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Ethnic and Racial Studies
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‘ We are against a multi-ethnic
society’ : policies of exclusion at
the urban level in Italy
Maurizio Ambrosini
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’:
policies of exclusion at the urban level in
Italy
Maurizio Ambrosini
(First submission June 2011; First published December 2012)
Abstract
Local policies for immigrants in recent years have attracted a growing
interest among scholars. It is increasingly accepted that they are distinct
units of analysis in the governance of migration, with significant degrees
of autonomy with regard to national policies. Most of the literature,
however, deals with the inclusive role of local policies. The argument of
this article, on the contrary, is the development of local policies aimed to
exclude migrants from various kinds of benefits and rights. It is based on
a pilot research, conducted in Lombardy (northern Italy), on seventy
cases, referred to forty-seven different local authorities. Then, the
outcome of these policies is analysed: the exclusion of migrants is a tool
to seek political consent, but is also a battlefield, where anti-discrimination institutions, advocacy groups and courts react against the measures
approved by local authorities.
Keywords: Immigration; local policies; exclusion; discrimination; advocacy;
populistic politics.
It is a well-known fact that immigration is a controversial yet priority
topic on the political agenda. It is equally well recognized that the
positions of national governments have hardened, reaffirming the
importance of boundaries (Balibar 2006), entry and residence permits
(Düvell 2006) and integration in the receiving society (Goodman
2010). The terrorist attacks of 11 September 2001 have fostered stricter
policies of control of migrants’ movements, emphasizing both external
and internal controls (Faist 2002; Mitchell 2002). Another well-known
fact is that in many countries the political parties that included the
# 2013 Taylor & Francis
ISSN 0141-9870 print/1466-4356 online
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/01419870.2011.644312
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 137
fight against migration in their key programme points have gained
ground (Swank and Betz 2003; Albertazzi and McDonnell 2008).
The phenomenon of local policies and programmes affected by
xenophobic views is, however, less well explored: the literature tends to
emphasize the inclusive trend of local policies, in spite of the pressure
towards closure in democratic systems (Boswell 2007), even though
some recent contributions from the USA have highlighted the link
between national policies of irregular migrant deportations and local
policies of exclusion (Hagan, Rodriguez and Castro 2011).
I intend to deal with this issue in this article, based on a pilot
research study conducted in Lombardy, the largest region in northern
Italy.
Local policies between inclusion and exclusion
Local policies for immigrants in recent years have attracted a growing
interest among scholars. It is increasingly recognized that they are
distinct units of analysis in the governance of migration, with
significant degrees of autonomy with regard to national policies.
Indeed, not infrequently local policies attempt to compensate for the
limitations and shortcomings of national policies, moving away from
the ‘models’ of the host countries (Alexander 2003). Their importance
also originates from the awareness that many services and resources
that contribute to the integration of immigrants are produced and
delivered locally. Their de facto inclusion in the citizenship system
depends greatly on decisions, organizational processes and ordinary
practices that are developed locally, in the education system, in
housing policies, in assistance to families in difficulty and in employment services.
Usually, however, the research and institutional production on this
topic favour the inclusive horizon of local policies and the positive,
sometimes innovative, role of city governments in promoting new
measures, institutions and projects for the benefit of immigrant
populations (e.g. Penninx et al. 2004; Cities for Local Integration
Policy 2010; United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural
Organization 2010). Alternatively, they are interested in the difficulties
and the obstacles encountered in the implementation of inclusion
policies (Triandafyllidou 2003; Caponio and Pavolini 2007). Less
attention has been paid to the aspect of local policies whose aim is
the exclusion of immigrants, an issue connected, but not coinciding
with, the appearance in the European political situation of new
political formations that have placed the containment of migration at
the centre of their programmes. Even when a ‘paradigm of exclusion’ is
thematized, as in Penninx and Martiniello (2007, p. 47), it is put
forward within a concept of immigrants as temporary guests and the
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138 Maurizio Ambrosini
consequent absence of policies; as noted by Alexander (2003), the cities
considered to be more reticent within the policies of immigrants (in this
case, Rome and Athens) are characterized by a lack of measures for the
integration of immigrants, not by explicit policies of exclusion.
Nevertheless, it is not exactly easy, in democratic regimes that are
sensitive to the value of equality and the protection of human rights, to
propose measures that are openly hostile toward minority groups.
