During the 1950s the giardini of the peripheral quartieri of Reggio Calabria were cheap and thus affordable to the majority of the Grecanici. Kin clusters bought adjacent plots of land with the view to reside in close proximity. Gradually, with the men working as economic migrants abroad (mainly in Switzerland), they started building their homes. In the absence of their husbands and sons, women remained in the Grecanici villages tending their land and animals and raising their children. As soon as the houses in Reggio were habitable, women transferred to the city, ideally in time for the children to attend local schools. With the money collected from every year of labor, families added an additional floor to the house. The main aim was to build a number of floors that accorded to the number of children.
In the same period, Grecanici started entering the public administrative sector of Reggio Calabria. At this time Nicolo was assesore34 of the comune of Reggio Calabria, married to a Grecanici woman. Kinship ties between Nicolo’s wife and other Grecanici families were instrumental for both parties. Nicolo “systemized” (inserted into the system) Grecanici males as public cleaners in the city, with their families offering electoral support in return. Coincidentally, at the beginning of the 1960s, an old ’ndranghetista Giuseppe, from the area Grecanica became close friends with the local Partito Socialista Italiano (PSI). Giuseppe came from a large family with an extensive kin network. He was in the service and a close friend of the president of the committee of the Istituto Autonomo per la Case Popolari (Autonomous Institute for Government Housing) in Reggio Calabria. When the institute started building government housing, Giuseppe exerted his influence on the president of the institute and persuaded him to favor the Grecanici as well as other Reggini who were linked to him. Owing to these relations, many families found themselves with a local authority house. Other families who already owned a house in the city sold their allocated “council house” and released the capital. At the beginning of the 1980s, the president’s (a Craxian Socialist35) power was such that he could control the Istituto Autonomo per la Case Popolari without consulting the board. As James Walston notes, “He goes around with a rubber stamp, signs minutes and takes decisions without having had a meeting” (1985:97).
The province-based public housing authority Istituto Autonomo Case Popolari is one of the examples of many public agencies that were deemed to serve political clientelism. Walston argues that “public works and housing became another cornerstone of DC policy” (1985:96–97, 1988:55). Indeed, the committee of the institute, precisely due to its provincial character, was in the position to allocate houses, direct funding toward “favorite” comuni, and even distribute jobs. The ’ndranghetista of Grecanico origin, similar to the DC politician, created a kinship-based “clientele.” Grecanici clearly used their various systems of relatedness to find political representation and secure their new livelihoods in the city.
From internal rural-urban migrations to natural disasters and forced relocations, Grecanici social history of the past century is entwined with movement, aid, aggression, and competing orders of governance. The ethnographic chapters that follow show how Grecanici fearlessly seek political representation through diverse channels of governance, including civil society, kinship networks, and implication with the ’Ndrangheta.
Chapter 3
The Vicissitudes of Civil Society
The Non-Visit
In July 2006, one of the Greek associations in Reggio Calabria, comprised mainly of Greek nationals of the diaspora, invited a high-ranking member of parliament from the governing Greek New Democracy party to visit South Italy. The association acted as a mediator between the mayor of Reggio Calabria, Giuseppe Scopelliti, and the Greek government, and the invitation was intended to foster relations of good will between Reggio Calabria and Athens. According to the president of the Greek association, the meeting was conceived of as a New Democracy initiative toward pastoral care for Greek communities abroad. The association went to great lengths to organize the visit of the Greek politician. For weeks they spent endless hours with the mayor’s secretary and various assessori who could persuade the mayor to agree to a meeting. On my part, I had long discussions with people from the Greek politician’s office, trying to identify what they wanted to achieve from the visit and providing details about the Greek association. After much negotiation with the mayor, who attempted to thwart the plan at every turn, the association was in the position to send an official invitation to Athens with a detailed itinerary of activities for the five-day trip. According to the schedule, the Greek politician would meet the mayor to discuss the possibility of a Greek consul being set up in the city, the foundation of a “Greek Academy,” and further cultural and financial exchanges between Athens and Reggio Calabria. The politician would be entertained with a “Grecanico night out” at a local restaurant with traditional music and food.
One day was to be entirely devoted to visiting the area Grecanica and meeting with Grecanici who reside in the villages. This would be followed by a workshop with the numerous mayors from area Grecanica, chaired by Scopelliti, where they would “assess the problems of Hellenism.” The schedule addressed three fundamental aims of the association: to promote lines of communication between Reggio Calabria and Greece, to host the politician and introduce him to the historical sites of Reggio Calabria and Sicily associated with Magna Graecia, and to act as an influential mediator between the Greek nationals of the diaspora, Grecanici, the mayor of Reggio Calabria, and the Greek government.
Unfortunately, after a rather nasty phone call from the secretary of the Greek politician to the president of the Greek association, the visit was canceled. The secretary found the content of the invitation as well as the “language” employed “poor and unacceptable,” It was argued that the tone of the written language was not suitable for such a high member of the party and that the association “should first know who the politician is before they choose to invite them.” Nevertheless, the fascinating convoluted background that resulted in the non-visit far exceeded the “offensive language” of the invitation. For one thing, the mayor of Reggio Calabria was not really keen to invite the Greek politician and continuously postponed setting dates. Let us not forget that the invitation was not from the mayor personally, but delivered through the Greek association. Having spent a considerable amount of time answering questions regarding the nature of the association, it became clear to me that the politician’s office in Athens was not particularly happy that the invitation did not come directly from the mayor. They were also under the impression it came from a Grecanico association, not an association comprised mainly of Greek nationals of the diaspora. When this was clarified, it was evident they were disappointed and would rather have visited a Grecanico association. Despite that, the Greek association was asked to provide a short paragraph regarding its profile, scope, and initiatives. After all this, it was insinuated by the politician’s office that “they would obviously have to decide on the visit at the last moment.”
Decisive to the non-visit was the inability of the Greek ambassador to Italy to be present in Reggio Calabria. It was rumored that the ambassador wanted to avoid implicating himself in the conflict between Greek and Grecanico associations. Very disappointed, the president and board of the Greek association searched for possible reasons behind this rejection. They began questioning their own political position as Greeks of the diaspora as meriting equal attention as the Grecanici minority. Are the Greeks of the diaspora not as culturally worthy as the Grecanici? If not, what action should they take to alleviate this lack of worth? Sadly they came to realize that their failure to entice the Greek politician was the outcome of their failure to tap into Grecanico culture in a more systematic and creative manner. Finally, it became clear to the Greek association that the link with the Grecanici needed to be packaged on different terms, resulting in a change in governance for the association. This governance would involve creative tailoring of the scope and profile of the Greek association as directly related to the Grecanici, an “authentically traditional culture.”
A Paradox
In the initial stages of my fieldwork I worked closely with the Greek associations