Episode 7 - Rivers of Blood

NEWSREADER

The Etrurian government sent in bulldozers and paramilitary forces to clear a migrant camp in Calabria earlier this week making hundreds of African migrants homeless. The Etruscan interior minister said, quote “Today we have put our words into action.”

This move comes among a populist resurgence in Europe as far right groups gain political power in what was considered to be the heart of Europe’s liberal democratic values. Countries like Etruria, Gallia and Germania witnessed record numbers of refugees fleeing conflict in the Middle East, prompting some governments to consider ending the free movement of people that has been a cornerstone of European integration.

ENOCH POWELL (V.O)

We must be mad. Literally mad as a nation to be permitting the annual inflow of some 50,000 dependents who are for the most part the material of the future growth of the immigrant population. It is like watching a nation busily engaged in heaping its own funeral pyre.

NEWSREADER (cont)

The migrants in Etruria generally come in boats from North Africa, seeking a better life in Europe. Many of them find jobs where they can in local farms. Others try to make it deeper into Europe however they can.

With me today is Giuseppe [dju-sep-pi] Prodi . Prodi sympathizes with the migrants. Tell me about your work.

PRODI

I work with a coalition of organizations that seeks to help these migrants who have traveled far to make better lives for themselves here in Etruria and elsewhere in Europe.

NEWSREADER

How do you do that?

PRODI

We assist with basic needs - food, shelter, and clothing. We also provide integration services; teaching migrants to speak the language, reuniting them with families they may have here in Etruria or elsewhere. Each case is unique, and we do our best to match an individual with their needs.

NEWSREADER

Some critics, like the interior minister, say that organizations like yours encourage migrants to risk their lives to cross the sea illegally. What do you say to that?

PRODI

What can I say? The migrants are here now. What would he have us do? Send them back across the sea?

NEWSREADER

Still, less help from people like you would deter other migrants from risking their lives, wouldn’t it?

PRODI

Perhaps, but I want to correct something you said about crossing the sea illegally. There is actually nothing illegal about fleeing for your life on a boat across the Mediterranean. I think Pompey Magnus did that too, though unsuccessfully.

NEWSREADER

That doesn’t answer my question though.

PRODI

Let me ask you something. Can you imagine a circumstance so dire that you would be willing to risk your life on a questionable boat across the Mediterranean? I myself have a hard time conceiving of such a thing.

Let me ask you another thing - if they came on aeroplanes, would you then be more comfortable sending them back?

NEWSREADER

Let’s move on to the more recent changes in legislation proposed by the Consul and Senate.

PRODI

You mean on Venerdi Nero? The Black Friday phenomenon?

NEWSREADER

Yes, as it is popularly known. Some hard-line members of the Senate, like the interior minister, argue that the migrant crisis and the Black Friday phenomenon are somehow linked.

PRODI

How? By what miracle would this be possible?

NEWSREADER

True, the government has not provided any evidence of this.

PRODI

Nor is there any evidence. Black people have been coming to Etruria since before the time of Romulus. That there are a few more black people in Etruria is of no consequence to anyone.

NEWSREADER

Yet you do acknowledge their concern?

PRODI

You know, I was recently reading what the old emperor Claudius said about being afraid of foreigners. Do you know what he said?

NEWSREADER

No.

PRODI

He said:

“What ruined Sparta and Athens? Mighty as they were in war, they spurned the people they conquered as aliens. Our founder Romulus, on the other hand, was so wise that he fought as enemies and then hailed as fellow-citizens several nations on the very same day.”

NEWSREADER

On that very issue - you do contend that keeping migrants out defies centuries of Etrurian practice. You are, in effect, accusing the consul and the Senate of being un-Etrurian.

PRODI

Indeed. We have never been frightened of foreigners. Let them bring their gold and their wealth to us. It is better than to have them enjoy it in isolation.

NEWSREADER

The migrants who come here, though, are generally poor and ill-educated.

PRODI

So what? When did Etrurian citizenship require a university degree or a fat bank account? The interior minister went to university but never finished. I can’t speak about his bank account, but whether it is full or empty, what difference does it make? It is bizarre that he would ask people to do things he himself has not.

NEWSREADER

But back to the Black Friday phenomenon. The government has argued that the migrants are taking the opportunity to steal the identity papers of Etrurian citizens and using them to travel, or to find work. These are crimes under Etrurian law. What is your response?

PRODI

Do you want me to say that such actions are justified?

NEWSREADER

I want you to say what you think.

PRODI

Well, I can say that stealing identity papers is clearly wrong. No one should ever do that.

NEWSREADER

However, the migrants are an exception?

PRODI

The current government refuses to issue migrants with identity papers, travel documents, or work permits.

NEWSREADER

But they are not citizens.

PRODI

And? You can have documents that say “this is such and such a person” and that they are not citizens. What has citizenship got to do with your identity? Or your ability to do work? If a man has a head on his shoulders and wants to work, why are we stopping him?

NEWSREADER

It sounds to me like you at least condone this kind of identity theft.

PRODI

This argument reminds me of the people who would ban gambling because they consider it a vice. Gambling takes money away from those who do not value it, and gives it to those who do. If a man does not value his money, why ban his ability to give it away? If a man values work, why ban his ability to work?

