School of Government and SocietyUndergraduate Dissertation

Arab Spring Uprisings and the Stigmatised Representation of Immigration in Italy

A Foucauldian Discourse Analysis and Deconstruction of Italian Newspapers

Victoria Pereira-Ayuso

Student ID: 1318047

Submitted for Dr. Marco Vieira

BA International Relations with Political Science

March 2016

11,718

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Table of Contents

Abstract:.....................................................................................................................4

Introduction...............................................................................................................5

Research Question:.................................................................................................5

Methodological Framework:.....................................................................................7

Theoretical Approach...........................................................................................7

Methodology.......................................................................................................11

Literature Review...................................................................................................15

Structure................................................................................................................16

Chapter 1 – From the Italian Diaspora to the Arab Spring Uprisings: A Contextualisation....................................................................................................19

Italy’s Long History of Emigration..........................................................................19

The Arab Spring Uprisings.....................................................................................21

Italy’s Immediate Response...................................................................................24

Chapter 2 – Deconstructing Italian Newspapers: An Analysis of the Representation of Immigrants in the Italian Media..............................................26

La Repubblica........................................................................................................27

Il Giornale..............................................................................................................31

La Padania.............................................................................................................34

Chapter 3 – Locating the debate in International Relations: The Conceptual and Identity Problematics in Media’s Representations..............................................38

The Complexity of Definitions................................................................................38

Identity and The Silence of the Other....................................................................41

Conclusion...............................................................................................................44

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Abstract:

The large flow of immigrants arriving in Italian shores since the wake of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings has had a major impact in the ways the media has represented the subject of immigration as a whole in Italy. Despite its history as an emigration country, whose citizens were once object of discrimination and misleading representation in the media; Italy emerges in the contemporary world as an extremely important recipient of immigration flows. Considering that those immigration flows are mainly emanated from the regions of North Africa and the Middle East, the Arab Spring revolutions shall be considered in this dissertation as a key component of the Italian’s stigmatisation of immigrants in the media. La Repubblica, Il Giornale and La Padania deserve close analytical attention, in their role in imposing certain “realities” and “dogmas” regarding immigrants upon the Italian society. Themes such as that of a conceptual complexity and the silence encountered in the notion of Otherness all contribute to the argument that the deconstruction of newspapers, as one of the most immediate forms of knowledge creation, is quintessential for a more comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of immigration, and of International Relations as a whole.

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Introduction

Research Question:

Italy confirmed its role as a country of arrival for international migration,

especially since the beginning of the 21st century. (…) there has been an

increase in immigration: the 3.4 million foreign citizens residing in Italy in 2007

have become 4,387,721 in 2012, equal to 7.4% of the total population

(Immigrazione Dossier Statistico, 2013).

The huge scale of human migration across the Mediterranean encompasses evident

geographical indicators and patterns, which one may pertinently associate to certain

socio and geo-political determinants. Southern Europe comes forth as a rather

peculiar case of significant importance, in so far as it constitutes a large-scale

recipient of the migration flows steaming from the Southern Mediterranean. Italy,

particularly, has grown to become a central recipient body for such migration fluxes.

Especially in the eventuality of the occurrences that have been widely broadcasted

as the Arab Spring uprisings and due to its geographical proximity to other

Mediterranean countries. Such immigration patterns have, however, developed into

a rather serious political issue of intense controversy, not only in Italy itself, but also

across the European Union member-states. And the media has constituted a key

player in maintaining and exacerbating the polemic around the topic of migration,

which, according to Ellinas, has often served the purpose of some far-right parties in

advancing radical and xenophobic discourses (Ellinas in Ureta, 2011: 13). The aim of

this dissertation is to unravel the deep-seated layers of meaning and knowledge

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production ingrained in Italian media in terms of the case of illegal migration,

particularly in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab Spring uprisings. It therefore seeks to

obtain a deeper and broader level of understanding of the ways in which media has

represented the case of illegal migration in one of the most evident recipient nations

of migration fluxes in Europe: Italy. Using a post-positivist lens, this dissertation

explores the rather conspicuous issue of representation in Italian media, especially

as far as identity formation is concerned. Hence, the construction of a stigmatized

identity and the process of othering through discourse emerges as a central theme

throughout this dissertation. It is precisely this construction of such “Otherness”

immediately associated to the Arab Spring-driven immigration flux that this

dissertation seeks to deconstruct – particularly in the stance of media

representations. Due to its fundamental role in the process of knowledge-formation

amongst the population, the media arises as an extremely important focus of

analysis. More specifically, and in lieu of its growing influence and indirect power

within the contemporary societal domain, newspaper journalism will be particularly

highlighted and scrutinised throughout this analysis (Richardson, 2006: 2).

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Methodological Framework:

Theoretical Approach

The analysis that follows is drawn from a theoretical stance advocated by prominent

scholars such as Michael Foucault, James Der Derian, Jaques Derrida, among

others. Departing from the assumption that “relations between language and context

are interdependent and mutually influenced” (Ureta, 2011: 14), poststructuralism

arises as the most comprehensive framework in providing the required theoretical

pillars for the conduction of the analysis proposed by this dissertation. Accordingly,

despite the complexity in finding one all-encompassing definition of the former due to

the ramifications within it, poststructuralism comes together for most academics as

that which constitutes an ethos whose aim is to draw attention to the relevance of

analysing language, representation, identity and the kaleidoscope of meanings

produced through the power/knowledge nexus (Campbell, 2010: 216).

Fundamentally, the metaphysical basis for such objectives is one built upon the

premise that:

There is no such thing as truth, only regimes of truth (…) Statements about

the social world are only ‘true’ within specific discourses. Society decides

what is acceptable to believe and what is unacceptable, the latter of which is

suppressed or merely ridiculed (Sheehan, 2005: 141).

Whilst those who channel their thinking into the positivist and foundationalist

understanding of truth and of international relations would contradict such statement,

as demonstrated in Béatrice Han’s work (2002), for example; those who have

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dissented the unchallenged version of ‘reality’ proposed by traditionalist approaches

recognise the importance in studying the “modes by which, in our culture, human

beings are made subjects” (Foucault in Campbell, 2010: 224). This means that there

is no such thing as a fixed universal human being, whose unchangeable individuality

serves as a role model for the rest of humanity. Indeed, poststructuralist scholars,

and Foucault more specifically, propose a divorce from such reasoning. Rather,

modern existence is conceptualised as a product of history. The processes of social

interaction and power-relations in particular cultures, throughout the course of history

are what, in Foucauldian terms, constitute human experience and most importantly,

the human-self. Subjectivity then, seems to occupy a rather central position within

the poststructuralist ethos (McHoul & Grace, 2002: 3). Since, in accordance to

Foucault’s conception of the subject, “our experiences of selves and lives are

discursive effects; (…) the result of powerful discourses that structure our reality”

(Foucault in Fadyl & Nicholls, 2012: 25). Such an understanding of the individual as

a product of socio-historical structures fits perfectly as a framework for the analysis

of the role of identity in the Italian representation of immigrant masses. Not only does

it provide scope for the analyst to challenge the undisputed depictions and

representations of the immigration reality; but also to understand and deconstruct the

binaries created through the process of identity-formation endorsed by the media in

this specific case. In what context does the identity of an immigrant become labelled

as that of a “foreigner”, “clandestine” or “the Other”? An “Other” which, within the

immigration-theme-representation is presented against a nationalistic “Us”, whose

security appears to be threatened by the former. How does an immigration crisis

become an identity one? These are all questions adjacent to the very intrinsic quest

of this study And if the issue of immigration is, indeed, integrated within a security-

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based discourse, one may then follow Anthony Burke’s suggestion that “security

discourses and practices are (…) the product of struggles over power exercised in

the name of security that relate to the very question of being” (2013: 80).

