3) Gradisca (Go) – Against co-operative Minerva: new manager of the detention centre
4) Caltanissetta – Migrants escape from the detention centre
5) Bologna – Petition for the right to vote to foreign citizens
1) Spain – UTG and Immigration Forum report of the difficulties seasonal workers have in finding accommodation
”Landlords hardly rent flats to migrants, for they are conditioned by prejudice”, Zakaria Zaidi, UTG, declares.
Immigration Forum agrees with this statement and reports that migrants are asked higher rents, in order to persuade them from renting the house. They are often asked about 300 Euro each room and they then need to share rooms with many others.
Zakaria Zaidi also states: “There’s no integration when migrants are denied a fundamental right such housing. This fact is the cause of exclusion”. The same Zaidi is asking administrations to take care of this problem otherwise associations will defer the problem to court.
2) Rumania – Chants and banners against Roma citizens
Racism has become a problem to Rumania and it entered soccer fields. According to Valeriu Nicolae, European Roma Information Office: ”Rumanian football players are not fighting racism, they encourage discrimination in stadiums”
Nicolae also declared that he keeps receiving e-mails and phone calls that try to threaten him”.
If you wish to deepen this issue, you can read the whole interview in Italian [ Melting Pot ]
3) Gradisca (Go) – Against co-operative Minerva: new manager of the detention centre
Twelve councils (all left-wing ones) have in the last years worked with co-operative Minerva, which is set in Sagrado d’Isonzo. Mr Alessandro Metz, regional councillor – Greens, wrote to all of them and he asked them to stop contracting Minerva. Mr Metz has recently declared: ”Minerva secretly run for the management of the detention centre and by winning the contract it betrayed the territory where the co-operative actually works. Administrations have to push the co-operative to quit the management of the detention centre. If Minerva does not do this, we are asking all councils to change the contracts they have with this firm. This would simply be constant with the declarations of opposition to the opening of the centre in this region”
4) Caltanissetta – Migrants escape from the detention centre
Sunday, January 29th eight Iraqi and Palestinian migrant citizens manage to flee away from Pian del Lago, a detention centre near Caltanissetta. They were detained because the new rules for the enforcement of Bossi-Fini law provide for the detention of asylum seekers as well. They made the jump out of the barbwire, police them caught seven of them back to the centre.
5) Bologna – Petition for the right to vote to foreign citizens
Today, February 2nd, a petition is to be presented. The petition aims to collect signatures for the enlargement of the right to vote to foreign citizens and to students in town.
The petition says: “We have started working on a new idea of citizenship in the town of Bologna. We believe that foreign citizens should be allowed to vote to administrative election, the right to vote is in fact the first symbol of citizenship. Allowing foreigners to vote to local elections would demolish borders in town! Divisions among citizens do not help integration and communication, divisions help exclusion and they increase the social crisis that our town is going through.”
The committee that promotes the petition worked on two initiatives: the first one to allow foreigners and students to vote, in case 2,000 citizens sign the petition within three months, the Council will be obliged to discuss the issue.
