Jul
31
Xenophobia in Spain
A recent El País article about the views of young Spaniards towards people of different ethnicities doesn’t bode well for the future of Spanish society, particularly since Spain’s immigrant population is at 10% and rising.
A survey of 23,100 secondary students conducted by Spain’s Ministry of Education shows a disturbingly high level of racial and religious intolerance and xenophobia among the next generation. In the survey, almost 66% of Spanish high schoolers said they’d have a problem studying with a Morrocan or a gypsy. More than half said that they would dislike having a Jew as a classmate. About 46% said that they were not at all willing to work with people from Latin America. The only foreigners the young people said they could see themselves dealing with were other Europeans and people from the U.S. (Note: This last point is comical and shows the depth of ignorance of the respondents considering that at least one-third of the U.S. population is classified as a racial minority, with many of them Hispanic immigrants from, guess where?, Latin America. )
For another, more personal perspective, read this piece Spanish-Argentine businessman Martin Varsavsky wrote about being jewish in Spain.
Mmm… is there ANY good news at all coming out of Spain at the moment? Isn’t this the country of the “tres culturas”? Is nobody teaching these kids their heritage?
On the one hand I think it’s sad. Bigotries like these are almost always taught at home. On the other hand, I think this article is a good thing. One of the first steps to solving a problem is recognizing it.
In my dealings outside and inside the USA with people who are not American I have been accused up and down of being a racist just because I am Caucasian and American. A few moments later, my accusers often have made racist comments about their own minorities, totally oblivious of their hypocrisy. Likewise, I always considered my family to be pretty color blind and yet in several recent conversations with a few of my relatives I’ve heard some clearly bigoted things come out of their mouths. They too consider themselves open minded and non-discriminatory.
I imagine that a bunch of these Spaniards consider themselves to be liberal and open minded. Hopeful this article will help some of them see that they have some adjustments to make.
Well, Freddy, professional Spanish athletes are having a banner year! All kidding aside, regarding your point about the 3 cultures…that’s like prehistoric history to young people. It’s not something that many of them can internalize and view personally as their heritage. Also, as Ryan has pointed out, this kind of education has to start in the home. Lacking the proper input from mom and dad, the schools are the next best hope, but there’s a long way to go.
One depressing thing I’ve personally witnessed in Spain in my teaching job are kids who aren’t white denying their ethnic background in a desire to fit in. To me that’s very sad and I don’t think children should grow up thinking that they have to choose. It is possible to be both Spanish and Moroccan, both Spanish and Filipino, Spanish and Muslim. . .
Ryan,
Boy oh boy, you’ve touched a sore point…in my personal experience, many Spaniards get very defensive about the issue of race and racism in Spain, particularly when pointed out to them by an American. The standard line of defense is that the U.S. is a more racist place than Spain is. This is typically said by people who a). have never lived nor visited the United States and b). have never spoken or had any first-hand contact with an American, particularly not an American who was black, Asian or Hispanic. What they know is what they’ve seen in American movies and TV shows and what they’ve read in Spanish newspapers.
Yes, the U.S. has serious problems when it comes to race, but as a society we are aware of what our defects are and there are laws in place to make discrimination harder to get away with. Also, when all else fails, the power of being publicly outed as a neanderthal combined with the stigma of being possibly labeled as racist usually has a self-policing effect on many people in the U.S. Many think before they act. Are there still ignorant people making ignorant remarks? Of course, but there’s also more likely somebody around who is going to call them out on it.
In Spain, there’s still the societal tendency to try to explain things away or to rationalize bad behavior when sometimes there’s no good reason to do so. Prime example: The treatment of race car driver Lewis Hamilton and the collective “so, what?” shrug from Spanish society over the disgraceful way he was treated in Barcelona last spring. There was more outrage among the Spanish about the way the British were reacting to the situation than the actual situation itself. A similar incident in the U.S. or the U.K. (people dressed up in blackface and chanting racist comments) and major heads would’ve rolled.
Coming from the US, where everyone has a heightened awareness of racism in public discourse, I was absolutely shocked the first time I heard the expression “trabajar como un negro“. And then again when I learned that the phrase is perfectly normal in Spain and not considered in bad taste at all. Can you imagine a white-collar boss in the US telling his employees, “We’ve got a deadline coming up next week, so we’re all gonna have to work like blacks!” ???