Nonetheless, such questions become all the more relevant and palpable if one

considers the rather paramount pouvoir-savoir nexus in Foucault’s account of

International Relations. By claiming that “it is not possible for power to be exercised

without knowledge, [and] it is impossible for knowledge not to engender power”

(1980: 52), Foucault introduces a whole new sphere of analytical layers. In fact, au

contraire of the rather essentially simplistic microanalysis of linguistics, Foucault’s

analysis of discourse is elevated to the study of a sequence of complex power-

relations. The production of language and discourse as a whole is juxtaposed with

the authority behind such production. Knowledge-creation depends on an

authoritative power, in the same way as the latter depends on the former. Ergo, one

may pertinently argue that discourse, knowledge and power are fluid are innately

intertwined (Olsson, 2007: 223).

In challenging and dismantling the dogmatic assumptions developed in the process

of discourse and meaning creation, deconstructivism emerges as an extremely

suitable theoretical tool for the analysis of representation. For discursive meaning

constitutes, in its essence, “the repressive presence of what it does not say; and this

‘not-said’ is a hollow that undermines from within all that is said” (Foucault, 1969:

28). As such, Jacques Derrida’s philosophy of deconstruction’s novelty lies in the

demonstration of how binary relations and dichotomies turn meaning into objective

depictions of reality. The connotation of “good” can solely have a positive meaning

when placed side by side with that of “evil” (and its negative significance). In more

specific terms, the attribute of “foreigners” only attains its fully intended meaning

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when juxtaposed with the notion of citizenship; of nationality; of being Italian.

Nonetheless, one may go further to argue that, with the growing radicalisation of

negative immigration discourses in the Italian press, the idea and sentiment of being

an “Italian national” has also been reinforced precisely because of the large influx of

immigrant groups since 2011. The fear of an “outside” threat that has evolved into a

national peril – according to the representation of the issue provided by media

platforms – fuels a feeling of patriotic urge. Within such context, the

interconnectedness between power and knowledge becomes extremely dominant

and dynamic, in so far as it perpetuates the promotion of certain connotations over

others. This is because, according to the poststructuralist lines of thought, in any

form of binary oppositions, one faction is always privileged over the other. Such

stance promptly evokes one of the key tenets of poststructuralist and deconstructivist

thinking: the notion of Otherness. In fact, the poststructuralist body of reasoning

argues that the “other’s” voice is often neglected and dismissed, which immediately

relates to the claim that “migrants in Italy can be described as very absent from their

own narratives, since they rarely have a voice” (Sibhatu in Giorgi, 2012: 70, 71).

Respectively, in an analytical study on the pillars of deconstructivism, Gert Biesta

puts forward the rather enriching argument that the very basis on which the

privileged end of the dichotomy rests, is maintained because of the existence of the

other end of the opposition, being that the “otherness” is ruled out in order to

preserve the “myth of a pure and uncontaminated” truth (2010: 721). It is in this

sense that, adopting a poststructuralist stance on the stigmatized representation of

immigrants in Italy calls for the imperative of deconstructing the embedded and

“naturalised” meanings and “reality”. Not only does it allow for the dismantling of

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exacerbated and xenophobic discourses and their layers of significance; it is also a

“vocation”, as Campbell would put it; a “response to a call” (1998: 23).

Methodology

Building upon the fundamental theoretical assumptions ingrained in post-structuralist

thinking, and hence, embraced throughout this study, the methodological

architecture of this dissertation shall be one compatible to its hypothetical premises

and analytical aims. Correspondingly, the methodology adopted throughout this

dissertation is one that lays the foundations for a disclosure and deconstruction of

the ways in which language and discourse are produced in the particular case of the

representation of immigrants in Italian media. On that account, it departs from a

classic qualitative approach, thereby delving into a more anti-foundationalist

interpretative discourse analytical study (Jansen, 2008: 108). As put forward by both

Ernesto Laclau and Chantal Mouffe, “issues of identity formation, the production of

novel ideologies, the logic of social movements and the structuring of societies by a

plurality of social imaginaries are central objects of investigation for discourse

[analysis]” (in Garau, 2014: 3). Discourse analysis arises as the most suitable, as

well as far-reaching form of depicting and truly grasping the layers of meaning

beneath the representation of Arab Spring-related immigrants in Italy. Nonetheless, it

is extremely relevant to understand some of the guiding pillars of discourse analysis

a priori of its actual application. It seems strikingly important, at this point, to begin by

providing a well-grounded understanding of the essence of the word ‘discourse’ in

itself. Indeed, the contemporary amplified usage of the term ‘discourse’ in diverse

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fields such as linguistics, sociology, philosophy, political science, among others, self-

underlines the complexity attached to the former’s definition (Gee, 2014: 17).

Considering that the very notion of discourse is one closely and inherently

associated to the work of Michael Foucault (Miller, 1990: 115), one’s inquiry onto its

conceptualisation shall start with the latter’s assertion that “discourse refers to a unit

of language larger than a sentence, and discourse analysis is the study of these

sequences of sentences” (Foucault in Sawyer, 2002: 434). In envisaging a

comprehensive understanding of the very basic pillars of discourse in itself, as well

as of discourse analysis, and consequently an accurate application of the former,

this study draws much of its own analysis from Foucault’s findings and method. Not

only does it concede his suggestive definition of language and discourse; it also

grants scope to the development of the idea of discourses of silence and Otherness

very much evident in the following claim:

[While] the question posed by language analysis of some discursive fact (…)

is always: according to what rules has a particular statement been made, and

consequently according to what rules could other similar statements be

made? The description of the events of discourse poses a quite different

question: how is it that one particular statement appeared rather than

another? (1972: 27).

Similarly, and in building the basis for what later became referred to as discourse

theory, Laclau and Mouffe define discourse as constituting a “decentred structure in

which meaning is constantly negotiated and constructed” (Laclau in Torfing, 1999:

40). Such definition immediately creates a certain linkage with the post-positivist

dissociation and departure from the principles and methodologies put forward by

structuralism. For, according to Jacob Torfing, both neo-Gramscian and post-

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structuralist scholars have built their conceptualisation of discourse upon a

renunciation of the structuralist idea of a “self-enclosed” object and structure (1999:

4). Therefore, and in so far as they neglect pre-given concepts and structures, post-

structuralist academics stress the instability and transformational character of

structural frameworks of social interaction. In fact, if one departs from the premise

that individuals’ ideas and lives are shaped by individual and, thus, different

experiences, the claim that discourse emerges in a subjective structure of social

interaction becomes rather evident. Evoking Zizek’s conclusions, an amalgam of the

discourse analysis principles put forward by both the work of Foucault, as well as

that of Laclau and Mouffe, encompasses a focus on the different experiences of

subjects within a particular socio-historical framework. Such focus consequently calls

for a depiction of reality as being one composed by different realities, which are per

se constituted by different meanings (Zizek in Torfing, 1999: 56). This idea that

realities and meanings are fluid, contingent and transformative embodies a constant

theme running through the strand of discourse analysis undertaken for this particular

study. If one ascribes to Foucault’s idea of discourse as a system of signs that

inevitably produces meaning, one ought to recognise the evident underlying conflict

of interests formulated in the process of discourse-creation. In the words of Laclau

and Mouffe, some discourses are presented to the world as an objective given which

not only is taken for granted, but also as “a-problematic” (Laclau & Mouffe in Garau,

2014: 4). However, “the attempt to characterise discourse, and therefore meaning,

as something wholly objective and external to subjects is mistaken”, according to

Professor Seumas Miller (1990: 120). Such objective connotations emerge as

intrinsically problematic, especially because the subscription to certain discourses

automatically overlooks others, in which case, the deconstruction of the former

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becomes paramount under poststructuralist lenses. Specifically, in considering the

representation of immigrants in Italy in the aftermath of the 2011 uprisings, one

ought to underline the value attached to the analysis of media’s discourse for the

deconstruction of the embedded “truths” and identities. Media embodies a “system

that selects and verifies information (therefore withholding and discrediting other

information) [being that] the reporting, filtering and exchange of information produce

deliberative discourses” (Hall, 2012: 8). Not only is media an extremely powerful

means of producing information, it also possesses control over the propagation of

such information. Hence, by having the authority to impose certain beliefs upon

people – and simultaneously, to disregard and undermine other competing beliefs –

media, and more specifically, journalism, shapes the way certain societies think

about and react to certain issues. It both informs and influences readers’ opinions.

