The autumn of 2008 has been a season jam-packed with strikes and demonstrations (in fact, there’s a huge transportation strike on this very day!). Such occurances–while tolerated in Rome because they allow the voice of the worker to be heard–don’t do much to put the city in a very good mood. The endless strikes and demonstrations of 2008 have blocked city streets and shut down transportation day after day, turning cross-city commutes into ordeals. In theory, we support strikes and demonstratons. In practice, they’ve begun to make us a bit crazy as there seems never to be a day without one.
You can imagine, therefore, our frustration at seeing a sign announcing another huge demonstration and strike to be held in Rome. As the sign on the left, above, declares a “sciopero generale” or “general strike” to be held by the CGIL labor union (the largest of all of Italy’s unions with some 5.5 million members) on Friday 12 December.
Our eye-rolling stopped, however, when we spotted another CGIL-sponosred poster next to the announcement of the general strike. We give you a close-up view here:
The poster shows two identical drops of blood, one labeled “Italian” and the other labeled “Foreigner.” The text below reads: “Skin comes in many colors. Blood only one. Against racism, equal rights of citizenship. For the right to vote, the same civil rights for immigrants.”
Now this is something we can support completely. CGIL, it seems, has put together a quite clever series of such ads demanding equal rights for all.
There’s a smile version (above, left), which declares that smiles come in only one color while skin comes in many. There’s a sweat version (above, right) which likewise declares the universality of perspiration. And, there’s a tears version (below), that informs us that CGIL believes that immigrants should have access to the same social services as Italians, as well as equal access to education, and the right to reunite families separated by immigration.
The posters (which have brought us right over to the side of CGIL), are meant to combat xenophobia and to protest Italy’s Bossi-Fini laws which so severely limit immigration. They’re going to be appearing across Italy for the next four months–the blood poster was the first of them, a new one will appear each month–with the publicity campaign ending on 21 March 2009, the International Day Against Racism.
