A short primer to growing anti-immigrantion sentiments in Italy

Italians with their long emigration history have often considered, and been considered, by themselves and neighboring Europeans countries to be ‘immune’ from the institutionalized racism experienced our other countries. That might have been the case initially when the influx of non-European immigrants first began to pick up 2 decades ago. But this ‘social tolerance’ has quickly vanished in recent years in light of emerging far-right regionalist and conservative political parties such as the Lega Nord which has seen new explicit and virulent propaganda against the alleged threat of the immigrants. Similarly, Berlusconi - in his attempt to consolidate the already weak plurality he commands in the parliament (45.7%) - has further tightened the border in order to appease the growing far-right constituency of his coalition. Other background factors that have attributed to these growing anti-immigrant sentiments include:

1.) An average influx increase of 11.4% between 1996-2000.

2.) The country has suffered since the adoption of its early modern constitution in post-WW2 from the unclear and underdeveloped immigration and settlement policies with ineffective public administration dealing with the management of immigrant integrations

3.) The idea of immigrant as a ‘problem’ is easy to manufacture in the face of general social and economic insecurity and stagnation. Therefore, immigrants in Italy, like most other countries, became easy scapegoats on a variety of issues:

a. Security threat (Often in the form of poorly evidenced
association between criminality and immigrants-concentrated neighborhoods)

b. Threat to jobs (destabilization of labour market even though immigrants mostly take positions that the Italian labour force already eschew)

c. A threat to cultural and religious identity (a general unpleasant attitude towards non-European and non-Caucasian immigrants often reinforced by the Roman Catholic church by using ambiguous terminologies such as “cultural conflict” in lieu of outright racial or religious discrimination)

Videocracy

To liken Berlusconi's control of the media as identical to the propaganda machine of Hitler's fascist Germany would be overly hyperbolic and only render easy dismissal from skeptics. But that being said, it would be fair to say that he does have a hand in steering the direction of his stations quite similar to the effect of Ruper Murdoch in FOX. Both have quite brazenly stated their intentions to use the power of their influence over the media to realize their utopic vision of societies. But before I povide more precise elaboration on the Italian media's general xenophobic, homophobic and sexist bias, I thought I'd share this trailer I discovered on a documentary exploring Berlusconian media.

Videocracy is the power of the image over society.

The review says,

In Italy, for thirty odd years, the image has been controlled by one man. TV-magnate and Presidente Silvio Berlusconi has influenced the content of commercial television in a way never before done in Italy. His TV-channels, with their young skimpy-clad girls, are seen by many to mirror his own taste and personality.

In Videocracy, Italian-born director Erik Gandini portrays the consequences of a TV-experiment that Italians have been subjected to for 30 years. Gaining unique access to the most powerful media spheres, he unveils a remarkable story, born out of the scary reality of ”TV-Republic” Italy.

Raw Data on Immigration in Italy

913 words over the limit.

2913 words in total so far, and the limit is 2000. Still extremely rough. Here's something Mark sent me, not sure if we can get it into the article:

What we're listening to:

Since I'm dealing with some very esoteric concepts, I've decided to listen to some of Melvyn Bragg's podcasts to get an introduction to the topics. In Our Time is a great resource.

Architecture in the 20th Century
Architecture and Power
Time
Memory
Memory (2)

And two on Proust and Chaos theory, to which I can't find a link.

Abstract (accepted)

Our abstract was accepted by Conditions Magazine. Here it is below, although I've been reluctant to post it because, to be honest, I'm not that happy with it. I struggled to try and include how the article was to be constructed around a metaphor of time (history, memory, temporal flows, rhythms of the city) and how this informs collective identity, but was unable to do it.

Anyway, here's our abstract:

Global flows and Local identity:
the Contradiction of Collective Value

Beyond the idea of material or monetary value, the question of architecture engaging in a qualitative notion of value confronts a contemporary paradox. The modern notion of value as the ideals, customs and principles of the collective rejects the notion of an external or objective system. Value derives its meaning from its societal context, yet the contemporary city is defined more than ever by forces that lie beyond it. While it has always been the case that the city is a field of struggle between the those that control the city, those that use the city, and those that appropriate the city, today it is further stressed by transnational forces that contradict any conventional notions of collective society and collective values. The space of the city, the rhythms of its spatial forms, its voids, its typology, form, ornament and image that mediate the processes of the city comprise the identity of its collective. Urban space is more than just a receiver of societal values; it is a conduit that transmits them as well. It is clear then that architecture is a participant in this conflict, constructing collective spaces that exist in tension with the city’s collective values; the question is whether it is active or passive participant.

Through the account of my four month academic exchange in the city of Rome, from my travels through Italy to my arrest at the Sistine Chapel, I was exposed to the informal and formal transnational flows that define modern Italy, and the corresponding policing of urban space that followed. This text examines the relationship between the state-engineered values of the city and the global flows that threaten it and looks at architectural methods of reflecting legitimate cultural values of modern Rome.

There is a critical need to understand Rome beyond the image presented by the state, through new and existing research, photographs, mapping exercises, and architectural projects the text reveals this complex, and multi-polar urbanism that lies beyond its state representation.

Finished Outline

I had to rewrite part three, but it's done. Now we just have to collect some data, and bang out that abstract. (Due February 12!)

Part 3. The Production of Added Value through Image Disruption

• Within a sociological interpretation of value, the production of added value engages the built environment in the construction of an image of the city, that looks beyond a quantitative notion of the city, towards a qualitative one
• Architecture interventions have an opportunity to disrupt the visual complicity of conventional urban processes by portraying “the complexities of urban reality and socio-cultural and economic characters of urbanised nations”
• creating in opposition what Stefano Boeri has called, ‘geopolitics of multiple identities’
• However the use of image is simply the most tangible manifestation of intangible qualities of the city, that is its collective : memory, identity and values
• The analysis of the city requires a semiological understanding of the city. As Lefebvre has written, one consumes signs as well as objects, and the city receives and emits messages, in multiple dimensions (115, Lefebvre). Typology, form and ornament constrain and define the social processes that occur within it, but beyond this they define the collective image and memory of the city and thus engage beyond physical space to the space of imagination
• The image is the sign, and thus belies more than the built environment expressed as spatial permanences, it is indicative of also the temporal processes of the city
• The rhythms of everyday life within the city is circumscribed within broader flows of economy, social relations mediated by built structures and institutions but transcend the scale of the city to regional, national and global scales and inter-urban connections.
• The city is in fact circumscribed within a broader ecologies both natural and artificial of temporal forces and thus exists as a spatio-temporal entity
• Image and reflections of the collective defined by complexity, multiplicity and elusiveness
• The postmodern city is defined in a word by difference, which would seem to inherently reject any notion of a collective identity, memory or value
• Beyond the simplified images crafted by the state, is it possible to create an image that can legitimately reflect and accommodate the global flows for new rhythms of urban life?
• while respecting old identity and fulfilling requirements of the assignments?

Part 4. Subversive Intervention

• This problem at the crossroads of culture and space can benefit from architectural thinking
• looking for ways in order to diffuse difference within patriarchal networks that intend to preserve the status quo
• Examples: Boeri’s Multiplicity, Markus Miessen’s safe injection sites at King’s Cross Station, and Koolhaas’s attempts to place homeless shelters in the Seattle Public Library
• This projects uses the redevelopment of Termini Train station to construct additional infrastructure that accommodates subversive global flows
• subverts state engineered idea of identity within neoliberal logic of marketizing public space