This week it has been questioned whether or not Spain is racist.
Soccer, it seems, is the event that serves as a reference to see if our country has advanced something or nothing in this regard and the events in a match can promote measures that atajen un problematic which is still true in much of Europe.
We tend to sweep microaggressions and constant belittlement in daily life under the rug of anyone who does not follow the norm, be it because of their skin color, religion, sex, abilities or disabilities, regulatory body, being neurodivergent or not… and I could continue with an infinite list. A list that is as long as people live in Spain with its unique characteristics.
We can learn a lot from countries around us.
In the United Kingdom there is racism and xenophobia, although they know how to hide itor much better than in our country.
Unfortunately for everyone in the United Kingdom, since 2016 after the Brexit referendum, speeches that were hidden began to be legitimized and in the British government we even have female ministers who do not mince words towards immigrants.
In the United Kingdom there is racism and xenophobia, although they know how to hide it much better than in our country
It’s racism, yes, but mainly aporophobia. Elites and racist citizens don’t care or care if you get to the UK if you are a Russian billionaire or an Arab sheikh.
In general terms, even with the problems that have arisen after Brexit, it can be said that the United Kingdom does fight against racism and xenophobia and is several steps ahead of Spain.
The reasons for this difference come from the hand of your immigration history and since the grandparents of this country already began to see immigrants in large numbers from the 50s and 60s… forty years before the arrival of immigration, at similar levels, to our country.
They are a generation or two apart, and the integration and acceptance of immigration involved decades of learning after initial rejection and discrimination.
Many of the ministries require continuous learning and there are mandatory courses that have to be reviewed annually on how to avoid discrimination
work in the education system is key and the coexistence of students of different races, creeds, and origins enriches schools in the United Kingdom, although it must be clarified that not everything is as perfect as it is portrayed to be.
The ghettos and the difference between schools exist and classism continues to be partly to blame for many of the attitudes that prevent further reduction of racist displays.
In jobs in the public sector, which is where I have spent most of my working life, there is a continuous effort to advance, but it is very ironic to see how all the talks that we are given on these issues are presented by some A white man with distinctly British surnames and who was educated in the private sector, is reminiscent of gynecology conferences where only men feature.
Many of the ministries require continuous learning and there are mandatory courses that have to be reviewed annually on how to avoid discrimination and yesterday I had to review three of them that included identification issues and how to act against microaggressions, working with colleagues neurodivergent, and a course on how to be an “ally” to the different causes that affect our colleagues due to any of their personal characteristics.
Many talks and many courses that in the end do not move in hierarchies of many of these organizations, although they are light years away in terms of representativeness if we compare it with Spain.
Our economy and society have grown and advanced thanks to each and every immigrant who has settled in our country.
The chapter that occurred in Spain, let us not forget that, has happened inside a football stadium.
It has not been in a library or a university, I am not going to say a town hall since the example of abuses by far-right militants in places like Ceuta are shared on social networks one day in and the other as well.
In football stadiums we have the risk of concentrating and make invisible in the group to many madmen who feel protected and do not realize that in 2023 everything is seen and everything is heard.
Many will shield their behavior in the forms of Vinicius Junior, or in a hatred towards one or another team, but all the teams, as well as all the sectors of the society have to be firm against any type of discrimination.
Nor am I going to argue because there are teams like the one affected in this case that continue to give room and preference in their stadiums to violent hooligans and Nazis such as the “kids” of the Ultra Sur.
The damage to the country’s reputation has been done and we have even seen criticism from countries that until recently had ultra-right and racist parties in government, such as Bolsonaro’s in Brazil.
The hypocrisy of shouting against racism and agreeing with parties that attack with flags and nationalities does not work
The scourge of racism has to come out of the stadiums and it will only happen in a clear way if it is invested in education, in integration, and when racist “jokes” are identified as racist acts and let’s stop having tolerance in WhatsApp groups, Twitter or bar counters.
Our country has changed and it will change even more In the demographic aspect and this change is for the better, increasing the cultural variety, forming part of a globalization that is seen in our streets.
The percentage of racialized Spaniards is growing and since the arrival of immigration our economy and society have grown and advanced thanks to all the immigrants who have settled in our country.
Television debates, podcasts, and newspaper columns have identified the problem and all of them are going in the same direction… but let’s not forget that, if we really want to eradicate racism, the objective can only be achieved when we do not have xenophobic parties and anti-immigration in any of our institutions.
The hypocrisy of shouting against racism and agreeing with parties that attack with flags and nationalities does not work.
2023-05-26 15:49:14
#Racism #fought #closing #stadiums #education #votes
