It had been twenty summers since I had last experienced a late June and early July in England. They stressed that it had been hot the week before. I enjoyed the drizzle and the moderate temperatures. They were a surprisingly welcome change to Mallorca.
That last summer was 1997. The spring had heralded a new beginning. England and Britain had an optimism. The glorious weather of 1 May had taken the people to the polls. On 2 May, equally glorious, the people knew that Tony Blair was prime minister. There was joy in the land. Oh how it was to evaporate. The about turn on freedom of information, an early victim of Blairism, was an indication that a pup may have been sold to the public.
Blair, the consummate actor, was to overplay his hand during the service, but he had previously captured the mood. Late in that summer, I had put on Five Live as I habitually did in the morning. Peter Allen was presenting, when Peter Allen wouldn't normally have been. It soon became apparent why. Blair did at least appreciate what Diana meant to the people.
That was twenty years ago. In fact, the last time I was in England (in winter) was seven years ago. It was the last time I had actually left Mallorca. I realised this because of the expiry date on my European health card: the acquisition of a replacement was to prove to be less straightforward than I had remembered the process having been. I now have the replacement, but I travelled without it.
At the time I left England, there was a growing disappointment with Blair. The policies of David Blunkett had been making me uneasy as well. There were mutterings of police state. In my part of west London, there were the signs of some form of breakdown. This was heavily multicultural London. I knew Caribbeans, Asians, Irish, Poles, Lithuanians. There was occasional tension but generally there was harmony. Coexistence had been good. But by 1998, I had begun to wonder.
It was saddening. The Poles, for instance, were long embedded in local society. They had been since the Second World War. When Diana's body was brought to England, it was to RAF Northolt, the one-time base for Polish airmen, with the Polish War Memorial close by. It was a time, in the late 1990s, that predated the outright hysteria of the right in targeting other cultures. Yet one could feel the seeds of the discontent. I was to later discover, while in Germany three years later, how these seeds were being organised. Farage was just one name in a crafted strategic approach that was quite different to the blatant and simplistic thuggery of the National Front or BNP.
I returned, albeit briefly, to the green fields and woods of the northern Home Counties. This is an area where rock musicians live in discreet tranquility, unmolested by neighbours or prying eyes. Everyone seems to drive an Audi, including the twentysomethings. Apparently it's all due to highly favourable leasing arrangements. It is an area largely unaffected by the sickness of England.
Before going, there had been a radio discussion. A German journalist, resident in England for years who works for a German paper, had used the word sickness. She had suggested that there aren't quite the same extreme societal divisions in Germany as there are in England. It was Grenfell to which she was referring and not to terrorism, of which Germany has had its own sickening fill.
Theresa May isn't Blair. She failed to capture the public mood. Grenfell was and is symptomatic of social failure, hastened - it has to be admitted - by the over ambitions of the European project. This ambitiousness - so much expansion, so rapidly - was the root cause of Brexit. Immigration was just one element, but one that lay at the heart of the far-right's strategy that had initially been developed in the late 1990s: a time when it was not paid sufficient attention in exposing. The egghead fascists, Holocaust deniers and others of the late '90s were the progenitors of Steve Bannon: all they lacked then was the technology.
It was, in a way, reassuring to, for instance, be served at the easyJet check-in at Luton Airport by a lady wearing a hijab. What has happened in recent years is a denial of the one-time harmony of west London and of other parts of England. This denial is understandable, but to fully understand it, one has to make reference to the process initiated in the late '90s. The far-right was in it for the long-term.
There was an almost reluctance to talk about Brexit. There were those who had voted to leave but who now questioned why they had done so. The frightening wealth of the northern Home Counties notwithstanding, there was nevertheless an underlying sense of uncertainties. Brexit is only cause. But then, the thinking would be very different elsewhere, including North Kensington. Division. It has been twenty summers in the making.
Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Immigration. Show all posts
Wednesday, July 12, 2017
Monday, October 18, 2010
21st Century Schizoid Man: Multiculturalism
The German Chancellor Angela Merkel has pronounced. Multiculturalism in Germany isn't working. It's a big step for a leading German politician to take in a country where there is understandable reticence to engage in discourse that smacks, even vaguely, of racism and where there exists a worrying underground of neo-Nazism.
German multiculturalism can be traced back to the early '60s and the system of the "Gastarbeiter", primarily Turkish workers but also those from other countries, which included Spain. The Turks were the most obvious though.
It is the start of the 1970s. A curious ceremony is taking place, and I watch as Turkish Gastarbeiter board a train in Stuttgart, one or two beaten-up suitcases in hand. They are heading back to Turkey. The Gastarbeiter were meant to be temporary. Many did return, but by no means all.
