Jalandhar: The horrific accident involving 31-year-old Satnam Singh, a Punjab-origin farm worker in Italy’s Latina province, and the cold-hearted response of the farm owner, who instead of saving his life left him to die all alone, has sparked a wave of protests by migrants in Italy.
Satnam, a Dalit farmer from Punjab’s Chand Nawa village, died on June 19.
While Italian Prime Minister Georgia Meloni has ordered an inquiry into Satnam’s death, the prosecutor’s office at Latina has opened an investigation with the municipality as a civil party.
Seeking justice, trade unions, migrant workers and a large number of Italian citizens on Saturday (June 22) held a big protest in Latina. The unions have again given a call for another protest on Tuesday (June 25) to decide a future course of action.
The accident, which shook Italy and sent shock waves back home in Punjab, took place on June 17 when Satnam was driving a plastic wrapping machine on the Borgo Santa Maria farm in Latina. The farm is owned by Italian national Antonello Lovato, who is facing an inquiry in this case.
When Satnam was driving the machine, he got pulled into its giant cutting wheel and lost an arm. The accident also led to the crushing of his legs and left multiple injuries on his body.
Reports say that the farm owner Lovato, instead of saving Satnam’s life, put his severed limb in a fruit tray, and drove him while he was bleeding profusely in a tractor. Lovato then dumped him outside his house – near some garbage bins – and fled.
Singh was left in excruciating pain. Some of his friends, who had rushed to his house, arranged for him to be airlifted to the San Camillo Hospital in Rome.
As per a report in the Milan-based newspaper, Corriere Della Sera, the Latina public prosecutor’s office was investigating the accident and initially opened a case for negligent injury, failure to provide assistance and a violation of the provisions on irregular work (the crime of injury will automatically transform into manslaughter after the event) against Lovato.
An illegal immigrant till the time of his death, Satnam, a resident of Chand Nawa village in the Moga district of Punjab, had moved to Latina two years ago in search of work.
After his death, the Italian government provided him permanent resident status to expedite the legal proceedings in his case.
Satnam’s story has lifted the curtain on the misery of many farm workers from poorer countries, who move to Latina in search of work in huge farms, but end up trapped, underpaid, overworked, injured, and as in the case of Satnam, killed.
Satnam’s family tells this reporter that the Punjabi community and Italian trade unions were yet to reach a consensus on whether to perform his cremation in Italy or send his body back to India.
While Italy has earned the honour of being the world’s leading producer of quality fruits and vegetables, behind the profit of several corporations running into the millions of euros is the exploitation, harassment, injuries and deaths of migrant workers. The hands of ‘gangmasters’ or ‘capos’, who hire workers for farm jobs, is well known in these situations.
Also read: Behind the Sweetness of Italy’s Kiwi Fruit Lie the Trafficking and Exploitation of Indian Workers
Wave of protests by immigrants, Italian trade unions in Latina
Agitated and mourning Satnam’s death, hundreds of farm workers and other immigrants under the banner of Italy’s leading trade unions CGIL (Confederation Generale Italiana Del Lavaro)-FLAI; UILA (Unione Italiana Dei Lavori Agroalimentari), an agriculture workers’ union; and CISL (Italian Workers’ Trade Unions Confederation) gathered for a mass protest at the Piazza Della Liberta in Latina.
The protest saw the participation of Latina’s local politicians, including its Member of Parliament, and trade union leader Laura Hardeep Kaur from the FLAI-CGIL who has been regularly raising her voice against the exploitation of migrant farm workers, and Malkit Kaur from Helping Line Centre in Napoli.
It was also learnt that the trade union leaders met with Italian labour minister Marina Elvira Calderone and agriculture minister Francesco Lollobrigida to ensure justice in Satnam’s case.
Speaking to The Wire from Latina, Balbir Singh, a Kiwi farm worker who attended the protest, said that since Satnam was an irregular worker who came via “a donkey route” and had no official documents, his owner would have thought nobody would hold an inquiry against him.
“The Italian government should set a precedent by giving him the strictest punishment, so that nobody dares to play with the lives of the migrants, ever. The government should also give compensation to Satnam’s family and provide an Italy visa to his brother to support his elderly parents,” he said.
Balbir, who also faced victimisation at the hands of his dairy farm owners and remained in captivity some years ago, also expressed concern over what would happen to Satnam’s wife now.
