Geography Reference
In-Depth Information
the leaders are linked to the two main political parties of bangladesh and to
the country's political and administrative organization. The chairmen of local
government in rural areas in bangladesh (known as unions and upazila coun-
cils) have the same title of “leader.” in the italian (and Roman) diaspora, the
bangladeshis reproduce the system of leaders that exists in their national divi-
sion of territory, but they do it through cultural associations, each one ruled by
a leader (chairman) who governs a territory. The close attachment to associations
that informs the social, cultural, and economic life of the bangladeshi diaspora
echoes bangladesh's two main political parties: the bangladesh Nationalist party
(a center-right nationalist party, anticommunist, liberalist, and islamist) and the
bangladesh awami league (a social democratic party of the center-left).
The bangladeshi settlement in torpignattara is ruled by leaders who are
heads of various “associations” that have a base in the district with shops, service
agencies, and so on. with the increase in the number of bangladeshi migrants
in Rome, the first association, created in 1994 and which represented all bangla-
deshis in italy, broke up. from this breakup, there emerged various associations
(today around fifty, sometimes in disagreement among themselves concerning
the leadership) which, up until now, have not acquired a hierarchical structure
but are horizontal and territorial creations. Thus the leaders of the diaspora are
scattered in all the italian towns where there are bangladeshi communities. The
bangladeshi leaders speak also of a “management” of the community, made up
of an ensemble of leadership in italy, each one equal to the others; these leaders
form a network in the name of defending bangladeshi national values, helping
their compatriots but also controlling the “morals” of “our boys,” the safety of
the community's members and its relationships with italian society. This man-
agement boasts that it has succeeded in keeping “the community” away from the
degraded fabric of italian society that pervades the territory.
many bangladeshi traders in torpignattara are aware that they have been a
beneficial presence in the district, bringing about the reopening of shops and the
return of a wholesome social life. Khan, a bangladeshi trader about 30 years old,
is a very industrious young man. he said to me explicitly:
when we arrived here there was nothing but crime and closed shops. we have
rebuilt the life of the district and have caused local property prices to rise
again. Yesterday the italians let properties to us that nobody wanted to rent;
today their offspring feel regret and quarrel with their parents because ac-
commodation costs more (18 march 2010).19 mukhtar, who is a chef and lives
in torpignattara with his wife and two children, is of the same opinion, and,
in his conversation, introduces the image of light and dark to define, in visual
fashion, his opinion concerning the beneficial effect of the arrival of the ban-
gladeshis in the district:
beforehand there was no light here, when i arrived there was no light,
it was completely dark. Now there is light, one can walk about, we feel safer.
when i arrived here ten years ago it was practically dark in this area, i re-
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