Wind forward to today, and the situation in Germany is like other countries: diasporas, some members of which assimilate, some of which do not. Even the Turks of Germany who have become "German" are probably among those who regularly vote in sufficient numbers to give Turkey "douze points" from a German Eurovision audience. German multiculturalism, to use the word of Frau Merkel, has "failed".
Multiculturalism, either through intent or accident, is an idealistic state. It can function, insofar as diversity and the implicit non-integration of the concept can be said to function, so long as something doesn't come along to ensure that it doesn't. Tensions arise not directly through the existence of multiple cultures but through the cumulation of factors which makes their existence less than tolerable.
21st century schizoid man, he of indigenous origin, has been turned paranoid through such factors - economic dysfunction, terrorism, Islamophobia, for example - and by having to contend with the way they compete with his identity. He would rather, in disturbingly large numbers, even in countries with traditional tolerance like Sweden and the Netherlands, rid himself of the cultures. Or if they stay, they should conform to his monoculture. Speak the language. Eat sauerkraut or, more of a challenge for some, pork wurst. Put a towel out on the sun-lounger at six in the morning.
Frau Merkel believes that immigrants should make greater efforts at integrating. By learning the language, for instance. Hers is hardly an original view. It is one that has been expressed in Britain and in Spain. The leader of the Partido Popular, Mariano Rajoy, is one who has made such a call.
Immigration in Mallorca is regularly an issue which appears at the top of the list of social concerns as discovered through polls. In March, a poll found that seven out of ten Balearic islanders believed that there were too many immigrants. Press reports merely serve to reinforce a perception of immigrant criminality. Moroccan drug dealers in Sa Pobla. Latin American gangs in Palma. Nigerian prostitutes in Magalluf. Senegalese lookies all over the place. A judge once sentenced a Senegalese gentleman to learn the language.
Immigration goes hand in hand with multiculturalism and therefore with a lack of integration. Yet we are selective with what we mean by multiculturalism, or rather to whom it applies. The British in Mallorca are no less representative of one of the island's multiple cultures than Moroccans. But the British are seen, and see themselves, as excluded from this definition. They are part of the illusory and faintly absurd notion of a "European culture". I am a European. Define and discuss. They are nothing of the sort. Anglo-Saxonism is alien to Mallorca, as are the English language, "Coronation Street" and the full English. As with those from other cultures, cultural separatism and non-integration are a breeze when you can switch on Sky or pick up a copy of the "Mail".
Multiculturalism doesn't work. Or rather, it works very well in a free-market way. You can cherry pick from the "new" culture if you so wish, while not having to "go native". Which is how most like it. And why shouldn't they? What's the point of learning the language? Only so you can make sense of watching the telly. Therefore, there is no point when you can tune in to Ant and Dec.
Our meaning of multiculturalism is a pejorative for anything that veers too far from the cultural norm, and in Mallorca this norm has come to be broadly interpreted, as it is in the UK and in Germany. This norm isn't simply a question of learning the language, most certainly not. It's what falls outside of the norm that defines the anyone-but-me multicultural, with all the baggage of issues such as colour, religion and ethnicity that it brings. This broad interpretation excludes the British in Mallorca from the multicultural category, but lumps them into an alternative one - that of mini-cultural. Different but non-threatening. Mini-cultural maybe, but before we cast too many stones in the direction of the body with its head poking out of the sand of multiculturalism, we might bear in mind that we are all multiculturalists now.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
German multiculturalism can be traced back to the early '60s and the system of the "Gastarbeiter", primarily Turkish workers but also those from other countries, which included Spain. The Turks were the most obvious though.
It is the start of the 1970s. A curious ceremony is taking place, and I watch as Turkish Gastarbeiter board a train in Stuttgart, one or two beaten-up suitcases in hand. They are heading back to Turkey. The Gastarbeiter were meant to be temporary. Many did return, but by no means all.
Wind forward to today, and the situation in Germany is like other countries: diasporas, some members of which assimilate, some of which do not. Even the Turks of Germany who have become "German" are probably among those who regularly vote in sufficient numbers to give Turkey "douze points" from a German Eurovision audience. German multiculturalism, to use the word of Frau Merkel, has "failed".
Multiculturalism, either through intent or accident, is an idealistic state. It can function, insofar as diversity and the implicit non-integration of the concept can be said to function, so long as something doesn't come along to ensure that it doesn't. Tensions arise not directly through the existence of multiple cultures but through the cumulation of factors which makes their existence less than tolerable.
