Immigration & Integration ⁄ Open Migration

Bergamo and the Seriana Valley, the solidarity of foreign communities in the Covid emergency

May 21, 2020 - Ilaria Romano

Three communities from three different corners of the globe, three different religious creeds, three different cultures, united by the health emergency that has affected the country where they have decided to live. Ilaria Romano tells us about the sympathetic response of foreign communities from the Seriana Valley - Bergamo.

Rome: the invisibles of Piazzale Spadolini

May 7, 2020 - Serena Chiodo

Piazzale Spadolini was an empty space, then it was turned into a parking lot in 2011, when the railway station was renovated. It is now a hub for those travelling on the underground or trains, who leave their cars parked there. The area was isolated even before the Covid-19 emergency, and it is practically invisible now: much like those living there, at least for institutions. Serena Chiodo and Valerio Muscella visited the people who are forced to take shelter around Tiburtina railway station and the volunteers who help them.

The agriculture emergency in Italy: three proposals to solve the crisis and protect everyone’s rights

April 23, 2020 - Sara Manisera and Janos Chiala

During the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, much was said about “essential workers”, meaning those people whose job cannot be halted without serious repercussions on society. This category includes farm labourers, the invisible people who, often times exploited, work in Italian farmlands to ensure an uninterrupted supply of fruit and vegetables. Sara Manisera and Janos Chiala, from the Taurianova ghetto, explain how this crisis could be solved protecting everyone’s rights.

Regularisation of migrants. One step forward, but much more could be done

May 18, 2020 - Andrea Oleandri

The impression that many gathered from the proposed measures to regularise foreign workers is that it they are targeting more “us” and our needs (fruit and vegetables that risk staying unpicked in the crops, the elderly and the sick who will need assistance when the people they live with go back to work), than “them” and their right to dignity. It is one step forward, that is for sure, but with how many missed opportunities? Andrea Oleandri analyses them.

Coronavirus in reception centres, between lack of space and fear of infection

June 5, 2020 - Romina Vinci

In Airuno, the spotlight was turned on roughly three weeks ago, when the guests in a reception centre held a peaceful protest. The straw that broke the camel’s back was the arrival of an ambulance that took one of them to the hospital and the following diagnosis: it was a case of Covid-19. Romina Vinci tells us how the pandemic is managed in dorms of 5, 6 or even 8 people.

Migrants’ detention will not stop with the pandemic

May 27, 2020 - Giacomo Zandonini

Detention of irregular migrants is still the main instrument used to track down and repatriate unwelcome people, even when - like during a pandemic - this is not allowed. Giacomo Zandonini tells us how the Coronavirus emergency in Europe is leaving migrants’ detention unchanged.

The shadows of the Portugal’s migration model

May 8, 2020 - Giacomo Zandonini

The news that Portugal has extended a series of benefits to migrants waiting for regularisation in response to the coronavirus pandemic, has travelled around the world. But even if thousands of people, amongst the most precarious and vulnerable in the country, will be better protected thanks to the new measures, in force until June 30th, “it is untrue to argue that now all irregular migrants will have access to the same rights as the citizens”. Giacomo Zandonini helps us to understand why.

Immigration & Integration