The Italian prime minister, Enrico Letta, has condemned as unacceptable comments made by a senior rightwing senator in which he suggested the country’s first black government minister had “the features of an orangutan”.
Cécile Kyenge, an eye surgeon who was born in the Democratic Republic of the Congo but has Italian citizenship, has faced repeated racial slurs and threats since being appointed minister for integration by Letta in April.
She was once again on the receiving end of grossly offensive comments on Saturday when Roberto Calderoli, a former minister under Silvio Berlusconi and senate vice-president of the Northern League, told a rally in the northern town of Treviglio that Kyenge would be better off working as a minister “in her country”.
Roberto Calderoli (born 18 April 1956) is an Italian politician and a member of the Senate of Italy. He was a Minister without portfolio for Legislative Simplification in the Berlusconi IV Cabinet. He previously served as Minister without portfolio for Reforms and Devolution in the Berlusconi II Cabinet (since 20 June 2004) and in the Berlusconi III Cabinet (until 18 February 2006, when he resigned following the so-called “cartoon crisis”). Roberto Calderoli is a leading member of the Northern League. He is usually seen as representing the component originating from the right wing and Bergamo, whereas Roberto Maroni represents the area originating from the left wing and Varese.
Calderoli is often the center of public controversies, usually because of xenophobic or offensive public remarks. Responding to criticism about a controversial electoral law that he penned in 2006, Calderoli affirmed that “I wrote [the law], but honestly it is a pig-sty (in Italian Porcata).” In July 2013, Calderoli insulted Italy’s first black Minister, Italo-Congolese Cécile Kyenge, saying: “Whenever I see Minister Kyenge, I cannot help but think of an orangutan,” drawing condemnation from all sides of Italian society
According to the Corriere della Sera, which reported the event, he added: “I love animals – bears and wolves, as is known – but when I see the pictures of Kyenge I cannot but think of the features of an orangutan, even if I’m not saying she is one.”
The remark provoked horror from the rest of the Italian political class, especially in Kyenge’s centre-left Democratic party. In a statement, Letta said the remarks were unacceptable. “Full solidarity and support to Cécile,” he added.
Asked about the comments, Kyenge said it was not up to her to call on Calderoli to resign, but hoped all politicians would “reflect on their use of communication”. “I do not take Calderoli’s words as a personal insult but they sadden me because of the image they give of Italy,” she told the Ansa news agency.
Ever since she was made minister in Letta’s fractious grand coalition government, Kyenge, 48, has been the target of much criticism from the League. Some of it has been directed at her policies, particularly her desire to change a harsh citizenship law to make it easier for Italian-born children of foreigners to gain full nationality before they are 18.
But some of it has been very personal and vitriolic. Mario Borghezio, a member of the European parliament for the League, said in April that Kyenge wanted to “impose her tribal traditions from the Congo” and branded Letta’s coalition a “bongo bongo” government. “She seems like a great housekeeper but not a government minister.”
In June a local councillor for the League was ejected from the party after she posted a message on Facebook suggesting Kyenge should be raped. Referring to an alleged attempted rape in Genoa, Dolores Valandro wrote: “Why does no one rape her, so she can understand what the victim of this atrocious crime felt?”
Asked on Sunday to explain the latest slur, Calderoli insisted he had been joking. “I was speaking at a rally and I made a joke, an unfortunate one perhaps,” he told Ansa. “I did not want to cause offence and if Minister Kyenge has been offended I apologise but my joke came in the context of a much broader political speech that criticised the minister and her politics.”
This is not the first time that the 57-year-old has caused controversy. In 2006 he quit the government after going on television in a T-shirt emblazoned with cartoons of the prophet Muhammad – a move credited with inspiring deadly riots outside the Italian consulate in Libya.
Later that year, after Italy’s football team beat France in the World Cup, he said the opposing side had been made up of “niggers, Muslims and communists”. In 2007, he called for a “Pig Day” protest against the construction of a mosque in Bologna. – source – The Guardian
“Dare il voto agli extracomunitari? Un paese civile non può fare votare dei bingo-bongo che fino a qualche anno fa stavano ancora sugli alberi”.
“La civiltà gay ha trasformato la Padania in un ricettacolo di culattoni… Qua rischiamo di diventare un popolo di ricchioni”.
“Gli immigrati tornino nel deserto a parlare con i cammelli o nella giungla con le scimmie”
“Veltroni ha qualcosa da dire sui fucili? E allora gli porteremo i cannoni”.
“Metto personalmente fin da subito a disposizione del comitato contro la moschea sia me stesso che il mio maiale per una passeggiata sul terreno dove si vorrebbe costruire la moschea!”
“Qua rischiamo di diventare un popolo di ricchioni”.
“Pacs e porcherie varie hanno come base l’arido sesso e queste assurde pretese di privilegi da parte dei culattoni”.
“Il cristiano che vota a sinistra si schiera dalla parte del peccato e del demonio”.
“Una salva davanti, una salva dietro al limite delle acque territoriali e vedrete che le barche non partiranno più”.
“Come si sa, preferisco la legge del taglione”
“Ci sono etnie con una maggiore propensione al lavoro e altre che ne hanno meno. Ce ne sono che hanno una maggiore predisposizione a delinquere”
“Non vorrei mai fra cinque anni e un mese trovarmi un presidente abbronzato”
“Andremo a Bruxelles noi padani, porteremo un po’ di saggezza della croce a quel popolo di pedofili!”
“Accoltellarli è troppo, però due calci nelle palle ai gay li darei anch’io”
“La fogna va bonificata e visto che Napoli oggi è diventata una fogna bisogna eliminare tutti i topi, con qualsiasi strumento, e non solo fingere di farlo perché magari anche i topi votano”.
“Quando dico che la nazionale francese è formata da neri, musulmani e comunisti, dico una cosa oggettiva ed evidente. La Francia è una nazione multietnica, visto il suo passato colonialista, cosa di cui io non sarei fiero”
Roberto Calderoli