The success of Khaby Lame on social networks highlights the difficulties of the children of emigrants to access Italian citizenship
If you are under 25 you probably don’t know him, but Khaby Lame is a world leader. A few minutes after midnight on Thursday he became the most followed person on TikTok, the social network for which the youngest have a predilection and that goes beyond videos of girl dances. At 22 years old, Lame, who started using this platform to have fun when he lost his job during the confinement caused by the pandemic, has exceeded 143 million followers. To become aware of his success, we must take into account the trajectory of the leaders of the other main social networks on the Internet: soccer player Cristiano Ronaldo on Instagram and Barack Obama, former president of the United States, on Twitter.
The primacy of Lame, the result of the videos in which he ridicules the absurd challenges that circulate on the internet without the need to say a word, has reopened the debate on the difficulties in accessing citizenship in Italy, where he has lived since he was one year old. . Son of a family of Senegalese emigrants and born in Dakar, Lame has completed all his studies in Italian schools, has worked in that country and feels Italian, but his passport is from Senegal. Like so many other children of foreigners, he is still waiting to receive Italian nationality.
To access it, those born in Italy of emigrant parents have to prove that they have lived in its territory uninterruptedly until they were 18 years old. It is even more difficult for those who arrived as children, as is the case with Lame, whose fame has exceeded the limits of social networks by being invited to the Venice and Cannes film festivals.
“It is not fair that a person who lives and grows with the Italian culture for so many years and who is clean (without having committed crimes) still today does not have the right to citizenship. And I’m not just talking about myself”, lamented the young ‘influencer’ in an interview on ‘La Repubblica’, claiming that there are many other people in his situation who are not talked about because they are not famous.
Secondary effect
The media interest that his success on TikTok has brought in any case managed to shed light on his case: this Friday the Undersecretary of the Ministry of the Interior, Carlo Sibilia, announced on Twitter that the decree granting him Italian nationality had been approved at the beginning of June, so the official notification will arrive shortly and you will receive an appointment to take the oath.
The national pride that Lame’s number one on TikTok has uncovered may have a secondary effect: accelerate the parliamentary journey of the bill known as ‘ius scholae’, which grants nationality to those kids over 12 years old and children of foreigners who have completed at least one full school cycle (five years) in Italy, without having to wait for the age of majority. The ‘ius scholae’ will begin to be discussed next Wednesday in the Chamber of Deputies, where it is expected to be approved in July, and then it will be examined in the Senate.
It is estimated that the measure would benefit 877,000 children and adolescents who currently attend the Italian school system. “It is very difficult to say that someone who studies with our children is not Italian. With this law, Parliament takes note of reality, ”explains Giuseppe Brescia, the parliamentarian of the 5 Star Movement who has written the text of the bill.
Although the polls show that even a large part of the voters of the right-wing parties are in favor of this initiative, the leader of the League, Matteo Salvini, refuses to support it. “Citizenship must be matured until the age of 18,” says Salvini, considering that a “shortcut” such as the ‘ius scholae’ would be “counterproductive for the boys themselves.” These, however, complain of the difficulties of waiting until the age of majority to obtain nationality. A symptomatic case was that of soccer player Mario Balotelli, born in Italy to Ghanaian parents and who competed with the Italian under-21 team, although he had to wait until he was 18 to obtain a passport from the European country.
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