21st century schizoid man, he of indigenous origin, has been turned paranoid through such factors - economic dysfunction, terrorism, Islamophobia, for example - and by having to contend with the way they compete with his identity. He would rather, in disturbingly large numbers, even in countries with traditional tolerance like Sweden and the Netherlands, rid himself of the cultures. Or if they stay, they should conform to his monoculture. Speak the language. Eat sauerkraut or, more of a challenge for some, pork wurst. Put a towel out on the sun-lounger at six in the morning.
Frau Merkel believes that immigrants should make greater efforts at integrating. By learning the language, for instance. Hers is hardly an original view. It is one that has been expressed in Britain and in Spain. The leader of the Partido Popular, Mariano Rajoy, is one who has made such a call.
Immigration in Mallorca is regularly an issue which appears at the top of the list of social concerns as discovered through polls. In March, a poll found that seven out of ten Balearic islanders believed that there were too many immigrants. Press reports merely serve to reinforce a perception of immigrant criminality. Moroccan drug dealers in Sa Pobla. Latin American gangs in Palma. Nigerian prostitutes in Magalluf. Senegalese lookies all over the place. A judge once sentenced a Senegalese gentleman to learn the language.
Immigration goes hand in hand with multiculturalism and therefore with a lack of integration. Yet we are selective with what we mean by multiculturalism, or rather to whom it applies. The British in Mallorca are no less representative of one of the island's multiple cultures than Moroccans. But the British are seen, and see themselves, as excluded from this definition. They are part of the illusory and faintly absurd notion of a "European culture". I am a European. Define and discuss. They are nothing of the sort. Anglo-Saxonism is alien to Mallorca, as are the English language, "Coronation Street" and the full English. As with those from other cultures, cultural separatism and non-integration are a breeze when you can switch on Sky or pick up a copy of the "Mail".
Multiculturalism doesn't work. Or rather, it works very well in a free-market way. You can cherry pick from the "new" culture if you so wish, while not having to "go native". Which is how most like it. And why shouldn't they? What's the point of learning the language? Only so you can make sense of watching the telly. Therefore, there is no point when you can tune in to Ant and Dec.
Our meaning of multiculturalism is a pejorative for anything that veers too far from the cultural norm, and in Mallorca this norm has come to be broadly interpreted, as it is in the UK and in Germany. This norm isn't simply a question of learning the language, most certainly not. It's what falls outside of the norm that defines the anyone-but-me multicultural, with all the baggage of issues such as colour, religion and ethnicity that it brings. This broad interpretation excludes the British in Mallorca from the multicultural category, but lumps them into an alternative one - that of mini-cultural. Different but non-threatening. Mini-cultural maybe, but before we cast too many stones in the direction of the body with its head poking out of the sand of multiculturalism, we might bear in mind that we are all multiculturalists now.
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, March 29, 2010
Fun Loving Criminals: Insecurity in Mallorca
How safe or secure do you feel or would you feel in Mallorca? According to a survey by the polling organisation Gadeso, reported in "The Diario", just over a third of those living in Mallorca have been in some way affected by various crimes related to cars, property or to the person. In Ibiza, the number rises to almost a half; Menorca has a better record, it would seem. In addition to actual incidents, the feeling of insecurity is increasing, and both real and imagined crimes are being blamed primarily on immigrants and the unemployed.
There is at least one factor that has to be taken into account when considering these figures, and that is the number of second homes that are left unattended. Many of these are only visited in the summer and belong to people from the hinterland. Their very proliferation does perhaps tend to make the statistics seem worse, as there is so much temptation to rob.
An impression that may exist, among some, is that Mallorca is full of fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, sunny-dispositioned people who would never dream of nicking your car or relieving you of your DVD player. It is, unfortunately, a false impression. Fun-loving criminals might be more appropriate, though one has to be careful in not overstating the situation. Crime, though, there most certainly is, and in Ibiza in particular there is another contributing factor - drugs.
At times of economic hardship, one has, I guess, to accept that crime will rise and that feelings of insecurity will go up as well. Much of it is petty, but one only has to look around to see that if it's not tied down, it's likely to be lifted. See those empty butane bottles outside a restaurant. Chained up. Those tables and chairs outside a restaurant. Similarly restrained. I once had a pair of old Reebok trainers that were falling to pieces nicked from a terrace. I have also been broken into.
Immigrants being put in the frame is, one also has to guess, to be expected. Another survey by Gadeso recently revealed that it was felt that there were too many immigrants in Mallorca. Again, not really a surprise. "The Diario" asked the question whether "we" (the Mallorcans) were racists. It suggested not, but did believe that there was xenophobia. It might be difficult to distinguish between the two.
