Mimmo Lucano, the Italian “refugee mayor”, has been expelled from his village
Yesterday, Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano, the “Italian mayor who saved his village by welcoming refugees” has been expelled from his village by the Italy’s extreme-right government.
He had been under house arrest since October 2, accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration. Now he faces divieto di dimora, prohibition of residence in Riace.
Only two days ago, Matteo Salvini, the extreme-right Deputy Prime Minister of Italy, has ordered the deportation of over 300 migrants from Riace.
In barely two weeks time, the Italian extreme-right government as good as accomplished the destruction of a project had been running for two decades. But the people of Riace, and their mayor, are not backing down.
Riace, in the deepest South of Calabria — one of the poorest regions in Italy — in the 1990s was a dying village, abandoned by the local Italians, who immigrated to go working in the North of the country, or abroad.
The reinvention of Riace is a unique project that combines the revitalisation of one of those many depopulated villages with hospitality and integration of refugees from all over the world.
Riace has had a long history with welcoming refugees. In 1998, the local population spontaneously welcomed and gave shelter to refugee Kurds arriving at their shores, thus starting a project which repopulated the all-but-dead village.
Then Mimmo Lucano came up with this extraordinary plan: instead of relegating refugees to segregated housing centres, he contacted the Italian emigrants and asked them to open their abandoned homes. Since then, thousands of migrants have passed through the village, and have given new life to Riace. The village school remained open to welcome the new children. The local bar reopened. The locals taught their traditional crafts to the newcomers, and the products of this collaboration are sold in reopened shops — ceramics, carpets, chocolates, hats. The Trattoria Donna Rosa opened its doors.
There are currently living around 500 migrants, refugees and asylum seekers — coming from 20 countries, mainly from Africa — among the total 2300 inhabitants.
Domenico “Mimmo” Lucano — formerly teacher and human rights activist — became mayor of Riace in 2004. Single-handedly he invented this extraordinary plan, now known as the Riace Project all over the world, to save his village.
Lucano won international acclaim with his integration project: among many other international recognitions, in 2010 he came second runner-up in the World Mayor competition World Mayor, and in 2016 he was listed by Fortune as one of the world’s top 50 leaders.
Mimmo Lucano is no stranger to harassment and persecution: in 2009, he was shot at through the windows of the Trattoria Donna Rosa. Later, two of his dogs were poisoned.
He was arrested by the Guardia di Finanza on October 2, and has been under house arrest since then. Yesterday, he was liberated — but at the same time condemned to prohibition of residence in Riace.
From the side of Matteo Salvini, in the meantime, Newspeak abounds. With his usual cynicism, he tweeted: “Who makes mistakes, pays. We cannot tolerate irregularities in the use of public funds, even if there’s an excuse to spend them on immigrants”, and: “Let’s see what all the other do-gooders who want to fill Italy with immigrants will say now.” He also mentions that “the whole of Africa” doesn’t fit into Italy, with a map of a nearly invisible, Calimero-like tiny Italy pasted unto a map of the African continent:
As I said in another article, In Defence of the Vilified Gutmensch, it is always instructive to pay attention to the discourse of the extreme right. Sneering at the buonisti — the do-gooders — and “reminding” them that “all of Africa” wants to embark on our shores — those are clear signs of duckspeak, that simpleminded language of restricted grammar and restricted vocabulary which leads, inevitably, to restricted thinking. Salvini is an ungooder par excellence.
Lucano stands accused of aiding and abetting illegal immigration by setting up fraudulent trash disposal contracts (how very Tony Soprano!) and arranging marriages of convenience. His partner, Tesfahun Lemlem, faces the same charges, and may lose her Italian residency. The evidence for these accusations is, to say the least, flimsy.
Resistance
But the people of Riace, and their mayor, are not backing down. Funding from the Sprar, the governmental Protection System for Asylum Seekers and Refugees, has been blocked. Lucano, together with the associations that support him, is now looking for ways to keep the Riace Project going without the Sprar. Since August, 300.000 Euro in international donations have been collected — signs of solidarity from all over the world. Plans include making the arts and crafts shops and the Trattoria Donna Rosa viable.
Italy’s right-wing populist government has vowed to crack down on immigrants. Obviously, the Riace Project is a thorn in Salvini’s flesh: it disturbs his simpleminded worldview of a clean, white, “normal” Italy of and for Italians — consistently described by Salvini as”gente perbene”, “decent people”.
The others, the refugees and the immigrants, and those that help them, are portrayed as criminals. It’s a simple, straightforward world, that of the badpeople.
Since the Lega has come to power in June, the evolution from Newspeak into racist, discriminatory and repressive political action has been swift. Salvini’s actions against migrant boats are by now notorious.
“Let’s see what all the other do-gooders who want to fill Italy with immigrants will say now,” , he jeers on Twitter. Salvini is, of course, politically motivated. He wants to destroy Mimmo Lucano and his Project, because Riace is the visible, touchable, living proof that another way of treating refugees is, in fact, possible — and has been possible for two decades now.
Already on October 7, there was a rally of some 6000 people in Riace. Demonstrations are going on at this moment all over Italy, and for Saturday, national protest is announced by the Anpi, the National Association of Italian Partisans.
For solidarity with Riace and more info: follow the hashtags #MimmoLucano, #Riacenonsiarresta and #Riace on Twitter, or visit the official page on FB: https://www.facebook.com/iostoconriace/ ”We are all Mimmo Lucano” — Goodpeople of the world, unite!
