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Paper short abstract

Ethnographic research on suburban fascism and the criminalisation of migrants. The text explores the conflict between repression and assistance, using anthropology to dismantle the myths of victim and perpetrator, narratives of the ghetto neighbourhood, seeing baby gangs as a form of resistance.

Paper long abstract

Based on ethnographic research conducted in a suburb of northern Italy, these reflections will focus on the intertwining narratives that see the emergence of suburban fascism, the social integration work carried out by Caritas, and the second-generation migrants baby gangs phenomenon.

The emergence of suburban fascism manifests itself in the criminalisation of migrants and the marginalisation of the Other, while the political administration turns the neighbourhood into a ghetto where the police abuse his power through searches. Fascism finds its validity in portraying itself as a victim, as “the one who is afraid”, while a symbolic dispossession of migrants and drug addicts takes place, who are recognised as non-person. The administration itself portrays the neighbourhood as a border zone between the lawful and the unlawful, confirming the neighbourhood's reputation as a ghetto and thus justifying the fascist movement, a phenomenon capable of mobilising the masses through the media.

We are witnessing an overlap of forms of violence, with the fascist movement asking for repression and deportations, opposing the assistance work that Caritas carries out in the suburbs.

In this political scenario, Anthropology proves to be a tool for dismantling narratives between victims and perpetrators, seeking various forms of grassroots resistance, where the complexity lies in seeing even the rebellion of baby gangs as resistance itself to suburban fascism and administrative neglect, with the cry: “The neighbourhood is ours”. Fascism proves to be a heuristic device in its ability to maintain the power of the dominant group by stigmatising the Other.