Islam in Italy, an update
Walking around central Rome on a regular day, watching the fashion shoppers or the businessmen on motorini, life doesn't seem to be that bad. Romanaccio is heard from the marketstall vendors, Ccarabinieri sip coffee while eyeing the Scandinavian tourists, and all is well in the world.You think of Oriana Fallaci, and say to yourself 'Maybe she really is crazy. Italian life does not seem to have changed.
But then your thoughts turn to the north. Milano and Torino have apparently become veritable Suks.
My sister tells me that Milan Jews refrain from taking the N.95 bus, because it has become a walking Mosque. Police has been trying to crack down on Al Qaeda operations in the city.
And Torino, city of elite snobbish Piemontese intellectuals, has seemingly fallen prey to Islamization as well.
This is real folks, and as much as we all hate Italian inneficiency, you've got to admit that they are a funny, warm people that sadly is going to be swallowed up in a couple of generations.
Esther, a convert to Judaism, spent a weekend with my family. She lives in Centocelle, an outer, quasi-suburban Roman neighbourhood. Rent is cheaper there, but commute to Rome proper is murder.
She described the changes in her native neighbourhood. Muslims moved in, and Italians are quickly moving out (In my mother's words,gotta love how Italy and France are quick to [diplomatically] open their arms to immigrants, but God forbid they should live with them!)
The local mosque is so packed on Fridays, people spill out onto the street. The Public school has a very large percentage of Muslim students, so the school stayed open on the Friday before christmas, when all other PS were closed.
Esther works in school kitchens, and she related the following episode:
An Italian teacher, a friend of Esther's, has a little Muslim girl in her class. When teaching about christmas, the teacher tried to keep the girl otherwise occupied, knowing christianity wasn't her religion. But when the other kids constructed their own mangers, the Muslim girl felt left out and insisted on making one herself, despite the teacher's attempts to dissuade her.
Sure enough, the very next day, the girl's father marched into the classroom and shouted loudly at the teacher, making threats in front of the 2nd grade students, and then proceeding to throw all the handmade mangers onto the floor, destroying them.
I don't think this episode made it into the news...
posted by RomanWanderer @ 7:27 AM
<< Home