From Shining Shoes in Africa to a Seat in Italy's Parliament

From Shining Shoes in Africa to a Seat in Italy's Parliament

When Aboubakar Soumahoro was a child in his West African home country of Ivory Coast, he cleaned people's shoes to make money. He also had a dream to go to Italy. He would cut out magazine pictures related to the country and save them in a record book.

His dream came true in 1999 when he arrived in Rome, Italy's capital. He was 19 years old and shocked by the difficulties he faced in a country he had prized for so long.

"Sleeping rough in the streets was traumatic, especially when I realized that this was the result of a political decision that targeted the migrants," Soumahoro told Reuters.

Now an Italian citizen, the 42-year-old has the chance to re-shape migrant life in the country – from within parliament.

Last month, Soumahoro won a seat in Italy's lower house of Parliament, representing the Green and Left Party. He faces a conservative government that is seeking to increase restrictions¹ on asylum² seekers.

"One thing I will try to do is make sure that no one ends up living in the streets like me," Soumahoro said before the opening of parliament on October 13.

"People need to be treated as human beings regardless of what passport they have," he added.

The new lawmaker is the only Black member of Parliament's Lower House, a group of 400 representatives.

"I do not want to represent just one part of society. I want to make sure that everyone, both the dispossessed and those who struggle to make ends meet, can recognize themselves in what we do," he said.

Soumahoro's election comes from a great many steps he took before arriving in office. They include field work harvesting crops, employment at a gasoline station, sociology studies at Naples University, and writing a book.

Soumahoro is restrained in discussion of his personal life. He says he has a young child and stays in touch with his family in Africa. He told Reuters that Italian politics was too personal already, and said, "It is more important to talk about 'us' and not 'I'."

Within a few years of his arrival in Italy, he became an activist³ helping⁴ migrants who were without official documents. He worked to improve working conditions for temporary farm laborers⁵. Later, he established an agricultural workers union.

Soumahoro accuses the extremely conservative parties, Brothers of Italy and League party of making migrant policy a political issue for electoral gain.

Brothers of Italy won the most votes in the elections last month. It and the League party have promised to block migrants coming by sea from North Africa. The alliance calls their stated policy "Italians First."

Soumahoro says the policy is flawed.

"Putting Italians first is not going to pull 5.6 million Italians out of poverty." He said the lawmakers fail to understand the severity of problems faced by average families.

The election winners have said they will reduce access to government assistance known as "citizen's income." The monthly payment goes to poor and unemployed⁶ people.

Soumahoro argues that the program needs to be expanded, not reduced.

"Politicians haven't seen the coming hurricane of poverty," he said. He warned that rising energy and food prices would create growing difficulties. And he argued that a better spread of wealth would help decrease rising social tensions.

He said, "The politics of happiness is real. It can be done."

Words in This Story

rough – adj. difficult or unpleasant to deal with

traumatic – adj. causing someone to become very upset in a way that can lead to serious mental and emotional problems

regardless – adj. without consideration

society – n. people in general thought of as living together in organized communities with shared laws, traditions, and values

sociology – n. the study of society, social institutions, and social relationships

1 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

2 asylum   

n.避难所，庇护所，避难

参考例句：

• The people ask for political asylum.人们请求政治避难。
• Having sought asylum in the West for many years,they were eventually granted it.他们最终获得了在西方寻求多年的避难权。

3 activist   

n.活动分子，积极分子

参考例句：

• He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
• He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。

4 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

5 laborers   

n.体力劳动者，工人( laborer的名词复数 )；（熟练工人的）辅助工

参考例句：

• Laborers were trained to handle 50-ton compactors and giant cranes. 工人们接受操作五十吨压土机和巨型起重机的训练。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
• Wage-labour rests exclusively on competition between the laborers. 雇佣劳动完全是建立在工人的自相竞争之上的。 来自英汉非文学 - 共产党宣言

6 unemployed   

adj.失业的，没有工作的；未动用的，闲置的

参考例句：

• There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
• The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。