“We exist.” The invisibles ask for a voice and rights. They are the foreign laborers of the Piana di Gioia Tauro, in mobilization to claim humane working conditions, dignified hospitality, access for all to the anti-Covid vaccination campaign, fight against illegal hiring. Even faster times for the residence permit: for the issue, renewal and conversion. They have chosen to strike: they ask for interventions for the exit from the ghettos. Places without control, at the mercy of decay and crime. Migrants who, in Calabria as in other regions, live in inhumane conditions, tickling the appetites of the corporals. A cry of pain, even after the recent news stories that have crossed Italy.
Dozens of them left from the tent city of San Ferdinando, but also Rosarno, Gioia Tauro and Taurianova to find themselves in Reggio Calabria, in front of the prefecture. The demonstration is promoted by the Flai CGIL, even after the too many victims at work in recent days. “We cannot stand by and watch with everything that happens, from Novara to Lecce and Brindisi,” says the union. In Novara with the death of Adil Belakhdim, a 37-year-old Italian trade unionist of Moroccan origins, who died hit by a truck in Biandrate during a demonstration. In Lecce where 35-year-old Antonio Valente distributed advertising flyers under the scorching sun. Then the illness and death in the hospital. And then in the sunny countryside of Brindisi that exhausted Camara Fantamadi. The 27-year-old Malian, farmhand for a few euros, died after working in the hottest hours of the day.
From Puglia to Calabria the same fate: thousands of foreign laborers employed in agriculture in conditions of severe exploitation. Only in the Plain of Gioia Tauro are 2 thousand. The latest report is dated 17 June, signed by the Doctors for Human Rights who worked here, during the citrus harvest season. Objective to promote the protection of health and fundamental rights. On the sample examined, «the working days recorded in a month were not more than 10, despite the majority of the laborers working between 5 and 7 days a week in high season. On average 8 hours a day, with an average wage of 35 euros per day ». For just over 4 euros an hour. Or for 1.20 euros or at most 1.50 for each filled 25-kilo box.
“Today there will be no one in the fields,” the union says again, recalling the contribution of these workers during the pandemic. Jean-René Bilongo of Flai CGIL spoke: «They were pillars in the most dramatic phase of the health emergency. As usual, however, not even the shadow of targeted, systemic interventions. We are in a logic of indifference. We cannot pretend that this piece of work does not exist in agricultural production fabrics and beyond ». Meanwhile, many of them took to the streets. Many are very young. They wear a t-shirt with the words: “The invisibles of the harvest campaigns”.
