Below is the response of Reverend Maria Bonafede, Moderator of the Tavola Valdese, to the announcement that Italian authorities plan to fingerprint around 80,000 Rom-Gypsy children. The measure has drawn comparisons to the policies of Benito Mussolini.

There are moments during which responsibility for vigorously reaffirming fundamental principles of civil society falls on the shoulders of small minorities. It is the duty of these minorities to intervene because they know first hand the pain of prejudice and persecution inflicted by the majority, a majority all too often ill informed, distracted, confused, or manipulated and therefore unable to stop episodes of hatred, discrimination and violence against whomever's turn it is to be different. Today it is the turn of the Gypsy children.

We are not naïve. We know that behind every Gypsy child who begs for alms or steals a wallet there is an intolerable chain of violence that must be broken. However, recent measures announced by the Italian government will require Italian authorities to fingerprint Gypsy children; all the children, not just those who have committed a crime or lack appropriate immigration documents. This procedure smacks of ethnic profiling and will reinforce the prejudicial stereotype that Gypsies naturally are inclined to lives of crime. The measures also cast the Italian government as the heroic defender of public order, compelled to pursue preventative actions that will neutralize a perceived danger. Yet no Gypsy child will be spared the indignity of begging for alms because he or she is fingerprinted. And what will happen after enforcement of the measures? More than half of the Gypsy residents in Italy are Italian citizens. Does the government plan to enact "special laws" for them? The very idea revives chilling memories from Italian and European history. And after the Gypsy children, will the government identify other "threats" and devise measures that target them?

At a time when an array of municipal administrations on both the left and the right compete with each other to see who can demolish the largest number of Gypsy camps, we should recall those rare and worthy attempts at integration that rather than allow children to live on the streets in marginal neighborhoods, brought an increasing number of Gypsy children into the school system.

The European Union promptly expressed alarm over the intention of the Italian government to pursue the fingerprinting policy. The concern was justified. Since the measures were announced, they have consolidated a wall of prejudice and provided cover for fanatics who, armed with clubs and Molotov cocktails, have sought to take the law into their own hands.

It is precisely during such moments that minorities, having experienced discrimination and violence, must sound the alarm. Minorities must say to the majority, "Stop!" We are implementing disproportionate measures against petty criminals and overreacting to the demands of Italians for public safety. We are taking steps that are not only brutal in form and substance, but also difficult to reconcile with the Italian Constitution and European law. We are sowing an evil plant that could produce poisonous fruit.

As Waldensian and Methodists, we acknowledge ourselves a minority that on the topic of civil rights has an important word to say. We speak, therefore, with all the strength and conviction at our disposal. We cannot keep silent during this moment when our spiritual, ethical, and civil responsibility demand that we speak out.

27th june 2008