In June 2017, following attacks in London targeting civilians at London Bridge and Borough Market, Italian newspaper Libero led its front page with the headline 'The Italian bastard,' referring to one of the attackers - identified as Youssef Zaghba, the son of an Italian woman and a Moroccan man.
The last sentence of the article states, "Women, do not marry Muslim men. Do not generate sons with imam. If you are lucky you'll be slaves. If you are not, you'll generate terrorists."
In response to this article, high profile Italian journalist Laura Silvia Battaglia launched an online campaign with the hashtag #hosposatounmusulmano - aka #muslimhusbandrocks.Laura Silvia is a catholic woman and she has been married for four years to her Yemeni Muslim husband.
"Thousands of Muslim people are wonderful people and, simply, they exist. We found them and we’re happy. Deal with it.”
Speaking to SBS Italian, Laura Silvia explains that she wanted to react to the article in a positive way trying to increase visibility for the thousands of mixed unions that are successful.
“Let them know we exist, that there are Muslim men who love us, who respect their wives, who educate their children and who never forced us to do anything,” Battaglia says.
“Let them know that love and respect exist, especially if you are good people, and if you focus on the human being above any other category.”
A few hours after Laura Silvia Battaglia posted a picture of herself with the caption “We have news: unfortunately for you, we’re happy” on Twitter and Facebook, hundreds of women from Italy and around the world followed, sharing images of themselves, with their husbands, their sons and their daughters. The campaign went viral.
There were also negative reactions to her post, accusing her to promote marriages with Muslims.To this, Battaglia responds, “The hashtag was #muslimhusbandrocks, not #letsmarryamuslim."
"I am not encouraging anyone to marry a Muslim: I don’t run a wedding agency. I am just saying that thousands of Muslim people are wonderful people and, simply, they exist."
"We found them and we’re happy. Deal with it.”
Below: Listen to Laura Silvia Battaglia's full interview (in Italian) with SBS Italian.
Marry Me, Marry My Family is the familiar story of multicultural Australians, as they are today - trying to embrace their Australian identity, whilst staying true to their culture, identity and family. It's a heart-warming update on how multiculturalism is working in Australia and a colourful account of the country that we are evolving into.
