Writers attack new Italian 'race laws'

Italy's parliament yesterday gave final approval to a controversial law which criminalises illegal immigration and legalises unarmed vigilante patrols by citizens. The law was assured an easy final passage by being tied to a confidence vote, so that MPs in the ruling coalition were virtually obliged to vote for it. The new law represents the fulfilment of several key policies of the Northern League, the anti-immigration party which has been the clear winner in Italy's two most recent elections. The Interior Minister Roberto Maroni, the author of the bill, is a senior member of the League. This week some of the country's most famous writers signed an open letter condemning the legislation as the "reintroduction of race laws", comparing the measure to the infamous Race Laws introduced by Mussolini in 1938, which banned Jews from work and education. The letter, signed by Andrea Camilleri, the Sicilian writer, and the Nobel prize-winning dramatist Dario Fo among others, said: "The Berlusconi government, using security as a pretext, has imposed... laws the like of which we have not seen in this country since the passing of the Fascist Race Law." The letter claimed that "irregular" immigrants could be barred from marrying Italians and from registering the birth of their children, "so the children... shall for their entire lives be the children of unknown parents... Not even Fascism went that far."

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http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/writers-attack-new-italian-race-laws-1729637.html