Italian Daily Il Giornale Brushes Off Racism Accusations In Ironic Comment

The Romanian Embassy to Rome sent Thursday an open letter to Italian daily "Il Giornale", where outrage is expressed towards the term "zingaro" (in exact translation "gypsy") regarding Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu who won the UEFA Cup trophy with his team, Shakhtar Donetsk.

In the article mentioned, posted on Il Giornale’s website, the author uses the phrase "zingaro romeno della panca", referring to the Romanian coach. However, Lucescu said Thursday the expression has nothing to do with racism, and it is not meant as a pejorative term, but is used to describe a coach who has trained multiple teams. "This is an exaggeration on our behalf, since the Italians use this expression - «un zingaro de la panchina» - to describe a coach who has been on the bench of several teams in several countries. I have spoken with Signori, the one who wrote the article, and he never intended to offend me, but on the contrary he has the utmost respect for me," Mircea Lucescu said.

The same idea is also included in the comment published Friday by Il Giornale, which ridicules the Romanian Embassy’s reaction, stating the racism accusation is formulated in lack of a good grasp of Italian language. Journalist Michele Brambilla becomes the daily’s lawyer in an imaginary trial with Romania’s Embassy and brings forth evidence to prove the daily’s innocence when it comes to the accusations of "racism and xenophobia".

"Just like in any terrorist organization (and we at Il Giornale are such a terrorist organization, writing with racism and xenophobia in mind, according to the words of the Romanian Embassy to Rome) there is an infidel who betrays, and since I am that infidel, I will betray and state the names of my accomplices, in the hope of lenience when the trial starts. Therefore, dear accusers from the Romanian Embassy and fellow democrats throughout Italy, who have felt outrage when our website called Mircea Lucescu «a zingaro coach», here is my complete confession, with the names and surnames of all our accomplices. In addition, I will also state the names of those who inspired us, past and present, who from times before time contributed to the formation of the hideous subculture that has led to the labeling of anyone with this insult - «zingaro»," the comment author writes.

Then, journalist Michele Brambilla explains that this term is highly used by Italian media, when it comes to foreigners who have done well in the Peninsual, offering examples of publications that, throughout time, have used this phrase for representatives of football, as well as tennis: Corriere della Sera, La Repubblica or Gazzetta dello Sport.

"The Italian Association of Coaches uses this phrase, on their website, when describing the performances achieved by foreign coaches in Serie A, such as «Swedes Eriksson and Liedholm, as well as this extraordinary «zingaro della panchina» named Vujadin Boskov". In September 2000, the headline of a story in Gazzetta dello Sport was «Here is Nastase, the «gypsy» of tennis (zingaro del tennis)». A «racism» accusation could also be formulated against the msn website (belonging to the Microsoft company), where Ilie Nastase is described using the nickname «zingaro»", are but a few of the examples in the quoted comment.

Apparently, the term “zingaro” is used by the Italians to depict a nomadic person, a meaning that faded in time from the Romanian understanding of the word “gypsy”.
 

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