Discriminatory measures therefore in general have to disguise themselves as universalistic, aimed at the protection of general interests: for
example, urban standards, compromised by the presence of annoying
beggars. At other times they are based on reasons of containment and
rationalization of expenditure to justify the exclusion of non-citizens or
new arrivals. At other times they identify urban safety, a goal that meets
with broad approval among the citizen-voters; expressed vaguely, this
issue allows a wide range of prohibitions and expulsion measures to be
introduced. It should be remembered that, in order to renew and revive
city centres, to foster urban tourism and to promote city marketing,
several local governments on both sides of the Atlantic have tried to
expel people seen as undesirable and rather disturbing for residents and
visitors: vagrants, beggars, vendors, drunkards, drug addicts. Some
authors have spoken about a revanchist urban strategy of the dominant
classes against the poor and marginal components of the local
population (Smith 1996; Semprebon forthcoming). In a growing
number of cases, these policies select specific components of the
foreign population, such as residents with an irregular status, or the
Roma minorities.
One of the issues that has most fuelled local conflicts in several
European cities is that of permits to build places of worship for
Muslim minorities. Especially after the attacks of 2001, the climate of
suspicion towards Muslim immigrants resulted in multiple episodes of
protest by citizens’ committees and in the political closure by the
municipal authorities with regard to the building of religious centres,
especially when they take the form of large mosques (Maussen 2009).
The Swiss referendum that banned the construction of minarets
eloquently expresses the symbolic dimension of the conflict: to oppose
the visible transformation of the urban and social landscape, due to
the raising of a symbol of a religion perceived as foreign to local
cultural traditions.
The subject of this article, however, is what we might call the dark
side of local policies: the measures that in various ways target the
exclusion of immigrants as a legitimate and recognized part of the
local community. The field of investigation is northern Italy: the most
prosperous and economically advanced region of the country, which
has attracted over the past two decades the largest number of
immigrants, but also where populist political forces and movements
‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 139
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of opinion have established themselves, making immigration a key
theme in the election campaigns and political agenda. The research
consisted of collecting and analysing a series of ordinances, resolutions
or other acts of democratically elected local government authorities.
Therefore these are not merely political speeches, election posters or
other forms of propaganda; the material considered here consists of
measures designed to affect actual real life, the manner of integration
and the prospects for the future of the people concerned. As we shall
see later, the line between acts of government and political rhetoric,
however, is tenuous and uncertain.
The Italian case: de facto advent and refusal on principle of a multiethnic transformation
Italy, which was until the 1970s a country of emigration, now
accommodates some 5.3 million immigrants, including about 500,000
foreign residents in an irregular situation (Fondazione Ismu 2011). The
growth has been very rapid: over the past seven years, there has been an
average growth of 431,000 units a year, a rate of 12.7 per cent. Only the
recession that occurred in 2008 produced a slowdown. The largest
number of immigrants is concentrated in the northern and central
regions of Italy. At the same time, in the main northern regions
(Lombardy, Veneto, Piedmont) the political formation of the Northern
League (Lega Nord) was created, has emerged and has achieved major
successes; from the beginning it has included defence against immigration among the highlights of its political proposals (Cento Bull 2010).
Wherever there is greater integration of immigrants in the economic
and social structure, there is also stronger political rejection of their
presence (Calavita 2005). This fact shows that the acceptance of the
settlement of foreign immigrants has been reticent and thwarted, amid
fears and disagreements. The demands of the labour market have been
the fundamental basis of legitimacy. Italy has a quota system of entry
for work, which is not just seasonal or highly qualified. But in fact the
main mechanism of the migration policy consists of regularization
programmes: six in twenty-two years, with the last one in 2009. The
same entries allowed under the quota programme are actually used as
disguised regularizations. In other words, the Italian state must
periodically bend its rules in the face of the reality of an economic
system that absorbs many more immigrants than the political system
would like to admit (Ambrosini 2008): it is the Italian version of the
attitude of reluctant importers of foreign workers that characterizes all
developed countries in various ways (Cornelius, Martin and Hollifield
1994). Even if the regularizations are not an exclusively Italian
characteristic (International Centre for Migration Policy Development
2009), what is incontestable is Italy’s primacy in this matter: 1.2 million
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140 Maurizio Ambrosini
immigrants settled by regularizations during 19962008, 300,000
applications made in 2009 (and still under evaluation) and hundreds
of thousands of additional regularizations that are hidden thanks to
decree-flows (the last being in January 2011).
With the complex of small companies of several sectors (construction, catering, cleaning, agriculture, but also small manufacturing
industries, especially in the industrial districts) Italian families as
employers are the main actors in the regularization process. In many
ways, they are involved in hiring unregistered migrants and in
managing the migrants’ underground work, especially that of women,
as they welcome and accommodate them in their homes. The estimates
of the extent of this phenomenon suggest a figure of one million
immigrants, the majority of whom are women, employed in the
domestic sector, especially in the care of children and the elderly: the
latter are mainly employed on a living-in basis (Ambrosini forthcoming). The same families that mostly demand stricter regulations
and tighter controls against immigrants queue up to regularize them
when they work for them.
