Meeting antirazzista 2006 (Cecina, Italy)

XII INTERNATIONAL MEETING AGAINST RACISM CECINA MARE – LIVORNO

8-15 JULY 2006

I(R)REGOLARI

XII International Meeting Against Racism

The Cecina Anti-racist Meeting marks its XII anniversary. Since 1995 we have been able to carve out a political meeting space for the many protagonists of the struggle against racism and exclusion in Italy, Europe and Mediterranean basin. Through the years this appointment, as everyone had hoped, has become increasingly important and has developed into an occasion for collective brainstorming, for exchanging ideas, information and positive actions, as well as providing the opportunity to develop an in-depth analysis and do educational training.
There aren’t that many events in Europe like the Anti-racist Meeting where participation is encouraged. In the ongoing struggle against racism the continual chase after local emergencies, together with the need to oppose the spreading discriminatory policies, requires that we carry on with the commitment to make this conference grow further through the greater involvement of all sectors of the community, the younger generation, the academic world and progressive local governments.

Europe and the Mediterranean basin have increasingly become the place where new exclusionary practices are experimented. The draft of the European Constitution contains a discriminatory clause against migrants, de facto already put into practice by all member nations. Its inclusion, in this manner, transforms it into a constitutional principle of the political entity that the EU is becoming. The right to citizenship in the EU is thereby being limited only to those individuals who are already citizens of one of its members. We are dealing with a principle that institutes a new identity, up until now non-existent, and a common link that appears superior to the one from where it evolves (national membership) whose sole basis is the exclusion of others: the 15 million men and women third countries nationals currently EU residents.
The concept of citizenship is increasingly being reduced to one where the individual faces the State either as a citizen or as a foreigner. The relationship between citizenship and immigration has brought about the recognition of a discriminatory dimension, that is the existence of a dividing line between outsider and insider. In the words of Sayad, the French-Algerian sociologist, Envisioning immigration means envisioning the State and it is the State that by thinking about immigration envisions itself.

Today migrants, just like the wealthy nations’ weaker social sectors, seem to have been thrown back to the 19th century, that is to a social condition that ranges from a flexible limitation of their rights, always more restricted with respect to those enjoyed by the citizens of the dominant nations, up to having the status of non-person, i.e. devoid of any rights. This change is imposed by the needs of an economic development system that requires maximum profits, erasing the possibility of a mode of development based on solidarity, equality and a peaceful negotiation of the relationships that govern oppressors and oppressed. The final consequence is the denial of migrants’ right to emancipation.

In Europe this globalization of injustice takes on the aspects of a propagandistic and actual war waged against migrants. The accords for the patrolling of the European Union’s external borders, those regarding mass expulsions and the presence of a hundred detention places of migrants inside the Union’s territory are its concrete expressions.
The advocacy of exclusionary policies impacts on European culture, in particular it affects the younger generations. The Europe that is being constructed today is at risks of creating conflicts between groups whose handling could lead to a lessening of everyone’s democratic space. One only has to think about what could be the future role of migrants’ children in a society that considers their parents merely as resources, useful only for their labor and their capacity to produce wealth,appealing to the content of culture and their differences to justify the inequalities that victimize them. A society that duplicates unequal power relations and insists on portraying it as the best of all possible worlds, can lead us to a walled and fortified entity within its on borders. Borders was the theme of last year’s conference. This year we want to examine this concept as it affects the issue of civil rights and living with one another.

Hundreds of people meet in Cecina Mare (Livorno) every year, to discuss the themes linked to migrants’ and minorities rights promotion, as well as the more general theme of social exclusion and international relationships. The XII International Anti-Racist Meeting will take place in Cecina Mare (Livorno) from 8th to 15th July 2005 and will include initiatives in Livorno and Rosignano M.mo. SOCIETÀ PLURALI. Migranti, democrazia e guerre will be the topic of this year’s Meeting. The Meeting, organised by ARCI, will offer participants theme workshops (painting, dance, theatre and theoretical workshops), conferences, open forums, exhibitions, concerts, cinema, disco and many opportunities to meet people and exchange ideas. Over the years, the Meeting has become a place where Italian and foreign individuals and associations to meet and share their experiences and develop common projects and partnerships.

People can sleep in a camping site and the initiatives take place under the shades of pine trees.

The International Anti-Racist Meeting is promoted by Regione Toscana, the Province of Livorno, by the Municipalities of Livorno (Institute for the services to the person), Castagneto Carducci, Cecina, Rosignano Marittimo and San Vincenzo and CESVOT (Centro Servizi Volontariato della Toscana).

PROGRAMME

* Temporary programme

Seminars and Workshops:

* War, Peace and the New War Against Migrations Beyond Being Undocumented: from the of a an amnesty to the right to immigrate
* Urban Law and Order and the Social Construction of the Enemy
* Immigration and the Media
* Urban Models and the Social Integration of Immigrants in Europe
* Immigration and the Judiciary
* Immigration and Gender
* The Right to Asylum
* Racial Discriminations
* Citizenship in the European Union and the Process of Social Integration of Immigrants
* Civil Rights and Immigration Policies within the European Union
* Settlement Camps for the Roma and Racism in the Urban Areas

Meetings and Round tables:

* Secularism and Discrimination
* Internal and External Migrations: how Italians are viewed abroad
* Detention Today & Welfare: the thinking behind the European detention camps
* Immigration in the Future: the issue of the second wave
* Anti racism as a Democratic Tool: towards an independent national study centre
* Against All Discriminations

Activities and Cultural Events:

* Cinema Noise, Series of movies and shorts
* Musical performances every evening
* DJ sets
* Theatre shows
* Workshops
* Stands

HOW TO ARRIVE

By train

Cecina train station is along the Rome-Livorno-Genova line.
As for time tables, please check Trenitalia web site (www.trenitalia.it)
On Saturday 8th and Sunday 9th July, a shuttle service will take you from Cecina train station to Le Tamerici camping site.
As of Monday, 10th July, public buses will provide transport from Cecina train station to Cecina Mare.
If you contact the Meeting’s reception, we will send somebody to pick you up.

By car or motorbike

* From North:
Take motorway from Livorno to Rosignano M.mo. Then take clearway to Rome and leave it by taking the third exit (Cecina); from here, follow directions to the Anti-Racist Meeting (Cecina Mare, Le Tamerici Camping site).

* From South:
Take the Aurelia clearway from Rome to Grosseto, Livorno. Leave the clearway at Cecina and follow directions to the Anti Racist Meeting (Cecina Mare, Le Tamerici Camping site)

* From East:
Take clearway to Livorno from Florence. Before arriving in Livorno, take motorway to Rosignano M.mo. When you leave the motorway, take the clearway to Rome and leave it by taking the third exit (Cecina); from there, you will find directions to the Anti Racist Meeting (Cecina Mare, Le Tamerici Camping site).
Take clearway to Grosseto from Siena. From Grosseto, take the Aurelia clearway to Livorno. Leave the clearway at Cecina and follow directions to the Anti-Racist Meeting (Cecina Mare, Le Tamerici Camping site)