Statements from public figures in Italy have contributed to the rise of xenophobia. Their racist spread of misinformation contributed to an atmosphere of hate. Mayor of the northern town of Solto Collina, Maurizio Esti, publicly blamed the virus on Chinese eating habits. He stated, “These f****** Chinese, they eat everything. Bats, snakes, dogs and insects, they should be the only people to die in this epidemic." This violent statement is just one instance of the aggressive and ignorant comments made by Italian leaders.
The crisis also became fuel for nationalist rhetoric. Leader of Italy’s League party, Matteo Salvini, called for Italy’s prime minister to resign for “failing to defend Italy and Italians” when he allowed a rescue boat full of 276 African migrants dock in Sicily. While these accusations did not directly discriminate against Asians, they did incite anti-immigrant sentiment in regards to the virus. Salvini went on to say that Italy should make its borders “armor-plated," a comment which threatens Italian immigration as a whole. Politicians set a dangerous example for the nations they serve. The World Health Organization (WHO) stated that Italy was “ready to hate” due to “fake news, irresponsible statements by political leaders, incomprehensible decisions by local governors and the obsessive focus of the media on coronavirus." Fearful and racist tactics from public figures made Italy predisposed to discrimination during the crisis.
Irresponsible Statements
Violent Attacks
This mounting discord over the epidemic escalated into physical violence. As mentioned previously, a 15-year-old Chinese-Italian boy was beaten after his attackers told him, "What are you doing in Italy? Go away! You're bringing us disease." The hysteria caused an onslaught of violent incidents towards Asians. In Turin, teenagers brutally beat a Chinese couple with bottles.
Children were not even safe in the schoolhouse. Teachers reported Chinese-Italian students facing verbal and physical attacks from their peers. Both the Chinese couple and the children were accused of being the virus. With a mounting number of cases, sinophobia struck Chinese residents with flagrant brutality. In the eyes of many, blind hysteria and misinformation turned people into the disease. In Cagliari, a Filippino man was hospitalized after a group of young men mistook him for Chinese and attacked him, accusing him of “bringing the virus” to Italy. Fear of the virus has led to a rise in anti-Asian hate crimes as people resort to ignorance. Since the COVID-19 is invisible and daunting, many Italians found a tangible enemy in the Chinese population, already alienated by stereotyping. Instead of feeling powerless in the face of the ensuing epidemic, people fought the only enemy they felt they could access: Asian residents.
Online Discrimination
Online harassment also became a common form of aggression. On Twitter, a girl of Filippino descent shared screenshots of many bigoted messages she had been sent. They included phrases like: "Disappear Corona Virus", "Any race with narrow eyes can cause shit. Like you. Dirty", "Go wash with acid", and finally, “You need to go back to your home. You and all your dirty race."
Sending threatening messages like these is all too easy given social media’s lack of accountability. The messages also show that since Asians are highly racialized, all East Asians, not only the Chinese, are under fire. In Florence, a young Chinese woman was sent messages on Instagram on January 30th wishing sexual violence on Chinese people. It read, “You Chinese are destroying the world, I hope your daughters are raped and raped again so you can learn to stay wherever you came from." The messages were sent from an account she did not recognize, demonstrating the power of social media to dehumanize people anonymously. Social media influencers also helped the spread of misinformation and racism. On January 29th, television star Giulia Calcaterra posted a video on Instagram blaming Chinese eating habits for the epidemic. Such irresponsible statements on social media only serve to propagate fear. From violent threats to bigoted accusations, online discrimination has played a strong role in the ensuing hate.
Chinese Businesses Boycotted
Chinese owned businesses struggled due to coronavirus hysteria. These businesses already had connotations of alienness and criminality, however, the crisis brought on a wave of new prejudice. According to Aljazeera, "In the northern towns of Como, Brescia, and Varese, posters proclaiming: ‘Coronavirus? Buy Italian. It's a moral duty’ were plastered to the storefronts of dozens of Chinese Italian owned businesses in late January."
Despite being by businesses in Italy, Chinese owned businesses experienced a plummet in sales due to misplaced fear and nationalism. Boycotting these businesses became an unfortunate trend in the period preceding the global outbreak. The severe drop in trade for Chinese business owners demonstrates the consequences of fear-mongering across the nation. At the beginning of February, a Chinese restaurant near the Colosseum reported a dramatic decrease in diners. The owner, Veronica Li, remarked, “Usually 50 or 60 people come here for dinner, but last Saturday there were two. I've already had to let go of the three staff helping my husband and me. If it goes on like this, I'll have to close next month." Before the rest of Italy’s enterprises, the coronavirus signaled economic disaster for Chinese businesses. Whether people feared contracting the virus or avoided the establishment out of biased solidarity, Chinese workers paid the price. Zejian Peng, the Chinese owner of a stationery store in Salerno, reported that he avoided being seen in his store despite having lived in Italy for almost thirty years. He said, “We've had clients asking whether our business is Chinese, people fear they might somehow get infected. One client even reassured her husband that there were no Chinese people in the shop so it would be safe." While such comments may not have hurtful intentions, they harm the dignity and economic livelihoods of real people. Boycotting Chinese businesses was one of the first signs of unfolding racial tensions.
Xenophobic Acts
Anti-Asian discrimination linked to the crisis began with insidious acts of xenophobia. As fear continued to mount, some Italians feared contact with Chinese people. In late February, a bar near Trevi Fountain in Rome posted a sign banning anyone Chinese from entering. Rather than simply limiting the number of customers at the bar, the business specifically prohibited Chinese people. This evidences the pervasive quality of rhetoric blaming the virus on the Chinese population. In Milan, a Chinese woman whose family had migrated to Italy three decades ago was refused a taxi; the driver feared she was carrying the virus." However, some acts of exclusion were even more sweeping.
In Rome, the Conservatorio di musica Santa Cecilia announced that it would suspend all classes for “Oriental students” due to the “Chinese epidemic” and the students would only be able to return after a health check. Some incidents were more openly aggressive. In Venice, two Chinese tourists were repeatedly insulted and spit on by a group of teenagers, and the same happened to another Italian student of Chinese descent on the train to Padua. These acts of exclusion and racism created a hateful environment just as contagious as the virus itself.
