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Welcome ‘in’. Left-wing Tuscany and Romani migrants (1987–2007)

2011; Routledge; Volume: 16; Issue: 5 Linguagem: Inglês

10.1080/1354571x.2011.622469

1469-9583

Giovanni Picker,

Romani and Gypsy Studies

Abstract Abstract Although the Italian left was one of the largest popular movements for social change in Western Europe, at the end of the 1980s the Tuscan left-wing regional council imposed the construction of fenced camps for Romani immigrants supposedly in order to give Roma the possibility of developing their own traditional habits. By contextualizing the local political context within the post-1989 changes of left-wing politics vis-à-vis migrants in Italy, the paper discusses the rationale behind the construction of nomad camps. It examines the texts of the first two regional laws addressing Roma – passed in 1988 and 1995. It then compares that analysis with the ethnographic data collected in 2007 and 2008. In the conclusion it is put forward that the conditions of material and symbolic segregation that have been affecting Roma in Florence for more than twenty years are a consequence of specific culture-based strategies adopted by policy makers. Keywords: Roma migrationItalian LeftTuscan politicspolitical anthropology Acknowledgements I am thankful to Sig.ra Tramutola and Sig.ra Valentini, whose work in the Regional council archives has been of great help. Notes Fieldwork was conducted in the context of my Ph.D. dissertation (July 2009), titled 'Romani/Gypsy groupings in the making. A comparative study of ethnicity and citizenship between 'Eastern' and 'Western' Europe. The cases of Florence, Cluj-Napoca and Pescara', Department of Sociology, University of Milan-Bicocca,. Although highly interdisciplinary, my dissertation as well as this article theoretically and methodologically draw on anthropological sources. See in particular the two pacts signed in May 2007 by the Ministry of Interior and the mayor of the two largest Italian cities, Milan (Patto per Milano sicura) and Rome (Patto per Roma sicura). Texts of the pacts are available online at: http://www.prefettura.milano.it/varie/prot/patto20070518.pdf and at http://www.interno.it/mininterno/export/sites/default/it/assets/files/13/2007_05_18_Patto_per_Roma_sicura.pdf [Accessed 13 June 2010]. The PCI was also turned into Partito della Rifondazione Comunista (Party of Communist Refoundation), and two other left-wing parties were created – I Verdi (The Greens) and La Rete (The Net). With the 1989 geo-political changes, the Italian political landscape went through significant transformation, in a moment in which the state stopped being the main social and political and ideological context for people's lives (see Diamanti 1999 Diamanti, I. 1999. 'Ha ancora senso discutere di nazione?'. Rassegna italiana di Sociologia, 40(2): 293–321. [Google Scholar]). In Italy Roma are not recognized as a national minority. Laws concerning Roma were passed by several Regional councils, which promoted the construction of various kinds of camps. These have been established in Veneto (1984); Lazio (1985); the autonomous province of Trento (1985); Sardinia (1988); Friuli Venezia Giulia (1988); Emilia Romagna (1988); Tuscany (1988) and several other regions as well. In Bologna (1994–1995), Mayor Walter Vitali; in Rome (1997–2000), Mayor Francesco Rutelli; in Florence (1995–1997), Mayor Mario Primicerio. In 1993 the first national law for the direct election of mayors by the city population passed; this can provide some evidence of the political affiliation of the majority of each urban population at the time. Municipality of Florence, Ordinanza 2631, dated 13 October 1987. The text of the Law is available online at: http://www.rete.toscana.it/ius/ns-leggi/?MIval=pagina_2&ANNO=1988&TESTO=NIENTE&TITOLO=NIENTE&MATERIA=512&ANNO1=2007&NUMERO=17&YEAR=1988 [Accessed 13 June 2010]. An in-depth analysis of ON activities and ideological references is beyond the scope of this paper. However, it can be argued that ON's main political and ideological affiliations were with the Left. Municipality of Florence. Ordinanza 3529, 9 November 1991. Founded in 1982 by Giovanni Michelucci, a prominent Florentine architect and intellectual, the foundation has always been at the foreground as policy consultant for issues concerning urban planning, with a focus on socially marginalized places such as prisons or indeed nomad camps. Romani culture is described in the document in terms of several typical characteristics, such as a peculiar understanding of time; stealing not being perceived as immoral; and a general flexibility of lifestyle. Accordingly, the research puts forward several settlement solutions (soluzioni abitative) as alternatives to the existing nomad camps.