Vorwort

In the last few years there has been a significant increase in studies on migrants' associations and political participation. These analyses generally focus on the macro- social aspects of migrants' associations and political participation: scholars combine this phenomenon with the study of social capital and networks on one hand, and the concepts of civic community and political opportunity structure on the other. Nevertheless there is still a lack of attention to both the internal dynamics of migrants' associations, and the conflictual aspects of their mobilizations. The paper presents the results of an empirical study conducted in the city of Milan examining specific forms of migrants' associations claiming citizenship and political rights. The narratives of the migrants involved in these associations shed light on their subjective perception both of mis-recognition as humans from Italian institutions and paternalistic support from Italian activists. These conflictual elements are the reason they establish associations and embark on forms of mobilization. Special attention is devoted to an impressive protest that saw migrants occupying the top of a disused industrial chimney in November 2010. The protest - which came about against the outcome of the 2009 amnesty described by migrants as ‘fraudulent', and at the same time aimed to relaunch the mobilization of migrants in Italy after many years of inactivity - failed after 2 months. Internal divisions within the Immigrants' Committee on the way to conduct the protest was one of the main reasons for its failure.