For an in-depth analysis of the Spanish approach to preventing and fighting violent radicalization, click here.
Katima del Mar Hernández Domínguez, Radicalisation Awareness Network (RAN)
Hate speech is spreading and normalizing in the Spanish public space. Since 2018, for the first time in our democratic history, a far-right political party has gained substantial representation in the Spanish Parliament. This, together with the fact that the same year Spain became the leading European country in the reception of migrants by sea in its south border, led to an explosive combination where racist, xenophobic and discriminatory narratives are on the rise. This situation has generated a social ecosystem of growing radicalization and social polarization. Taking action against this is no longer an option, but a need.
The Spanish far-right narrative builds on the same ideology of neighboring European ultraconservative parties, as well as Trump´s America first policy, in that it propagates such concepts as the motherland, tradition, unity, sovereignty and the otherness. These concepts promote the idea that stability and harmony are only possible within a homogenous society (Zapata, 2019). Otherness, which constitutes an important component of white supremacy, seeks to reinforce the sense of belonging to a particular land and identity i.e. White, Spanish/European. Otherness also demonizes the different by considering it a potential harm or risk to the inner group. In other words, the other is seen as an enemy. This discourse has increased fear of a so-called invasion – a product of perceived failed migration management that has led to increasing fear, exclusion and stigmatization of minorities, particularly migrants and asylum seekers, in a context of sustained socio-political and economic crisis.
The spread of hate speech is also behind the legitimization of violence against these communities and this is not new. The normalization of the narratives that dehumanize and objectify the other is behind some of the cruelest crimes against humanity, such as genocide or slavery – tragedies that the world seems to have forgotten, as shown in the far-right populist wave.
In order to counter it we need to go back to history to remember. The dichotomic discourse that sustains nationalist populist narratives lacks memory. Spanish identity is a product of an intercultural crossbreeding: Christian, Arab, Jewish, Roma and even African. Yes, African. Black. Spanish Black roots have been actively deleted from the official version of history.
We had 400 years of slavery in the Iberian Peninsula. From the fourteenth to the nineteenth century. In 1700, the black community reached up to 15% of the total population in Cádiz. Seville counted in this same period with 80,000 slaves in the city, as part of a slavery system that sustained not only the exploitation of the colonial Empire, but internal economy[1]. Even Cervantes referred to this city as a chessboard, due to the high black presence (Méndez, 2011).
However, it is only recent years that a critical narrative of Spanish history has emerged.
“The National-Catholic version of Spanish history taught us to see the country’s origins in the re-conquest of Muslim land. This narrative relies on Christianity and pureza de sangre: an untouchable core identity where territory, religion, and race/culture are united. Literally meaning ‘cleanliness of blood,’ pureza de sangre played an important role in modern history of the Iberian Peninsula and its colonies. Originally, referring to those considered to be ‘viejos Cristianos’ (Old Christians), without recent Muslim or Jewish ancestors, within the context of empire (New Spain and Portuguese India), it came to refer to those without indigenous ancestry from the Americas, Asia, or Africa. In this way, pureza de sangre was foundational in crafting a historical narrative that affirmed a white European identity, allowing Spain to rejoin and participate in a Western history of modernity. Perhaps the most effective silencing technologies emerged with the great nationalist narratives of the eighteenth and nineteenth-century European states. Racism rooted itself in the European academies, forging the view of the individual constructed in relation to the ‘other,’ who was denied the status of a full human being. Within this framework, African people were denied humanity and thereby their place in history.”[2]
As a result, Islam was suppressed, Roma people were discriminated and folklorized, and Black Spaniards were actively erased from national memory. Forty years of Franco´s National-Catholic dictatorship and a transition regime with little interest in bringing transparency in this regard, implies that today this view of Spanish history is still deeply rooted in people’s minds.
However, under the many layers of silencing the memory of Spanish-Afro descendants, Black memory had survived, in one of the most important symbols of Spanish identity: Flamenco. The outstanding documentary of Gurumbé, Canciones de tu Memoria Negra (2016), shows how music and dance question identity boundaries and the stability and homogeneity of cultures. Flamenco created a discourse of resistance that has transcended time and history[3]and strongly reminds us of our mestizo nature.
Understanding where we come from is critical to acknowledge, because the Africans that are now migrating to Spain are not coming to a territory they have nothing to do with. They are coming to the land of their ancestors. This statement not only revolutionizes the way integration is approached in this country, but directly counters the spread of hate speech against these communities by raising awareness of our common origins.
African and Arab influences on many of our traditional customs permeate into our daily lives. This a consequence of a great cultural transfer produced along the many years of Arab and African presence in the Iberian Peninsula. Intercultural exchange has not only enriched us by contributing to the fabric of our identity, but, it pushes us to continue evolving. Cultures and identities are more alive than ever in this globalized world. Therefore the other only exists as a propaganda tool used in populist narratives against the true essence of the Spanish land–a land that embraces, receives and integrates.
References
[1] Paredes, M. (producer) and Rosales, M. A. (director). (2016). Gurumbé, Canciones de tu Memoria Negra [Documentary]. Spain: Intermedia Producciones.
[2] Rosales, M.Á. (2019). In the Tracks of the Impossible. Tydskrif vir Letterkunde, (56), 38 – 48.
[3] Paredes, M. (producer) and Rosales, M. A. (director). (2016). Gurumbé, Canciones de tu Memoria Negra [Documentary]. Spain: Intermedia Producciones.
Bibliography
Castañeda García, R. (2014). Esclavos en la pintura sevillana de los Siglos de Oro. Estudios de historia novohispana, (51), 173-178.
Del Campo, A., Cáceres, R. (2013). Historia cultural del flamenco: El barbero y la guitarra. Almuzara Editorial.
Núñez, N. (2018). Revelando la cara oculta de la modernidad ibérica: entrevista a Miguel Ángel Rosales. Revue [email protected], Revue d’études ibériques et ibéro-américaines, Institut d’Etudes Hispaniques, (14), 211-221.
Zapata-Barrero, R. (2019) Intercultural Citizenship in the Post-Multicultural Era. Pompeu Fabra University, Barcelona.