A while ago, I was interviewed by a chap called Ben (not the Ben who often appears on this blog) as part of a university project. He asked about racism, explaining that he had encountered racist attitudes. These were, I had to surmise, directed towards certain nationalities. And in this respect, there is racism, but it is not something that comes to the surface. Or rarely seems to. In Palma there are different issues, those of gangs, but away from the capital, one would have to say that while racism does exist - and where doesn't it? - it is not a major issue. I did though have to check with Ben when he asked me the question. Was he referring to the Mallorcans or to the British?
One has to accept that Mallorca has undergone an enormous change in the past four decades, and immigration has contributed to this. Such a societal change is bound to create some tension. It's obvious, as it is obvious anywhere. But it might be remembered that the Mallorcans traditionally reserved most of their "xenophobia" not for those from other countries but for those from mainland Spain - the "forasters".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
There is at least one factor that has to be taken into account when considering these figures, and that is the number of second homes that are left unattended. Many of these are only visited in the summer and belong to people from the hinterland. Their very proliferation does perhaps tend to make the statistics seem worse, as there is so much temptation to rob.
An impression that may exist, among some, is that Mallorca is full of fun-loving, happy-go-lucky, sunny-dispositioned people who would never dream of nicking your car or relieving you of your DVD player. It is, unfortunately, a false impression. Fun-loving criminals might be more appropriate, though one has to be careful in not overstating the situation. Crime, though, there most certainly is, and in Ibiza in particular there is another contributing factor - drugs.
At times of economic hardship, one has, I guess, to accept that crime will rise and that feelings of insecurity will go up as well. Much of it is petty, but one only has to look around to see that if it's not tied down, it's likely to be lifted. See those empty butane bottles outside a restaurant. Chained up. Those tables and chairs outside a restaurant. Similarly restrained. I once had a pair of old Reebok trainers that were falling to pieces nicked from a terrace. I have also been broken into.
Immigrants being put in the frame is, one also has to guess, to be expected. Another survey by Gadeso recently revealed that it was felt that there were too many immigrants in Mallorca. Again, not really a surprise. "The Diario" asked the question whether "we" (the Mallorcans) were racists. It suggested not, but did believe that there was xenophobia. It might be difficult to distinguish between the two.
A while ago, I was interviewed by a chap called Ben (not the Ben who often appears on this blog) as part of a university project. He asked about racism, explaining that he had encountered racist attitudes. These were, I had to surmise, directed towards certain nationalities. And in this respect, there is racism, but it is not something that comes to the surface. Or rarely seems to. In Palma there are different issues, those of gangs, but away from the capital, one would have to say that while racism does exist - and where doesn't it? - it is not a major issue. I did though have to check with Ben when he asked me the question. Was he referring to the Mallorcans or to the British?
One has to accept that Mallorca has undergone an enormous change in the past four decades, and immigration has contributed to this. Such a societal change is bound to create some tension. It's obvious, as it is obvious anywhere. But it might be remembered that the Mallorcans traditionally reserved most of their "xenophobia" not for those from other countries but for those from mainland Spain - the "forasters".
Any comments to andrew@thealcudiaguide.com please.
Monday, September 08, 2008
Our Only Goal Will Be The Western Shore
British politics may be about to cross the Rubicon of taboo by debating, sensibly, the issue of immigration. The Labour MP Frank Field has an idea for caps for non-EU immigrants. For years, ever since Enoch Powell and his "rivers of blood", immigration has been the subject that barely dares speak its name in politics, save for the extremist views of the far right. This reticence to position immigration at the centre of the political dialectic has helped to spawn the xenophobia of the BNP, which has been only too willing to address the issue through its one-eyed perspective. But now, this may be about to change; one trusts that reason and nuance will prevail, rather than hysteria and myopia.
In Spain, there has been more openness on the subject, even if to raise it can result in accusations of racism. Just this happened to the failed Partido Popular presidential candidate Mariano Rajoy who, moreover, was accused of hypocrisy in suggesting limits when it had been his party that had encouraged immigration. And now? The socialist government of Spain is to impose a freeze on non-EU immigration where it affects jobs that could otherwise be done by Spaniards (or indeed, one presumes, those from the EU). Economics can change political rhetoric and posture, for the economic situation and unemployment are behind this move.
The Spanish immigration drive was founded on the need to augment the labour force. Construction was booming and workers were required. Over the course of a decade, the immigration population of the country grew by 800%. Now the boom has led to bust and the immigrant workers are superfluous. The Spanish government is offering incentives for these workers to leave - up to around 18,000 euros worth of incentive, so long as they don't come back within three years. The vast immigrant workforce has served Spain well, and it has not been that expensive - 1,200 euros per month for construction labourers - while it has been a net contributor to the social security system. Until now.