In the last political elections (spring 2008), issues of security and the
struggle against illegal immigration dominated the campaign and
contributed considerably to the overwhelming victory of the centre
right, which promised ‘no more illegal immigrants on the doorstep’
(Trindafyllidou and Ambrosini 2011). In the two-year period of 2007
8, according to research by Diamanti (2011), the share of Italian
citizens who considered immigrants a threat to security exceeded the
threshold of 50 per cent. According to a comparative analysis of
various surveys in Europe, Italy was the country with the greatest
concerns about immigration, with the issue of security being the
primary point (Valtolina 2010a).
After its victory, the new administration went to work, conferring
responsibility for security and immigration on Mr Maroni, a
representative of the Northern League, who was appointed Minister
of Home Affairs. The Lega Nord dictated the government line in this
matter for the entire period. A series of measures taken or announced
endeavoured to communicate to public opinion the idea of a critical
hardening of the government’s attitude toward immigrants. Protests by
the opposition, humanitarian organizations, the Catholic Church and
some international institutions only confirmed, in the eyes of most
Italians, the seriousness of the new severity exhibited by the government.
On the other hand, the government reigned in workplace inspections, as it did in the struggle against the underground economy,
letting it be understood that in times of crisis it is unwise to put too
much emphasis on regular recruitment.
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 141
This approach met with undeniable domestic success, as was shown
by the regional elections of March 2010, which mainly rewarded the
Lega Nord: the majority of Italians are convinced that it is safer,
approves tougher immigration laws, rallies on the side of local
governments opposing the construction of worship centres for Muslim
immigrants, wants to reserve certain social rights only for Italians and
is happy to limit the rights of immigrants.
The then head of government, Mr. Berlusconi, said: ‘I am against a
multi-ethnic society’.1 It is a feeling widely shared by most of the
population. Valtolina (2010b, p. 167) observes, commenting on the
results of a series of opinion polls:
The demands that strongly emerge from the analysis performed
require immigrants to respect legality; the suspension of privileges
real or hypothetical attributed to immigrants, such as welfare
benefits and access to schools, kindergartens, hospitals and first aid
services; a greater presence of police in cities in order to more easily
ensure order and security in the districts where immigration is
numerically greater; more guarantees of teaching quality in schools,
establishing, for example, a maximum number of immigrant pupils
per class; more supervision on places of worship, and of meeting
places in general, especially for Muslims, to prevent the risk of
attacks.
The citizenship law reflects this vision, making a distinction between
the descendants of Italians who emigrated a long time ago, who are
immediately recognized as citizens; citizens of the European Union
and other developed countries, for whom four years of residency are
required to apply for citizenship; and non-EU immigrants, for whom
ten years of uninterrupted legal residence are required to apply for
citizenship. Applications go through a process that lasts an average of
four years and applicants finally receive a discretionary answer from
the authorities (Ministry of Home Affairs), which in most cases is
negative. For the second generation the path is also not easy. Only
those who are born and have always lived in Italy can achieve almost
automatically the status of citizen, applying after eighteen years of age
and before the age of nineteen. However, the relative ease of complying
with the citizenship by marriage requirements, at least until restrictions were introduced by the current government, has meant that until
2009 naturalizations through marriage each year exceeded those
awarded for length of stay. This created a debate about a ‘familistic’
concept of citizenship (Zincone 2006, p. 157). After the reform of
Greek law in 2010, the Italian law is the most restrictive in Europe 15.
Finally it should be remembered that immigrants are excluded from
the active and passive vote in the local polls, an important finding for
142 Maurizio Ambrosini
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the subject discussed here. Although about one million of them are
unionized workers and, in general, immigrants, including those in an
irregular condition, are defended by a broad range of forces ranging
from the Catholic Church to radical social movements, the lack of
voting rights deprives them of an important resource in the political
game, a resource that has played a prominent role in protecting
internal migrants against the political exploitation of hostility not
unlike that with which their settlement in northern Italy between the
1950s and early 1970s was received (Foot 2003).
The exclusion of immigrants in local policies: the research
The situation described above is the overall context in which the
measures of local policies take form in various ways to combat
the settlement, integration or expression of specific requirements on
the part of immigrants. An institutional aspect that has encouraged
this type of intervention should be added: the new rules, included in
the security package approved in 2008 and strongly demanded by local
authorities, have given more powers to mayors on the issue of urban
safety. The result was a run at full speed to introduce local regulations
that refer to a widespread idea of urban safety, in which aspects of
combating crime are extended to include protection of urban
standards and the repression of behaviours that can disturb or annoy
citizens. This resulted in 788 by-laws, issued between the summer of
2008 and that of 2009 by the 445 municipalities involved, mostly
concentrated in Lombardy, Veneto and Friuli, but also with examples
in a region ruled by a centre-left party such as Emilia-Romagna. The
main areas of intervention focused on prostitution, alcohol abuse,
vandalism and begging. The classification of by-laws can be divided
into three groups (CITTALIA 2009): (1) situational ordinances, aimed
at restoring ‘the safety and decency’ in specific areas of the city or at
certain times (ibidem, p. 37); (2) behavioural ordinances, aimed at
suppressing behaviours considered annoying, indecent, contrary to
good manners; (3) reinforcing ordinances, aimed at strengthening
already existing prohibitions, either directly or indirectly (e.g. punishing behaviours associated with what the authorities want to target;
some by-laws, aimed at illegal street vendors, have banned the
transport of big bags). Many ordinances thus have directly or
indirectly targeted the poorest and most disorderly component of
the immigrant population: those who seek refuge in abandoned
houses, sleep on park benches, consume alcohol in public or beg.
