CLASHES WITH AFRICAN MIGRANTS RATTLE ITALY

WHILE MIGRANTS LEAVE ROSARNO AMID VIOLENCE
RESIDENTS OF ITALIAN TOWN CLAIM NOT TO BE RACIST

ROME (CNN) - Violent riots and the evacuation of immigrants from a southern Italian town have prompted a wave of national soul-searching over how Italy should respond to racial tensions stoked by economic malaise. Police continued to investigate the cause of the clashes that swept through the farming town of Rosarno, near the toe of the Italian peninsula. The unrest exploded on Thursday night after immigrants torched cars and litter bins in response to an initial air-rifle shooting. The riots began when a local resident fired a pellet gun at a documented African migrant worker, lightly wounding him. African immigrants in the area responded by burning cars and vandalizing shops. Some local Italians retaliated by forming bands that began going house-to-house attacking immigrants. Abdul Iddris, who is originally from Sudan and one of the African migrants taken by bus out of Rosarno to another village, sadly explained that "People took a van, an information van with speakers, saying any black person who is hiding in Rosarno should get out, if they catch anyone they will kill him". The rioting went on for two days, with clashes between locals and migrant workers. The clashes, which appeared to have ended by Saturday, left dozens injured, including a group of immigrant men who were beaten with metal rods.

By Sunday evening, police had escorted more than 1,000 immigrants, mainly farm laborers from sub-Saharan Africa, to relief centers in other cities to ensure their safety. Their dwellings have been bulldozed by the authorities. Some undocumented migrants were transferred to detention centers, where they face expulsion from Italy, government officials said. In an effort to show that things are not as they seem, yesterday hundreds of native Italians and a handful of African migrants marched through Rosarno to protest media reports that the demonstrators said unfairly portrayed the town as a hotbed of racism. "Abandoned by the state!!! Criminalized by the media!!! 20 years of co-habitation is not racism!!!" read a banner carried by protesters.

WHAT DO THE VEDIC TEACHINGS TELL US?

Krishna is the proprietor of all planets. Therefore whatever there is, either in the sky or in the water or on the land, it is all Krishna's property. And because we are all sons of Krishna, every one of us has the right to use our father's property. But we should not encroach upon others. This is the formula for peace - īśāvāsyam idam sarvam ... mā gridhah kasya svid dhanam: “Everything belongs to God, and since you are sons of God, you have the right to use your father's property. But do not take more than you need. This is punishable.” (Śrī Īśopanishad 1) … When we forget this, then we come into this material world and struggle for existence, fight with one another. This is material life.

Śrīla A. C. Bhaktivedanta Swami Prabhupāda :
Lecture: “Who Is Krishna?”
London, August 1973, at Bhaktivedanta Manor.