The legal framework regarding administrative arrest, which has been already seriously restricted, failed its purpose with the recent events in Lampedusa. Lots of migrants have been confined for months out of any legitimacy in the CPAS complex, a place where to spend at most 48 hours. Then a decree (not public yet) has intervened to modify the characteristics of the complex: from a first aid place it become a detention centre (today CIE). But all this was not enough.
The road to Lampedusa…
The solution find for Lampedusa, which is getting much more heavier the legal framework, seems to be admitted in the actual context as an emergency legislation procedure.
Therefore the Council of Ministers thought to insert a further article within the thirteen articles which compose the decree, extending the detention period in the CIE (Identification and Expulsion Centers) from 60 days to 6 months. The new decree contains exactly outstanding security measures, which were introduced because of the recurrent sexual violence news over the last weeks.
The rule, which was contained in the original formulation of the bill of law 733, i.e. security law, was rejected by the Senate. The text taken into consideration spoke about a detention period up to 18 months.
It is hard to imagine that the decree is going to pass, considering that the Senate had already rejected it. Therefore the new formulation orders the detention for six months “only”. An eternity however, considering that the persons who are confined in the CIE have to face imprisonment without a process and with no judicial authority ordering it, for the reason that a rule representing an administrative violation has been broken (although the security law orders the introduction of the criminal offence which is an administrative fine between 5 and 10 thousand euro).
The Viminale, through Minister Marroni, has already announced its intention to present again the amendment, which has already been rejected by the Senate, for the vote of the House of Commons. However the circumstances of the new “anti-rape” decree allowed to get around the parliamentary discussion. After the publication of the text on the Official Journal, the rule becomes effective. Within 60 days the Parliament has to convert it into law, otherwise this faculty expires. However the rule is producing its effects straightaway.
What is the connection between detention or expulsion and the rapes anyway? Almost none, as the sexual brutalities of the recent times involve Romanian citizens, therefore European Community citizens, on the first place.
What is being defined is rather the new order of the administrative detention, also thanks to the opportunities that the European directive concerning repatriation is offering, up against an economic and global crisis which is remodeling the connection up to now inseparable between migratory movements, utility for the labour market, exploitation under different ways of the legal or illegal migrants.
There are two trends which appear to exist behind this new scenery. The first one has always considered the detention and the camp form a flexible device to govern the workforce; the second one on the other hand, behind the impossibility of giving answers to an unprecedented crisis, has chosen to play around the migrants’ figure its recovery of the legality governance.
In this scenery the Lega Nord is obviously playing a central role. The autonomist, nationalist and federalist forces, that widespread and often also positive whish for self-government of the territories are intent to take their revenge on the scenery dominated by centralism, the lack of funds for municipalities, decisions imposed by the headquarters on the local communities. Therefore the Carroccio (symbol of the party Lega Nord) once the challenge regarding the territorial government is being abandoned, is becoming the State and is trying to consolidate the basis of its legitimacy around “foreign” ‘s matter.
The collective expulsion operations of the Tunisian citizens which have been announced over the past few days and accelerated after the decline of the Alcatraz project into Lampedusa, are useful to gather consent. This is the symbolic function of the CPT – but still ruthless- to be in the game.
Riding the crest of this wave is an exercise extremely dangerous and not void of “collateral effects”. If it is true that today in the middle of the crisis the racism finds easily the land where to crawl, it is less sure that denying the health care to the irregular immigrants, rising the renewal fee up to 200 euro, introducing the stay permit on points, or extending the detention period, cannot open other doors.
At this point the scenery is still open, dramatically ambivalent and uncertain.
In front of us we have few certainties and only approximate forecast possibilities. For this reason we choose to ask some questions concerning this matter.
Is the crisis, which expels the migrants out of the labour market, leads to the impossibility of renewing the stay permit if there is no income and therefore consigns – and will increasingly consign – thousands of people to the irregularity, going to be solved by deportations and mass expulsions which until now, since the law Bossi-Fini has been into force, have just been utterances?
Extending the detention period doesn’t also mean governing, through the confinement, the flexibility of undeclared employment market, the workforce that the crisis transforms into redundancy?
Confining for six months thousands of people (maybe in the inhumane conditions of Lampedusa) doesn’t also mean enhancing hotbeds of disorders that have always involved the complex and that today are risking to become simply obvious and systematic in front of this kind of custodial conjecture?
The answers, the confirmations, positive or negative, are related to the social process that the crisis activated in this period. Is the future going to make us face ambitious battles such as the ones of the inhabitants of the Lampedusa island or rather barbaric and violent facts such as the ones of Guidonia and Nettuno? Moreover, will the migrants know how to collaborate and significantly stand on their rights and freedom or is there the risk that the recent general barbarization on this matters to introduce a dangerous process of identity closing? Probably in front of us there is a scenery with positive and negative forces that will lead to a new future.
One aspect is certain. Our society in crisis doesn’t need racism and discrimination as a way to make the State and gain consent.
The match is still playing. The game is up for grabs. Let’s play it!
Nicola Grigion, Progetto Melting Pot Europa
Translated by Mihaela Oprea
– Prolungamento dei tempi di detenzione – La forma campo come governo flessibile dell’esubero
– Respingimenti “differiti” e detenzione arbitraria
– Lampedusa – Il lager in fiamme
– Lampedusa – Gli abitanti non staranno a guardare