Hannibal's Children: Immigration and Antiracist Youth Subcultures in Contemporary Italy

Abstract

The night of September 14, 2002 was moonless. A stormy sea lashed the rocky coastline at Capo Rossello, a small town near Agri- gento on Sicily's southern coast. Shortly after midnight, the wind carried the sound of screams out of the darkness to the restaurants along the beachfront. The screams grew in intensity and then, sud- denly, stopped. Some time later, bodies began to wash up on the beach. As the townspeople learned the following morning, a Ximsy wooden boat carrying passengers from Liberia had foundered in the rough waves near shore. One hundred twenty-eight people were dumped into the heaving waves near Capo Rossello. At least thirty- six of these people drowned while trying to swim to shore. This mass drowning was not unique. Italy has been experiencing a sharp in- crease in immigration over the last few years. These immigrants are increasingly coming from various points in Africa rather than from Eastern Europe. Every month, hundreds of impoverished people set out in poorly equipped boats from Libya, Tunisia, and other sites along the Northern Africa coast. Every month, dozens die as they try to reach Italy and Spain. The Italian coast guard has contributed to this body count by aggressively pursuing and turning back boats loaded with immigrants Xeeing Africa (Bruni 2002). These horriWc deaths have sparked intense debate concerning immigration in Italy. Although news of immigrant deaths arrives with numbing regularity, the mass drowning at Capo Rossello made a particularly dramatic impact on the controversy surrounding clan- destine immigration to Italy as a result of its date. Five days earlier,