Berlusconi's xenophobic legacy

An angry mob attacked a Roma settlement in Turin and set it on fire last week after a young Italian girl made false allegations of rape. This arson attack and the killing of two Senegalese men on Tuesday in Florence illustrate how the xenophobia fomented in Italy under Silvio Berlusconi's government is now widespread, writes the left-liberal daily La Repubblica: "Italy is not only on trial in Brussels. It must also prove how civilised it is. ... The most recent incidents reveal how widespread the virus of racism and xenophobia has become. ... The supreme administrative court may have declared the previous government's 'nomad emergency decree' null and void, but the prejudices are deep-seated, as the two acts of violence prove. The collapse of a government that rode the wave of populism and used the alleged threat posed by foreigners to control the frightened masses for so long is not enough. We must deal thoroughly with the legacy this government has left imprinted on the collective consciousness."

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