Below I pasted an intelligent letter written by a yahoo subscriber. IN the letter he addresses the problems faced by Italy and Italians now that a lot of Tunisians and other Muslims are trying to get to Italy. READ IT!
To the commentator who wrote, “There has always been a close relationship between the Sicilians and the Tunisians”, As an American who lives in Sicily (legally, with a stay permit and after having been fingerprinted numerous times, having had to show proof of my ability to support myself, and having had to show no criminal record, and the possession of health insurance to obtain it – all ok with me, because other than for the language, which I am trying to learn, this place reminds me of what America once was, or what I was taught it was like), I suggest that you really don’t know about what you are talking in any way, shape, or form.
— While it is true that the Sicilians do indeed treat the Tunisian minority with respect (they are very kind and wonderful people, despite all the stupid “Mafiosi” comments about them), the fact of the matter is that the recent immigrants from North Africa for the most part live in squalor and terrible housing conditions in Sicily, and hold the worst jobs (if they can even find work), and that is really saying something, because many parts of Sicily are very poor and full of unemployed native Sicilians who can’t find work.
— Neither Sicily nor Southern Italy can afford to support an invasion of uneducated and poor immigrants from Africa. Italy, in fact, had to pay Tunisia before this latest upheaval to keep the immigrants from Tunisia out, a fact you omit to mention. You also fail to point out that the Tunisian constitution establishes Islam as the official religion of Tunisia and requires the President of Tunisia to be a Muslim.
The fact you cite — that 20,000 Tunisians (out of over 10 million Tunisians) are Roman Catholics is meaningless — about 98% of Tunisians are Muslims, while only about 0.25% follow Christianity and the rest (less than 0.25%) adhere to Judaism or other religions.
— As for Islam, it was thrown out of Sicily by the Normans about 850 years ago, and I don’t know too many Sicilians, of whom 99% are Roman Catholic, who are too eager to welcome it back. On its last stay here, Islam at the point of its sword converted the population to Islam and turned the Catholic churches into mosques before, after the expulsion of Islam, those mosques were again turned back into Christian churches.
— The Sicilians have already been through the experience of Islam, and didn’t like the taste; France, Germany, and England are now, too, beginning to discover that the stew of Islam is really not that tasty. Watch a free puppet show for children sometime in Sicily; they are almost invariably about the conflict between Christianity and i Saracenni.
— What is it that you don’t get? It is not that the Tunisians are bad people; it is that the Italians don’t want their culture destroyed and simply cannot afford the invasion now threatened by hordes that, while they understandably want a better life, have no right to invade another country to get it.
— Berlusconi (whether you love him or hate him), has succinctly enunciated the Italian and Sicilian position: “We don’t want Italy to become a multiethnic, multicultural country. We are proud of our traditions.”
— Why is one so insistent that — like the United States is now doing with its unofficial open borders policy — Italy (which 2000 years ago was building engineering masterpieces while the rest of the world was still living in mud huts and the like) open its borders to everyone and watch the destruction of its culture, its traditions, and of its economy unfold ?