Other ordinances have prohibited gatherings in certain public places,
where immigrants gather, and others have affected economic activities
started by immigrants, especially when they become meeting places
where groups of people congregate and that stay open late. There are
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 143
also interventions that have obstructed the freedom of worship for
Muslims or sanctioned the use of veils that hide their faces.
Our analysis delved into local policy measures related to a limited
regional context, Lombardy. It took into account not only the by-laws,
which are the prerogative of mayors, without any form of mediation
with other political actors, but also other measures, adopted democratically by the local authorities at various levels, from regional
government to city councils.
First of all, I define as local policies of exclusion the measures
adopted by local authorities that aim to separate immigrants from the
indigenous component of the population, by establishing specific,
albeit implicit, indirect or hidden prohibitions against them, setting up
special screening procedures or limiting their access to benefits and
resources of local social policies. These are therefore policies aimed at
marking the boundaries of the legitimate local community, reinforcing
a duality between rightful members (the insiders, coinciding with the
native population or those of Italian nationality) and outsiders, whose
right to residence tends to be redefined in more limited and
conditional forms. Thus, policies of exclusion aim to reassure the
indigenous citizens, the only holders of voting rights, about the
priority of their status compared to that of outsiders, and to
communicate that they are actively defended from the ‘invasion’ of
urban space, by which they feel threatened. At the same time, by
identifying certain groups, urban areas or behaviours as dangerous,
local governments encourage a demand for protection by citizenvoters and represent themselves as guardians of safety, dignity and
social order.
With regard to the research, the goal was to build a framework of
reading, analysis and cataloguing of local government interventions
aimed (mainly) at immigrants. After the approval of the first security
package of 2008, these actions have become particularly frequent and
‘creative’, but it is a phenomenon that started several years earlier.
It was also called a spatial-geographical criterion, narrowing the
field of data collection only to Lombardy in northern Italy. It must be
noted that similar measures were adopted in various regions throughout the Italian peninsula, but certainly the north of the country in
general and the Lombardy region in particular stood out for their high
concentration of cases (at least those detectable according to the
criterion of selection described above). Lombardy is indeed the most
populous and wealthy Italian region, and one that receives the largest
number of foreign immigrants.
Against the local government’s growing inclination to intervene in
this regard, there have been initiatives of reaction from various civil
society actors who have opposed the measures, not only with public
protests (interviews, press releases, demonstrations, information
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144 Maurizio Ambrosini
packs), but also with legal action. The selection criterion for cases
originates from the intersection of these two possible modes of
reaction, and led us to select as relevant cases those measures that
were the subject of organized public protest, which were covered by the
media or, finally, which were brought before a court on a charge of
being discriminatory. Particular mention should go to the Association
of Pro-Bono Lawyers (Avvocati per niente), the protagonist of many
legal battles, and which has provided much of the material analysed
here.
There were therefore two sources for the collection of cases: the
judgments of the courts and the media, particularly the online archives
of newspapers and periodicals. Several episodes have been omitted and
therefore the cases presented have no claim to completeness; but the
goal was to build a classification system that can serve as a guide for
the analysis of such events. In all, seventy episodes have been
considered, referring to forty-seven different local authorities. They
have been catalogued and about half of these are regarded as
particularly significant.
The material collected can be divided into five categories (Table 1).
1. The first concerns the exclusion or limitation of civil rights, which
we can then define as civil exclusion. This is divided into two areas:
a. The first area relates to registration, and therefore the
possibility to reside officially in the territory of a given
municipality. We found numerous cases of the restriction of
this right, usually through the orders of the mayor (referring to
the first security package of 2008 and the extraordinary powers
of mayors in cases of ‘emergency’). On the one hand it can be
seen as a ‘copy and paste’ measure adopted from municipality
to municipality, even after initial steps have been cancelled with
judgments. On the other hand there are cases involving a
particular ‘creativity’ on the part of some mayors:
Table 1 Forms of migrants’ exclusion in local policies, Lombardy, 20082010
Civil exclusion
Social exclusion
Cultural exclusion
Security exclusion
Economic exclusion
Total
n
%
17
25
8
14
6
70
24.3
35.7
11.4
20.0
8.6
100.0
Source: Research of the author, with the collaboration of Patrizio Ponti.