However, it also adjusts itself to what those same readers – the audience – expect

and want to read (Taylor, 2009: 3, 4). This dilemma becomes all the more

problematic in the Italian case, since a relatively large part of newspapers are

actually financed and ran by groups that are directly involved in the political realm.

Some newspapers are even owned by certain political parties. Media discourse, in

this instance, becomes an arguable means of conveying particular political

messages and ideas, which ultimately have a crucial factor in influencing and

creating social “truths” (Campani, 2001: 40) . It is in this sense that the discourse

employed by newspapers, as one of the most impacting means of media

communication, “needs to be taken very seriously” (Richardson, 2006: 13).

Especially if one considers the issue of immigration in Italy and the underlying

processes of identity-formation beneath the layers of discourse promoted by the

media. Therefore, and in accordance to both Foucault’s theoretical put on discourse

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analysis and to Derrida’s approach, this paper will adopt a deconstructive take on a

selection of Italian newspapers. For purposes inherently linked to the aim of this

dissertation, La Repubblica, Il Giournale and La Padania will be analysed and

deconstructed through a “double-reading” method, in so far as they will first be read

“for their intended meaning [and] then read again for their aporias – the unintended

but unavoidably present incongruities and contradictions within the text”, which

ultimately end up producing far-reaching societal meanings (Park, 2008: 775).

Literature Review

A review of the available literature on the representation of Immigrants in the Italian

media has evidenced a growing amount of studies directed at deconstructing the

underlying messages and meanings beneath the production of knowledge through

media. However, the truth is that not much research has been undertaken on the

topic of migration in the media, with Italy as its case study (Campani, 2001: 38). In

addition, in recognising the importance of analysing the representation of immigrants

through discourse, one ought to underline the rather scarce availability of literature

that actually combines discourse analysis, the immigrant crisis in Italy and the Arab

Spring uprisings as a whole. The most far-reaching literature contribution towards

the consolidation of the former is that of Emma Bond, Guido Bonsavver and

Federico Faloppa, in their 2015 Destination Italy: Representing Migration in

Temporary Media and Narrative. In its role as a crucially central literature for the

formulation of this paper, Destination Italy provides a substantial input towards the

poststructuralist and discourse analytical project of deconstructing the “realities”

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produced through language. Its novelty and relevance in informing this dissertation

lays in the fact that it has built the theoretical, methodological and analytical basis

upon which the former delineated its initial elements of research. Similarly, Media

and Migration: Constructions of mobility and difference (King & Wood, 2001) also

embodies a key part in the development of this research, in the sense that it

provided the methodological range of tools that allowed for the focus on newspapers

as this dissertation’s object of discourse analysis. They focus their analysis on

popular newspapers, such as La Repubblica, La Stampa, Corriere della Serra and Il

Giornale. Noneteheless, small newspapers ran by political parties such as La

Padania are often neglected in the process of deconstruction. Even though the

former is mentioned in most analyses, there is a substantial lack of literature focused

on an actual analysis and deconstruction of the discourse put forward by La

Padania. This may be intrinsically related to the evident obstacles posed to the

analyst in the process of research, especially when looking for La Padania’s issued

articles. The chief obstacle lays in the absence of a functional official website.

However, one ought to bear in mind that, although small, La Padania is perhaps the

most far-right and extremist newspaper in its xenophobic stigmatisation of

immigrants in Italy. And a comprehensive and inclusive paper on the stigmatised

representation of immigrants cannot possibly overlook the rather racist comments

and dogmas put forward by La Padania.

In theoretical and methodological terms, Foucault’s The Archaeology of Knowledge

(1969) and Torfing’s New Theories of Discourse: Laclau, Mouffe and Zizek constitute

literatures of crucial importance for the analytical intentions set by this dissertation.

Similarly, the work of Tryandafyllidou (2000) conveyed in “The Political Discourse on

Immigration in Southern Europe a Critical Analysis” arises as an extremely

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substantial piece of literature in unravelling the rather key theme of “us” against

“them” as constructed in the Italian discourse. However, it does not emerge as

essential as that of John Richardson in his Analysing newspapers: an approach from

critical discourse analysis (2006), since the latter engages in an extremely valuable –

for the purposes of this dissertation – deconstruction of newspapers, and most

importantly, of their immense prominence in the process of meaning, power and

knowledge creation. Furthermore, and as far as secondary literature is concerned,

books such as Politics of National Identity in Italy: Immigration and ‘Italianita’ (Garau,

2014) and as Refugees in International Relations (Betts & Loescher, 2011) constitute

a paramount element in paving the way to a more enlightened and balanced

understanding of identity as a continuous theme running throughout this dissertation.

One ought to admit, however, that with very few exceptions, a contemplation of the

general reading on the specific topic chosen for this dissertation, sheds light upon

the lack of a substantially comprehensive body of literature that not only engages

with the debates upon media and immigration in Italy; but also with the relation

between the former, the Arab Spring uprisings of 2011 and the extremist discourse

of right-wing parties.

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Structure

Chapter one, From the Italian Diaspora to the Arab Spring Uprisings: A

Contextualisation, provides a brief and general historical overview of migration within

Italy and the transformations it has gone through. Although fairly descriptive, this

chapter emerges as an extremely important section in laying the most basic

informational pillars for the remainder of this dissertation. Indeed, if one considers

that the chief focus of this paper is that of deconstructing the layers of meaning

beneath the representation of immigrants in Italy since the occurrence of the Arab

Spring wave of revolutions; one ought to recognise the importance in actually

understanding the chain of events associated to the former. Nonetheless, in order to

possess sufficient tools to critically scrutinise and disassemble the social and political

discourses associated to immigration in itself, it is also imperative to understand the

contextualisation in which such discourses occur. Especially as far as history is

regarded. In this sense, chapter one will begin by providing a succinct, yet tangible

consideration of the Italian diaspora and its history as a nation of emigration. Such

data will constitute an essential component in arguing, in the following chapters, for

the somewhat irony attached to media’s stigmatisation and discrimination towards

immigrants in Italy. Similarly, the instance of the Arab Spring uprisings shall be

explored with the purpose of enlightening the relation between the former and the

post-2011 large fluxes of immigration in Italy. The cases of the North African and

Middle Eastern regions deserve special in the aftermath of 2011 (Fargues &

Fandrich, 2012: 4), which is why they will be briefly looked into at this point. This

section will therefore concentrate in understanding the factors involved in the turning

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of the Arab Spring uprisings into the “biggest migrant wave since second world war”

(Kingsley, 2015), within which Italy has indeed constituted a major destiny.

Intrinsically linked to the previous inquiry into Italy’s timeline of changing migration

patterns throughout history, is the very nature of the conceptualisation of migration in

itself, and its consequent weight in informing the production of identities.

Correspondingly, chapter two, The Italian Response to Immigration flows: The

Conceptual and Identity Problematics, proposes to delve into such conceptual and

identity-related problematics, in an attempt to assess the underlying nature of the

Italian response to the post-2011 immigration flows. However, and for purposes of a

more coherent and comprehensive analysis, this chapter will begin by addressing

the actual official Italian reactions to the large inflows of Arab Spring-stemmed

peoples. It will then bring to light two of the most pronounced responses from the

Italian government: the Operation Mare Nostrum and the posterior Operation Triton.

These border security “packages” will be outlined within a context of immediate

responses put forward by Italy – in conjunction with the European Union – in light of

the urgency compounded in the image of thousands of boats arriving in the former’s

shores, particularly in the aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions. Such depiction of

Italy’s immediate response shall serve as a primary ground for the engagement with

the rather complex feature attached to migration-related definitions, that the following

section offers to critically evaluate. In this sense, the second section within chapter

two will consider the different conceptual variants within the realm of human mobility.

As such, and in its inexorable relation with the previously explored theme of

conceptual complexity, the question of identity formation, in its Foucauldian sense,

will be closely analysed in the final section of this chapter.

