They Take Our Jobs!! But It’s OK If They’re This Hot!!

Italy have finally seen the light. Like our own great nation, they are have cultivated a nicely casual hostility towards immigrants over the last few years, presumably buoyed on by some sterling work by the European branches of The Sun and the Daily Facist. Now obviously this is all well and good while it only threatens cabbies and chop-shop mechanics, one of Italy’s best-known models has now been caught up in the nationalistic storm after admitting recently that she too was an illegal immigrant, living in fear of deportation and forced foxy-boxing down at the docks.

For those of you who can’t recognise her from previous coverage on this fine website, Czech-born Alena Seredova is the partner of uber-cool STT hero Gigi Buffon, while also being famous for modeling, TV presenting, wearing see-through shirts, and allegedly acting. Buffon is obviously a national hero for many reasons, and the pair have just had a child together, but Seredova’s recent revelation has sparked further fracas in the hottest political debate of the day.

In an interview with the highest-selling newspaper in Italy, Corriere della Sera, Seredova revealed she illegally entered the country from the Czech Republic nearly ten years ago now, before that country joined the European Union. As a result of this presumably traumatic experience, she said she was acutely aware of the dangers of stigmatising all migrants: “I believe that people who escape from misery to come to Italy to work, risking their skin on one of those boat crossings, should be accepted,” she said. Despite landing a roll presenting on a TV show upon arrivial in 2000, Seredova said she was permanently terrified to walk the streets: “It's absurd. My work put me in the public eye, but when I passed a policeman in the street I was afraid he would stop me. It brought me to tears.”

With the backing of the anti-immigrant-but-otherwise-really-nice-guys Northern League party, Silvio Berlusconi’s government plans to soon make entering Italy illegally a serious criminal offence, punishable even by prison. This rising tide of hatred comes from the sternly held assertion that obviously all crime is just committed by immigrants, and so locking them up in prison will definitely solve all the problems of poverty. If adopted, the new legislation would be among the strictest in Europe, and understandably it has drawn criticism from other Italian parties, the Vatican, the United Nations, and generally everyone else that isn’t a completely mindless racist.

Seredova’s comments however have been warmly received by Italian lefties campaigning for the rights of the country’s immigrant population. “She has done well to speak up,” said Daniela Pompei, the immigration officer for the Catholic organisation, Sant'Egidio. “We must remember that immigrants give a positive contribution to the Italy’s economy and society, and should be treated with respect,” he or she concluded.

So there we have it. Alena Seredova: TV presenter; model; actress; give-your-kidneys-to-medical-research-for-ten-minutes-alone-with-her beauty; political activist.