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 145
i. The exclusion of those without a residence permit or EC
permit (Brignano Gera d’Adda).
ii. Request for additional documentation: presentation of an
income tax return to prove the availability of adequate
means of support etc. (Montichiari, Calcinato), certificate
of criminal record (Ospitaletto), entry visa.
iii. Health check and/or ‘decency’ of the dwelling (Brugherio).
iv. A combination of the points above (Castel Mella,
Verolanuova, Villa Carcina, Bassano Bresciano).
b. The second area relates to a combined set of prohibitions and
controls that we can gather under the label of the limitation of
individual freedom:
i. Ban on begging (Barzanò, Lecco, Pavia).
ii. Control of freedom of residence: duty to report to local
police if you rent a home or if you take in a regular
foreign non-EU person (Calcinato).
iii. Permission to marry only with a residence permit and if
able to understand Italian (Caravaggio); inspections in
the homes of newly-weds to ensure healthy conditions
(Cernobbio).
2. The second category consists of the ordinances that exclude
immigrants from receiving certain social benefits, such as financial
contributions for newborn babies. We can speak here of social
exclusion. The different measures are classified below:
a. Contributions for newborn babies: access rules are set, which
may be limited to Italians (Brescia, Palazzago, Tradate,
Morazzone), or to EU citizens and/or those with further
requirements for non-EU citizens, such as a longer period of
residence (Milan, Fagnano Olona).
b. Limitations related to housing policies. These are provisions of
various kinds:
i. Subsidized rent only for Italian or EU citizens (Adro).
ii. Access to public housing stock: the exclusion of foreigners (Alzano Lombardo, Ghedi), or greater constraints in
terms of years of residence (Rodengo Saiano Pagazzano,
Bassano Bresciano).
iii. Student housing: exclusion of foreigners (Province of
Sondrio).
c. The third area includes the provision of financial assistance by
municipalities:
i. For medical expenses (Brignano Gera d’Adda).
ii. For the elderly: excluding foreigners without a residence
card or EC permit (Milan).
iii. Scholarships and awards for degrees: exclusion of foreigners (Ospitaletto, Castel Mella, Chiari, Rodengo Saiano).
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146 Maurizio Ambrosini
iv. Anti-crisis measures for workers who lose their jobs:
exclusion of foreigners (Villa d’Ogna, Castello di Brianza).
d. The fourth and final area is exclusion from other services,
usually through the modification of existing regulations or the
adoption of new regulations of the service. In Milan, the
exclusion of the children of irregular immigrants from nurseries
and nursery schools has been ordered; in Angolo Terme it
concerns the school bus service, with different rates based on
years of residence.
3. A singular but important sector, which could fall into the category
of civil rights, but which seems appropriate to highlight separately
because of its symbolic resonances, concerns opposition to
cultural pluralism. We are therefore talking about cultural
exclusion. We can include in this category:
a. Limitations in the use of other languages: this includes the
obligation to use the Italian language in all public events
(Trezzano, ordinance); the prohibition to use other languages
on shop signs (Milan, Regulation); the removal of Christmas
lights in other languages (Milan, direct intervention of the
town councillor and municipal police).
b. Opposition to the freedom of religion, almost always referring
to the Muslim religion: closing of prayer halls, or prohibiting
their opening, even though this is motivated by the safety
standards of the premises where public events are held, by the
intended use of buildings (e.g. in the case of warehouses,
industrial sheds and the like), and by problems of public order
because of the crowds, etc. Here we can distinguish between:
i. Controls that are formally correct but that go beyond the
‘norm’ on habitability, disabled facilities (toilets meeting
government standards, removal of architectural barriers)
and safety conditions (fire doors, etc.) that lead to
the closure of the place (e.g. the hall of prayer in
Gallarate) or its failure to open (new Islamic centre in
Via Padova, Milan). An unusual case, more symbolic
than anything else: the road that leads to the mosque in
Brescia is closed to traffic on Fridays for one hour (except
for residents), to prevent the flow of the worshippers from
blocking traffic.
ii. Greater restrictions on the definition of places of worship: the Lombardy region has approved the restriction of
law 12 of 2005 that establishes the rules for the opening of
places of worship in the city. At the suggestion of the
Northern League, it has launched more restrictive rules,
which are used to make places of worship more noticeable
than cultural centres, establishing the ban on praying in
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 147
structures that are not devoted specifically for that
purpose, i.e. you cannot pray except in a prayer room.
c. Ban on wearing the burqa, the niqab or other veils that hide the
face in public places (Drezzo, Calolziocorte).
d. Opposition to the expression of other cultural features: this
includes the prohibition of playing the game of cricket in public
parks (Brescia), according to a new regulation that prohibits all
team games and other activities, but whose main goal was to
suppress an activity that is very popular among Pakistani and
Indian immigrants, which produced substantial gatherings on
public holidays.
