La perdurante crisi dei rifugiati, tra ipocrisia organizzata, solidarietà e crescente opposizione

Immigration in Italy has become a structural phenomenon, with an increasing number of second-generation migrants and naturalizations. Yet, in 2016, migration issues have come synonymous with ‘refugee crisis’, focusing the attention on the emergency responses. Dramatic images of exponential numbers of arrivals, rescues and deaths of thousands of people at the Mediterranean Sea have catalyzed public attention. In this chapter, we reconstruct recent developments, by examining Italian government’s responses and their outcomes. We argue that the ‘refugee crisis’ in Italy is the result of an ‘organized hypocrisy’ rooted in the Common Asylum European System. Structured around the fictuous opposition between refugee and economic migrants, the Caes struggles to offer adequate responses to current mixed – both economic and humanitarian – flows. This dicothomy resonates in the Italian structurally weak reception system, reinforcing emergency assistance. Finally, the dysfunctional character of the Italian reception system amplifies discomfort and contributes to the increase of hostilities among the Italian population and the public authorities at the local level.