by He was shocked by the cover which contained two pages of the Qur’an which had been partially burnt. Until then, Muslim residents of the Adriatic port town of Monfalcone lived relatively peacefully for more than 20 years.
Sent to the Darus Salaam Muslim cultural association on Via Duca d’Aosta, the envelope was found soon after the distant mayor of Monfalcone, Anna Maria Cisint, banned prayers on the premises.
“He was hurt, a serious insult that we never expected,” said Bou Konate, president of the association. “But it wasn’t a coincidence. The letter was a threat, which generated a hate campaign that fueled toxicity.”
Monfalcone’s population has recently increased by 30,000. Such a demographic trend would normally inspire good news in a country grappling with a rapidly declining birth rate, but in Monfalcone, where Cisint has been promoting an anti-Islam agenda since winning her first mandate in 2016, the rise was not welcomed.
The town’s population growth is largely due to the sprawling shipyard owned by state-controlled giant Fincantieri, whose labor outsourcing policy over the past two decades has led to a massive influx of skilled foreign workers, mainly from Bangladesh. . Cheaper immigrant labor far outnumbers Italians, especially during peak periods in the construction of giant cruise ships.
The Bangladeshi community of Monfalcone has been promoted by relatives who came through the family reunification policy, which Cisint wants to curb, and by their children born in Italy.
Today, the community represents 6,600 of Monfalcone’s total population of 9,400 who were born abroad, according to figures provided by Cisint during an interview with the organization. Observer.
Immigration changed the composition of the town. It has a range of foreign-owned shops and restaurants, and a network of cycle routes mainly used by Bangladeshis, whose bicycles are their main form of transport.
“If it wasn’t for what the foreign community does, Monfalcone would become a ghost town,” said Enrico Bullian, a left-wing councilor for the wider Friuli-Venezia Giulia region.
Cisint, a politician supported by the League party of Matteo Salvini, and the Brothers of Italy, the party led by the Italian prime minister, Giorgia Meloni, won an easy re-election in 2022, mainly on the anti-immigration ticket that facilitated the rise of power Yes Italy far right.
One of her first policies was to remove the benches in the main square, allegedly used mainly by immigrants. Cisint tried to limit the number of foreign children in schools, and cricket, which was very popular among Bangladeshis, was deleted from the sports festival. Last summer, she banned Muslim women from wearing burkinis on the beach.
But it was Kisint’s ban on prayers in November, which also concerns the second Muslim cultural center in the town, that he regretted the most.
“It had a huge impact,” said Konate, an engineer who has lived in Italy for 40 years. “We have been praying peacefully here for over 20 years. But this was not only a place of prayer – people met, chatted. Children came for after school lessons. There are many Islamic cultural centers throughout Europe where you can pray, and no one forbids it.”
Cisint claimed that the Muslims violated urban planning rules because the property was designated for commercial use and not for worship. Safety was another factor, she said, after citizens sent her photos showing “hundreds of people” entering.
“I didn’t say ‘shut up and you shouldn’t pray’,” Cisint told him Observer. “The space was being used in a controversial way – it was a mosque. They must respect the laws.”
The ban follows a proposal by Italy’s Meloni Brothers to shut down hundreds of non-mosque Muslim prayer spaces across the country. Asked to comment on the “Monfalcone situation” during a press conference in early January, Meloni, who has long railed against “Islamization” in Europe, said: “Those who choose to live in Italy must respect the norms of to respect Italy.”
Konate said that Monfalcone’s Muslims have always respected the laws, proof of which can be seen in the town’s very low crime rate, and that the mayor’s objective was to restrict their Italian constitutional right to pray.
But after living passively with the backlash for years, he said the ban was a “fasting” moment.
On December 23, approximately 8,000 people protested against the move and an anti-Islamic Cisint campaign, which many believe is being used to raise its profile in hopes of running in the European elections in June.
The Muslim community is also appealing against the prayer ban through the regional administrative court. “For the first time, we said ‘we have to defend ourselves’,” said Konate, who like many of Monfalcone’s Muslims is an Italian citizen.
Cisint said the exponential growth of the foreign-born population has put pressure on Monfalcone’s social services. But she has no problem with the town’s other significant foreign community – the Romanians. “They come, integrate and respect Italian norms,” she said.
Cisint recites a list of stereotypes about Muslims, such as forcing women to wear face coverings and walk behind men. She claims to have done a lot for the community, including building more schools “because they have so many children”. She accuses Muslims of not wanting to learn Italian, and if they do the main purpose is to get citizenship.
But at an Italian lesson run by volunteers, a Muslim woman said it was difficult to get places on the classes run by the authority. Her teacher, Cinzia Benussi, said: “It seems that everything is done to make life difficult for the residents of Bangladesh.”
Amidst the tension, a group of women made up of native-born Italians and foreign-born Italians has emerged to bridge the divide created by Cisint’s policies.
Nahida Akhter, a 27-year-old student and daughter of a Fincantieri worker who has lived in Monfalcone since she was a child, said at a recent meeting: “It’s important for this group to share ideas and help with opinions to change those people. are determined by the same prejudices.”
Fulvia Taucer, a financial adviser, said: “There has never been a problem with this community … Monfalcone is everyone’s home.”
