"Yalla Italia" magazine: Nothing with a big meaning

Last updated on: June 24, 2008 at 6:00 am by Guest Contributor

"Yalla Italia" magazine: Nothing with a big meaning 2008-06-24T06:00:00-04:00 Guest Contributor

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Not that there’s anything wrong with that

On May 26th 2007, eight young Italian Muslims of second generations of Arab origin and myself (the only Christian in the team), launched a new monthly editorial project called Yalla Italia (“Let’s go Italy”). After 11 well designed and carefully thought issues published so far, we celebrated our one year birthday and we praised each other for the bet we won against the scepticism of those who claim that in a pluralistic society, citizens need to behave less Muslims to be perceived as real Italians and act less Italian to be considered good Muslims.

Yalla Italia is a monthly supplement published within Vita Magazine, the guide of the not-for-profit world in Italy. We started out with 8 contributors and now I coordinate 20. Most of them are girls… and ladies and gentlemen, they are not desperate housewives. Some of them do practise their faith, some just believe, and some others fast during Ramadan but celebrate Christmas and Easter festivities as well. In common, they share the willingness to communicate to the Italian public how the sons and daughters of Arab Muslim immigrants who were born in Italy are true Italians – keen to play a beneficial role in the society they live in and, inshallah, someday contribute to the progress of their country of origin.

When folks in Italy and Europe keep talking nonsense and writing – often without knowledge or credibility – about Islam and Arabs, Yalla Italia established itself as a publication where Italian Muslims speak about themselves, describing the challenges of being the sons and the daughters of Arab immigrants. They talk abut how it feels being Muslim in a secular pluralistic society, and articulate how to compromise their “Italianized” aspirations with the expectations of their parents and relatives.

The main challenge they are facing – forming a new identity that merges their acquired Italian culture with their family’s one – is similar to the new tasks Italy is dealing with: how to integrate the flows of immigrants from the Arab world while exploiting the skills and the cultural sensitivity of their children, whom may have exotic names like Lubna, Hassan, Layla, Ali, Imane, Rassmea, Randa, Karim, Meriem, Akram, but are fully Italians and proud to be so.

Every month we select a theme and each contributor offers a different perspective according to one’s experience. Interfaith marriages, relationships with parents, how September 11th touched their lives, how the media language and content influence their upbringing and identity, self criticism and reform – all were some of the themes Yalla Italia has addressed. Yalla Italia’s contributors have adopted and consolidated a humorous approach to their communication code. Besides a column called Yalla Comics filled with funny vignettes and jokes, the tone and the discourse of Yalla Italia are predominantly self ironic and witty.

Irony, as a matter of fact, is an exceedingly effective communication medium. If a smile is able to open doors, a good laugh can win the hearts and minds of some of those who have prejudices – those who tend to believe the stereotypes of Arabs and Muslims as men and women who are always angry at someone and who are not able to make fun of themselves, of their heritage and (why not?) of the way their religion is practiced as well.

Today, stereotypes about Muslims in Europe are very difficult to pound. However, Yalla Italia has been able to surprise its readers in a positive way and make people change their minds about Arabs and Muslims. When various academics, students, journalists attend our staff meetings, the privately tell me Yalla Italia’s contributors are so attractive, articulate and cool they should be cast for a movie or a music video. I often hear people comment, “This is Bollywood, not a newsroom.” So far, only some conservative Arabs living in the north of Italy had negative comments about Yalla Italia content and style.

Even though its mother publication, Vita Magazine, reaches 400,000 eyeballs per week, Yalla Italia succeeds in what I call the spill-over effect. Since its birth, Yalla’s contributors have appeared on several radio talk shows and TV programs and profiled in national publications. Undeniably, Yalla Italia turned out to be a credible platform for other media entities that are searching for new ideas, innovative points of view, and interesting life experiences. It is also a medium that allows new interpretations and values to compete in the market place that is currently saturated with conservative voices that are not doing any good for Arabs and Muslims in Italy and Europe.

In all honesty, Yalla Italia was originally envisioned as a sort of Seinfeld-like blog about nothing with an humorous tone. However, the Arab and Muslim identity put into an Italian context turned out to be much more then a publication about nothing. It is, in fact, about new citizens and new citizenships in a country that is, slowly but effectively, becoming a melting pot where funny life situations based on cultural diversity occur at school, in the coffee shop and in the living room.