Eastern European, African and Caribbean workers may have been a temporary and opportunistic group of "guest workers" that the Spanish government was only too happy to embrace, but there is a wider dimension to the immigration debate, which is that of population. Recent predictions from Brussels indicate that, by the middle of the century, not only will Britain's population have increased substantially so too will Spain's. There was a map that showed densities of future population. In the case of Mallorca, the island was one single, unbroken blob; high density, in other words.
A government's management is similar to a company's in that it is a case of managing resources. When the company hits bad times, it lays workers off. Spain Inc. is doing the same, while also making the qualification for employment tougher. Discrimination it may be, but Spain is doing no more than many other countries. Try getting into Australia, for example. Population growth is another aspect of resource management. There are clear benefits from immigration, but there are also downsides, not least in terms of housing and urban crowding.
Immigration is regularly pinpointed as a top concern among the local population in Mallorca. The argument that immigrants take jobs away is largely spurious, but there are other facets, such as the alteration to the way of life. There is, though, no going back on the cosmopolitanism of Mallorca, certainly not while EU mobility laws apply. Besides which, the change to that way of life began the moment that mass tourism took off, together with the immigration and land ownership that occurred even before the liberalisation of movement. But the management of immigration from the point of view of living accommodation and its support elements, e.g. schools, hospitals etc., at some point becomes critical. As a foreigner in a not so large part of a foreign land, I am not unaware of that fact. However, the question is what would constitute a critical point. 2 million, a doubling of the current population of Mallorca? Less? More? Does anyone really know?
TIME SHARE - TIME OUT
September is here and the scratch-cardists of time share, sorry holiday clubs, have called time for the season and pissed off back to Gran Canaria. That's the good news. It seems a little odd to close down in Alcúdia and Pollensa whilst the richer pickings of September are circulating, but maybe there are even more to be suckered in in Maspalomas. The less good news is that they'll be back. One bar-owner tells me his gaff may be their new morning meeting-place from next season. Nice additional work if you can get it maybe. I hadn't realised how many of them there are. Enough to fill a smallish terrace, that's for sure.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Don't Give Up", Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl1rRxG251s). Today's title - where does this come from? Immigration!!
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
In Spain, there has been more openness on the subject, even if to raise it can result in accusations of racism. Just this happened to the failed Partido Popular presidential candidate Mariano Rajoy who, moreover, was accused of hypocrisy in suggesting limits when it had been his party that had encouraged immigration. And now? The socialist government of Spain is to impose a freeze on non-EU immigration where it affects jobs that could otherwise be done by Spaniards (or indeed, one presumes, those from the EU). Economics can change political rhetoric and posture, for the economic situation and unemployment are behind this move.
The Spanish immigration drive was founded on the need to augment the labour force. Construction was booming and workers were required. Over the course of a decade, the immigration population of the country grew by 800%. Now the boom has led to bust and the immigrant workers are superfluous. The Spanish government is offering incentives for these workers to leave - up to around 18,000 euros worth of incentive, so long as they don't come back within three years. The vast immigrant workforce has served Spain well, and it has not been that expensive - 1,200 euros per month for construction labourers - while it has been a net contributor to the social security system. Until now.
Eastern European, African and Caribbean workers may have been a temporary and opportunistic group of "guest workers" that the Spanish government was only too happy to embrace, but there is a wider dimension to the immigration debate, which is that of population. Recent predictions from Brussels indicate that, by the middle of the century, not only will Britain's population have increased substantially so too will Spain's. There was a map that showed densities of future population. In the case of Mallorca, the island was one single, unbroken blob; high density, in other words.
A government's management is similar to a company's in that it is a case of managing resources. When the company hits bad times, it lays workers off. Spain Inc. is doing the same, while also making the qualification for employment tougher. Discrimination it may be, but Spain is doing no more than many other countries. Try getting into Australia, for example. Population growth is another aspect of resource management. There are clear benefits from immigration, but there are also downsides, not least in terms of housing and urban crowding.
Immigration is regularly pinpointed as a top concern among the local population in Mallorca. The argument that immigrants take jobs away is largely spurious, but there are other facets, such as the alteration to the way of life. There is, though, no going back on the cosmopolitanism of Mallorca, certainly not while EU mobility laws apply. Besides which, the change to that way of life began the moment that mass tourism took off, together with the immigration and land ownership that occurred even before the liberalisation of movement. But the management of immigration from the point of view of living accommodation and its support elements, e.g. schools, hospitals etc., at some point becomes critical. As a foreigner in a not so large part of a foreign land, I am not unaware of that fact. However, the question is what would constitute a critical point. 2 million, a doubling of the current population of Mallorca? Less? More? Does anyone really know?
