calabria

  • 10 reasons to hug a Riace migrant

    two men hugging
    Let’s hug it out (Photo by Thiago Barletta)

    If you haven’t read this story about the Italian government’s latest “war on the immigration business”, it’s got the full tragi-comedic spectrum.

    1 People for terra nullius [just baiting ya, Matteo. But seriously, Italy has a major shortfall in human beings, and the ones it has got aren’t living in places like Riace]

    2 Southern Italy is now the Migration Innovation hub of Europe [how refreshing does that sound?]

    3 A Tourist Spectacle [look kids, Africans in Italy not selling handbags!]

    4 The Gene Pool just got all shook up

    5 The possibility of an Eros Ramazzotti-Naija hip-hop mashup a la La Haine

    6 Another middle-aged European just got Married [Ed – just how many marriages are of inconvenience?]

    7 More Tax Revenue [seriously, look it up]

    8 Young Workers [not retirees from Ruislip with dodgy hips]

    9 More on the Menu than ham & cheese baguettes at lunchtime [OK, it’s a cheap jab, but Italians can take it, we all know their cuisine is the best in the world!]

    10 They lured Matteo Salvini into looking even more preposterous than he already did