Thousands of migrants from different Italian cities and regions, as well as many Italians themselves, marched in a peaceful parade in Florence on 17 December last to protest the senseless attack of five Senegalese men in the city just days before. The men were victims of a tragic, senseless, racist attack that left two of them – 54-year-old Mor Diop and 40-year-old Samb Modou – dead as a result of their injuries, and another seriously ill.
The killer has a name and a face. Gianluca Casseri was a 50-year-old ex-accountant, an extreme right wing militant and a regular at the Fascist-inspired social club Casa Pound. Hunted and surrounded by police, he killed himself with the same Magnum 357 he had used on the Senegalese men that same day.
Senegalese flags were flying last Saturday in Florence. There were white roses and cyclamen. There were the children’s drawings and people’s written messages of condolence and solidarity. There were university and high school students with banners of the Italian and Tuscan cities and provinces.
There were placards and posters bearing the words ‘Mai più’ (‘Never again’). There were photos and images depicting Malcolm X, Nelson Mandela and Jerry Essan Masslo, the South African migrant who was beaten to death in the summer of 1989 and whose story deeply moved the Italian public at the time.
Friends of Mor Diop and Samb Modou led the parade, followed by the Lord Mayor of Florence Matteo Renzi, Governor of Tuscany Enrico Rossi and the leaders of the left-wing parties PD, Sel and Rifondazione Comunista. No one representing the current Government was there.
The parade marched at a slow pace. There was no sound of drums, just a moving, constant, unanimous chant. The Senegalese community wanted the demonstration to be so.
The marchers did not want to merely protest what happened – they were reacting to a worrying situation. As Senegalese sociologist Aly Baba Faye says, the killing of Diop and Modou was not an isolated act of an insane person but the tip of an iceberg, the symptoms of a racist disease tearing asunder a society that acts in very racist way yet continues to proclaim itself free from racism.
There is strong evidence that recession worsens racism and that migrants are the scapegoats of the economic crisis. Many Italians are still afraid of immigrants; they are seen as a real threat, they are condemned and blamed just because they are different, whether black, Roma or simply ‘non-EU’.
Thousands marched in Florence last month in a protest against xenophobia, hatred and violence. They marched for the dignity of two men, two brothers who were seeking a new life in Italy. Certainly not death.
Francesca Prioreschi worked as a research intern with Sport Against Racism Ireland (Sari) in 2011. She returned to Florence to join the thousands marching in solidarity with the Senegalese community who lost members in the recent racist attack.
