WHY ITALY?
...by Tracy Beanz.

Italy has been ravaged by the Wuhan Coronavirus, but the reasons why are linked more closely to globalism than the age of the infected.

--Hundreds of thousands of Chinese immigrants now live in Italy, with 300,000 legally registered and many more illegal.
--Italy recently entered into a new economic partnership with China called “One belt, One road”.
--China has revitalized northern Italian ports in order to transport goods more efficiently to the rest of Europe.
--Mayor of Florence initiated a social media campaign called “Hug a Chinese” using Chinese-produced video as an engine to dispel “racism” against the Chinese in Italy.

30 years ago, Italy saw the beginnings of what would become a serious issue with illegal immigration. It began with Italians hiring Chinese off the books at cheap wages to work making garments in towns and villages renowned for their craftmanship; and morphed into Italians seeing the Chinese learn how to do it faster and cheaper; often times watching as their family owned businesses were shuttered because they were outbid.

The Chinese took over the Italian crafts and made it their own. What didn’t change was the coveted “Made in Italy” label. The New York Times began documenting the trend in 2010 writing:

Over the years, Italy learned the difficult lesson that it could no longer compete with China on price. And so, its business class dreamed, Italy would sell quality, not quantity. For centuries, this walled medieval city just outside of Florence has produced some of the world’s finest fabrics, becoming a powerhouse for “Made in Italy” chic.

And then, China came here. Chinese laborers, first a few immigrants, then tens of thousands, began settling in Prato in the late 1980s. They transformed the textile hub into a low-end garment manufacturing capital, enriching many, stoking resentment and prompting recent crackdowns that in turn brought cries of bigotry and hypocrisy.

The city of Prato is now home to the largest concentration of Chinese in Europe; some legal, many more not. Here in the heart of Tuscany, Chinese laborers work round the clock in some 3,200 businesses making low-end clothes, shoes and accessories, often with materials imported from China, for sale at midprice and low-end retailers worldwide.

The trend continued as whole villages in Italy became Chinese villages, with the Chinese displacing the Italians who lived there, creating their own neighborhoods, and pushing out decades of Italian family owned business. They weren’t known for following the rules. It caused much local consternation; the Italians were forced to pay their taxes and follow employment guidelines, while the Chinese seemed to have built flourishing enterprises by skirting the rules, treating their people poorly, and engaging in rich human smuggling operations, to boot. There was little accountability for the Chinese, and much for the native Italians.

Outside of the typical problems one would see with such an influx of immigrants from a far-off land, were also other, more scandalous ones. In 2017, Bank of China (BOC) agreed to pay a 600,000 euro fine to settle a money laundering case involving its Milan branch. The Florence court hearing the case gave 4 employees of the Milan branch of China’s 4th biggest bank a suspended 2-year prison sentence for failing to report illicit money transfers.

Florence prosecutors leading the so-called “River of Money” investigation alleged that more than 4.5 bn euros (1.8 trillion Naira) was smuggled to China from Italy between 2006 and 2010 by Chinese living mainly in Florence and nearby Prato. About half of the money was sent via BOC, the prosecutors said. The court also ordered BOC to pay back 980,000 euros which it said it had earned through the illegal operations.

According to the prosecutors, the proceeds sent to China came from a series of illegal activities, including counterfeiting, embezzlement, exploitation of illegal labour and tax evasion. BOC said in a statement it had not committed any crime and was not admitting guilt by agreeing to pay the fine, which was a way of closing the case and saving time.

The wheel of corruption kept spinning, and the Italian people became more and more angry. Sometimes, this led to violence. It also led to nationwide sentiment that something needed to change, and the populist uprising we have been seeing across the globe also began to take a foothold in Italy.

FROM 2018:
At a time Europe is filled with anti-immigrant rhetoric, political extremists have pointed to the demographic shifts in Prato as proof Italy is under siege. In February 2020, Patrizio La Pietra, a right-wing senator, told a Prato newspaper that the city needed to confront “Chinese economic illegality,” and that the underground economy had “brought the district to its knees, eliminated thousands of jobs, and exposed countless families to hunger.”

