Domenico Altomonte

The rise of far-right parties in Europe and harsh propaganda against immigrants and Muslims are primary sources for the development of anti-Islam stances and anti-Muslim hatred among the population. The lack of acknowledgment of Islam and Muslims by the Italian state allows its citizens to conceive an exclusionary populist discourse and a shared negative view that impedes the enforcement of the right to religious freedom. To go local may result as an attractive, though obliged, alternative, and the municipality, as the representative of the institution closest to citizenship, may then affirm its leadership role in ensuring social cohesion and the protection of the human rights of all its citizens, so that European democratic pluralism is translated into effective access to and enjoyment of fundamental rights.