“Out of the darkness”.The story of Ibrahim Diabate:from the Rosarno revolt to the commitment against gangmastering and for ethical and sustainable agriculture

Of Angela Falconieri

I cry,
when I see my brothers suffer,
I cry,
when I get up at 4 in the morning to go meet
to my illusions
in orange and mandarin plantations
for the modest sum of 25 euros if not less,
I cry,
when I see my brothers living in the ghettos
without water and without electricity,
almost impossible situation
and unacceptable for humanity,
I cry,
and my heart hurts,
I cry and suffer.
[taken from Yen Fehi Bako, 'Ibrahim's tears', by Ibrahim Diabate]

Often, gangmastering and agricultural exploitation are only talked about when it is in the news.When a laborer dies due to inhumane working conditions, when we talk about the state of the ghettos where these people live, due to cases of racism against immigrants who work in the fields.Attention lasts as long as media coverage.We know little about the lives of the laborers.And, together with their stories, we also lose, when they exist, their paths out of exploitation.Which do not only end with personal redemption, but are in turn a lever of redemption for other people who have ended up in the gangs of gangmastering.This is the story of Ibrahim Diabate and of the organizations that, networking with each other, are fighting in Calabria for respect for workers, producers and the environment.

The arrival in Italy and the commitment to the rights of labourers

"When I was in Africa, I often thought about what was beyond the shore in Europe.Now I'm here and there's my land on the other side of the shore.She is far away, but always close in the heart.I often think of my homeland when I write.I have been writing poetry since I was a child, when I was little I dreamed of becoming a doctor and a poet.Writing has always been an outlet for me, a tool for denunciation and a vehicle for my most intimate emotions.Mine is a complaint in verse, a cry of anger and suffering for all the rights denied.It is a request for humanity, an expression of my fight alongside vulnerable and discriminated people, whose rights are violated.It is poetry of exploitation, what my migrant brothers experience in the countryside, what I experienced firsthand in the countryside of Taurianova.In the evening, in the ghetto, exhausted after a day in the citrus fruit harvesting fields, I held a pen and wrote words of denunciation:it was my weapon against injustice.The fruit we bring to our tables often comes from circuits of exploitation whose victims are migrant laborers who live in a state of deprivation, forced to work long hours for paltry wages, without any protection.We must report, we must act".

Ibrahim Diabate, originally from the Ivory Coast, arrived in Italy in 2008, with a regular visa.Having landed in Fiumicino, he leaves for Treviso, where he finds work on an agricultural company.Following the bankruptcy of the company, he spent a short period in Rome, and then moved to Piedmont, to Saluzzo, where he worked in the fruit harvesting fields - illegally.He has nowhere to stay and at night finds shelter, with other laborers, in an abandoned train carriage on a station platform.  Here he came into contact with the 'Saluzzo anti-racist' committee and became a spokesperson for workers' rights.Alongside the anti-racist committee, he is committed to improving the conditions of workers.

In January 2010, shortly after the migrant revolt recruited by the 'ndrangheta and gangmaster system, Ibrahim decides to move to Rosarno to support them and to make himself available to the community.In fact, on January 7, 2010, two laborers of African origin were wounded by gunfire while returning from the fields.The workers react to the violence and total denial of their rights by pouring into the streets and venting their anger against cars and bins.The local population responded with two days of violence and beatings which caused many injuries. 

The Rosarno revolt brings out an uncomfortable and humiliating reality and denotes the condition of exploitation experienced by migrants who work as laborers in the Piana countryside.

This dramatic event pushes Ibrahim to abandon Saluzzo and reach Rosarno. 

The fight in Rosarno and the projects with SOS Rosarno

Once he arrives in Calabria, Ibrahim has difficulty finding accommodation, so he ends up in the Taurianova ghetto:a self-regulated microcosm dotted with makeshift homes assembled with wood, asbestos, tarpaulins and plastic.  The smell of waste, placed against the shacks, rises into the nostrils.The air is unbreathable and the heat, in the summer months, is unbearable.There are no toilets, electricity is produced by some petrol generators.The open-air latrines are located between the houses. 

The central nucleus of the ghetto is The Factory, a former industrial warehouse where around five hundred Africans live during the citrus harvest season.In the widespread area, around the Factory, there are around two thousand migrants living crowded together in barracks. 

Humanity is hidden among the sheets of metal, men and women who made that hell a home.

Ibrahim remained in the slum for six months, then won a scholarship offered by the Calabria region and became a linguistic mediator.From that moment his life changes.

In fact, he began his collaboration with SoS Rosarno, an association that promotes ethical and clean agriculture and fights to defend workers' rights, supporting not only laborers but also small producers who are committed to ethical and sustainable agriculture.

It is a project of production, activism and work, born following the Rosarno revolt and which, as the founder Peppe Pugliese explains, brings small producers and workers into contact so that they work in synergy.

