INTERNAL EMIGRATION - AGAIN

There has been a new development with regard to immigration on the island, according to an article [not available online] in La Sicilia today: North African agricultural workers in the Ragusa province are finding that they are no longer needed as workers from eastern Europe can be hired for less. Many of the North Africans have been here for years and have integrated but, like southern Italians before them half a century ago, are leaving for northern Italy where they hope to find work in restaurants or in the construction industry. In my opinion it would be a loss to Sicily if this settled section of the north African population were to leave en masse; they have publicly said that they are too busy earning a living and trying to integrate to go around manifesting hatred of westerners and this must have a stabilising influence.

On a related matter, a shocking article in L'Espresso tells of foreign agricultural workers on the mainland being treated like slaves. Thanks to Momoblog for drawing my attention to this. You can find an English version of the article here. Sadly I am not surprised at this, having read about the situation in Spain in Jason Webster's excellent Andalus.

Meanwhile, as I seem to report nearly every Friday, boatloads of desperate humanity continue to arrive on Lampedusa on these nights of calmer seas and bright moons. If you have not read my previous posts on this, I urge you to visit this link.