TIME SHARE - TIME OUT
September is here and the scratch-cardists of time share, sorry holiday clubs, have called time for the season and pissed off back to Gran Canaria. That's the good news. It seems a little odd to close down in Alcúdia and Pollensa whilst the richer pickings of September are circulating, but maybe there are even more to be suckered in in Maspalomas. The less good news is that they'll be back. One bar-owner tells me his gaff may be their new morning meeting-place from next season. Nice additional work if you can get it maybe. I hadn't realised how many of them there are. Enough to fill a smallish terrace, that's for sure.
QUIZ
Yesterday's title - "Don't Give Up", Peter Gabriel/Kate Bush (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kl1rRxG251s). Today's title - where does this come from? Immigration!!
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Thursday, February 14, 2008
Every Kind Of People – Part 2
Odd indeed for this blog to do a full-article day-after follow-up, but the immigration kerfuffle started by the Partido Popular’s presidential candidate Mariano Rajoy has brought forth more views ‘n’ news – it takes the spectre of a potential (but non-existent) threat to Brit interests to elevate Spanish politics from a state of almost total indifference in the lives of your average expat.
There was something I wanted to add to yesterday’s piece. Well, more than one thing. Firstly, the stink that Rajoy has caused with his talk of an “integration” policy for immigrants should really come as no surprise. Take this – “Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has said: ‘The hope must be that people integrate. If an immigrant wants to live here and claim his rights, he will have obligations like learning to speak the language we all speak here.’ ” This comes from the BBC’s website. It pre-dates the victory of Zapatero in 2004, when Rajoy was a member of the Aznar administration. In other words, he has form, so the charge of opportunism carries less weight.
Secondly, immigration is a difficult subject for politicians, or at least a difficult subject on which to create a balanced and unemotional debate. It is almost inevitable that certain opinions within that debate will arouse a charge of racism or discrimination. It is why many politicians choose to avoid or skirt round it. Unless a free-for-all policy is being proposed, by definition some group or other is liable to be subject to some form of discrimination. However, this is not to let Rajoy off the hook, as his target is pretty clear. He would have been wiser to have called for a nuanced debate on the subject, rather than pandering to electorate fears of Africanisation or some other cultural disruption.
Thirdly, there is the British and EU dimension. Rajoy does not include EU immigration in his proposed policy, whereby new arrivals would sign a form of contract which would oblige them to be good boys and girls and go to Spanish classes (or something like that). EU states are limited in terms of what they can demand or stipulate of incomers from other EU states. They are free, for example, to apply certain discriminatory practices in respect of worker rights if they so wish. Whether people from Britain learn the language is a matter of their choice not for the state to enforce.
It is all the more confusing, therefore, that the leader in this week’s “Euro Weekly” seeks to make some form of capital out of Rajoy’s proposals and their impact on Brits. On the one hand it says that his words are not “aimed at northern Europeans who can’t speak the language”, and then, on the other, asks who Rajoy’s plans are going to affect, answering that “loyal readers” (of his newspaper) should “look in the mirror”. What on Earth does this mean? On the facing page, a short article states that Rajoy’s “proposed measures do not apply to those who come from EU countries”.
Fourthly, one could argue that Rajoy is being consistent in following a line of “Spanishness” in his campaign. He has, after all, managed to upset a fair number of Catalans, Mallorcans and others by stating that his educational policy would see Spanish (Castilian) being used as THE language of education throughout the country.
Finally, local Balearic boss, Francesc Antich (who is PSOE, like the Zapatero government), has become embroiled in the whole immigration saga, with the PP accusing him of not having an immigration policy. Commenting on this, “The Bulletin” makes a very good point, namely that under Antich’s Partido Popular predecessor, Jaume Matas, immigration into the Balearics was positively encouraged in order to provide jobs, mainly in the then booming construction industry. When it suits, it suits; when it doesn’t, it doesn’t. ‘Twas ever thus in politics.
Rajoy may yet win the election. He may yet introduce his immigration policy. But for the British community, it will carry on in largely blissful and total ignorance, unaffected by and disinterested in national politics. The worry about Rajoy, in addition to the opprobrium he has attracted, is, as with his daft comments about climate change, that he is something of a loose cannon and a less than thoughtful one at that.
