Via Anelli's Wall

We mentioned the anti-immigration wall in Padua, Italy, briefly several months ago, which actually led to an ongoing chronicle of updates and information about the impact there in the comments section, thanks to local Italian blogger Alberto, who pens the Padua Blogger's Inn blog.


Buried in those comments Alberto pointed to a pretty good little You Tube video of the Via Anelli ghetto that has been concentrated with immigrants demonized by local community members and leaders who would rather take the NIMBY approach of just quarantining the issue of migration rather than truly trying to resolve it with proper integration policies, etc.


Now, thanks to fellow reader and writer Marcello Di Cintio, we are directed to another great video on the walled ethnic slum that has been highly contentious for a decade in the ancient city of Padua, described as a prison without locks, and a psychological horror for migrants, who are not only warehoused together but were at one point totally walled off from the rest of the neighborhood. The video (which is also readable here) gives a good history of how the situation arose, ha evolved, been merely displaced from one street block to another, speaking with advocates from both sides as well as Italian officials who now finally acknowledge the backlash of having conducted a local politics that followed from the gut of racism rather than lead with a rational solution of providing citizenship and basic human respect. Good video, about 20 minutes long, well worth the watch - so check it out.

(And thanks again Marcello!)