 |
|
Demonstration before Milan’s Central Cathedral (Rai2©)
|
As a consequence of Gaza Massacre, it is necessary to show Muslims' reactions all over Europe. Italy, where Muslims constitute approximately 1.2 million people of the total population, is one of the European countries that has witnessed various types of Muslim reactions. The long-awaited program Anno Zero or "Zero Year" at the Rai 2 channel, anchored by the famous Italian journalist Michele Santoro, was aired on Thursday, January 15, 2009.
The program, which came after very questionable coverage by the Italian media about the situation in Gaza over the last two weeks, intended to present, in a strong and provocative manner, the Gazan tragedy to the Italians.
The Rai 2 program showed videos reporting images of death, cries, shouts, and sufferings, thereby dismayed and wrenched the hearts of the Italian public for two hours. A lot of questions were raised by the guests in the studio among them were Manuela Dviri, the Israeli writer who has been engaged for many years in the process of peace making between the Palestinians and the Israelis; the European journalist of Aljazeera International Claudio Lavanga; the journalists Lucia Annuziata and Rula Jebreal; and the military analyst Andrea Nativi, besides some representatives of young Muslims from Milan. Moreover, some Jewish Israeli young people and one Palestinian contributed to the discussion.
Pro-Palestinian and Biased!
Throughout the program, Muslims expressed their solidarity with Palestinians and their desire to expose the injustice and atrocities committed by Israeli military forces. Some questions were raised by Ayman Allada, one of the program's guests and an eyewitness from Gaza, who has told the story of his family's deaths and sufferings. The man has not hesitated to ask a questions like, "what are the Israel 's objectives? What is it going to do? Till when? For how long will Hamas be seen as guilty?" The same questions were also raised by the interviewer, still with no answer.
On the other hand, Israeli guests asserted they live in terror and fear, especially due to the danger represented by Hamas. The program was generally considered biased and pro-Palestinian by many official parties to the extent that the journalist Lucia Annunziata objected by leaving the studio as the anchor accused her of trying to side with the Israelis .
On the following day, many newspapers, like Corriere Della Sera, La Stampa, Il Manifesto, Il Riformista, blogs, forums, referred to that incident.
 |
| Italian reaction to Gaza massacre (Rai2©) |
The young Muslim representatives from Milan explored what happened on the pro-Palestine demonstrations over the previous week, where some Muslims ended their protest by performing prayers in front of the Duomo di Mialno, Milan’s Central Cathedral which is considered as an important symbol in the overwhelmingly catholic country. Such action has been taken as an affront to Christianity.
After Duomo's demos, there was another protest in Milan’s central train station with some accidents of burning the Israeli flags. Some Muslims defended their situation like Usama al Santawy, of a volunteer organization in Italy (GEP), who declared, "no offence to our Christian brothers was intended, it was just time to pray, we hadn’t any provocative intention, the police allowed us to arrive to Duomo and to pray there.." Furthermore, an editorial member of Yallah Italia reported to Il Foglio, an Italian newspaper, that "an Italian young Muslim group tried to put out the fire of the flags as it is an action which contradicts with the peaceful spirit of the demonstration."
Civil vs. Religious Places
What the Italian media said about these demonstrations supporting Palestinians is nothing but big controversies among the Catholic Church, politicians, and media itself. The High Priest Luigi Manganini, Episcopal Vicar of the diocese of Milan, considered the prayer as a "lack of sensibility" and claimed that the "Duomo square is a civil place, not a religious one." Yet, the Cardinal Luigi Tettamanzi did not make any comment, which provoked many and paved the way for lots of comments. One of these comments was written in Il Giornale, an Italian newspaper, which claimed that "the next time Muslims will be able to force their way into the cathedral." Daniele Nahum, the President of Young Jewish Union (Unione Giovani Ebrei), declared his indignation and considered burning Israeli flags as a "deplorable" act. However, some Muslims communities have extended their apologies.
The statements of the Deputy Mayor and the Councilor for Security in Milan Riccardo De Corato, of the Liberal majority Party in Italy, were extreme too. De Corato commented on the demonstration organized by the Palestinian community in Lombardy saying, "Milan city center has been taken hostage for hours by about a thousand of pro-Palestine demonstrators causing serious damage to the Israeli State. Duomo Square has been transformed into a mosque … there were acts of vandalism and clashes with the Police. Two Israeli flags, insulted by entwining the star of David with swastika, have been burnt during the protest. All this was intended in order to raise problems in the town, creating traffic congestion and ruining a quiet shopping afternoon. We will provide the Police and the Magistracy with the pictures on the camera. I hope those responsible for this serious damage would be identified and reported to the Police."
Beyond a TV Program
 |
| Michele Santoro, famous Italian journalist |
The TV program's impacts were reflected on many levels. First, another demonstration of solidarity with Gaza took place in Rome on the same day with more than 150 thousand participants, but this time, the demonstration was peaceful with no "extreme" actions. The media totally ignored the event as it found nothing to blame. On the other hand, many criticisms were still being directed to Michele Santoro, the program presenter.
It is worth mentioning that the same Rai 's program, on March 29, 2008, explored the issue of Turin imam "Mohamed Kohaila" who was filmed by hidden video cameras and had been accused in "Anno zero" channel of spreading fundamentalist sermons at a mosque in Cottolengo, near Porta Palazzo in Turin.
Italian Muslims: An Overview
In order to fairly and clearly analyze their recent situation, it is essential to give a historical overview of Muslims in Italy. The Italian-Muslim community is heterogeneous due to the different origins from which Muslims have come. The Muslim community is not newly born in Italy; this is well manifested in the various aspects of civilization as they have contributed profusely to many fields like art, science and culture.
When we talk about the arrival of Muslims in Italy, we have to mention that the 1970s witnessed mainly the arrival of many students, the majority of whom came from the Middle East. They intended to return to their home countries after finishing their studies but this has not happened as they settled with their families in Italy, where they worked in all walks of profession. Thanks to the "Legge Martelli" Act which allowed more working labor to flow into Italy. The arrival of immigrants increased during the 1990s. Today, the majority of Muslims in Italy come from Morocco, Albania, and Egypt with a minority from Algeria, Tunisia, Jordan and Syria.
The progressive increase of immigrants has led to the notorious "Legge Bossi-Fini" Act, passed on July 30, 2002, which brought new restrictions on entry to Italy. Amnesty International claims, in its annual official report of 2006, that this law lacked completeness and precision in matters like the right of asylum. During the last decades, Italy witnessed the birth of important Islamic associations representing their community; some of them are Unions of Islamic Communities and Organizations in Italy (UCOI), Islamic Alliance of Italy (AII), and youth associations representing Italian Muslims like Youth Muslim of Italy (GMI).
There is a great misinterpretation of Islamic concepts and Muslims' actions. The misrepresentations surrounding Muslims are often connected to specific news items such as, "A Pakistani father kills his daughter because she wants to live according to the western lifestyle; another father beats his wife and daughter because they are not practicing Islam, etc." All these incidents bring a devastating image of Muslims to the entire world, not just to Italy. Until today, none in Italy has been convicted of direct involvement in terrorism. However, "Islam" will remain a keyword to successful media in Europe.
|
