The Hindu : International : Immigration fuels racism in Spain

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Sunday, Nov 21, 2004

International

International

Immigration fuels racism in Spain

By Giles Tremlett— © Guardian Newspapers Limited 2004

MADRID, NOV. 20. Official condemnation of the racist barracking suffered by England soccer players in Spain this week cannot hide the fact that xenophobia is on the rise in what is currently Europe's biggest magnet for immigrants, Spanish anti-racism campaigners warned yesterday.

``A few years ago it was bad to be a racist ... now there is more impunity,'' complained Begona Sanchez, spokeswoman for the SOS Racismo group.

``This is not an isolated incident. It is a signal that, although the vast majority of Spaniards are not racists, this is something that is consolidating here.''

`Time to act'

Campaigners welcomed the condemnation that eventually came from the Spanish authorities. But they warned that it was time that Spaniards, who were mostly upset that anybody should think they might be racists, took the threat seriously.

``We have a problem with racism,'' said Esteban Ibarra, of the Movement Against Intolerance. ``Either this is stemmed now, or something grave will happen.''

But many, if not most, Spaniards remained convinced yesterday that neither they, nor their country, nor the national soccer coach, Luis Aragones, could be described as racist.

No data on incidents

Racism is difficult to measure in Spain, where there is no equivalent of the Commission for Racial Equality.

The social affairs, justice and interior ministries, as well as the body responsible for Spanish courts, the National Council of Judicial Power, all admitted yesterday they did not keep figures on racist incidents.

``We calculate that there are more than a thousand racist attacks every year. There has been no adequate following of this, however, by governments,'' Mr. Ibarra explained.

Warnings have, however, come from several fronts. Amnesty International, for example, dedicated a report two years ago to racial abuse and torture by Spanish police.

The report detailed cases of deaths, rape, sexual assault and violence against foreigners while in custody, and lamented the impunity enjoyed by those responsible.

Charges dismissed

Amnesty's allegations, however, fell on deaf ears. They were dismissed as containing ``major inaccuracies'' by the then Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, now leader of the Opposition Conservative People's party.

A survey by the state-owned Centre for Social Investigation discovered recently that one in four young people thought there were too many illegal immigrants.

Spain, with a buoyant economy and historically low birth-rate, is the main destiny for immigrants into Europe.

Last year it took in 600,000 immigrants, a third of the E.U. total. The country's 3.3 million immigrants now account for 7.5 per cent of the population and most have arrived in the last three or four years.

Madrid's immigrant population has increased from 3 per cent to 14 per cent in just four years.

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