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The last chapter, Deconstructing Italian Newspapers: An Analysis of the

Representation of Immigrants in the Italian Media, will focus on looking at three

different newspapers. Firstly, and adopting an analytical and deconstructive lenses, it

will analyse a range of articles included in one of the most popular journals in Italy:

La Repubblica. Such deconstruction shall be continually interlinked with the

discourse promoted by the De Beneditti group, a centre-left group. By the same

token, the second section of this chapter will be delving into the representation of

immigrants emanated by the Il Giornale, being that the former’s discourse shall be

analytically paralleled with that of the Berlusconi’s group, in so far as the latter owns

this newspaper. Lastly, and emerging as one of the most striking bodies of

deconstruction, the discourse endorsed by La Padania, owned by the Northern

League, shall be meticulously dismantled in order to unravel the power-knowledge

relations intrinsically incorporated in the former’s representation of immigrants in the

aftermath of the Arab Spring revolutions. Finally, the concluding remarks of this

dissertation seek to acknowledge the poststructuralist novel ethos of unravelling the

meanings and realities upon which our everyday lives are reproduced. It therefore

underlines the importance of Foucault and Laclau and Mouffe’s form of discourse

analysis in informing the analytical deconstruction of the deep-seated layers of

meaning in representation. Exceptionally as far as the Italian immigration crisis is

concerned, because not only does it allow for an understanding of the societal and

political influences upon which media discourse is produced; it also, as this chapter

segment will summarise, allows for the analyst to untangle the meaning-production

process in discourse-formulation and ultimately pave the way for a less

discriminatory depiction of the Arab spring-driven levels of migration in Italian media.

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Chapter 1 – From the Italian Diaspora to the Arab Spring Uprisings: A Contextualisation

Italy’s Long History of Emigration

A priori of an extensive in depth analysis of the media’s portrayal of Arab-Spring

related immigration flows in Italy, it is important to address the historical and almost

forgotten – one may argue – Italian Diaspora. Although recent developments have

altered the framework through which migration is understood in the Italian context,

the truth is that for decades, Italy constituted one of the most prominent European

countries as far as emigration was concerned. The period between the 1860s and

the 1920s saw a significantly substantial abundance of migration levels from Italy.

Indeed, according to a 1984 survey, between 1876 and 1980, the volume of Italian

emigrants was of more than 26 million (Birindelli in Bonifazi et. al, 2009: 6). And the

social and political process of Italian unification throughout the time spectrum of

1860-1871 had had major implications for international human mobility, in so far as it

pushed Italian nationals – mainly from the Southern regions – towards emigration.

Especially directed to the other side of the Atlantic (Testai, 2015: 27, 28). As far as

the factors and phases of such emigration flows are regarded, they are considered to

be three-fold, being that the first phase was one characterised by the political turmoil

installed in the post-war world. Such phase, which was also bolstered by the growing

independence-movements in colonies across the globe, was followed by an era of

economic aspirations, in which most Italian emigrants moved abroad in the prospect

of finding economic and financial prosperity and security. Similarly, the third phase

was one characterised by an evident response to the 1970s economic recession,

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which, per se, ended up promoting a certain social anxiety (Venturini, A., 2004: 13).

It is within such context of historical widespread emigration, driven by multiple forces,

that one may pertinently acknowledge and underline the peculiar irony associated

with the current levels of immigration experienced in Italy today. Particularly in terms

of the rather bigoted representation of the latter. As put forward by Anna

Triandafyllidou, Italy arises as a rather interesting case when delving into the

analysis of media’s unbalanced representations of immigrants across Europe (1999:

65). Its history as a nation of emigration, during which many small Italian

communities of emigrants were formed worldwide (“Little Italies”), especially in the

United States; creates somewhat of a paradox when put side by side with the

contemporary paradigm. Particularly if one considers the levels of xenophobic

discourse to which such “little Italies” have been put through throughout the course

of history (Gabaccia in Dietz, 2011: 15). However not intrinsically crucial for the

ultimate deconstructive purposes of this dissertation, Ilaria Serra’s work (2009)

arises as a relevant piece in placing Italy’s situation today in an analytically parallel

circumstance as that of its large-scale emigration timeframe. In a rather similar

approach to that assumed by this paper, Serra discloses the levels of stigmatisation

ingrained in newspapers’ numerous attempts of representing and describing the

Italian group of immigrants. In deconstructing an opinion-based article reported in

The Times (1909), he stresses the xenophobic relevance of the following statement:

“The Italian is supposed to be a great criminal (…) But the Italian criminal is a high-

strung, excitable person who is temperamentally half-seas over when he is sober

and fighting [when] drunk (…) As a rule, Italian criminals are not burglars or robbers

– they are stabbers and killers” (Jerome in Serra, 2009: 88). The importance in the

analysis put forward by Serra lays in the factor of generalisation unravelled by the

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former claim. More important, though, is the power-knowledge nexus embedded in

the production of mass information. The fact that the opinion article referred to above

was written by a District Attorney, turns the former into an opinion of “authoritative”

character, immediately calling for a sense of credence and trust from the part of the

reader-audience. It is in this sense that the forms of media representation, both in

the time of the Italian Diaspora and in the current Italian situation, relate in many

ways to one another. The timbre of the characterisation and identifiers attributed to

Italian nationals in both cases – “immigrant mafia” and “criminals” in one case (Serra,

2009: 87); and victims of an immigrant “invasion” in the other (Castelli, in Pop, 2011)

underlines a paradoxical inversion of roles and identities. A general understanding of

Italy’s history of mass immigration into another countries becomes therefore an

essential tool when trying to grasp the ways in which the Arab Spring-driven

immigration into Italy is represented, categorised and stigmatised in the Italian media

today.

The Arab Spring Uprisings

In order to undertake any well-balanced analysis on the Italian media

representations of the large influx of migrants in the aftermath of the 2011 Arab

Spring revolutions, it is of paramount importance to begin by providing a well-

rounded understanding of the underlying foundations of such revolutions. When

exploring Italy’s rather dynamic history of migration, one ought to take into

consideration the “reversal of trends” demonstrated from the 1970s onwards when

Italy became Europe’s main destination for immigrants from Third World countries

(Calvanese & Pugliese, 1988: 181). But although such reversal of trends is evidently

not a new phenomenon (Russel, 1993: 284), the Arab Spring uprisings have played

22

a paramount role in defining Italy’s current migration patterns. According to some

figures provided by the European Commission’s Research Area, “between 1 January

and 31 July 2011, Italy received approximately 48,000 irregular migrants as part of

the 2011 influx from North Africa of whom 24,769 originated from Tunisia and 23,267

arrived from Libya” (Carrera, et. al, 2012: 4). One may therefore argue that the

former has promoted a tremendous boost in the influx of immigrants in Italy – even if

temporarily – developing the foundations for what academics and experts today have

denominated as one of the largest migrant crisis ever (Kingsley, 2015). And, as this

dissertation will demonstrate, the very roots, causes and “face” of the uprisings are,

in most cases, intrinsically related to the nature of the representation of immigrants in

Italy, which is why one cannot provide a comprehensive deconstruction without

generally understanding the Arab Spring revolutions. It is therefore relevant for the

analytical purposes of this dissertation to briefly grasp the factors involved in the

produce of such uprisings; the revolutions as a whole, and lastly, the obvious

implications as far as human mobility is concerned. Having been subsequently

dubbed Arab Spring, the revolutionary events that began in 2011 in Middle Eastern

and North African regions (MENA) are innately linked to the authoritarian and

oppressive nature of the latter’s political bodies. Considering that by 2010

“approximately three fifths of the world’s countries were governed by some form of

democracy” (Howard et. al, 2011: 2), the fact that Tunisia’s new media-driven

revolution caused a domino-effect wave of uprisings does not come as a surprise.