«After the events in Rosarno we were disoriented.Until then there had never been any thought of intervening in the mechanism of the labor supply chain of the Gioia Tauro plain.The riot was a wake-up call.We created an alliance between workers and producers, we intercepted solidarity production groups and we tried to cut intermediation››, explains Pugliese.‹‹Our reality is based on three fundamental principles:respect for the worker, that of the producer and that of the environment.We are also committed to providing support and assistance where help is needed.Last year, for example, we donated 50 tons of oranges to needy families throughout Italy.Ibrahim has been actively collaborating with us for years and is one of the main reference figures for the workers of the Piana».

Through SoS Rosarno, Ibrahim comes into contact and collaborates as an operator and social mediator with Mediterranean Hope, a refugee and migrant program of the Federation of Evangelical Churches in Italy (FCEI), which since 2019 has provided support, information, mediation and support to migrants employed as labourers. in the fields of the Gioia Tauro plain, through collaboration with local entities and cooperatives of ethical and organic producers.

«The expected pay for laborers is 0.90 cents/1 euro per box of citrus fruits.We're talking about 2.50 euros per hour, without stops.Some laborers don't eat, others eat a sandwich with one hand, and continue to harvest with the other.The laborers are not aware of their rights and work at any cost», says Ibrahim. «With Mediterranean Hope and SoS Rosarno, we ask for humane working conditions and dignified living conditions.Laborers are first and foremost human beings and have needs:healthcare, education, work contracts, a house.For years, SoS Rosarno has been committed, thanks to the support of a network of volunteers, to organizing literacy courses, a tool of emancipation for migrants.Knowledge of the language is a first step towards independence and inclusion», explains Ibrahim. 

«In the spring of 2018 the Mamadou collective from Bolzano, which for years has actively participated in the organization of Italian language courses with SoS Rosarno and Mediterranean Hope, created the Hospitality School for the San Ferdinando ghetto», continues.It is a wooden structure made from recycled material donated by an Austrian company, intended to house a school, a clinic and a legal assistance centre.A multifunctional center which is a metaphor for a necessary process of inclusion and emancipation. 

In addition to this, there are projects to improve the working conditions of labourers, such as 'Luci su Rosarno'. «With Francesco Piobbichi, operator of Mediterranean Hope, we distributed lights and reflective bracelets to workers, so that they can place them on their bicycles and be visible at dawn or in the evening, when they return from work», Ibrahim continues.

At dawn in the Gioia Tauro plain, the laborers reach the work fields riding old bicycles.They travel 10/20 kilometres, so they are forced to leave early, when the roads are still dark.Passing cars and trucks struggle to notice workers on the sides of the roads and sometimes accidents occur. 

Luci su Rosarno means bringing light both concretely and metaphorically:it is a project that sheds light on the dark streets and on the darkness of denied rights, on illegal work and gray work, that is, that condition whereby laborers are recognized for a few days of work compared to the actual working hours. For this project, Ibrahim and Mediterranean Hope they won the prize of the technical jury of the narrative contest “Oltre il Ghetto.Stories of freedom" of the Su.Pr.Eme program.Italy led by the Ministry of Labor and Social Policies, conceived to give visibility to stories of escape from exploitation in agriculture.

Furthermore, the 'Fuori dal Buio' project was recently launched, conceived and promoted by Mediterranean Hope, the Eurocoop "Jungi Mundu" Cooperative of Camini and SoS Rosarno. 

«We reflected on the topic of the circular economy:protection of laborers who travel to the fields at night through the recycling of used jackets which are regenerated and on which reflectors are applied which keep the worker safe.With the 'Out of the dark' project, 300/400 windbreakers will be distributed starting from October.We decided to ask for the support of a virtuous reality like that of Camini, a small Riace, an abandoned village that migrants have repopulated and where, with the support of the Jungi Mundi cooperative, founded by Rosario Zurzolo, they manage small craft businesses.We involved a Pakistani family in the regeneration of jackets and we activated a crowdfunding to guarantee them a decent wage».

The crowdfunding tool allows anyone to actively participate in this solidarity project which fights for the protection of some inalienable rights, first and foremost the right to life. 

Ibrahim then mentions Mediterranean Hope's projects in the pipeline:the setting up of a hostel, a refuge for mobile workers who, with a symbolic contribution of 2-3 euros per day, can access a series of services.This is an alternative solution to that of the ghetto. 

«In Italy we are witnessing a persistent degradation of laborer work, we must restore dignity to workers, they must be protected because they are the pillars of our agricultural economy», adds Francesco Piobbichi. 

Despite the deafness of some political parties, there are those who are committed to starting inclusive processes, those who reconsider community spaces and make them theaters of inclusion and growth and lead a cultural battle affirming the value of equality and solidarity.SoS Rosarno, Coop.Jungi Mundi, Mediterranean Hope are some of these.

Preview image:video frames via Su.Pr.Eme Italia