Randa, for example, described how during Ramadan people in Milan keep offering her a cappuccino while she was fasting, not understanding why she declines. “Ramadan what?” they wonder. Lubna wrote how her teacher was embarrassed when she told the class the great Italian poet Dante put the prophet Mohammed in one of the Inferno rings. Imane, whose Moroccan grandfather has 3 wives, is trill trying to confess to him that she was the only girl in a classroom of 20 Italian boys and had to share the dressing room of the school with them as well. Not only she was the only girl in the class, but also the only girl in the whole school – a school for aircraft pilots. Nevertheless, the funny comments and the awkward situations described by some of Yalla Italia’s girls, like when they watch the daring, sexy content that dominates Italian television with their parents, do remind me of Seinfeld’s sit-com acts.

We felt the humorous communication approach was the best way to communicate something that today seems rare: being normal. After all, that’s the biggest victory of Yalla Italia. In a country seeking a normal political class, a normal economy, a normal media discourse, a normal relationship with newcomers – and even a normal national aircraft that doesn’t charge €700 for a one hour flight as Alitalia does – the fact that Arab Muslims and second generation Italians with exotic names are being perceived as funny individuals – and therefore as normal men and women – is not an achievement about nothing, it is a victory over the proponents of the clash of civilization from both sides and over the sceptics of multiculturalism.

In today’s society and media discourse, we do not tend to remember what others say, but we do not forget how others make us feel. Therefore, being perceived as normal individuals who share the same needs, dreams and aspirations of all, has become a communication commodity for European citizenship.

Martino Pillitteri is Editor-in-Chief of Yalla Italia. Yalla Italia’s Italian-language articles can be found at the Vita magazine website. Martino can be reached at [email protected].

Commentary

Previous Post

June 22, 2008

International Diplomacy: Global peacemaking without the US

Next Post

June 26, 2008 US Presidential Elections: Barack’s Muslim problem

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category 2012 Elections 30 Dayd 30 Writers (2017) 30 Days 30 Writers 30 Days 30 Writers (2015) 30 Days 30 Writers (2016) 30 Days 30 Writers (2018) 30 Days 30 Writers 2017 Ali Asadullah Ali Eteraz Alper Bilgili Arthur Richards Asides Asma Uddin Black History Month Briefings Charles Turner Commentary Cyrus McGoldrick Eman H Aly Fatimah Popal Hajj Hajj and Dhul Hijjah Hesham Hassaballa Hisham Hellyer Ibrahim Abusharif Inas Younis Irfan Yusuf Jalal Baig Junaid Afeef Laila Alawa Laila Alwala Mas'ood Cajee Muqtedar Khan Nakia Jackson Newsmakers Parvez Ahmed Podcasts Rabia Chaudry Rafia Zakaria Ramadan Reviews Safiyyah Ally Saud Inam Shahed Amanullah Svend White The Opinionated Oncologist Visions Wajahat Ali Zahed Amanullah Zahir Janmohamed Zainab Khan

Select a Month November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011 December 2010 November 2010 October 2010 September 2010 August 2010 July 2010 June 2010 May 2010 April 2010 March 2010 February 2010 January 2010 December 2009 November 2009 October 2009 September 2009 August 2009 July 2009 June 2009 May 2009 April 2009 March 2009 February 2009 January 2009 December 2008 November 2008 October 2008 September 2008 August 2008 July 2008 June 2008 May 2008 April 2008 March 2008 February 2008 January 2008 December 2007 November 2007 October 2007 September 2007 August 2007 July 2007 June 2007 May 2007 April 2007 March 2007 February 2007 January 2007 December 2006 November 2006 October 2006 September 2006 August 2006 July 2006 June 2006 May 2006 April 2006 March 2006 February 2006 January 2006 December 2005 November 2005 October 2005 September 2005 August 2005 July 2005 June 2005 May 2005 April 2005 March 2005 February 2005 January 2005 December 2004 November 2004 October 2004 September 2004 August 2004 July 2004 June 2004 May 2004 April 2004 March 2004 February 2004 January 2004 December 2003 November 2003 October 2003 September 2003 August 2003 July 2003 June 2003 May 2003 April 2003 March 2003 February 2003 January 2003 December 2002 November 2002 October 2002 September 2002 August 2002 July 2002 June 2002 May 2002 April 2002 March 2002

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

How many days was Jesus tempted in the wilderness?

Select your answer to see how you score.

30 days 50 days 60 days 40 days