Especially if one contemplates the contemporary power posited in new forms of

social media, such as Facebook and Twitter, combined with a widespread level of

globalisation (Khondker, 2011: 675). Indeed, the overthrow of dictator Ben Ali in

Tunisia, fuelled the popular strength to revile Egypt’s Mubarak, Libya’s Gaddafi and

23

Yemen’s Abdullah Saleh; and to incite both violent and non-violent protests and

uprisings in Syria, Bahrain, Algeria, Kuwait, Morocco, Lebanon, among others. In a

nutshell, despite the slight differences in their political structures, these countries

shared a growing sentiment of dissatisfaction with the rule of their dictators, whose

authoritarian framework allowed for the multiple violation of basic human rights,

immense degrees of corruption and large-scale levels of unemployment. This,

combined with the previously mentioned strength of social media and a military

desertion upon most of these governments, provided scope for a realistic quest for

freedom and change (Goodwin, 2011: 455). Nonetheless, it is also important to

stress the social, political and economic insecurity stimulated by these same

uprisings. And although the previous oppressive circumstances did promote a

certain inclination towards migrating, the overthrow of dictator forces in many MENA

countries and the consequent uncertainty in the region ultimately triggered a massive

wave of immigration to the Northern Mediterranean, especially to Italy (Cosea, 2014:

307). In the case of Libya, though, the uprising itself and the intensified military

ground turbulence prompted a distinct form of migration, which was heavily

characterised by an urgency to flee the military fighting (Carrera et. al, 2012: 3). This

demonstrates the complexity and range of the nature of Arab spring-driven migration

inflows, which, as will be explored posteriorly, complicates all the more the

generalised representation of immigrants in Italy. Nonetheless, what is crucial to be

drawn from this discussion is that the Arab spring uprisings – and all the political,

social and economic baggage attached to it – has had a major impact on Italy’s

demography. Most importantly, however, is the rather unmistakable effect of such

“baggage” in the way Italian media has represented immigrants as a whole.

24

Italy’s Immediate Response

In the wake of one of the biggest migrant crisis in Southern Europe, Italy declared

itself to be in a “state of humanitarian emergency”, in which the “human tsunami”

from the Arab Spring would have to be tackled (Consiglio dei Ministri in Paoletti,

2014: 134). In terms of humanitarian measures, Italy immediately endorsed

protection actions, which were particularly addressed to “citizens from countries of

North Africa flowed into the country from 1 January 2011 to midnight on 5 April 2011”

(Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri in Nascimbene & Pascale, 2011: 352).

However, the adoption of a temporary decree to allow circulation in the Schengen

Area for migrants was not a solution for the whole migrant crisis, especially in the

long-run. The very idea of this influx of migrants as constituting a “crisis” emanates

from the fact that, in 2011, both Italy and the European Union were not prepared for

such large numbers in inflows. Not only was the EU still adapting to the immigration

policies introduced with the Lisbon Treaty; the European Neighbourhood Policy

(ENP) had not been reviewed in light of the recent events in the Southern

Mediterranean shores (Juncos & Whitman, 2012: 151). And, due to its geographical

proximity to the uprisings, 2011 alone saw the Italian shores become a stage for the

arrival of hundreds of thousands of immigrants. It is within such context that in

February 2011, in response to a request from Italy’s then Ministry of Interior – whose

affiliation with the Northern League far-right party is rather interesting for the

following deconstructive chapter – FRONTEX undertook a Joint Operation with Italy

codenamed Hermes 2011 intended to control the Mediterranean Sea and Italian

borders and reduce the levels of irregular migration (Frontex, 2011). The Operation

Mare Nostrum commenced in 2013 also aimed at tackling the rising status of

25

immigration. However, it differed from Operation Hermes in the sense that it was

established in the aftermath of the 2013 Lampedusa Disaster, in which

approximately 360 Eritreans and Somalis were deemed to have drowned when

attempting to reach Lampedusa. Hence, this operation was chiefly focused on the

search and rescue of the so-called migrant shipwreck disasters, having been

subsequently substituted by a Frontex-led operation called Triton (The Economist,

2014). As this dissertation will explore in the following sections, these migrant vessel

incidents have had an immense role in providing an “image” and “face” for the

migrant and refugee crisis in the media. Indeed, the Italian response to the Arab

Spring induced migration has been largely based upon a sentiment of an amplified

emergency and need for securitisation. And, as conveyed in the argument of this

dissertation, “the public attention framed by an emergency prospective has partially

hindered an informed discussion” (Triandafyllidou & Ambrosini in Paoletti, 2014:

128).

26

Chapter 2 – Deconstructing Italian Newspapers: An Analysis of the Representation of Immigrants in the Italian

Media

The prearranged order selected for the deconstructive endeavour that is this chapter,

is of paramount importance in understanding the growing critical tone of the chapter.

Indeed, as will be demonstrated throughout the course of this section, the instances

of stigma and racism in the representation of immigrants in the selected articles,

alters in accordance to the newspaper in consideration. The choice of a gradient

approach for this chapter – in so far as it begins with the less radical newspaper, and

ends with the most extremist one – serves to account for the understanding of the

representation of immigrants in Italian media as being immensely intertwined with its

social context and underlying power relations upon which knowledge is produced.

Such claim immediately resonates Foucault’s power-knowledge nexus, thereby

providing the theoretical grounds for the argument that the extremism held by certain

political groups and bodies translates into the production of stigmatised and

xenophobic discourses referent to immigration, especially when such groups bear

power upon the very process of discourse – and therefore knowledge – creation.

Particularly in the aftermath of the Arab Spring uprisings.

27

La Repubblica

In embodying one of the largest and most popular newspapers in Italy, La

Repubblica arises as an important object of analysis for this dissertation. Although

being regarded as a centre-left newspaper nowadays, the fact that it was initially

created along the lines of a radical and socialist mind-set is quite important in

deconstructing its current stance on the case of immigration. Furthermore, current

events such as the Arab Spring uprisings have had a notorious impact on the way

the former regards the topic of migration. As Campani puts it, La Repubblica’s

position on the topic of immigration has been largely positive since the early 1990s.

Not only did it contemplate migration as a useful component in the Italian economy,

but also for the demographic “balance”. Such posture has been deemed to be

innately linked to the fact that La Repubblica is owned and controlled by the De

Benedetti Group – a group often identified with centre-left politics. Nonetheless, and

despite the fact that it has openly defined itself as anti-racist, the truth is that some

articles – especially the ones issued in the immediate aftermath of the Arab Spring,

as will be demonstrated – incorporate a certain stigmatising and stereotypifying tone

towards immigrants. In doing so, though, it intends to justify its position by claiming it

to be a “consequence of the high number of immigrants and of the lack of rules”

(2001: 45, 46).

In double-reading the immigration-related articles issued between 2011 and 2015,

there are clear tendencies notoriously linked to the social and political context at the

time of the writing. Indeed, perhaps due to its centre-left inclination, the availability of

articles that contribute to this dissertation’s argument is much lower than those

encountered in both Il Giornale and La Padania. However, one ought to recognise

28

the significant amount of discriminatory and slightly anti-immigration prone articles in

the immediate eve of the 2011 Arab Spring.

A pertinent way of opening up the deconstructive process is to begin with

newspapers’ very first element of discursive construction of meaning: headlines.

Indeed, the years of 2011 and 2012 are marked by a growing use of radical

headlines regarding immigrants in la Repubbilca – a process that has tended to

diminish in the course of time. Let us consider the following headlines of different

articles: “Settecento clandestini in 24 ore a Lampedusa torna l' allarme”1 (La

Repubblica, 2011); “Centri al collasso, è polemica”2 (Polchi, 2011) and “La Libia

avverte: Nuove ondate di clandestini”3 (La Repubblica, 2012). These three headlines

have a common denominator in the discourse they endorse: the production of a

meaning of emergency attached to the phenomena of immigration. Now, in the

journalistic conceptualisation of news-making, the headline of an article arises as a

paramount and key element in reaching the reader. In the words of van Dijk, “if

readers pay attention to the news at all, they will at least read and memorise the

content of the headlines” (1988: 221). Assuming the general premise that readers

tend to opt to purchase a particular newspaper substantially on the basis of the

nature of its headlines, the more dramatic and alarming the former are, the bigger

are the chances for people to buy and read the newspaper (Brody, 1991: 153) One

may therefore argue that the distinctive use of words such as “allarme”, “polemica”,

“avverte” and “ondate”, calls for the immediacy, emergency and amplitude (“ondate

di clandestini”) of the immigrant crisis. This, per se, embodies a sentiment of eminent

crisis and an underlying call for action.