QUIZ
As it’s the same title, the answer is held over. Sorry about that, folks.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
There was something I wanted to add to yesterday’s piece. Well, more than one thing. Firstly, the stink that Rajoy has caused with his talk of an “integration” policy for immigrants should really come as no surprise. Take this – “Interior Minister, Mariano Rajoy, has said: ‘The hope must be that people integrate. If an immigrant wants to live here and claim his rights, he will have obligations like learning to speak the language we all speak here.’ ” This comes from the BBC’s website. It pre-dates the victory of Zapatero in 2004, when Rajoy was a member of the Aznar administration. In other words, he has form, so the charge of opportunism carries less weight.
Secondly, immigration is a difficult subject for politicians, or at least a difficult subject on which to create a balanced and unemotional debate. It is almost inevitable that certain opinions within that debate will arouse a charge of racism or discrimination. It is why many politicians choose to avoid or skirt round it. Unless a free-for-all policy is being proposed, by definition some group or other is liable to be subject to some form of discrimination. However, this is not to let Rajoy off the hook, as his target is pretty clear. He would have been wiser to have called for a nuanced debate on the subject, rather than pandering to electorate fears of Africanisation or some other cultural disruption.
Thirdly, there is the British and EU dimension. Rajoy does not include EU immigration in his proposed policy, whereby new arrivals would sign a form of contract which would oblige them to be good boys and girls and go to Spanish classes (or something like that). EU states are limited in terms of what they can demand or stipulate of incomers from other EU states. They are free, for example, to apply certain discriminatory practices in respect of worker rights if they so wish. Whether people from Britain learn the language is a matter of their choice not for the state to enforce.
It is all the more confusing, therefore, that the leader in this week’s “Euro Weekly” seeks to make some form of capital out of Rajoy’s proposals and their impact on Brits. On the one hand it says that his words are not “aimed at northern Europeans who can’t speak the language”, and then, on the other, asks who Rajoy’s plans are going to affect, answering that “loyal readers” (of his newspaper) should “look in the mirror”. What on Earth does this mean? On the facing page, a short article states that Rajoy’s “proposed measures do not apply to those who come from EU countries”.
Fourthly, one could argue that Rajoy is being consistent in following a line of “Spanishness” in his campaign. He has, after all, managed to upset a fair number of Catalans, Mallorcans and others by stating that his educational policy would see Spanish (Castilian) being used as THE language of education throughout the country.
Finally, local Balearic boss, Francesc Antich (who is PSOE, like the Zapatero government), has become embroiled in the whole immigration saga, with the PP accusing him of not having an immigration policy. Commenting on this, “The Bulletin” makes a very good point, namely that under Antich’s Partido Popular predecessor, Jaume Matas, immigration into the Balearics was positively encouraged in order to provide jobs, mainly in the then booming construction industry. When it suits, it suits; when it doesn’t, it doesn’t. ‘Twas ever thus in politics.
Rajoy may yet win the election. He may yet introduce his immigration policy. But for the British community, it will carry on in largely blissful and total ignorance, unaffected by and disinterested in national politics. The worry about Rajoy, in addition to the opprobrium he has attracted, is, as with his daft comments about climate change, that he is something of a loose cannon and a less than thoughtful one at that.
QUIZ
As it’s the same title, the answer is held over. Sorry about that, folks.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Wednesday, February 13, 2008
Every Kind Of People
Immigration. It has become an election issue. The PP’s Mariano Rajoy has sought to make it one, bringing forth condemnations of racism and xenophobia. But Rajoy is merely reflecting a widely held concern. Social surveys of matters of concern always feature immigration prominently, nowhere more so than in Mallorca. Along with employment, it is often the main concern.
Spain has a long history of immigration and of different cultures. Indeed it was, at one time, a multi-cultural land before the purges of the Jews and the Muslims at the end of the fifteenth century, a time when the notion of Spain became more of a reality through the union of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. While the ending of Moorish influence in 1492 is widely known, less well known perhaps is the often harsher treatment of the Jews who, made to become “conversos”, still suffered at the hands of zealous inquisitors. Despite the fears of some that the conversos, some of whom went on to hold positions of power, were not truly committed Christians, Spain began to become Spain – the nation of the Catholic Kings.
Through empire, the slave trade and Spain’s position as a maritime trading nation, immigration was common enough; indeed much of its early mercantile influence was the result of Genoese immigration. In more recent times, however, immigration has been less of an issue, though it is untrue to suggest that there was none during the Franco era. It is only though in the past couple of decades that immigration has made its contemporary mark. And it is the different strands of immigration that lie behind the condemnations of Rajoy. European Union migration and that from central and southern America are one thing, movement of people from other countries, in particular African countries is another thing entirely. You might recall my mentioning that Moroccans comprised the greatest number of foreigners who gained Spanish citizenship last year.
