Behind the Italian betrayal, a case of 'sophisticated' racism

Even as we wait to see what “consequences” Italy will face for its perfidy in not allowing its two marines, accused of killing two Kerala fishermen in February 2012, to return to India for a trial, we should be clear about one thing at least: this is probably a case of “sophisticated” racism. Speaking in Parliament yesterday, Manmohan Singh asserted that if the Italians do not keep their word to the Supreme Court and bring back the two marines who were allowed to return to Italy to vote, “there will be consequences for our relations with Italy.” A shameless Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini, on whose personal and sovereign affidavit the court allowed the marines to leave, is now defiantly implying that the guarantees he gave the court are not separate from the dispute Italy has raised over jurisdiction. He said: “You cannot consider the affidavit (submitted to the Supreme Court) separate from the others…..from the suggestions, proposals and ideas that we have been passing on to Indian interlocutors.” His reference was to the Italian offer to solve the issue through a diplomatic dialogue – as though murder is a matter for political negotiation. [caption id=“attachment_660592” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Italian Ambassador Daniele Mancini. PTI[/caption] Consider what is being disputed, and what is not. Italy is not disputing that two Indians were killed by its marines from the vessel Enrica Lexie. It is only claiming that since the ship was outside Indian territorial waters, the crime must be tried under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea. Italy also knows that even if the two marines - Massimiliano Latorre and Salvatore Girone - were indeed convicted in Indian courts, they could have served their sentences in Italy. Under an agreement signed between the two countries last year, and which India ratified in November 2012 – quite conveniently for the marines – both countries agreed to let nationals convicted in the other country to serve their prison terms in their home countries. According to The Times of India , the agreement says that “a person sentenced in the territory of one contracting state may be transferred to the territory of the other …. in order to serve the sentence imposed on him.” In short, Italy is not contesting the crime, and even if the marines are convicted, they can spend time in the familiar environs of a Roman prison. They don’t have to undergo an Indian prison. Which is why one should consider the issue of racism: what the Italians are exercised about is not the killing of two innocent Indians who were mowed down by their marines. They have even managed to buy off the victims’ families by paying them compensation, but what they really seem to resent is that brown-skinned Indians may be sitting in judgment on their people. This is why they are willing to risk condemnation for being untruthful and duplicitous. Now, consider what they did in another case – this time involving two American fighter pilots whose escapade ended up killing 20 people in Italy. Did the Italians rush to prosecute the Yanks? Especially since there was no question of jurisdiction. The deaths occurred on their soil in the Italian ski resort of Cermis Mountain. Thomas Sajan and Titto Idicula, two academics from the university of Bergen and Trondheim in Norway, writing in BusinessLine , make it clear that the Italians not only kowtowed to the Americans, but even allowed the pilots to be acquitted. The incident happened in 1998, when the American pilots were flying over the ski resort and tried to “test their skills by manoeuvring the fighter jet under the cable car carrying skiers. The misadventure inadvertently cut the cable, which led to the disaster. The required minimum flying height was 2000 ft; the cable was cut at a height of 360 ft.” But Americans are not Indians. The Italian government showed no political will to prosecute the pilots, and, according to Sajan and Idicula, “the government was so submissive to the ‘big brother’ that the loss of its citizens was of no serious concern. The pilots were later acquitted of the crime in a shoddy trial conducted in the US.” A crime in Italy involving Italian victims can be tried in the US – and the Italians had no problems with that. And a crime near India’s waters, where two of our fishermen are killed on their own boats, has to be tried outside India? And this is such a big issue for the Italian government that it is willing to lie and cheat. Sajan and Idicula also note that the issue in Italy is not the deaths of the fishermen, but “why should two fishermen matter so much in a country where thousands of children are dying of starvation?" The duo believe that this is a case of “sophisticated” racism. We agree.