1 “Seven hundred illegal immigrants in 24 hours in Lampedusa, the alarm returns” (Translation from Italian)2 “Overflowed [refugee] centres, it is polemic” (Translation from Italian)3 “Libya warms: New waves of illegal immigrants” (Translation from Italian)

29

Intrinsically linked to the discursive transformation of the arrival of immigrants into an

alarming phenomenon, is the ideological division between those who arrive and

those who are already here. “Stanno arrivando … Stanno arrivando sui barconi che

gli ufficiali di Gheddafi mettono in acqua … l' invasione è alle porte”4 (Bolzoni, 2011).

The clear ambiguity attached to the individuals who are “arriving” immediately

evokes the latent construction of an identity. The repetition of “stanno arrivando”

constitutes, as one may put forward, a strong discursive technique which ascribes

urgency and persistence to the arrival of immigrants. Besides shaping the reader’s

sphere of meaning-association in relation to the migration crisis, it is as if this article

almost places the former at the place of the landings, which therefore bolsters the tie

of personal interconnectedness between the reader and this social phenomenon.

Also, by not specifying who is arriving, this article contributes to the production of a

generalised them, who are instantly portrayed as invaders sent by Gaddafi. Not only

does this statement emphasise the arrival of them “in a space perceived and defined

as ‘ours’” (Bruno, 2015: 69), it also associates them to the emerging theme of

terrorism. Similarly, and in an almost sarcastic tone the claim that Lampedusa is

“dipinta come la terra dell' approdo per chi fugge dalla guerra”5, Marceca (2011)

comprises a sentiment of distrust against immigrants, especially those coming from

Libya. This representation of immigrants, which is also evident in the more recent

2015 “Lampedusa, su un barcone terrorista di ritorno”6 (Viviano), suggests a

presence of ulterior motives behind their arrival, which are deemed to be ultimately

associated to terrorism and an imminent “invasion”.

4 “They are coming … They are coming in boats put in the water by official Gaddafi … The invasion is upon us” (Translation from Italian)5 “painted as the landing place for those fleeing war” (Translation from Italian)6 “Lampedusa, on a return terrorist boat”

30

For purposes of a more balanced and accurate analysis, though, one ought to

acknowledge the increasing number of articles in La Repubblica concerned at

producing an awareness of the stigmatisation of immigrants in Italy. Although it has

endorsed such xenophobic discursive practices itself, mainly in the wake of the Arab

Spring as previously explored; one ought to bear in mind that it is a centre-left

newspaper after all, being that, the discourse the former promotes is prone to,

somehow, adopt a more liberal, balanced and anti-racist stance in general. Hence,

more recent articles such as “La primavera araba in un fumetto: Ecco a voi la storia

di Takoua”7 (Andriuolo, 2013), “Migranti, come ripensare le leggi europee sull'asilo

per fermare la ‘roulette russa’ degli sbarchi”8 (Star, 2013), are more inclusive, raising

awareness towards themes such as the large marginalisation of immigrants in the

Italian society.

7 “The Arab Spring in a speech bubble: Here's the story of Takoua”8 “Migrants, how to rethink European asylum laws to stop the ‘Russian roulette’ of landings”

31

Il Giornale

Also one of Italy’s most popular newspapers, Il Giornale emerges in this particular

analysis as a key element for the understanding of the importance of dismantling

newspapers’ bigoted discourses. It is quintessential to include Il Giornale’s take on

immigration in this dissertation as not only does it constitute a leading newspaper in

Italy; it also has a strong conservative touch to it, thereby being regarded as a right-

wing newspaper (Pirro, 2009: 126) Indeed, the most important and popular

newspapers in Italy are often largely – even if indirectly – involved in politics.

Whether that is because they are directly owned by a political group, or because

they are financed by one. And this is precisely the case with Il Giornale, which is

owned by the Berlusconi group and family. The presence of a conservative and

Berlusconi-induced ideology is conspicuous in the issues published by the

newspaper. Especially as far as immigration is concerned. As such, the evidence of

a prejudiced and one-sided language in describing immigrants in Italy is much more

accentuated in Il Giornale, than in the previous example, La Repubblica. A close

deconstruction of the layers of meanings concealed in a selection of Il Giornale’s

articles therefore allows us to unravel and dismantle the language and discourse

through which meanings, dogmas and practices are normalised and legitimised in

the Italian society (Matassa, 2014).

Despite having been briefly touched upon in the analysis of La Repubblica’s articles,

the notion of Otherness strongly advocated within the realms of poststructuralist

thinking becomes all the more obvious in Il Giornale’s discourse on immigration. The

dichotomy of “Us” against “Them” is rather evident in the following stances from

32

“Lampedusa Emergenza clandestini”9 (Il Giornale, 2012): “Uno straniero”10 and

“clandestini”11. These pronouns are largely adopted across the Italian media, and

especially in extremist discourses, producing an image of an “unknown” intruder

arriving in the Italian shores. The fact that the enemy’s figure is presented to the

reader in ambiguous terms – as the “unknown villain” – is extremely powerful in its

constructive production of meaning. Especially if one contemplates the growing

interchangeability of use between “clandestino” and “criminal” in Italian media.

Evidently, this – even if subtle – connection between the two terms, has provided the

knowledge upon which the castigation of immigration is maintained amongst the

Italian society (Bruno, 2015: 74, 75)

Au contraire of the tendency demonstrated by the examples from La Repubblica, the

biased and divisive representation of immigrants seems to have escalated with the

course of time, as one may deduce from the far-right motivated claims that “E a

soffrire sono sempre gli Italiani”12 (Indini, 2015a) and that “le decine di migliaia di

immigrati che continuano ad arrivare [stanno] trasformando l'Italia nel campo

profughi d'Europa”13 (Indini, 2015a). The dramatization of media’s discourse is

unmistakable in these two instances. Not only does it portray Italy as a “victim” of the

large influx of immigrants from North Africa and the Middle East; it represents it as

the only one. Evidently, the 2015 European reality does not live up to such

statement, since it is also characterised by inflows of immigrants. However, following

Bond et. al, this dissertation is not concerned with the “reality” or “truth” behind an

article; its focus “is not so much ‘what’ happened, but rather ‘how’ the phenomenon

9 “Lampedusa, Emergency created by Illegal Immigrants”10 “A foreigner”11 “An illegal immigrant”12 “And the ones to suffer are always the Italian” 13 “The tens of thousands of immigrants that continue to arrive are transforming Italy into the refugee camp of Europe”

33

has been described in words and images” (2015: 2). The adoption of a Foucauldian

discourse analysis allows us to dig deeper and beyond the simplicity of linguistics

and explore the social contexts in which these discourses are being framed. Ergo,

the growing anti-European Union sentiment experienced in 2015 across Europe, and

in Italy more specifically, ought to be taken into consideration when deconstructing

the previous discourses. Along these lines, it is important to consider the fact that in

2015, precisely, Silvio Berlusconi – owner or Il Giornale – officially demonstrated

public support for the far-right, anti-EU and anti-migrant Northern League (Kington,

2015). Such affiliation with anti-EU ideologies is quintessential in that it informs the

productive role of power in the construction of discourses in the media, especially as

far as Il Giornale is concerned.

One may also encounter several stances of an Otherness-prone discourse in “ Il no

di Squinzi ai migranti: ‘La priorità sono gli italiani’”14 (Indini, 2015b), such as: “Sarà

una visione un po' egoistica, ma cominciamo a dare un futuro ai nostri giovani?”15;

“In questo momento non è l’immigrazione che può risolvere i nostri problema”16 and

“non è affatto d'accordo coi buonisti che vogliono spalancare le porte del Belpaese

agli extracomunitari”17. The echoed use of the term “nostri” carries an immense

baggage of meaning, when contraposed in newspapers with that of

“extracomunitari”. In this example, “nostri” clearly refers to the group of Italian

citizens in an attempt to reinforce the importance of reinsuring the Italian national

identity and interests. In terms of the framing of discourse and the meanings

conveyed in the construction of an “us”, the Italian nationals are regarded as the

“good” end of the spectrum, whereas immigrants constitute an amalgam of mostly 14 “The No from Squinzi to Migrants: ‘The priority are the Italians’”15 “It may be a somewhat selfish view, but let’s start by giving a future to our young people”16 “Right now, immigration is not going to solve our problems”17 “Do not agree with do-gooders who want to throw open the doors of our beautiful country to the immigrants”

34

omitted identities and backgrounds which, combined, form the other end of the

dichotomy epitomised by a simple “them”.

