When Aboubakar Soumahoro was a child in his West African native Ivory Coast, he cleaned people’s shoes to earn money. He also dreamed of going to Italy. He cut out pictures from magazines related to the country and recorded them in a book of records.
His dream came true in 1999 when he arrived in Rome, the capital of Italy. He was 19 years old and shocked by the hardships he faced in a country he had cherished for so long.
“Sleeping rough in the streets was traumaticespecially when I realized it was the result of a political decision that targeted migrants,” Soumahoro told Reuters.
Now an Italian citizen, the 42-year-old has the opportunity to reshape the lives of migrants in the country – in parliament.
Last month, Soumahoro won a seat in the lower house of the Italian parliament, representing the Greens and Left Party. He faces a Conservative government that is seeking to increase restrictions on asylum seekers.
“One thing I will try to do is make sure no one ends up on the streets like me,” Soumahoro said ahead of the opening of parliament on October 13.
“People should be treated like human beings regardless of what passport they have,” he added.
The new lawmaker is the only black member of the Lower House of Parliament, a group of 400 representatives.
“I don’t want to represent just a part of society. I want to make sure everyone, both the dispossessed and those struggling to make ends meet, can relate to what we do,” he said.
Soumahoro’s election follows many steps he took before coming to power. These include field work harvesting crops, employment at a gas station, sociology studies at the University of Naples and writing of a book.
Soumahoro is restrained in discussing his personal life. He says he has a young child and keeps in touch with his family in Africa. He told Reuters Italian politics was already too personal and said: “It’s more important to talk about ‘us’ and not ‘me’.”
A few years after his arrival in Italy, he became an activist helping undocumented migrants. He worked to improve the working conditions of temporary farm workers. Later, he created an agricultural workers’ union.
Soumahoro accuses the extremely conservative parties, the Brothers of Italy and the League party, of making migration policy a political issue for electoral purposes.
The Brothers of Italy won the most votes in last month’s elections. She and the League party promised to block migrants coming by sea from North Africa. The alliance calls its stated policy “Italians First”.
Soumahoro says the policy is flawed.
“Putting Italians first is not going to lift 5.6 million Italians out of poverty.” He said lawmakers failed to understand the seriousness of the problems faced by average families.
Election winners said they would reduce access to government assistance known as “citizen’s income”. The monthly payment goes to the poor and unemployed.
Soumahoro argues that the program should be expanded, not reduced.
“Politicians didn’t see the hurricane of poverty coming,” he said. He warned that rising energy and food prices would create growing difficulties. And he argued that a better distribution of wealth would help reduce growing social tensions.
He said, “The politics of happiness is real. It can be done.”
I am Gregory Stachel.
Crispian Balmer reported this story for Reuters. Gregory Stachel adapted it for VOA Learning English.
_________________________________________________________________________
words in this story
rough – adj. difficult or unpleasant to manage
traumatic – adj. make someone very upset in a way that can lead to serious mental and emotional problems
regardless of – adj. without consideration
society – not. people generally seen as living together in organized communities with common laws, traditions and values
sociology – not. the study of society, social institutions and social relations
_________________________________________________________________________
What do you think of Aboubakar Soumahoro?
We want to hear from you. We have a new comment system. Here’s how it works:
- Write your comment in the box.
- Below the box, you can see four images for social media accounts. They are for Disqus, Facebook, Twitter and Google.
- Click on an image and a box appears. Enter your social media account ID. Or you can create one on the Disqus system. It’s the blue circle with “D” on it. It’s free.
Every time you come back to comment on the Learning English site, you can use your account and see your comments and replies. Our feedback policy is here.