Tag: USA

  • “I can’t breathe”

    “Please, I can’t breathe. My stomach hurts. My neck hurts. Everything hurts. … (I need) water or something. Please. Please. I can’t breathe, officer. … I cannot breathe. I cannot breathe”.  These agonising words were whispered by a 46-year-old black man while a white police officer pinned him to the ground while he was handcuffed accusing him of buying cigarettes with a counterfeit 20$ bill. The man: Mr. George Floyd was being suffocated by the police officer’s knee into the back.

    This tragic event happened on May 25 in Minneapolis (US) and a bystander video recorded the tragic incident.

    Protests against racist police brutality sweep across the United States and spread around the globe.

    Anti-racism protests have spread to Europe with protesters emphasising that racial profiling is not just an American phenomenon.

    Similar protests have also been held in the Netherlands, Germany, France, the UK and in Italy too.

    Hundreds of demonstrators are marching with different banners and claims in their hands such as: “Hands up, don’t shoot!” “We March for hope, not for hate,” and “I can’t breathe!”. But on the front line many banners are standing out with the slogan “Black lives matter”. But what does black lives matter mean?

    Black Lives Matter (BLM) is an international human rights movement, originating from within the African-American community, which campaigns against violence and systemic racism towards black people. BLM regularly holds protests speaking out against police brutality and police killings of black people, and broader issues such as racial profiling, and racial inequality in the United States criminal justice system. After George Floyds’ murder it has become anthem, a slogan, a hashtag, and a straightforward statement of fact.

    The message is central to the US protests happening right now. In my opinion “All Lives Matter” should be the right slogan because all races should join hands and stand together against racism that is the only virus that we will never eradicate. But why the problem still exists after centuries of struggles? The answer is called: “systematic racism” and it infects the very structure of our society. The deep racial and ethnic inequities that exist today are a direct result of structural racism: the historical and contemporary policies, practices, and norms that create and maintain white supremacy.

  • Columbus, the hero of two worlds or a “terrorist”?

    Columbus, the hero of two worlds or a “terrorist”?

    Cristoforo Colombo può essere definito il grande esploratore che scoprì l’America o il “terrorista” che diede inizio alla persecuzione degli indigeni?

     

    According to millions of U.S. citizens it is wrong to glorify Columbus, but why all those people think that?

    On 12 October 1492 the Italian explorer discovered by mistake America. Indeed he thought that he had arrived in India. Columbus couldn’t give his name to the new continent but a German cartographer attributed it in honour of the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci who explored the new continents the following years.

    However, a lot of people define Columbus not an explorer but a sort of “terrorist” because he initiated centuries of colonization by European nations.

    Since 1500 until 1650 the European settlers campaigned to impose their colonial rule with an enormous impact on the history. Today not much has known about the Native American history, this is injust! All people should know their history and all people must know all the injustice committed in the past by European colonizers who started the mass persecution of all the indigenous: Indios, Maya, Aztecs and American Indian.

    Nowadays the descendants of this indigenous tribes have been campaigning to abolish the Columbus Day in favour of Indigenous Peoples’ Day so to pay homage and to honour their sacrifice facing the past, learning from it so not to repeat it.

    In spite of everything the Americans have to thank Columbus for his discovery, who brought across the years the America, and in particular the US, in the centre of the World.

     

     

  • Elezioni presidenziali USA: vince Donald Trump

    Elezioni presidenziali USA: vince Donald Trump

    trump-internaMake America Great Again! Abbiamo sentito tante volte Donald Trump urlare questa frase nei lunghi mesi di estenuante campagna elettorale alla fine della quale è diventato il nuovo presidente degli Stati Uniti d’America, prevalendo sulla candidata democratica, Hillary Clinton, già segretario di Stato fra il gennaio del 2009 e il febbraio del 2013 durante il primo mandato del presidente uscente Barack Obama. Nonostante il suo programma elettorale, che prevede la costruzione di un muro ai confini con il Messico, la deportazione di 2 milioni di immigrati illegali, la punizione con 5 anni di carcere per chi entra illegalmente negli Stati Uniti, la rottura di diversi accordi commerciali e trattati di scambio internazionale, una dichiarazione di guerra commerciale alla Cina, accusata di concorrenza sleale nei confronti delle aziende americane, l’abolizione dell’Obamacare, la riforma sanitaria istituita da Obama che ha garantito assistenza sanitaria a 13 milioni di Americani, l’approvazione di un decreto fiscale per tagliare le tasse della classe media del 35% e lo smantellamento dell’EPA (Environmental Protection Agency), che si occupa della tutela dell’ambiente e dello sviluppo delle energie rinnovabili, Donald Trump ha vinto. Sebbene la Clinton abbia ottenuto un totale nazionale maggiore di 200000 voti su Trump, il sistema dei Grandi Elettori ha favorito il tycoon newyorkese. Dopo l’elezione Donald Trump ha incontrato il presidente uscente Barack Obama, grande sostenitore di Hillary Clinton, nello studio ovale della Casa Bianca dove hanno affrontato la transizione tra le amministrazioni. Insieme a Trump c’era la moglie Melania, la nuova first lady, che è stata accompagnata da Michelle Obama nella residenza privata. Tuttavia in molte città degli Stati Uniti si sono accese forti proteste contro l’elezione di Donald Trump e quella di Portland è degenerata in violenti scontri. Trump, quindi, si troverà a governare per quattro anni un Paese nettamente diviso tra chi lo sostiene e chi invece non lo considera il proprio presidente a causa delle sue battute sessiste, misogine e razziste. Trump, will you make America great again?