La Padania

Since its inauguration in 1997, La Padania has placed the issue of immigration in

Italy right at the centre of its discourse, having been a popular theme for its front

page issues. More specifically, the issue of “clandestinis” is put forward by La

Padania as Italy’s most immediate problem, touching upon every aspect and sector

in Italians’ lives. The rather exacerbated and extremist feature of La Padania’s voice

emanates significantly from its de facto affiliation with the most far-right political party

in Italy: The Northern League. Hence, ideologies such as those embedded in the

anti-immigrant sentiment put forward by the Northern League are very common in La

Padania’s tabloids. Within the highly xenophobic discourse endorsed by the former,

premises related to bad and incompetent governance; criticism against the European

Union; the high rates of unemployment in Italy; and terrorism, generally compose the

nature of La Padania’s extremism (Fella & Ruzza, 2009: 92, 93). Although this

particular newspaper is not exceptionally popular when compared to the above

mentioned, it emerges as an extremely important object of analysis for the purposes

of this particular dissertation, especially when considering the lack of a substantial

body of literature concerned at deconstructing its discourse. This dissertation follows

the argument that despite the popularity of a newspaper – which certainly is a solid

factor for the purposes of discourse analysis – the nature of the discourse it creates

and promotes constitutes the ultimate determinant for its inclusion in an analytical

35

discourse deconstruction. Particularly if one considers the history and social

background attached to that very discourse (Phillips & Hardy, 2002: iv).

The bigoted and anti-immigration nature embedded in La Padania is not recent or

new. In fact, in a 1999 article, for example, the former was already extremely critical

of immigrants as a whole, claiming that “the immigrants [have] all the rights but no

duties … and residents [have] all the duties to support the others but very few rights”

(La Padania in Kamali, 2009: 175). However, in dedicating the whole of the front

page of the newspaper (04/05/2011) to the, at the time, looming case of immigration;

La Padania created a precedent for the following years of prejudiced and xenophobic

representation of immigrants in Italy. Indeed, the two headlines exhibited in this issue

– “Libia, Passa la linea della Lega18” and “E Ora Bloccare I Clandestini”19 (La

Padania, 2011) – demonstrate a much higher level of a normative imperative against

the arrival of immigrants in Italy, when juxtaposed with the previously explored

newspapers. They are presented to the audience as a negative force that the Italians

ought to “block”. By the same token and as demonstrated in its very title – “STOP

CLANDESTINI Si può fare, basta applicare la LEGGE”20 – Anvar’s article calls for

the adoption and application of a more “rigoros[o] ed effettiv[o]” approach to illegal

immigration (2013). Such a dramatic manoeuvring of language, combined with the

intentional uppercases in “STOP CLANDESTINI” and “LEGGE” promotes a pressing

urge for Italians to address the problem, and how to do so. Even if the solution

proposed by the former is not the most adequate or feasible, by making the idea of a

solution sound rather easy, La Padania is ultimately producing a socially constructed

“reality” in which it provides a straightforward answer to the issue. Consequently,

18 “Libia passes the line of the League”19 “And Now, Block the Illegal Immigrants”20 “STOP ILLEGAL IMMIGRATION, It can be done, just apply the LAW”

36

such disposition of the “reality” automatically puts forward the underlying suggestion

that the current government, as well as the European Union, are not doing a

sufficient job in tackling problems that affect Italians directly, such as that of

immigration. This fits perfectly into the Northern League’s political agenda, especially

if one considers that its two major themes are those of anti-immigration and anti-EU.

Such an ethos is supported by an extensive range of critical articles within La

Padania’s newspaper, which immediately implies a sense normalisation and

generalisation directed at the reading audience. The exacerbation of the depiction of

immigrants as a security threat to the nation is evident in the subsequent instances:

“BASTA sbarchi, il governo fermi i clandestini e la KYENGE”21 (Ballarin, 2013);

“Invasione Di Stato”22 (Garibaldi, 2014); and “Tassa di clandestinità: Sbarchi e

immigrati, per il ponte ‘umanitatio’ dovremo sborsare almeno 10,5 millioni al mese” 23

(Accorsi, et. al, 2014). Indeed, according to Eva Garau, “the recurrent use of

provocative, rude, grammatically incorrect and not at all politically correct language,

the ‘spectacular headlines’ … contribute to spreading the idea that being leghista

involve[s] … a rejection of ‘the other’” (2015: 109). Such rejection is understood in

this particular dissertation, as not only the expression of the constructed “other” that

alarmingly places “our” (Italian) security and identity in danger; but also as the

evident production of certain “truths” and knowledge. And the Foucauldian power-

nexus is extremely clear as far as La Padania is concerned. Its language and

discourse are constructed in accordance to the Northern League’s political

standpoint and interests; while at the same time, its language would not possess

enough discursive and productive power to endorse such xenophobic discourses

21 “ENOUGH of landings, the government must stop illegal immigrants and KYENGE”22 “Invasion of the State”23 “Fee of illegality: Landings and immigrants under the name of ‘humanitarian’ may cost us at least 10,5 million per month”

37

were it not for it constituting an authoritative body. It is precisely within such

paradigm that, despite it constituting a small-circulation newspaper, the

deconstruction of La Padania’s xenophobic discourse emerges as a crucial

component for a more comprehensive understanding of the representation of

immigrants in the Italian media (Campani, 2001: 42).

38

Chapter 3 – Locating the debate in International Relations:

The Conceptual and Identity Problematics in Media’s

Representations

Our conduct of international relations cannot be separated from the manner in

which we write and speak about it … facts only make sense through our

practices of interpretation – and these interpretations, in turn, shape how we

politically deal with the facts and phenomena that surround us (Bleiker &

Chou, 2010: 17).

The Complexity of Definitions

In the last section of this dissertation, it is important to begin by contemplating the

very notion of immigration in itself – as the central phenomenon running through this

paper –, as well as the multiple ramifications within its conceptual sphere. Such

understanding emerges as a rather crucial component in laying the fundamental

basic pillars for the connection between all chapters of this paper and the ever-

evolving realm of International Relations. Indeed, the very choice of wording in the

discourse elected for the representation of “immigrants” is extremely important to

consider when analysing the Italian response to immigration flows, as well as its

underlying identity problematic. Following the work of Betts and Loescher (2011),

this section will focus on unravelling the misleading associations and definitions

39

attached to the notion of migration. In fact, it seeks to contemplate the several

ramifications and forms of human mobility, – especially that of illegal immigration and

status of refugee – with the ultimate intention of providing a more comprehensive

and inclusive understanding of the previously explored utilisation of migration

discourses in the Italian media. For such inclusiveness and all-rounded perception

are of very limited character in the Italian press representations– a stance to which

this paper adheres. Especially in the excessively vast employment of the adjectives

“illegal immigrant” and “clandestini” in the former.

