African migrant co-op getting healthy food to Italians

This is Barikama, a co-operative started in 2011 by a group of young Africans. Many of the founders took part in the Rosarno revolt, an uprising in January 2010 in which hundreds of African fruit pickers whose labour was being exploited in Italy’s citrus groves rose up in support of a workmate seriously injured in a racist attack. The rebellion broke the silence surrounding the conditions of immigrant workers in the Italian countryside.

Ten years on, the members of Barikama find themselves on the frontline of Italy’s deadly battle against Covid-19. Every day, while the people in their community are in lockdown in their homes, Ismail and his colleagues are out in the field and in the warehouse, packing delivery boxes of vegetables and dairy products to help feed increasing numbers of local households.

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