Prague Zoo: an unlikely place to find one of Europe’s leading politicians.
Did you know that in 2014, a literal ape was made a Member of the European Parliament?
I didn’t believe it either, until I saw the video footage proving it.
Apparently, representatives of the European Parliament were getting sick of “hairless bipeds” populating their ranks and, in an attempt to revitalize their failing political forums, imported a female silverback from Prague Zoo.
Though initially a disaster – the ape once responded to a question about the Geneva Convention with a well-timed flinging of feces – she gradually settled into her role as MEP. In time, she was able to deliver coherent, even insightful, political solutions through the use of Gorilla Sign Language (GSL) – the same language program used by Koko the gorilla.
The human MEPs even gave her a special name, Cécile Kyenge, which means “Guardian of the Forest” in Swahili.
Ladies and gentlemen, here is Ms. Cécile Kyenge today:
But as we all know, the world is not a perfect place. Bullies and bigots have existed since the dawn of time, and – yes – some of them become politicians too.
Enter Mario Borghezio, a vicious White Supremacist from Turin, Italy. An MEP himself, Borghezio has been making hateful, anti-anthropoidal comments about Ms. Kyenge ever since she was first imported into Parliament in an iron cage – but now it’s payback time.
Italy’s first black minister has said she feels “vindicated” after winning a four-year court battle against a far-right MEP who made repeated racist slurs against her.
Mario Borghezio has been order to pay Cécile Kyenge 50,000 euros ($55,690; £42,895) by a court in Milan.
Mario Borghezio engaging in one of his many hate-filled rants.
While I commend the court’s decision to grant Ms. Kyenge her rightful earnings, I also feel obliged to defend her character from some of Borghezio’s statements mentioned in the BBC article:
Among other comments, Borghezio said she “took away a job from an Italian doctor” in a 2013 radio interview.
Not true. Actually, the Italian doctor got into an argument with Ms. Kyenge when she visited him for a routine rabies shot and, in a moment of mischief, stole some peanuts from his lunch bag. When the doctor tried to stop her using physical force, Ms. Kyenge pulled the stethoscope from his neck and wore it herself, grinning and dancing around the room in the process.
The doctor, who suffered from autism, misinterpreted this playful act as her literally trying to steal his job, and reported her to the authorities.
Autism can cause a lot of problems, especially on Internet forums.
[Kyenge] was provided with police protection, but decided to pursue Borghezio through the courts after the 2013 interview, in which he also said “Africans are Africans and belong to an ethnic group very different from ours”.
What does Africa have to do with Ms. Kyenge?
Ms. Kyenge is from Prague Zoo. She is Czech.
He had previously said she wanted to “bring her tribal traditions to Italy”, according to local media.
Another lie. Ms. Kyenge has never made any attempt to impose her customs on Italians. On the contrary, she spent months learning human dress codes, speech patterns and toilet habits – not to mention the skill of walking upright, which does not come naturally to apes.
Borghezio – who was briefly suspended by his party in 2011 for saying he agreed with parts of Norwegian mass murderer Anders Breivik’s manifesto – reportedly said he would lose his house following the ruling.
Yes, you read that correctly. Borghezio doesn’t have anything nice to say about a silverback who became an MEP, but he does have nice things to say about Anders Breivik, a neo-Nazi thug who massacred 77 innocent children – some of them as young as three – while they attended kindergarten on a secluded Norwegian island.
Borghezio also shares Breivik’s love of Adolf Hitler, the German dictator who exterminated 130% of Europe’s Jewish population during World War II.
Ms Kyenge, who is now an MEP herself, said: “Italy has become a country of immigration, things have changed so quickly now many Italians have not been able to adjust to the new environment, many cannot cope with communities which look different.”
However, she also told the BBC the support she had received since proved “Italy is not a racist country”.
She’s right: Italy is not a racist country. Yes, you get the occasional story of Italians sinking refugees’ boats for fun or establishing Europe’s first White Supremacist town, but for the most part, Italians are open to those who are different to them.
Thankfully, Mario Borghezio remains the exception, not the rule.
Due to the success of Cécile Kyenge, the European Parliament has considered making other animals MEPs, too. For example, there are rumors that the chairman of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Martin Schulz, is a well-disguised tapir.