Only days before the summit of the major powers (Britain, Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, the United States and Russia) is set to convene, a new, extremely authoritarian security law will come into effect in Italy, directed primarily against undocumented immigrants...
The law makes “illegal immigration” a criminal offence, punishable by fines of between €5,000 and €10,000. Immigrants without valid papers can be held for up to six months in deportation camps. Under the previous law, the maximum period of detention was two months. In future, a residency permit will cost two and a half times as much as the former fee—i.e., €200, instead of €80.
The law allows municipalities to maintain their own private, nighttime vigilante patrols. It also mandates teachers and health personnel to denounce undocumented immigrants to the authorities. Landlords, who rent lodgings to immigrants without valid documents, risk prison terms of up to three years...
The current concentration on the sex affairs of the head of government only serves to divert attention from the acute economic problems and social conflicts plaguing the country.
Such patrols, which Berlusconi legalised in February by decree, are already commonplace in a number of eastern European countries, notably Hungary. The most backward social elements are given uniforms and weapons, and sent onto the streets in order to “preserve law and order.”
In Italy, the patrols are currently allowed to wear uniforms, but not to carry weapons. Leaders of the Democratic Party (which emerged from the Italian Communist Party) try to present the new measure as entirely harmless. They maintain that the so-called Ronde—the volunteer patrols in the city’s suburbs—have the task primarily of prettifying cities by removing graffiti or clearing up garbage in the parks.
Milan’s city administration, run by the right, freed up €250 million for the volunteer patrols. The city has thus gone further than the national government, which has not envisaged official financial sponsorship for the patrols.
The attacks on basic democratic rights go hand in hand with the assault on the living standards of the entire working class. Social polarisation is particularly pronounced in Italy. The country has the fourth-highest number of millionaires in the world, while poverty is increasing rapidly. Wages and salaries have been stagnating for years and are amongst the lowest in western Europe; the cost of living—gasoline prices, food, rents—is increasing dramatically.
According to a report produced by the Italian Statistical Office, seven and a half million Italians officially lived in poverty in 2008—i.e., 13 percent of the population. This figure appeared before the worldwide financial crisis, and current poverty levels are undoubtedly significantly higher.
http://www.wsws.org/articles/2009/jul2009/ital-j08.shtmlshades of the 30s
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