Local politicians at the protest rally. Photo: Special arrangement.
“They met on the donkey route and later started working in the same farm together. When this accident took place, Satnam’s wife Soni was also working on the farm. Unfortunately, by the time she learnt about the accident, Satnam’s friends had already airlifted him to a hospital in Rome,” he said.
Balbir added: “What hurt us the most was how the farm owner put Satnam’s mutilated limb in a fruit tray, drove him in a tractor while he was in excruciating pain and threw him near garbage bins right outside his house. We have also learnt that the Italian government was all set to provide a judicial residence permit to [Soni], who too was [an] illegal [immigrant to] Italy,” he said.
He said immigrants were of the view that if they did not seek justice for Satnam, they would never be able to come out of the trap of exploitation or modern slavery.
“We felt relieved that apart from migrants from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Morocco and South Africa, the Italians also stood by us. The Italians came in large numbers. The problem lies with the capo or ‘caporalato’ system [‘capo’ is a short term for the Caporegime, the mafia head or the ‘boss of bosses’ who work as ‘gangmasters’]. Until the Italian government reigns in this illegal culture, workers will keep on getting exploited,” he added.
Satnam was killed, he did not die an accidental death: Italian rights activist
In his address during the protest rally, noted Italian sociologist and migrant rights activist Marco Omizzolo, who has been working to combat the ‘caporalato’ system said that this is not the first time that such a barbaric and inhuman incident has taken place in Latina.
Also read: Marco Omizzolo: The Italian Activist Punjabi Immigrants Hail as ‘Sent by God’
“It has been happening in one form or another for a long time. This time, it crossed all limits of cruelty. [Satnam] was killed, he did not die an accidental death. He did not die because of the accident, he died because of the sheer callousness of the farm owner. We led this protest today; if needed, we will lead more massive protests in the coming days,” he said.
Omizzolo has been fighting for the rights of workers in Latina, which is the hub of large-scale fruits, vegetables and salad farms.
“We want to ensure workers’ rights and safety, and an equal wage rate as implemented by the Italian government. The farm owner in Satnam’s killing should be given the harshest punishment so that nobody dares to play with the rights and lives of immigrant workers in Italy,” he said during the protest.
Earlier, in The Wire’s investigative series on the exploitation of kiwi farm workers in Latina, it was reported that as per the National Institute of Social Security, there were nearly 9,500 Indian agricultural workers.
Omizzolo had contended this claim and said: “There could be twice as many Indian workers. My estimate includes those without residence permits, residents in other provinces and those who recently arrived but were undocumented.”
Satnam’s village sarpanch asks the Indian government to facilitate justice
Speaking to The Wire, the sarpanch of Chand Nawa village, Harpreet Singh, said that Satnam’s tragic death came as a big blow to the entire village.
“We learnt about his accident on the second day. As there are many boys from our village in Italy, they shared the details of the horrific accident and informed Satnam’s parents about his death gradually. It was difficult to break this news to his parents, who were inconsolable and have been hospitalised since then. They were not even in a condition to talk to someone,” he said.
Harpreet shared that Satnam came from a Dalit community and his family’s financial condition was not good, spurring him to take this path. Satnam is survived by his elderly parents and two siblings in India.
The sarpanch lashed out at Lovato, the farm owner. “It was shocking to hear how the farm owner left Satnam to die all alone. Had he been rushed to the hospital immediately, his life could have been saved. It is painful to even talk about this tragedy. Everybody is mourning Satnam’s death,” he said.
To a query if the local MLA or MP had met Satnam’s family, the sarpanch said that he was not aware of any such development.
“I am not sure if someone came or not, but we want to appeal to the Indian government and the Union minister of external affairs S. Jaishankar to immediately take up this case with the Italian government. The Indian government should assist the family in this crisis and ensure that they get justice,” he added.
Another Balbir Singh – separate from the one quoted earlier, and a close friend of Satnam’s who used to live near his house in Latina – said in a video interview to a local Punjabi channel that this tragedy left the entire migrant worker community traumatised.
“Satnam was like any other Punjabi worker, who came with the aspiration of earning well to uplift his family back home. The tragedy has left all the migrant workers terrorised. It is likely to affect farm owners and the workers’ morale too. Until the Italian government entrusts a mechanism to curb mafia culture in Italy’s large scale agriculture sector, it is likely to affect everybody”, he said.
