By Enyichukwu Enemanna
An Ivorian migrant, Aboubakar Soumahoro has been elected into the Italian House of Commons for the Green and Left Party in the Sept 25 national elections.
The 42-year-old, who migrated from Ivory Coast in 1999 at the age of 19, will stand out as the only black legislator in the lower chamber with 400 members and one of only a few ever elected in Italy’s 160-year history.
He has promised to make a name himself among the opposition in the face of a victorious conservative coalition that has assured to take action against asylum seekers.
“It was traumatic to sleep on the street, especially when I realized it was the result of a political decision directed at migrants,” Soumahoro told Reuters news agency.
His privilege as an Italian citizen and a parliamentarian avails him the unique opportunity to press for better welfare for migrants.
In his native Ivory Coast as he teenager, Soumahoro engaged in menial jobs, including shoes shining and dreamed of going to Italy by filling a scrapbook with pictures of Italian fashion designs from which he had cut out magazines.
Soumahoro says he will have the “best tan” in Parliament, but insists that he intends to speak for the poor and disenfranchised regardless of their colour.
“I don’t just want to represent a part of society. I want to make sure that everyone, both the dispossessed and those struggling to make ends meet, can recognize themselves in what we’re doing,” he said.
Speaking ahead of the Parliament inauguration on October 13, he said, “One thing I’m going to try is to make sure that no one lives on the street like me. People must be treated as people regardless of what passport they have.”
“Putting Italians first will not pull 5.6 million Italians out of poverty,” he said, accusing the right not to grasp the seriousness of the problems faced by ordinary families.
The election winners have announced that they will cancel a so-called citizen’s income, which offers a monthly stipend for the poor and unemployed. Soumahoro said that instead of being restricted, it must be expanded to help more people.
“Politicians didn’t see the coming hurricane of poverty,” he said, warning that rising energy and food prices would lead to growing despair, arguing that a more equitable distribution of wealth would make it easier to build social tensions.
“The politics of happiness are real,” he added. “It can be done.”
Soumahoro’s election is the culmination of an amazing personal journey that included picking crops in the fields, laying bricks, working at a gas station, studying sociology at the University of Naples, and writing a book: Humanity in Revolt.
