§ "In my son's kindergarten there is a
serious integration problem, I have to take him away".... At the time of
enrollment, Mohamed explained, they had seen drawings with flags of all
nationalities in the school, but, "when we arrived at school the first day,
we found ourselves in a class with all foreign children. The teachers are even
struggling to pronounce the children's names.
§ The migrant reception center on the island of
Lampedusa, the front line of Italy's migration crisis, is now in a state of
"collapse" due to the rapidly rising numbers of arrivals.
§ "The lifestyle of the migrants will be
ours". — Laura Boldrini, former president of Italy's Parliament; Il
Giornale, 2015.
§ Will Italians integrate into the new culture of
the migrants?
§ With a native population already shrinking, if
Italy is open to the mass legalization of migrants, we should be aware that it
will be culturally suicidal.
In Italy, last month,
the number of migrants arriving from Africa surged. The migrant reception
center on the island of Lampedusa, the front line of Italy's migration
crisis, is now in a state of "collapse" due to the rapidly rising
number of arrivals. The entire south of Italy is now trying to deal with
migrants. Pictured: Migrants crossing from Libya to Europe wait to be rescued
from a boat by crew members from the Migrant Offshore Aid Station Phoenix on
May 18, 2017, off Lampedusa, Italy. (Photo by Chris McGrath/Getty Images)
|
Describing Italy,
Gerard Baker, former editor in chief of the Wall Street Journal,
recently wrote:
"In much of the country... depopulation is advancing. Moving
into the empty spaces have been waves of immigrants, many from North Africa and
the Middle East. The migrants have filled vital gaps in the labor force, but
the transformation of Italian towns has left increasing numbers of citizens
resentful, fearful for their identity."
He went on to call this transformation, "a kind of pioneer of
Western decline". Already, the effects of mass migration are becoming
dramatically visible in many of Italy's elementary schools. In just the last
few days, examples from two large cities have surfaced.
The first was in Turin, Italy's fourth
largest city, where there are now elementary school classes with not even one
Italian child: "In all classes, school principal Aurelia Provenza
explained, the percentage of foreigners is very high, equal to 60% of the total
number of pupils".
The second example comes from Bologna. "In my son's
kindergarten there is a serious integration problem, I have to take him
away," says Mohamed, a 34-year-old
of Moroccan origin who arrived in Italy when he was 4 years old.
"I don't want to be seen as a racist myself as I am Moroccan,
but the municipality must know that there is no integration by putting more
than 20 foreign children into classes".
At the time of enrollment, Mohamed explained, they had seen
drawings with flags of all nationalities in the school, but, "when we
arrived at school the first day, we found ourselves in a class with all foreign
children. The teachers are even struggling to pronounce the children's
names."
We have now reached a paradox: immigrants are taking their
children out from classes where, under multiculturalism, segregation is
surging. "School performance falls when classes exceed 30% foreigners; it
is a crucial threshold that should be avoided or otherwise
monitored", said Costanzo
Ranci, professor of Economic Sociology, and author of a recent report.
Both of the above cases have been the subject of much public
debate. In Italy, last month, the number of migrants arriving from Africa surged, after having
declined for most of the last two years. The migrant reception center on the
island of Lampedusa, the front line of Italy's migration crisis, is now in a
state of "collapse" due to
the rapidly rising number of
arrivals. The entire south of Italy is now trying to deal with migrants.
According to projections from
the UN Population Division, the population of sub-Saharan Africa will double in
30 years, adding an additional 1 billion people and accounting for more than
half the global population growth between now and 2050. Italy, which already
has the third-largest population
of migrants in Europe, is undergoing an "unbearable" crisis,
and now faces the real risk of an "Africanisation", as
Stephen Smith called it in his book, The
Scramble for Europe.
There are many voices of concern. Cardinal Robert Sarah, author of
a new book, The Day Is Now Far Spent,
about the crisis of the West, compares the current influx of
migrants to the invasions of barbarians that brought down the Roman Empire. If
Europe's policies toward migrants do not change, Sarah warns, Europe will be
"invaded by foreigners, just as Rome was invaded by barbarians."
"If Europe disappears, and with it the priceless values of
the Old Continent, Islam will invade the world and we will completely change
our culture, anthropology and moral vision".
An Italian think-tank, Fondazione Fare Futuro, also
just predicted that due
to mass migration and the different birthrates of Christians and Muslims, by
the end of the century half of the population of Italy could be Muslim. In just
ten years, the number of migrants in Italy has surged by 419%.
The native Italian population is already shrinking rapidly.
Without the foreigners, every year native
Italians would die (615,000) at twice the rate of births (380,000). Eurostat,
the European official statistics office, calculates that by
2080, one-fifth of Italians will come from migration background (11 million of
Italy's 53 million).
A recent report by the Italian national statistics office noted
that the country is in a "demographic recession"
not seen since the World War I, and 250,000 young
Italians have fled the country. "Italy exports young graduates and imports
migrants", wrote Il Giornale. Italy
is expected to lose 17% of its
population by 2050, and -- even without immigration -- half by the end of
the century.
A Caritas-Migrantes report recently documented that
since 2014, the decrease in the number of Italians is equivalent to the
population of a large Italian city, say, Palermo (677,000). The dramatic
decrease, however, has so far been offset by migrants.
Immigration is once again becoming a political question. Just
weeks after forming a government with the Five Star Movement, the Democratic
Party is advancing the so-called "birthright citizenship" -- a pledge
to reverse the stringent migration policy of former Interior Minister Matteo Salvini.
In Latin this right to citizenship is called ius culturae. The
new law would allow foreign minors under the age of 12 to become citizens after
just five years at school in Italy. The bill is being advanced by Laura
Boldrini, a former president of Italy's Parliament, who famously said: "The
lifestyle of the migrants will be ours". Will Italians, as in those
elementary schools, integrate into the new culture of the migrants?
The current government knows perfectly well what is at stake.
"From now to 2050 and 2060, we will have to face an epochal question from
50 to 60 million people who will arrive in the Mediterranean world", MP
Nicola Morra, MP in the governmental majority, recently said.
The government is literally gambling with Italy's future.
Italy is the European country most exposed to migration pressure
from Africa. With a native population already shrinking, if Italy is open to
the mass legalization of migrants, we should be at least be aware that it will
be culturally suicidal.
Giulio Meotti, Cultural Editor for Il
Foglio, is an Italian journalist and author.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/14942/italy-mass-immigration-suicide
