He juggles with Italian and French. Last night he dreamed in Bambara, one of the many languages of Côte d’Ivoire. Aboubakar Soumahoro, 42, a graduate of a master’s degree in sociology and trade unionist, will sit this Thursday, October 13 in Parliament, dominated by the alliance of the rights. A first for a man of color.
A member of the Greens-Gauche alliance, he is one of defenders of “braccianti“, those who work with their arms. Aboubakar Soumahoro thus created several committees for these immigrants exploited in the fields of tomatoes and other vegetables in Italy. He lived it in his flesh, when he arrived at the age of 19: “We are plunged directly into the difficulties of life, into exploitation, into discrimination… All kinds of difficulties from the point of view of work.”
“I was homeless. I found myself in Italy and I slept in the fields, in the street. And at the same time, I struggled to get out of this mud of exploitation”
Aboubakar Soumahoro, Italian deputy of the Greens-Left allianceFrance Info
Today Aboubakar Soumahoro is concerned about the possible backtracking by the future government of Giorgia Meloni, particularly on civil rights. But the deputy wants to lead a legislative fight on what he knows by heart: exploitation through work, discrimination in a country where difference is not always well accepted. “Italy is not a racist country, but there is the phenomenon of racism in Italy”, he observes. However, it doesn’t matter if you are white, black, red, homosexual, lesbian, Muslim, Christian, non-believer. In a secular state, there should be plurality within public and political debate and within Parliament itself. But I realize that in Italy, we are not in the normality.”
Aboubakar Soumahoro, the only black deputy in the hemicycle, will carry the voice of the invisible and minorities. Him, the migrant, will defend the right to migrate, the right to work in dignity without ever forgetting the words of his mother. “I come from a large family. The advice our mother always gave us is to never turn your back on people who express a need.“, entrusts Abubakar Soumahoro.
He keeps in mind a phrase from his mother: “My strength is what she told us: ‘Poverty is not only material poverty, it is also cultural and spiritual poverty.‘”. And that’s what he teaches his son, who every time he went to demonstrate, said of his father: “Daddy, he’s going to be free!“