Dear Dr. Landi,
I’m referring to your expert intervention on the subject of citizenship.
Unlike the European citizen, and in particular the Italian, it should be remembered that the Arab citizen, both Christian and Muslim, has an identity intimately linked to his religious belief in his community even before the state he belongs to.
Between the 19th and 20th centuries, millions of Europeans migrated and settled in North Africa and the Middle East, contributing substantially to the economic and cultural development of African countries without almost ever taking root in the social fabric, and then found themselves expelled by returning to their countries of origin. At the same time the European powers competed to stand up as protectors of Christians before the Ottoman authorities in order to exempt them from the application of Islamic laws that discriminated strongly against non-Muslims in order to gain influence over the governability of these countries. Some Catholic communities, a minority of local Christianity, have used this influence to try to escape the discrimination of the legal system that still exists in our 21st century. This state of affairs has influenced the attitude of Muslims towards local Christians in the broad sense of the term, considering them foreigners in their own country.