Italy is a citizenship referendum, the country of referendum

Sony Olaments was born in Rome and lived in Italy throughout his life, but the country he calls home does not recognize him as his own.

For Italy, Sony Nigeri, like his passport, and the 39 -year -old, are only welcome as long as the last residence permit.

“I was born here. I will live here. I will die here,” the dancer and activist told me about what he calls the Italian “pasta” under the trees of the palm of a Roman garden.

“But there is no nationality like … it is rejected from your country. I don’t think this is a feeling that we should feel.”

For this reason, Sony and others made a campaign to vote “Yes” in a national referendum on Sunday and Monday, which suggests to half the time required to apply for Italian citizenship.

The severity of the waiting from 10 years to five will bring this country with most others in Europe.

Giorgia Miloni, the hard right -wing prime minister, has announced that she will boycott the vote, declaring the law of citizenship already “excellent” and “very open”.

Other parties allied with it calls on the Italians to go to the beach instead of the polling station.

Sony will not participate either. Without nationality, he is not entitled to vote.

The question of who should be Italian is sensitive.

Large numbers of migrants and refugees arrive in the country every year, which helped throughout the Mediterranean Sea from North Africa by smuggling gangs.

The popular government in Meloni made a big deal about reducing the number of expatriates.

But this referendum aims to those who have traveled a law to work to a country with a large number of fluctuating and aging population.

The goal is limited: accelerating the process of obtaining citizenship, not to reduce strict standards.

“Knowing the Italian language, the lack of criminal charges, continuous residence, etc. – all the different requirements remain the same,” Carla Tipi explains from the liberal party more Europe, one of the many supporters of the referendum.

Reform will affect the foreign population in the long run who have already been working in Italy: from those on factories production lines in the north to those who are taking retirees in the luxurious neighborhoods of Rome.

Their children under the age of 18 will be homogeneous.

Up to 1.4 million people can be qualified for nationality immediately, with some estimates increasing.

“These people live in Italy, study, work and contribute. This is related to changing their perception so that they are not strangers anymore – but the Italian,” says Tibi.

Reform will also have practical effects.

As non -Italian, Sonny cannot apply for a job in the public sector, but rather has even obtained a driver’s license.

When he was booked for a famous realistic TV program last year, he ended up reaching two weeks in Honduras because he faced many problems in obtaining the appropriate papers.

For a long time, Meloni ignored the entire referendum.

The media owned by the public in Italy, which is managed by the close Melonian ally, has made it very interesting to vote.

There is no objective campaign “no”, which makes it difficult to conduct a balanced debate.

But the real reason seems strategic: for the referendum to be valid, more than half of the voters need to go out.

“They do not want to raise awareness of the importance of the referendum.” “This is rational, to ensure that the 50 % threshold will not be accessed.”

The Prime Minister in the end announced that it will attend a polling station “to show respect for the polling fund” – but it refuses to vote.

“When you differ, you also have the option to refrain from abstaining,” Meloni told a TV chat program this week.

She said that the citizenship system in Italy was “excellent”, as it has already granted citizenship to foreign citizens more than most countries in Europe: 217,000 last year, according to the National Statistics Agency, ISTAT.

But about 30,000 of these were Argentina with an Italian origin on the other side of the world, they were unlikely to visit.

Meanwhile, the coalition partner in Meloni, Roberto Vanchi of the right -wing league, accused those who are behind the referendum of “selling our nationality and erasing our identity.”

I ask Sony why he believes that his request for citizenship took more than two decades.

“It is racist,” he answered immediately.

At one point, he lost his file completely, and it has now been said that his case is “suspended”.

The activist recalls a comment in 2023 by the Minister of Agriculture from the Melonian Party: “We have ministers talking about the white – racist alternative to Italy.”

“They do not want black immigration and we know that. I was born here 39 years ago, so I know what I am saying.”

It is an accusation that the Prime Minister has repeatedly denied.

Insaf Dimassi defines itself as “Italian without nationality.”

He explains from the northern city of Bologna, where it is studying for a doctorate, “Italy is bigger and the person I am today is, so it is not seen as a very painful and very frustrated citizen.”

Insaf’s father traveled to Italy to work when she was a child, then she and her mother joined him. Her parents have finally obtained Italian citizenship 20 days after the eighteen years of age reached. This means that she had to apply for herself from scratch, including proving a fixed income.

Insaf chose the study instead.

“I have arrived here nine months ago, and perhaps in 33 or 34 – if things go well – I can finally be an Italian citizen,” she says, is angry.

She remembers exactly when she struck the importance of her “external” situation at home: it was when she was asked to run for the elections alongside a candidate for the city of the mayor in her hometown.

When she shared the news with her parents, full of excitement, they had to remind her that she was not Italian and she was not eligible.

“They say it is the issue of merit to be a citizen, and you have to earn it. But more than to be myself, what should I appear?” Insaf wants to know.

“Not to be allowed to vote, or to be represented, invisible.”

On the eve of the referendum, students in Rome wrote an invitation to opinion polls on gravel in the city square.

“Yes” voting on the eighth and ninth (from June), “they spent giant cardboard messages.

With a government boycott and such a little propaganda, the chances of reaching the turnout of turnout appear by 50 % small.

But Sony argues that this vote is just a beginning.

He says, “Even if they vote” no, “we will stay here – and think about the next step.” “We have to start talking about the location of our society in this country.”

Additional reports by Julia Thomasi