Spain is still an extremely homogeneous society. Xenophobia is a perfectly normal human response to the dilution of one’s society. I applaud articles like this that bring these issues to the forefront. The only solution to xenophobia is raising awareness.
One other thought that highlights the homogeneousness of Spanish society…
In Spain, almost all black people are first-generation African immigrants and are very black. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elderly black person in Spain. And I’ve seen maybe two black children. So I must conclude that this African immigration is really very, very recent.
After living for a few years in Spain, where the racial difference between whites and blacks is so stark, when I visit the States, it amazes me how blurred the line is. From inside the US culture, you don’t notice it. You have to leave and come back to see it. There are suntanned “white” Spaniards that are darker than a lot of “African Americans”.
This blurring is a good thing and, I hope, inevitable in Spain as well. But it won’t be easy. It never is. Now if we could only blur religion….
I only wish that the fact that the report has appeared would make a difference, as Ryan suggests. One notable recent trend in Spain is for people who can afford it to move their kids out of the state schools, which are filling up with the children of immigrants, and into private schools - rather than leaving them there to learn about other cultures and ideas than their own (though I realize this is a somewhat idealized view of the Spanish state school system). Both Luis Aragonés and the Formula 1 fans attacking Louis Hamilton went under-reported in the press, whilst the UK press had a field day with both. And so the racism goes on, both at home and in the media, as Spain becomes ever more multi-racial.
Hello readers,
To those of you who have chosen to read and comment on this thread, thank you. To the people who have posted anonymous comments, I’m sorry, I can’t publish them. There was one person in particular who I wanted to contact to discuss his remarks but I was unable to do so because the email address provided was invalid. If you wish to leave a comment on this blog, you have to provide a real email address. No exceptions.
“In Spain, almost all black people are first-generation African immigrants and are very black. I don’t think I’ve ever seen an elderly black person in Spain. And I’ve seen maybe two black children”
I’m sorry but that’s totally wrong, just come to Madrid, to my neighborhood, for instance, and see what’s going on here. African? no elderly? no children????? Come on, no black children????
Perhaps it’s because I’m optimistic by nature, perhaps it is because I live and work in a multinational environment, whatever it is, I just don’t see the apocalyctic racial outlook you are describing. Quite the opposite. I see Spain moving in the right direction very quickly. Yes, there will be problems, of course. It won’t be easy, it never is. We are still trying to educate ourselves, but I’m quite confident it won’t take us more than one generation to totally embrace diversity.
Roberto, I live in and primarily visit small town (<20000) Spain. Of course big cities are more far along in the diversity path. But I can only speak from my own experience, and what I see isn’t very diverse yet. Not to my American eyes, at least. The only black people I encounter are trying to sell me pirated DVDs. My point was that, to reach the level of integration of the US, Spain has a long way to go.
[...] Another reminder of how far Spain has to go as a society when it comes to cultural sensitivity and respect of different races. Full story plus the picture here. [...]
Erik, to be perfectly honest, Spain isn’t and never will be as diverse as the USA are. We are not trying to be USA nº2. We couldn’t. We are trying to build a decent society, doing it in our own and very Spanish way. I think we are doing well and will do even better.
Perhaps you should stop comparing Spain with the USA. A better comparison would be France or Italy, for instance.
But anyway, Madrid and Barcelona already are very multicultural and diverse.
Erik, many of the engineers who work with me are black, or asian, or latin american or from eastern europe. Many of my neighbours are black Hispanics. The Spaniards are the minority in my barrio and nobody has the slightest problem with that. Black people in Spain have very different backgrounds and most of them do not sell pirated CDs.
But even in the small cities, like my hometown, there are lots of newcomers from everywhere.
During the last 10 years the face of Spain has changed for ever.
True, Roberto. Once again, I agree with you. But I’m pretty sure that I, nor any immigrant, can, or should stop comparing their home country with their adopted one. But you are 100% correct that the comparison of race and racism between the US and Spain is an invalid one.
I am a Spaniard and think Roberto is too, no? Anyway, Roberto, why do you lie? I am from Madrid and most of us in Spain are NOT happy with the mass migration brought here by pro-US interests and by the president Zapatero.