4. A fourth category covers all of the provisions that refer to
protection of safety and public order, defined as security-exclusion.
They can be divided into three subgroups:
a. First, the repression of irregular immigration, according to
which a number of mayors have assigned themselves the powers
of deploying law enforcement agencies and ordinary citizens.
We can identify therefore:
i. The controls assigned to law enforcement agencies: urban
transport controls with teams of inspectors and police,
accompanied by special buses with bars at the windows
where those who do not have a ticket and documents are
put (Milan), a bonus of t550 for local police officers who
stop an irregular immigrant (Adro); operation ‘White
Christmas’ in Coccaglio, with checks carried out in
private houses.
ii. Appeals for the mobilization of citizens, with the establishment of neighbourhood patrols and district guards
(Lombardy region), toll-free numbers to report the
presence of irregular immigrants (Cantù), appeals to
report irregular migrants using public official communications (San Martino dall’Argine).
b. Ordinances aimed at combating or thwarting the spontaneous
settlement of Roma groups: almost all municipalities have
introduced or reinforced a ban on camping in the municipal
area, while almost none of them have set up equipped parking
areas. Some municipalities, most notably Milan, have implemented dozens of measures for the forced clearance of
unauthorized settlements.
c. Ordinances concerning the use of parks and public spaces: bans
on lying or playing on the grass, on eating in the green areas
(Brescia, Pavia); ban on more than three people sitting on
benches after 11pm (Voghera); ban on night-time gatherings
(Pontoglio); and bans with stronger symbolic connotations: the
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148 Maurizio Ambrosini
obligation for non-Christians to keep a distance of at least 15 m
from a place of Catholic worship (Rovato).
5. In fifth place we find measures that affect the freedom of
entrepreneurship. We are therefore talking about economic
exclusion. In the name of security and urban decorum, some
mayors have imposed early closing times for stores in certain
neighbourhoods, where mainly immigrant shop owners stay open
until late (Milan, Brescia). In other cases, in the name of urban
standards and the protection of local traditions, they have banned
the opening of new kebab shops and ethnic restaurants. In this
category we can identify:
a. A request for more requirements and/or greater controls as
regards the ‘norm’ (without introducing any formal system of
exceptions); the obligation to have two toilets, one for people
with disabilities, and other conditions that apply to phone
centres (Lombardy region, regional law).
b. Restrictions on opening times (Lombardy region, Bergamo,
Milan, Gavardo) and the prohibition on eating a meal on the
streets and sidewalks adjacent to takeaway restaurants. Potentially the ban damages all takeaway businesses in the same way
(even ice cream shops and pizza takeaways), but when the ban
is put into force and relevant measures are taken, i.e. they send
the local police and they issue fines, the intervention typically
and more widely affects kebab shops and similar businesses.
c. Prohibitions on opening new businesses or on relocation:
phone centres (Lombardy region), kebab shops, phone centres
and money transfer centres (Ceriano Laghetto); new businesses
are prohibited in the centre or are moved to the suburbs (both
measures in force in Capriate San Gervasio).
The cycle of exclusion measures
The policies of exclusion, supported by the majority of voters, do not
have an easy path. They encounter opposition from above and below.
From above, the National Office against Racial Discrimination
(UNAR) exercises a right to carry out checks. Although it is
institutionally located within the Presidency of the Council of
Ministers (i.e. the top of executive power) and does not have the
status of an independent authority, it has a degree of autonomy and
the power to take initiatives. The UNAR therefore intervenes in the
most flagrant cases of local measures that are discriminatory, either
directly with the mayors, or turning to the prefects, who represent the
central powers of the state in the territory, and who may demand the
removal or revision of the measures and in some cases may cancel
them. From the bottom, on the other hand, the advocacy coalition of
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 149
social pro-immigrant forces comes into play, which gives rise to
protests and legal battles, often producing positive results. The policies
of exclusion are therefore an arena of controversial and fluid
institutional and political conflict, in which there are actions and
reactions, announcements and denials, sorties, withdrawals and new
attacks.
In this battlefield, a typical cycle of exclusion measures can often be
seen, revealing interesting aspects of the objectives pursued.
The first step is the announcement, sometimes preceded by protests
by citizens, varying degrees of spontaneous mobilizations or episodes
that can motivate action: they are not necessarily local, but they can be
drawn from the national and global debate. For example, many local
prohibitions against the burqa took place in small towns where the
phenomenon had never been experienced.
