Italian freelance journalist based in London, covering human rights, foreign affairs, politics, migration, EU affairs, social movements and other issues.....there is a new story around every corner.
The Chinese Connection
Geopolitical competition between Beijing and Washington is not just muscular and military-based but, especially on Beijing’s side, is strictly connected with soft power and investment in several industries, like the maritime sector in Latin America.
The sector underpins Beijing's flagship outward investment strategy, namely the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), which aims at strengthening and developing land and sea trade routes around the world.
While investments have so far tended to focus along trade routes and at nodes that connect Asia, Europe and Africa, China is showing a growing......
Toxic Fandom and the Need for More Diversity in Fantasy and Superhero Fiction
When the first teaser of Amazon’s Rings of Power was released online, on February 14th, the main focus of the fans was on the return to J.R.R Tolkien’s Middle-Earth, following The Hobbit-The Battle of the Five Armies by Peter Jackson in 2014; however, some reactions also turned, with criticism to two casting choices specifically.
Some of the reactions to the casting of the British actress of Afro/Iranian descent Sophia Nomvete and of the Puerto Rican actor Ismael Enrique Cru...
Of crime, fatherhood, family and sons - Top Boy S02 / A Number
The Summerhouse posse is back, with Ashley Walters, Kano, Little Simz and Micheal Ward, while the brilliant "A Number" with Paapa Essiedu and Lennie James is running until tomorrow at the Old Vic.
Top Boy S02
On Netflix, from today
Dushane ( Ashley Walters) and Sully ( Kane Brett Robinson a.k.a Kano) are back with the rest of their Summerhouse posse, led by the tough-as-nails tomboyish lieutenant Jaq (Jasmine Jobson).
Things are different from Season 1. Dushane is now living a more than....
Of Keloids, colonialism and eternal racism
I have a keloid, right in the middle of my chest. No small amount of steroid injections have proved to be effective in removing it.
While it can be a nuisance when it itches, it feels minor, in comparison with the 1863 photo of Peter, who fled from a Louisiana plantation.
The photo of Peter’s back, full of keloids, as a result of whippings who almost cost his life, can resonate with any Afrodescendant in the world.
Colonialism is the key in this conversation, but open discussions on colonial ...
Gramsci’s Reactionary Disciples
Although Europe’s right-wing populists have been at pains to distance themselves from Putinism, they keep shaping important debates on identity, migration, and culture.
When Matteo Salvini, as part of his “goodwill” mission, went to meet the mayor of Przemysl (a Polish town at the border with Ukraine, which has become a major /ravel hub for Ukrainians fleeing the Russian invasion), Wojciech Bkun, he probably did not expect that he was walking into one of his worst possible...
Down and Out in Bristol and Livorno
Once upon a time, a Tuscan man in his twenties, the son of a factory worker, landed in an England still untouched by Brexit, leaving home and his familiar Livorno surroundings for the first time.
He was encouraged and supported by Francesca, his mother, and Renato, his father.
This is the setting of Down and Out in England and Italy, the translated edition of the 2018 Italian novel 108 Metri: The New Working-Class Hero, and the third part of author Alberto Prunetti’s autobiographical ‘working...
Mario Draghi: A Profile in Complacency
While the War in Ukraine Is Taking Countless Lives, Italy’s PM remains stubbornly committed to technocratic phlegm.
Prime Minister Mario Draghi’s speech on Ukraine at the Chamber of Deputies on February the 25th sounded, as usual phlegmatic, slightly robotic, and vaguely empathetic, more focused on energy, rather than on the impact of the Russian invasion and the plight of Ukrainian civilians.
While French President Emmanuel Macron and German Chancellor Olaf Scholz’s di...
Voices of a Hostile Environment: The UK Media’s Role in Hostile Migration Policies
The UK’s Nationality and Borders Bill is only the latest piece of a puzzle of Draconian legislation on migration, which is widely known as the “hostile environment”. This legislation affects migrants, refugees and asylum seekers in the country, as well as those citizens whose ancestry originates in Africa, Asia or in the Caribbean, not to mention EU citizens in the UK.