I am from Lavapies and most people have left the “barrio” because of mass migration. Higher crime in Madrid has resulted from massive non white migration. And please, please, americans, don’t come here to teach us about tolerance. I agree that we are not “tolerant” (most people in Spain love to tell you that we are open but the reality is that we are not “open”) but neither are Americans: you had segregation by force until 1964 and defacto until the present…lines are blurred? I think not. I studied university in New York for five years and “travelling” and living in such an international city like New York didn’t change my outlook one bit. I am a proud nationalist and will continue to denounce mass migration.
Castellón,
You and I attended the same university, probably not at the same time, but I’m surprised that you spent 5 years in NYC and came away feeling that the Big Apple is an inhospitable and intolerant place to immigrants. Wow. I hate to say it but I think that says more about you and your way of looking at life than it does about the U.S. I also can’t fathom why a proud nationalist like yourself would want to study in an American university.
I wish we could get to the point where Spaniards weren’t so quickly defensive and reactive with the standard retort “Well you Americans are even worse!” when we have these discussions.
But anyway thank you for providing another perspective, even if it is one I don’t totally agree with. I’m pretty tolerant that way.
Saludos.
Eleena:
Thank you for publishing my comment (I try to be tolerant too)…anyway:
I think you got the opposite message of what I intended: I do think the US is a better place for “multiculturalism”…but not Spain. In other words, many Spaniards, my compatriots, will say in public “oh we love immigration” but in private you know that’s not true. And I don’t demand anyone to just simply take my word for it: just go out at night in a major city like Madrid. Most of us go out only with other Spaniards (or European “guiris” as they are called in a loving way) but it is very rare to see a group of Spaniards versus South Americans.
Yes Eleena, I am a nationalist…but more than that, a patriot and that is what I love about the US: Most Americans are patriotic and Spaniards are more nationalistic but not patriotic.
Let me also say, please, that I happen to talk to many immigrants and I respect them and they respect me: many of them tell me that they are here in Spain just to save up money and move back…they are NOT happy here and I understand that. I don’t mind immigration as long as it is very limited and doesn’t threaten our culture. But at the same time, just in case anyone is wondering: I am deeply anti fascist and anti Nazi and waste no time with people who hurt immigrants simply because they are not white. That to me is absolutely appalling and there should be no place for that in a democratic society.
So, I hope it makes sense now.
Oh and Eleena: what I meant by saying that NYC didn’t change my outlook one bit was that such a cosmopolitan city didn’t change my “xenophobic” instincts. I say that because some people argue that “exposure” to other people makes you more “international” it may be true but perhaps I am an exception.
I had to respond more to Roberto because here in Spain we call people like him “progre” (progressive) and “guay” (progressive and people who think they’re hip because they live in an immigrant filled area)…like Lavapies or Tetuan.
Roberto: no offense but you are in the minority. Read the polls and see that most of us in Spain do not want more immigration and we think there are already way too many.
Immigration, fine. But invasion? No way José.
Keep up the good work Eleena in the blog…I love talking to Americans (it is one of my favourite countries believe it or not).
Castellón,
Yes, I get what you’re saying. Thank you for swinging back and elaborating on your original post. And thanks for the kudos, also.
Now, if you will excuse me, I’m going to run for cover before Roberto gets back. I don’t want to get caught in the crossfire once he arrives. ¡Es broma!
i am of german and spanish(asturian) parents! and i think that the u.s should really stop trying to turn other countries like theirs! because you melting pot is not doing good doesnt mean you can try and turn others peoples country into one! here in aviles we dont like the mass invasion of immigrants! most are latinamericans and muslims1 and they deal drugs and committ more crimes than blood spaniards! if this invasion is not stopped spain will be a melting pot and the country will turn to hell just like portugal1 they are one of the poorest countries in western europe maybe the only one in western europe! why because of intergration! you americans are too sensative! live you life in the americas1 dont live your lives here this is EUROPA! and we will keep it that way! your invasion of europe has been over since the european union! go to your land and stay there! EUROPA is too powerful. dont be mad at me, look at the estatistics and see for yourselves that minorities commit crimes! and if it wasnt for spain in 722 a.d the start of the reconquest by the visigoth noble Don pelayo then western europe would have fallen into the muslims and there would have not been any europe and no explorations by europeans to the americas! also spain has suffered centuries of invasions. so i think we have every right to fight immigration invasions!. enough is enough!!!
whats d reason why spaniards have that attitude towards others,do they not want to share the world