The enactment of the measure then follows, usually accompanied by
some media clamour and often formulated to grab the attention of
public opinion. For example, in a small town in the Brescia district, a
set of measures against illegal immigration was launched just before
Christmas, called White Christmas. The name that was chosen and its
timing made it a national case.
In the meantime, the protests explode, on the part of opposition
politicians, spokesmen for the advocacy coalition, immigrant organizations, intellectuals and experts. They sometimes organize public
debates, protest actions and demonstrations. The local case rises in the
ranks of the media circuit, becoming a provincial, regional matter,
often reaching the national level. The protests, however minor, almost
always end up inadvertently playing into the hands of the actors of
political exclusion. In fact they confirm, in the public opinion, the
seriousness of the measures introduced, their effectiveness in protecting citizens against the invasion of immigrants and the courage of
local administrators in challenging vibrant oppositions.
Then there are declarations on comment, which often move along a
dual track: in certain locations, for example on television or in the
national press, the mayors state that the measure will not affect
immigrants, but, for example, will protect security and public order,
leading to savings of resources, while combating the deterioration of
certain neighbourhoods or urban areas. In other locations, the mayors
themselves, or political leaders of the parties that support them, have
less hesitation in explaining the true sense of the measures to citizens.
The next step is checking the legal eligibility of the measures
introduced. When they are not disavowed from above, through the
intervention of UNAR or of the prefects, the battle is moved in many
cases to the courts. Pro-immigrant legal groups come onto the scene,
taking the local authorities to court and asking the courts to rule on
the discriminatory nature of the measures, especially in interventions
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150 Maurizio Ambrosini
related to civil rights and social benefits.2 In many cases, they win: the
mayors are forced to withdraw the by-laws or at other times to rewrite
them in constitutionally acceptable forms. At present, however,
the promoters of the policies of exclusion have already achieved the
desired result: they are in the media spotlight, for days filling
newspapers and television news programmes with their statements;
they have shown their voters commitment and determination in
fighting immigration and they have made it clear to immigrants that
in that area they will not have an easy life. If they have finally had to
withdraw the measures, it is not their fault, but it all depends on
inadequate legislation, a politicized judiciary or an opposition elite
that promotes globalization at the expense of the interests of ordinary
people. Sometimes they insist, file an appeal, modify the by-law and
then resubmit it. At other times they change the ordinance. For local
administrators, these measures are profitable low-cost initiatives that
lead to visibility and support from voters.
The political significance of the by-laws against immigrants is
confirmed by the fact that measures already quashed by the courts are
repeated in other municipalities. All ordinances and other measures of
exclusion, including those rejected by judges, are collected and
classified on a special website available to mayors and political
representatives who want to reproduce them.
It should also be noted that many measures that have formally
remained in force, such as those against begging, have in fact all come
to nothing. In other cases, such as those relating to the unauthorized
settlements of Roma populations, evictions are quickly followed by
resettlement a few hundred yards away, in a sad carousel that does not
solve the problem. It is hard to abolish poverty by decree in the
absence of appropriate measures of social policy.
Conclusion: a challenge to democratic societies
The most obvious problem, in the relationship between Italy and its
immigrants, is the growing gap between de facto economic acceptance
and thwarted cultural and political reception. The citizenship law is an
eloquent indicator, and at the same time is a factor that promotes the
political use of immigration in search of consensus: if immigrants do
not vote, their interests in the political game are difficult to protect.
Italy has always stood out from other developed countries for its
unusual practice of including a strong populist and xenophobic party
in the central government and in many local governments in northern
regions and cities, often in top positions. In fact, the Northern League
has imposed its line on the centre-right coalition (Ruzza and Fella
2009; Cento Bull 2010), in which dissonant positions rarely emerge.
The anti-immigrant rhetoric, combined with the emphasis on safety,
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‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 151
has even been a major factor in the electoral successes of the centre
right in recent years.
But it would be a mistake to assume that local policies of exclusion
are a matter concerning only immigrants in Italy. In several parts of
the political European cartography new populist formations are
emerging that enjoy consensus through the political exploitation of
anxieties and fears related to immigration. Even the more traditional
governments and political formations have hardened their positions on
the subject (see e.g. Düvell 2006; Engbersen and Broeders 2009),
driven by the fear, among other things, of losing votes in favour of new
and unscrupulous competitors. The local politics of northern Italy
might therefore not be an exception, but a vanguard of a new and
worrying phenomenon.
The policies of exclusion generally do not achieve the desired effects.
In any case, they have not been very successful in reducing or diverting
the settlement of immigrant populations elsewhere, nor in reducing the
volume of irregular immigration; if anything, the regularization
programme of 2009 was much more effective for the Italian case
(Triandafyllidou and Ambrosini, 2011). In the regulation of immigration on a local scale, the labour and housing markets are much more
important than the orders of the mayors, especially since they are quite
often revoked by the prefects or the courts.