Such assertions have been effective: in Italy’s recent national elections, Tuscany, which since the end of the 2nd World War had consistently supported leftist parties, gave twice as many votes to right-wing and populist parties as it did those on the left. Giovanni Donzelli, a member of the quasi-Fascist Fratelli d’Italia party, who last month was elected a national representative, told me, “The Chinese have their own restaurants and their own banks—even their own police force. You damage the economy twice. Once, because you compete unfairly with the other businesses in the area, and the 2nd time because the money doesn’t go back into the Tuscan economic fabric.”

In March 2019, Italy entered into a new agreement with China, part of its “one belt, one road” initiative, a sweeping economic agreement with the country that saw the port of Triesta in northern Italy “revitalized” and managed by The People's Republic of China (PRC). The project makes enormous infrastructure investments to move Chinese goods and resources. Italy became the first of the G7 nations that once dominated the global economy to take part in China’s “One Belt One Road” throughout Asia, Africa and Europe.

The Trump administration, which tried and failed to stop the deal, focused (in the days leading up to Mr. Xi’s visit) on blocking any Italian use of 5G wireless networks developed by the Chinese electronics giant Huawei, which Washington warned could be used by Beijing to spy on communications networks.

Italy, which is saddled with crushing debt, hopes to lift its lagging economy by exporting goods to China and inviting more Chinese investment. But opponents of the project in the Trump administration and in the EU worry that Italy has turned itself into a Trojan Horse, allowing China’s economic (and potentially military and political) expansion to reach into the heart of Europe.

CURRENT SITUATION
The detailed reporting on this slow takeover is expansive, and we could continue here for many paragraphs, but let us fast forward to early 2020. As China withheld information about the seriousness and spread of Wuhan Coronavirus, many of these immigrants were returning (and arriving) from China to Italy. Once news of the virus became mainstream and China felt increasing backlash over their handling of the crisis, they turned to one of their major economic hubs for some help - Italy!

It wasn’t chance. It wasn’t age. It wasn’t overall health, and it wasn’t the good-hearted nature of the Italian people that caused the virus to ravage their nation. It was a leadership who are now under the thumb of the Chinese government.

On February 1, 2020, the mayor of Florence initiated something called “Hug a Chinese” day. This video was released on February 4, and was produced by the Chinese government. Under the guise of being “woke”, the Italian government prodded their citizens to erase the stigma surrounding the virus, and hug one of the hundreds of thousands of Chinese who had been living, recently returned, or recently arrived in Italy.

Italy had become dependent on China, and Chinese capital funds a large percentage of the Italian economy. When “One Belt One Road” began early in 2019, the Italians made clear they were willing to partner with China in their quest for global dominance, and sadly it appears in their attempt to please the purse strings, they put a large percentage of their citizens in harms way.

This may also explain the enormous amount of aid and assistance flowing into Italy now from China. Far from being compassionate, the Chinese are likely looking to protect their investment. So when folks ask, “Why Italy?” the reasons are clear. Along with an ageing population who may not be the healthiest, there is also a government now beholden to China, who (acting at their behest) took extreme measures to the opposite of social distancing.

China’s global dominance has become clear even to the average observer in recent months, as Americans have become aware of the supply line dependence on China for even the most vital commodity; medicine. UncoverDC columnist Carol King detailed some of those issues in a piece that you can read here (https://uncoverdc.com/2020/03/11/president-trump-clear-eyed-on-chinese-supply-monopoly/).

We have even witnessed the legacy media in the USA seemingly hold water for the communist nation, choosing to parrot the claim of “racism” against China because President Trump has chosen to correctly name the virus what it is, the Chinese virus – rather than bow to the propaganda of a foreign nation hell bent on our destruction.

If one positive thing can come of the Wuhan corona-virus, maybe it will be that the world will finally open its eyes to just how sinister China has been over the past few decades, slithering in to our households, seemingly unbeknownst to us, and co-opting even our most basic necessities. Time will tell, but one thing is clear- it appears that “Why Italy?” is more nefarious than anyone could have initially thought.