As illustrated in Chapter 1, the wave of North African and Middle Eastern revolutions

that became publicly labelled as Arab Spring uprisings ought to be acknowledged for

its rather distinct complexity within this debate. Especially when it comes to

attributing designations to the increased levels of human mobility it fuelled. It is

therefore important to understand some conceptual differentiations, if one is to truly

grasp the political problems inherent to media’s definitions and representations. In

the words of Michael Samers, the spectrum goes from “those who ‘overstay’, those

who have ‘lost’ their documents, those who falsify their documents, those who enter

a national territory clandestinely, rejected asylum-seekers, and more generally, [to]

the socio-legal ‘grey area’ between illegal status and asylum-seeking status” (2004:

28). The classification of migrants from the MENA region has been largely defined

within the realms of the notion of illegal immigration in the Italian media. Therefore,

and considering that the European Union has played a crucial role in delineating the

measures directed at controlling the immigration crisis in Italy; the conceptualisation

of the “illegal immigrant” put forward by the former is important to contemplate. In a

rather broad approach, it states that an “illegal/irregular entry” corresponds to the

lack of the “necessary requirements for legal entry into the country” when crossing

40

borders (European Comission, 2015). Nonetheless, and departing from the socio-

historical context that this dissertation addresses, the concept of refugees is one that

also deserves particular attention when delving into the Arab-Spring induced

migration. According to Alexander Betts and Gil Loescher, the classification of

“refugee” is essentially related to the persecutions and lack of security to which

certain populations are exposed in their own nations. This instability is often linked to

revolutions, a state of war, or simply to the consequences of a failed state. Hence,

having been deprived of their “safe haven”, these same groups of individuals

generally flee their homes in the pursuit of security, stability, peace, and most

importantly, survival (2011: 1). Indeed, frequently, it is in the process of chasing an

official status of “asylum seeker” – which is a rather complex process, one may add

– that individuals end up complying with illegal forms of migration (Black, 2013: 36).

Evidently, the root of the stigmatisation problem lays in generalisation, which is why

one cannot generalise and argue that all immigrants in Italy in the aftermath of the

Arab Spring are refugees. However, it is also important to avoid a generalisation and

normalisation of the idea of all immigrants as being “clandestinis”. Departing from the

post-positivist assertion that “there is no neutral space of migrant incorporation”,

being that migrants are faced with a space “already ‘polluted’ by racial power

relations [and] colonial history” (Grosfoguel, et. al, 2015: 641, 642), the

understanding of the different conceptualisations within the realm of migration and

the posterior deconstruction of discursive elements in the media, become key

components for an all-encompassing perception of migration as a major

phenomenon within International Relations.

41

Identity and The Silence of the Other

Building upon some of the most influential theoretical premises within Foucauldian

thinking, the process of identity-formation in discourse production discussed in the

previous chapter is inherently linked to the adoption of certain conceptual definitions

over others. Specifically, in the case of the representation of immigrants in Italian

media, the “hierarchisation”, not only of topics, but also of definitions and concepts,

acts as a form of imposing a certain strand or version of “reality” over other. The

audience is, in this instance, presented with a discursive encouragement to adhere

to that precise version. By favouring a particular concept, other conceptualisations

and images are immediately overlooked and neglected, being that the latter are very

rarely presented to the public. We, as the audience, are therefore told “what to think

[rather than] … how to think” (Bruno, 2015: 64) And whether that process of

knowledge-creation is informed and meticulous or not, is not fundamentally relevant

for this analysis. What is important to be underlined is the element of selectiveness it

embraces. Whereas some newspapers, such as La Repubblica, adopt a somewhat

smooth selection of concepts – yet, still stigmatising – La Padania, on the other

hand, opts for a full-on radical take on the matter of immigration in Italy.

Metaphorically, one may argue that the process of knowledge-production and

consequent Otherness in Italian newspapers, functions in a rather similar way to that

of a snowball. It begins with the selection of particular concepts, adjectives and

pronouns over others, which, per se, induces the reader to understand the topic of

42

immigration in accordance to certain identities. And within such discursive method of

division, the audience is involuntarily driven to make a “decision” upon the time of the

reading. It either connects itself with the victimised “us”, whose nation is being

“invaded”; or with “them”, the inevitable evil whose unknown complexion ends up

bolstering a sense of fear and imminent threat to audience’s security. What then

arises as fundamental in this analysis, is the way the multiple identities at stake are

represented and presented to the reader audience. In the case of media

representation, a vivid Otherness occupies the central piece of the discourse, being

that the bipolar end to which immigrants are associated is immediately associated by

the audience with the notion of danger, as summarized by Binotto:

Traditionally speaking, danger comes from the outside. But the border

between inside and outside, even between dangerous and pleasurable, deals

with metaphors. It depends on the cultural model that builds up our view of

the world, the image of its borders and of its risks (2015: 33)

The recurrence to discourses of danger and “emergenza” evident in the Italian

media’s portrayal of immigration as a phenomenon, is loaded with an unravelling

sentiment of distrust. As a matter of fact, according to Triandafyllidou, “immigration

flows towards southern Europe make part of a global trend of increasing population

movements (…) [being that] host countries are faced with the necessity of dealing

with these ‘Others within’ whose presence challenges the political and cultural order

of the nation” (2000: 375). In this sense, the ways in which the media represents

immigrants becomes all the more relevant for the field of International Relations. Not

only does it introduce themes such as that of terrorism and imminent fear within the

discourse of Otherness, it also allows for the increase in influence in certain political

parties rather than others. More importantly, though, is the combination of these

43

exact discourses of Otherness with those of silence. Indeed, the promoting of

“frames linking immigration to criminality and social unrest [has] shown to be

particularly effective discursive strategies to gain voter support for the extreme right”

(Rydgren in Quassoli, 2014: 158). And, as an analytical insight, one ought to

acknowledge the fact that the discourse of right-wing parties is deemed to have risen

significantly in recent years (Kirchgaessner, 2015) as inextricably linked to the

immense importance in deconstructing the discourses promoted in the media – as

well as the ones that are neglected – especially as far as the Arab Spring-driven

immigration is concerned.

44

Conclusion

The fluxes of migration emanated from the regions of the Southern Mediterranean

have had a paramount impact on the demographic reality experienced in one of the

most prominent European countries, as far as contemporary immigration is

concerned: Italy. Despite its rather infamous history as a nation characterised by

significant flows of emigration, especially towards the American continent, this

dissertation has demonstrated the power exhibited by the Arab Spring Uprisings in

drastically altering such demographic and social condition. In doing so, this paper

has aimed at underlining the certain irony interplayed by the identity exchanges

experienced through the course of history, in order to better stress the importance of

deconstructing Italy’s contemporary discourse on migration. The understanding of

the Arab Spring revolutions has proved to be an essential component for the

analytical aims of this dissertation, for it provided the contextualisation and

background required for a more comprehensive study of the immigration flux in Italy

in the wake of 2011. One ought to admit the importance of understanding the

episodes of such uprisings, if one seeks to attain a more comprehensive and

complete analytical deconstruction of Italian newspapers. The Foucauldian discourse

analysis embraced by this dissertation provided the most thorough tools and

instruments for the fulfilment of a deconstruction of the discourses encountered in La

Repubblica, Il Giornale and La Padania. Despite the obvious obstacles posed to this

dissertation as far as the linguistic realm is concerned, as the articles were analysed

in their original language (Italian), the employment of discourse analysis as proposed

by both Foucault and Laclau and Mouffe has underlined the importance in

deconstructing the underlying relations of power and knowledge beneath the

45

production of discourse in the Italian media. The intrinsic connection between such

power-knowledge nexus and the posterior conceptual and identity-related debate,

have ultimately contributed to this dissertation’s stance on the extreme importance in

deconstructing, under a poststructural lens, the layers of meaning through which

Italian newspapers have imposed “realities” regarding immigration upon the Italian

nation.

Despite the somewhat pessimistic and, to some extent, negative aspect attached to

the findings of this analysis, one must acknowledge that the troublesome character

of the role played by media in shaping the masses’ understanding of immigrants in

Italy does have a strong potential of being reversed. As strongly illustrated

throughout this study, discourse – and the language-power nexus that lies within it –

is not only produced by society. In fact, and as John Richardson (2006) claims in a

rather insightful deliberation on language, it also “goes on to recreate it [as it] (…)

contributes to the production and reproduction of social reality or social life” (p. 10).

In this sense, the boundaries of knowledge-creation are limitless, thereby allowing

for a balanced, and un-biased practice of discourse. This, per se, possesses a

strong potential for a more open-minded and less discriminatory representation of

immigrants by the Italian media.

Word count: 11718.

46

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