Un'importante menzione per il nostro ministro Cécile Kyenge

Cécile Kyenge

Cécile Kyenge è stata inclusa alla 23° posizione nell'edizione 2013 della lista “100 Leading Global Thinkers”, pubblicata annualmente dalla rivista bimestrale americana "Foreign Policy".

For combating Europe's 
persistent xenophobia.

Integration minister | Italy

 

 

As Italy's first black minister, Cécile Kyenge has endured unimaginable abuse. She has been compared to a prostitute and an orangutan; she has had bananas thrown at her and bloody mannequins placed outside halls where she's speaking; she has been told she'd make a great housekeeper. A local councilor even suggested she ought to be raped.

Kyenge has handled this breathtaking racism, much of it from fellow politicians, with grace and equanimity—perhaps because it's her job to ensure that Italy welcomes diversity.

Kyenge, who left the Democratic Republic of the Congo three decades ago, is Italy's integration minister. In a country that has struggled to come to terms with a growing population of immigrants, her appointment has value for its symbolism alone. But the soft-spoken Kyenge is also pursuing an ambitious legislative agenda, including a law that would make it easier for foreigners' children to become Italian citizens. Moreover, in the wake of an October shipwreck off the Italian island of Lampedusa that killed hundreds who had left Africa for Europe, Kyenge has called for Italy to approach immigration with less "repression" and more "acceptance." She promised to triple Italy's capacity to shelter refugees at immigration centers.

These ideas have not been easy for many Italians to swallow. But in pushing her agenda, Kyenge is holding out a promise to current and future generations of immigrants.