"We don't want a multi-ethnic Italy" says Berlusconi

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/10/silvio-berlusconi-italy-immigrants-libya



We don't want multi-ethnic Italy, says Silvio Berlusconi



The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, has defended his government's decision to return migrants found off its shores to Libya by declaring that his party rejected the idea of a "multi-ethnic" Italy.

His remark prompted an outcry from opposition politicians, already indignant at his refusal to condemn an ally in Milan who last week proposed that seats and carriages on local public transport be reserved for native Italians.

Immigrants account for an estimated 7% of the population in Italy. Piero Fassino, a leading opposition politician, said: "Without immigrants, Italy's productive system would have serious gaps."

Berlusconi made his comment after denying claims that Italy violated international law last week when its navy returned to Libya more than 200 "boat people" trying to enter Italian waters.

The UN's refugee agency said the action deprived refugees of the opportunity to plead for asylum.

Berlusconi claimed the left had "opened the doors" to clandestine migrants. "So the left's idea was, and is, that of a multi-ethnic Italy," he said. "Our idea is not like that."

...and in many ways, there still isn't one.

His "Italy" is as artificial a construct as Karl Rove's "America".

Even Germany and Belgium were apparently more complicit in colonializing 3rd world countries.

I think it s a black/white issue myself. Not a question whether Italians were pretty much ethnically the same before they became one country.

I mean, Dante Alighieri established the "correct" Italian language a VERY long time ago, even tho that "language" was Etruscan dialect. Every region in Italy has its own dialect even now, of course.

having said that, Berlusconi is an idiot...

Can someone tell me why this guy is a friend of the US?

"italy must remain a milky white country"

Don't think it will work though. He enjoyed a rise in popularity during the srping after responding well to that earthquake, and also because Italian banks had been relatively conservative in recent years (and thus, aren't falling apart at the seams due to the bad economy)...but he's in a downward spiral right now. Berlusconi is very like Bush, only richer and better-looking. He's managed to come to power because Italy has a decades long history of weak coalitions and political infighting, and Berlusconi is pretty charismatic and has been relatively consistent since first coming to power in the 90s. Of course, it helps him that he owns almost half of Italy's media - literally: 2 of the 4 big TV stations, one of the country's 2 major news magazines, one of the 4 daily newspapers, and a lot of radio.

What century are we living in?