It should also be noted that the cities in Lombardy have many
services for immigrants. Education, health and many social services
welcome a growing number of immigrant users. The observation of
Guiraudon (2002) is also true for northern Italy: the bureaucracy of
welfare services, such as the courts, tends to apply egalitarian and
standardized treatments, both for reasons of principle and for reasons
of administrative efficiency. Stated policies overlap with actual policies
that generally do not actually tend towards the exclusion of
immigrants. In this respect, the Italian case differs from the American
case described by Hagan, Rodriguez and Castro (2011). To cite only
one indicator, there were about 18,000 expulsions from Italy in 2008
and 14,000 in 2009 (Caritas-Migrantes 2010), against 393,000 for the
USA (2009) (Hagan, Rodriguez and Castro 2011): these last figures
are still far away, however, from eradicating irregular migration,
estimated at more than ten million units, with probably about 500,000
newcomers each year.
It would be wrong, however, to reduce Italian local policies to
provincial and folk events. The policies of exclusion are a powerful
rhetorical tool that defines the boundaries of legitimate belonging to
the community, reiterates the opposition between ‘us’ and ‘them’,
identifies immigrants as the villains responsible for the disruption of
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152 Maurizio Ambrosini
social order, urban insecurity, the deterioration of popular neighbourhoods and reductions in the provision of social services. They
strengthen the consent given to local authorities ready to seize upon
the discomfort of citizens and able to give it a political role. They give
tangible content in popular slogans such as ‘masters in our own
homes’. Their rejection strengthens a typical cliché of populist
rhetoric: the conflict between the interests of ordinary people and
that of a globalized and modernizing elite.
This indicates, then, that the democratic barriers against discrimination are fragile and penetrable. Indeed, the supreme democratic
institution, the free vote of the people, can become a weapon of
exclusion, legitimizing programmes that are openly hostile to immigrants, refugees, Roma minorities, religions other than the historical
religion of the majority. Another democratic value, the enhancement
of local autonomy, can be brandished to circumvent or evade the antidiscrimination rules.
Third, policies of exclusion legitimize and fuel other and more
widespread forms of discrimination and intolerance, beginning with
the conduct of public officials. Coming from above, but also from close
by, i.e. the heads of local institutions, policies of exclusion are in a
position to influence, directly or indirectly, discourses, attitudes and
daily practices of citizens. They then have cultural effects that go far
beyond their operational effectiveness.
On the other hand, they are also a magnet for the mobilization of
social forces that are active in civil society, often divided on other
issues but able to converge on the objective of fighting against
discrimination. They confirm therefore that democracies, especially
today, need not only institutions of control (courts of justice, antidiscriminatory authorities), but also vigilant civil societies, and that
immigration is emerging as an increasingly challenging test for the
strength of democratic institutions.
Regarding the study of policies for immigrants, I think that two
ideas have emerged from the research. The first is to help overcome the
canonical distinction between immigration policies, implemented by
the central government, and policies for immigrants, where local
governments come into play. The latter tend to take on, directly or
indirectly, duties of immigration control in their territory. The second
point, on the other hand, refers to a greater focus on the negative
aspect of local policies towards immigrants. The exclusion is not only a
zero on the scale of the activation of local institutions in support of
immigrant populations; it is not simply a lack of will and investments.
It arises as a choice of factual measures that pursue in various ways,
directly or indirectly, explicitly or implicitly, the objective of removing
‘We are against a multi-ethnic society’ 153
or weakening, frightening or making more invisible the presence of
foreign immigrants. While studies are usually conducted in the most
virtuous cities, and those that are more willing to be analysed, in order
to understand how Europe is treating its immigrants we need to pay
more attention to cities at the opposite end of the spectrum.
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Acknowledgements
Patrizio Ponti has collaborated with me for the retrieval and analysis
of empirical materials. I also thank the pro bono Association Avvocati
per niente, which provided much of the information relating to cases
here considered.
Notes
1. Taken from Corriere della Sera, the main Italian newspaper, 10 May, 2009.
2. In addition to the Avvocati per niente, it is worth mentioning the advocacy activity of
the Foundation Piccini of Brescia, in cooperation with Associazione di Studi Giuridici
sull’Immigrazione (Association of Law Studies on Immigration, ASGI): they send warning
letters to the mayors, and if necessary, they go to courts (Usai 2011).
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MAURIZIO AMBROSINI is Professor of Sociology of Migrations at
the University of Milan, Department of Social and Political Studies.
ADDRESS: Department of Social and Political Studies, University
of Milan, via Conservatorio 7, 20122 Milan, Italy.
E-mail: maurizio.ambrosini@unimi.it