Rome (NEV), March 5, 2017 – Confetti, guitars, soap bubbles: the national gathering organized by “I’m Italy too” was a feast, just on the last day of the Carnival, Shrove Tuesday, on February 28th. A “carnival of citizenship” colored by children: Italian children as a matter of fact, but according to the existing law, foreigners in their own country. In the Roman Pantheon Square the requests of the activists was just one: the Senate must approve the reformation of the Citizenship Act that the Chamber of Deputies already signed, by a large majority, on October 13th, 2015. In the past weeks the twenty civil associations that support the campaign ‘I’m Italy too’ (among whom the Federation of Protestant Churches in Italy) gathered in this square every Tuesday of February to press the Senate to answer to the request.
To these flash-mobs participated among others the Minister of Transport Graziano del Rio, the former governor of Apulia Nichi Vendola, members of Parliament Giuseppe Civati and Luca Pastorino, senator Luigi Manconi, former Health Minister Livia Turco, Matteo Orfini, president of the Democratic Party (PD). But notwithstanding the wide political consensus which the reformation seems to enjoy, it still continues to remain in the drawer of the Constitutional Affairs Commission of the Senate.
Paula Vivanco of the ‘Italians without citizenship’ movement declared: “There is one million of ‘de facto Italians’ living without rights and without duties. Senators must listen to our voices”.
