Amir Issaa, Italian hip-hop artist, raps about citizenship law

Rapper voices opposition to legislation that makes children foreigners in their own country
Manchester City's Mario Balotelli
Despite being born in Sicily and fostered by Italian parents, Manchester City footballer Mario Balotelli was technically considered a Ghanaian citizen until 2008 due to the Italy's controversial citizenship laws. Photograph: Eddie Keogh/Reuters



Amir Issaa, a 34-year-old Italian hip-hop artist, has never conformed to stereotype. He has written about his Egyptian father going to jail and about the fraught nature of Italy's integration process. Now he has come up with a rap song that explores the notion of citizenship and the relative merits of jus sanguinis and jus soli.

It is the latest expression of his frustration about prejudice and pigeon-holing. Born to an Italian mother on an island in the middle of the Tiber, he previously released a single entitled Foreigner in My Country. Now he has taken up the cause of those who, despite being born and brought up in Italy like him, have no access to Italian citizenship and technically remain foreigners in the only country they have ever known.

Due to legislation which is, say critics, increasingly anachronistic, the children of immigrants in Italy must wait until they are 18 to be able to acquire citizenship. In order to qualify for nationality as adults, they must have been on Italian soil "without interruption" throughout their childhood.

The issue, subject of a political impasse for years, shows signs of returning to the forefront of debate. The centre-left Partito Democratico (PD), which is leading in the polls ahead of next month's election, has said one of the first things it would do in government would be to try to change the citizenship law, albeit not to allow for a system of birthright citizenship as in the United States or Canada. Last week, even a figure in the right-wing, populist Northern League suggested the time had come for the situation to change, only for a colleague to insist that this was categorically not the party line.

Desperate for an opportunity not to be missed, campaigners are stepping up the pressure and Issaa, in a rap released as part of a petition on, has been doing his bit.

"More than half a million people living secretly as foreigners in this country," run the lyrics of Dear President. "There's Daniel, there's Amir, there's Simone/ We want our rights; we're not asking a favour."

To its critics, Italy's citizenship law – based largely on the concept of jus sanguinis, the right of blood – reflects the country's past as a country of emigration rather than its present, and future, as one of immigration.

And, as Issaa wrote in the petition to the outgoing president, Giorgio Napolitano, it is woefully out of step with the country's reality in 2013. "The identity of these children does not tally with their legal identity," he said. "In terms of language, culture and habits, they are Italians, but they can only fully become one at 18 … It is clear that there is a gap between legal status and personal identity: an entire generation is growing up and risks remaining a foreigner in the country he feels is his."

Napolitano, to Issaa's delight, highlighted the issue in his New Year's Eve address, asking how the current situation was "conceivable" in a country that wanted to be open and inclusive.

According to the national statistics institute, there are more than 500,000 children resident in Italy whose parents come from countries outside the EU and have to spend their infancy and teenage years with a residency permit and tight restrictions on their movements.

Until 2008, one was Mario Balotelli, the Manchester City footballer, who, despite being born in Sicily and fostered by an Italian family, was technically considered a Ghanaian citizen and was therefore ineligible to play for Italy until the age of 18.

The disparity between the law in Italy and in some other major European countries, where citizenship rulesare more flexible, has long been a cause of concern to many. Unicef is campaigning for a change, claiming the situation violates the basic rights of minors. "We have a lot of immigration and society has changed," said Andrea Iacomini, a spokesman for Unicef. "That is why we need a new law."

Quite when, or whether, that will happen remains uncertain. Under the rightwing government of Silvio Berlusconi's People of Freedom party in coalition with the Northern League, the issue got little traction. While the technocratic government of Mario Monti repeatedly expressed a desire for change, it was not able to muster the necessary support in parliament.

Campaigners hope next month's elections could result in a more sympathetic parliament, especially if there is a resounding victory by the leftwing coalition led by PD head Pier Luigi Bersani. It is, however, by no means certain that it will do well enough to command a majority strong enough to overcome continuing opposition elsewhere.

Issaa believes momentum is on his side. "If you go to a school, there might be one of Albanian origin, one of Chinese origin, one of Italian origin, one of Polish origin. They don't ask one another, 'why do you have a funny name?'," he said. "Those kids are the future of this country. So I think that, sooner or later, politicians are going to have to tackle this issue. It's only a matter of time."