Gentilini and racism in Italy

I am glad that the European Union looks at Italy as a country where racism may endanger the local population.
Racism is a frequent social problem in several societies but laws and political leaders should represent civilization and make it clear that racism is unacceptable nowadays.

The problem in Italy is that some politicians of the local government even boast of being racist.
I'd like to translate into English one of my recent posts, where I reported what Mr Gentilini said. Gentilini is a member of the Lega Nord party, which is one of the political parties belonging to the present government of Mr Berlusconi.
All the sentences are literally reported from one of the main Italian national newspapers, Corriere della Sera, on September 10, 2008.

Gentilini: "Spazi agli ebrei, mai ai musulmani".
"A Treviso ci sono i Testimoni di Geova e i Battisti, e con loro non c'è alcun problema. Se venisse la comunità ebraica a chiedermi uno spazio, glielo darei subito. Ma a quella islamica mai! Non c'è alcun margine di trattativa con una confessione che esorta i seguaci all'eliminazione dell'infedele."
([my translation] Buildings and places for Jews, never for Muslims. In Treviso there are some religious groups like Jehowah's Witnesses and Baptists. There are no problems with them. If the Jewish community wants a room, I would give them immediately. But never to Muslims! It is impossible to come to terms with a religion which wants the destruction of the infidels)

"Musulmani buoni? Sono tutti seguaci dell'Islam e la religione islamica invita non alla conversione degli avversari ma alla loro eliminazione: sono degli infedeli. Dunque finchè alla base della loro religione ci saranno questi presupposti, non credo vi possa essere alcun margine per una trattativa nella cattolicissima Treviso"
(Are Muslims good? They are all followers of Islam and the islamic religion does not want the conversion of their opponents but their deaths: they are all infidels. As far as their religion is based on such principles, our very catholic Treviso can have nothing to do with them)

"C'è una grande differenza tra l'Islam e la religione cattolica. I nostri ministri seguono una gerarchia che comincia dal popolo; loro hanno gli imam, fanno quello che gli dicono e quando qualcuno li rimprovera alzano le braccia: 'Non possiamo opporci'."
(There is a strong difference between Islam and the catholic religion. Our priests follow a hierarchy rising from the people; they are represented by imams and people must obey them. When someone reproaches them, they just raise their arms and say: 'We cannot refuse this')

"Io non mi sono mai sognato di costruire muri ma c'è un muro ideale a Treviso nei confronti di quanti vogliono occupare abusivamente il nostro territorio."
(I have never built a wall, but there is an ideal wall in Treviso against those who want to occupy our territory illegally)


"Se venisse da me la comunità ebraica, uno spazio glielo darei subito. Qui a Treviso ci sono anche i Testimoni di Geova e i Battisti, diverse sfumature ma alla base c'è sempre il Vangelo di Cristo. E non vanno confuse con l'Islam"
(If the Jewish Community comes and asks me for a room, I would soon give it to them. Here in Treviso Jehowah's Witnesses and Baptists live: both groups are based on Christ's Gospel. Nothing to do with Islam)


I want to add that in the recent meeting of Lega Nord in Venice Gentilini got more and more vulgar and openly racist and he even threatened journalists not to dare to criticize him.
If people listen to such vulgar and disrespectful sentences, they may think that it is nonsense not worth being considered.
The serious problem is that that man is a powerful politician and the vice-mayor of one important Italian towns, and Berlusconi government gave special superpowers to mayors and vice-mayors.
If the Italian government cannot realize how low we have fallen, I hope the European leadership can keep an eye on such potentially dangerous situations.