Cecile Kyenge calls for support after racist attacks

Cecile Kyenge, Italy’s only black cabinet minister, has called for more support as she endures relentless non-violent racist attacks.

She is in charge of efforts to integrate immigrant communities into wider Italian society and is frequently targeted by right-wing opponents.

Cecile Kyenge said Italy’s institutions and political establishment must do more.

“Politics must stand up as one and condemn racism lest it become a dangerous weapon that can kill democracy,” the Congolese-born MP said.

Cecile Kyenge has faced a torrent of abuse since her appointment in April from the right-wing Northern League party and its supporters.

The League’s newspaper, La Padania, has just begun publishing her daily itinerary – presumably so that the hecklers will always know where to find the minister.

Last year, one of its most senior figures likened her to an orangutan. Another accused Cecile Kyenge of wanting to impose “tribal traditions” on Italy.

One of the League’s councilors even called for the minister to be raped.

Cecile Kyenge has been heckled, and had bananas thrown at her during political rallies.

She has now called for action.

“Our constitution is a strong tool to fight racism, but it’s never used.

“The country must react in response to these acts, which must be recognized for what they are, that is, acts of racism and discrimination,” Ansa news agency quoted Cecile Kyenge as saying.

In a newspaper interview, Cecile Kyenge said that, as a black woman, who had studied and become a minister, she had challenged the prejudices of the most intolerant people.

But she made clear that she would continue to do her job. If she backed down she would hand victory to her opponents.

Members of Cecile Kyenge’s Democratic Party and other centre-left politicians have called for the League’s newspaper feature Here’s Cecile Kyenge to be pulled, describing it as “tantamount to intimidation”.

La Padania‘s editor said the information was in the public domain anyway.

In a separate development, police confirmed that a suspicious powder mailed to Cecile Kyenge on Wednesday was baking soda. The package was intercepted at a mail-processing centre.

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