EUROPE/ITALY - “The Suitcase with a String”: Who is an immigrant today?

Rome (Agenzia Fides) – Who is an immigrant today? A person who must remain in the shadows – or better yet, turn themselves into a shadow - in order to continue working and sending money to their family. No matter what it takes. However, the cost is so high sometimes that this shadow, in order to justify their existence or their stay here, starts down a slippery slope of crime that takes him farther and farther into the depths. All this starts a chain of fears and violent distrust on all sides. Racism can finally come back into play, with only one result: in that game, we all lose because it is not a matter of immaterial points, but of the hunger that plagues the entire planet, excluding no one. Thus, the wealthy world is increasingly afraid of the shadows and spend 25-30 billion dollars every year on immigration control and asylums. Billions of dollars that could go towards millions of jobs – there, where there is no employment and here, where we need more workers. And what about us? Are we spectators or actors? Victims? Are we naïve persons who are manipulated by others' ideas or are we coherent with our ideas of civilization and progress? And yet, today, what does all this mean in terms of immigrants? (Anticipation for the television program “The Suitcase Tied with a String”: 4 episodes of a study on world immigration to be aired on the RAI beginning June 29) (Agenzia Fides 6/6/2009)