That is what the government is doing by not giving the migrants documents. It is banning something productive because of a self-righteous conception of “lawfulness.”

NEWSREADER

And what do you think of the government’s proposal to place any Vernerdi Neros and migrants into resettlements?

PRODI

You mean concentration camps?

NEWSREADER

From the plans the government provided, they look fairly comprehensive and comfortable. More comfortable than a tent city.

PRODI

I want you to think about how absurd this is. The government is willing to spend billions of euros to create concentration camps for, not only black people, but ordinary Etrurians who have transformed into black people.

NEWSREADER

The move is controversial, but there is some public support. There is a fear that the phenomenon is spreading.

PRODI

Which is why concentration camps are absurd! If, overnight, all Etrurians everywhere transformed into black people, what should we do?

NEWSREADER

That doesn’t seem very likely.

PRODI

A year ago, you would have said the same thing about the Black Friday phenomenon. Yet here we are.

NEWSREADER

The measure is not likely to clear the Senate.

PRODI

The Etruscan republic has stood for nearly two thousand years. It faced Hannibal. Then the emperors came and went. Then the Sforzas, the Borgias, the Medicis, two Napoleons, and seventeen corrupt popes. Then came Il Duce and two great wars. Now we are here, talking about putting people in gilded cages because of … what? What great threat do these people present that Hannibal didn’t? Answer me this, what are we so afraid of? It’s lunacy

NEWSREADER

There is the concern about identity theft.

PRODI

So because we cannot readily tell a black migrant from a black Etruscan, we throw them both into a concentration camp!

NEWSREADER

… I … the measure is not likely to pass-

PRODI

And yet we are discussing it. How did it ever come to this point? That we are contemplating and discussing this? Is the fact that it is “unlikely to pass” supposed to make this all right?

NEWSREADER

Surely people have the right to discuss whatever political opinion they have?

PRODI

Putting people in gilded cages is not a political opinion! It is an absurd stupidity masquerading as an opinion!  

NEWSREADER

But no one has put anyone in, as you call it, gilded cages.

PRODI

Just at the beginning of this interview, you said that the government removed an informal migrant settlement, correct?

NEWSREADER

I did.

PRODI

And where will those people go? The government destroys what little shelter people have, and then says “they’d be better off in these gilded cages.” That is like burning someone’s house down and telling them, “well, it’s better to live in a jail cell than be homeless.”

The government says migrants are lazy and unproductive. At the same time the government also says migrants take jobs away from Etrurians. How can the government know migrants are lazy if they are not allowed to work? How can the government know migrants take jobs away? The government does not give them permits in the first place!

You can have an opinion or a debate if you want, but if your opinions are stupid on the face of it, why am I wasting my time debating your stupidity? I will save my breath, call your opinions stupid, and move on with my life.

NEWSREADER

We’ve had word from America that there is a cure to this Black Friday phenomenon.  A way to undo the change.

PRODI

Yes. I have heard that as well.

NEWSREADER

What are your thoughts?

PRODI

I think it will make the problem much, much worse.  

NEWSREADER

Why do you say that?

PRODI

It’s just a feeling. Something in the universe changed, and the Black Friday phenomenon came to be. I think it was meant to teach us something. This drug from America may be how we finally learn our lesson.

NEWSREADER

(beat)

Briefly, before you go, it seems clear that you are strongly in favor of migrants settling permanently in Etruria.

PRODI

What about it?

NEWSREADER

Don’t you worry about demographic change?

PRODI

Let me tell you something. It was only until very recently that us Etrurians were even considered white people.

NEWSREADER

What?

PRODI

It’s true. You can look this up if you want.

NEWSREADER

I didn’t know that.

PRODI

So what do you mean, then, by demographic change? Many of the migrants who come here are Catholic, but then, why is that a factor? Was Julius Caesar a Catholic? Was Cicero? What about Marcus Aurelius? Are they less Etrurian than you and I?

(beat)

And, consider that when we had the empire, or colonies in Africa and Asia, did the Africans or Asians complain about demographic change? No! It was us who worried about “mixing” with them. If you don’t want to marry a migrant, then don’t marry one! If you don’t want one to live next to you, then move! Just be honest with your motivations.

NEWSREADER

Wait, are you suggesting that we make way for migrants?

PRODI

I am telling you that a migrant needs to live and work somewhere. I am only asking you to think about why you don’t want them to live or work near you. If it is because he is a migrant, then you are a racist. He cannot apologize for being what he is. Why should he?

NEWSREADER

Well … why can’t they work in their own countries then?

PRODI

Do you think people who risk their lives to come here have not tried that already? It is no one’s first choice to come to Etruria on a leaky boat! Not even Aeneas did that when he fled Troy!

NEWSREADER

Mr. Prodi, thank you so much for being here.

PRODI

Any time, and thank you.

NEWSREADER

We reached out to the Office of the Consul, but no one was on hand to speak to us. In a statement, the Consul’s spokesperson said “We welcome all who come to Etruria via legal means. We do not apologize for securing our borders against illegal migrants.”