To understand how this topic can cause internal conflicts within the student body, it is sufficient to remember a shameful episode in which a Muslim kid was forced by some of his classmates to kiss the Crucifix.
Fighting Islamophobia On an institutional level, services at the disposal of victims of racism and discrimination are very few. The most recent and meaningful initiative is that of 2005, when the Islamic AntiDefamation League Italy was created. A group of intellectuals, workers, mothers and fathers, professionals students, all of them Muslim –most of them Italian citizens or people who have lived in Italy for years- decided to deal with the spreading phenomenon of anti-Islamism. The aim of Islamic Anti-Defamation League Italy is to gather, analyse and spread information about the propaganda of hatred and racism, and then to monitor, point out and fight against the main phenomena, organizations and individual promoters of antiIslamism in Italy, whatever the means they use for their activity. The immediate objective is to stop the defamation of the Islamic community and individual Muslims – when possible, through the use of sense and conscience and, if necessary, appealing to the law- implementing strategies, providing free assistance (including legal assistance, thanks to the 53 lawyers located all over the country, among them 14 barristers and constitutional lawyers), supporting and distributing resources pertinent to the safety of Muslim resident on the Italian soil, and reinforcing the legal mechanism to fight against serious threats that hang over the community. The main objective is to guarantee justice and an equal treatment for all people living in the country, including the minorities. The Islamic Anti-Defamation League Italy follows art. 19 of the Italian Constitution, which protects the freedom of expression, and it uses legislative means to report cases of racist and anti-Islamic violence. To grant privacy to those who report such cases, and to avoid others taking advantage of the publicity resulting from subsequent legal actions – well knowing some individuals’ will of self-promoting through this kind of shameful and nonsensical attacks – not all actions are made public.
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