Assignment: The Italian town where praying is a political issue

The Documentary Podcast

BBC

Society & Culture, Documentary, Personal Journals

4.3 • 2.6K Ratings

🗓️ 6 August 2024

⏱️ 27 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The Italian town of Monfalcone on the Adriatic coast has an ethnic make-up unique to the country. Of a population of just over thirty thousand, more than six thousand are from Bangladesh. They’ve come to help construct huge cruise ships, providing labour to do the type of manual jobs which Italians no longer want to do.

For years, they worshipped at two Islamic centres in the town. Then, in November, the town’s far right mayor, Anna Maria Cisint, tried to effectively ban collective prayer there, along with stopping cricket - the Bangladeshi national sport - from being played within the town.

She says she is defending Christian values. Her critics say she is building walls rather than bridges. For Assignment, Sofia Bettiza travels to Italy to discover how the country is dealing with the increasing numbers of legal migrants coming to work in a country which needs their labour.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Thank you for downloading this podcast from the BBC.
0:03.0	I'm Sophia Betica and in this edition of assignment
0:06.4	I'm in the Italian town of Monfalconne
0:08.8	where Bangladeshis now account for around a quarter of the population.
0:15.0	A group of friends playing cricket on a Saturday afternoon.
0:20.0	It's a scene you'll find in quite a few countries. These players are all from Bangladesh,
0:27.0	but we are thousands of miles away from where they grew up playing the national game. We're just outside the town of Monfauconne on the Adriatic
0:38.8	coast in the northeast of Italy right on the border with Slovenia. They've moved here to work in the
0:45.5	local shipyard one of the biggest in Europe. I said we're outside of Monfalconne and there's a reason for this.
0:54.4	Believe it or not, the mayor has effectively banned cricket here
0:59.2	and it's come to symbolise the tensions that one small Italian town is grappling with.
1:07.0	If you were to play this cricket game in Monfauconne, what could happen?
1:12.0	Could you get a fine? We'd have to pay a fine.
1:15.0	We'd have to pay a fine.
1:16.0	There's no choice, 80 or 100 euros.
1:20.0	What happens?
1:21.0	The police come.
1:22.0	You can't play. They say let's see your documents. That's all.
1:26.0	But on what ground? Why is it forbidden?
1:29.0	They say cricket isn't for Italy. I'll tell you the truth. It's because we are foreigners.
1:37.0	This is the documentary from the BBC World Service and I'm Sophia Bettica.
1:43.4	And in this episode of assignment I'm asking
	...

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