Rajoy wants all immigrants to learn Spanish, he will pursue deportation for law-breakers. It sounds vaguely familiar. In Britain, where multi-culturalism is deemed to have failed, not least by a race-issue mover and shaker like Trevor Philips, a form of assimilation-based monoculturalism is sought, despite what the Archbishop of Canterbury might think. Britain has its bonkers citizenship test; proficiency in the language is not just a political desire, it is socially desirable and desired. Many members of ethnic communities have embraced British culture with a passion that contrasts sharply with an embracing of Spain (and its language) by many British expatriates. Immigration does not have to be a threat to the societal norm, albeit that it might modify that norm to some degree, as it has – continuously – in Britain over centuries.
Immigration may have a history in Spain, but Rajoy is reacting to a relatively recent phenomenon, that of significant inward movement of new peoples. His language may sound sinister to some, but what is a politician to do? At least he is addressing an issue that the opposition would rather not, an issue that the surveys show is of concern. It is though the suggestion of discrimination against certain groups of immigrants that is the worry, and he needs to be more sensitive in this respect. It is also, potentially, just cheap electioneering in that the old canard of immigration equating to loss of employment opportunities is also being aired. But if Rajoy is hinting, through his deportation threat, that Spain would not countenance a form of Londonistan emerging in the country, I’m not sure many would disagree. He needs to be wary of the ease with which the racism charge can be levelled at him and of being charged with political opportunism, but he is not wrong to raise the subject of immigration.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Paul McCartney. Today’s title – no longer with us, but this was a cracking song by this British soul/rock artist.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
Spain has a long history of immigration and of different cultures. Indeed it was, at one time, a multi-cultural land before the purges of the Jews and the Muslims at the end of the fifteenth century, a time when the notion of Spain became more of a reality through the union of the kingdoms of Castile and Aragon. While the ending of Moorish influence in 1492 is widely known, less well known perhaps is the often harsher treatment of the Jews who, made to become “conversos”, still suffered at the hands of zealous inquisitors. Despite the fears of some that the conversos, some of whom went on to hold positions of power, were not truly committed Christians, Spain began to become Spain – the nation of the Catholic Kings.
Through empire, the slave trade and Spain’s position as a maritime trading nation, immigration was common enough; indeed much of its early mercantile influence was the result of Genoese immigration. In more recent times, however, immigration has been less of an issue, though it is untrue to suggest that there was none during the Franco era. It is only though in the past couple of decades that immigration has made its contemporary mark. And it is the different strands of immigration that lie behind the condemnations of Rajoy. European Union migration and that from central and southern America are one thing, movement of people from other countries, in particular African countries is another thing entirely. You might recall my mentioning that Moroccans comprised the greatest number of foreigners who gained Spanish citizenship last year.
Rajoy wants all immigrants to learn Spanish, he will pursue deportation for law-breakers. It sounds vaguely familiar. In Britain, where multi-culturalism is deemed to have failed, not least by a race-issue mover and shaker like Trevor Philips, a form of assimilation-based monoculturalism is sought, despite what the Archbishop of Canterbury might think. Britain has its bonkers citizenship test; proficiency in the language is not just a political desire, it is socially desirable and desired. Many members of ethnic communities have embraced British culture with a passion that contrasts sharply with an embracing of Spain (and its language) by many British expatriates. Immigration does not have to be a threat to the societal norm, albeit that it might modify that norm to some degree, as it has – continuously – in Britain over centuries.
Immigration may have a history in Spain, but Rajoy is reacting to a relatively recent phenomenon, that of significant inward movement of new peoples. His language may sound sinister to some, but what is a politician to do? At least he is addressing an issue that the opposition would rather not, an issue that the surveys show is of concern. It is though the suggestion of discrimination against certain groups of immigrants that is the worry, and he needs to be more sensitive in this respect. It is also, potentially, just cheap electioneering in that the old canard of immigration equating to loss of employment opportunities is also being aired. But if Rajoy is hinting, through his deportation threat, that Spain would not countenance a form of Londonistan emerging in the country, I’m not sure many would disagree. He needs to be wary of the ease with which the racism charge can be levelled at him and of being charged with political opportunism, but he is not wrong to raise the subject of immigration.
QUIZ
Yesterday – Paul McCartney. Today’s title – no longer with us, but this was a cracking song by this British soul/rock artist.
(PLEASE REPLY TO andrew@thealcudiaguide.com AND NOT VIA THE COMMENTS THINGY HERE.)
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