Tracy Beanz is the Founder and Editor in Chief at UncoverDC. You can follow her on Twitter @TracyBeanz

SOURCE (abridged): https://uncoverdc.com/2020/03/20/why-italy/

Hmmmm

Rewards of bad leadership and greed. Imagine buhari saying hug an american,no be madness be that

Makavelli25:
Rewards of bad leadership and greed.
Imagine buhari saying hug an american,no be madness be that

If not for how far dey were from here I'm sure he would have done so too... All d loans he had taken no b from China? Majority of d deals and partnerships he entered into no b with China?

I feel like this is interesting and I should read it in its entirety but it's too long, I gave up after a few paragraphs.

Nbote:


If not for how far dey were from here I'm sure he would have done so too... All d loans he had taken no b from China? Majority of d deals and partnerships he entered into no b with China?

Nawa o

Excellent and eye opening write up

Whoever wrote this is evil, Italy is badly affected cos they have more elderly people there than other European countries

This could happen to us if we are not careful

This is serious. Can anything good come out of China?

sweettease:
I feel like this is interesting and I should read it in its entirety but it's too long, I gave up after a few paragraphs.

Just admit that u are intellectually lazy, like many other nairalanders.

Bruno3000:
Just admit that u are intellectually lazy, like many other nairalanders.

I am, it's a wonder how I got and am still getting distinctions in school, I lazy to read no be small but that cant stop me, I will get my advance degree.

sweettease:

I am, it's a wonder how I got and still getting distinctions in school, I lazy to read no be small

abi o. The lord is ur strength

potent5:
This is serious. Can anything good come out of China?

Nothing good, the Chinese are devious. They are on their way to colonize the world through the one belt, one road initiative. They offer to help nations with infrastructural activities and in turn cripple the same nations with high debts, Djibouti for example defaulted on the Chinese loans, now the ports in the nation are controlled by the Chinese, same thing is happening in countries like Zambia, Vietnam and there's even a Chinese court in South Africa.

The Chinese want global domination, it's why trump has a problem with them.

Hmm.. China

These guys are on course to take over the entire world.

You can't be that populous as a nation and not run over other countries unknowingly.

You guys should remember many African countries too are complaining of Nigerian citizens dominating their local economies. Not to talk of China that is industrialized and export driven.

It's just the law of nature.

no b this same China buhari wan follow swap currency?

I think I may choose American dominance over Chinese. If the Chinese had the opportunity of US over the years (since 1945) I'm sure slave trade would have been re-invented, just that this time more cruel and brutal.

Its world politics.
China is a force to reckon with but I pity them after this corona heat.

Western media will deal with them .

Nice and educating writeup. Nothing could be farther from the truth
Its always leadership problem. I thought that it was only in Africa that we have daft and ass licking leaders but even italy sef com fal ma hand. The signs are there in the early stages but the leaders choose to ignore and if u investigate further u wil see that some italian leaders are complicit in the travails of their people,
Democracy can be a curse sometimes, see how a communist cum theocracy nation like china is threatning the whole planet.

Nothing good, the Chinese are devious. They are on their way to colonize the world through the one belt, one road initiative. They offer to help nations with infrastructural activities and in turn cripple the same nations with high debts, Djibouti for example defaulted on the Chinese loans, now the ports in the nation are controlled by the Chinese, same thing is happening in countries like Zambia, Vietnam and there's even a Chinese court in South Africa.

The Chinese want global domination, it's why trump has a problem with them.

Is it a crime to prove your strength to the world?
This is exactly what China is doing to the poor intellectual countries

Please try read through.... It would be worth it,trust me.

Long trash

sonrock44:
Please try read through.... It would be worth it,trust me.

I read through, its nonsense.

Chinese are everywhere.

Title suggests how they treated covid 19 that made it killing them in thousands.

Rather, it's just disjointed propagandas that have nothing to do with managing covid 19.