“The ‘hostile environment’ refers to a specific set of policies that were introduced by Theresa Ma...
Weimar Italy’s Third Act Might Be The Most Troubling One Yet
While Sergio Mattarella reconfirmation as President of the Republic may appear as a sign of stability in a notoriously dysfunctional democracy, his second term opens Italy to a dangerous constitutional scenario that has long been coveted by the country’s far-right.
During the night between January 29 and 30, a mural by Rome street artist Laika appeared, on a road close to the residence of the Italian President of the Republic, the Quirinale.
Laika portrayed Sergio Matta...
Boris Johnson tra farsa e tragedia con la sua Armata Brancaleone, Liz Truss a Mosca, Oligarchs and the City, Bye Bye Dick & Khan vs Patel
Boris Johnson tra farsa e tragedia con la sua Armata Brancaleone
Il Primo Ministro Boris Johnson ha ricevuto il questionario della polizia riguardante le feste che hanno avuto luogo a Downing Street nel corso della quarantena. Johnson ha dichiarato a ITV, nel corso della sua visita in Scozia che non rivelerà dettagli riguardo al suddetto questionario, che dovrà inviare alla polizia entro questo Venerdì, il 18 di Febbraio.
Le lancette dell’ orologio si muovono con il peso di macigni per Boris ...
Draghi Ex Machina
A parliamentary Republic, with an extremely polarised political arena, short-lived governments supported by conflictual party coalitions and in constant need of saving: this is how the history of the Italian Second Republic could be summarised.
The Second Republic rose from the ashes of the political chaos unleashed by the political.....
“Don’t Look Up” and the Global South’s Climate Voices
By Angelo Boccato
@Ang_Bok
Adam McKay’s latest movie, “Don’t look up” is a Netflix hit, not only because it features a firmament of stars, from Leonardo Di Caprio to Jennifer Lawrence, Meryl Streep and Cate Blanchett, but especially because of the conversation that it has sparked on climate change.
The topics of the movie, from demagogy and toxic political propaganda to contempt for scientists and experts’ advice, as well as the mainstream media’s role in distorting reality, are far from bein...
Animal House a Downing Street , the Colston 4 e la furia conservatrice contro gli "statuicidi", il neo-attivista Nigel Farage , il terribile modello australiano e Priti Patel
“ More parties, more problems”, si potrebbe riassumere così l’ ennesima rivelazione riguardante gli eventi organizzati a Downing Street durante la quarantena.
L’ ultimo caso in questione, rivelato da ITV News, riguarda una mail inviata, a oltre cento contatti, da Martin Reynolds (il Segretario principale del Primo Ministro) nel Maggio del 2020, nella quale invitava i membri dello staff a partecipare a un evento nel giardino di Downing Street, per approfittare del...
Taking the Knee During Euro 2020
By Angelo Boccato
Euro 2020 is approaching its conclusion, as the final match will kick off at 8 pm on Sunday 11 July at Wembley Stadium, in London. Italy will play against England as the Three Lions reach a final for the first time since 1966.
The tournament will be remembered in years to come, not just for its final winner, but as the first European football tournament to take place in several countries in the continent, from Rome, Munich, London and Copenhagen to Budapest, Saint Petersburg...
The Israeli-Palestinian Question in the Italian Media
By Angelo Boccato
The most recent chapter of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict was triggered by the Supreme Court of Israel’s decision of evicting Palestinian families in the Sheikh Jarrah neighbourhood of Jerusalem, the storming of Al-Aqsa Mosque (the third holiest site in Islam) by the Jewish settlers who were backed by the Israeli police, followed by airstrikes in Gaza by the Israeli Defence Force, and the launch of rockets by Hamas and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.
The mainstream media na...