"Dirty negro" not a racist insult in Italy

Italy's highest court has ruled that calling someone a "dirty negro" is not necessarily a racist insult. The ruling comes in the case of a group of Italian men accused of assaulting a group of Colombian women. Reportedly, before the punches started flying, one of the men said to his compari, "Sporche negre -- cosa ci fanno queste negre qua?" It translates as, "Dirty negroes - what are these negroes doing here?"

The court ruling was in favor of one of the Italian men who claimed that the "dirty negroes" remark was not an expression of racial hatred.

Most Italians would have no doubt that calling someone a "dirty negro" was a racist insult. The term is seldom heard and is considered no more acceptable in Italy than it would be in Britain or the United States.

However, an insult should be judged racist "only if it is motivated by real hatred", or is likely to cause racial hatred in others or lead to "discriminatory behaviour for reasons of race, ethnicity, nationality or religion", the court ruled.

On the other hand, the crime of racism is not constituted by expressions of "generic dislike, intolerance or rejection based on race, ethnicity or religion", which appeared to fit the case in question, the court said.

Politicians across the political spectrum criticised the ruling and said it could not have come at a worse time.

It seems to me that calling a group of women "dirty negroes" and then proceeding with your friends to beat the crap out of them would certainly fit the standard of causing racial hatred in others and leading to discriminatory behavior. But, I am neither a lawyer nor an expert on the Italian Supreme court.

The court was silent about other terms that might be considered racial or ethnic insults in Italy, such as:

Black Bastard

Drunk Irishman

Filthy Jew

F***ing Foreigner

Raghead

Wetback

Wop