El sol andaluz #1 : Immigrants in Spain
After such a long break, I intend to revitalise my blog a bit with a series of things and thoughts that occurred to me during my stay mainly in Granada, Spain, but also other parts of Andalucia.
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While the discrimination against gypsy people in Spain seem to be declining, that against immigrants is on the rise. Coinciding with the process of Spain becoming a destination of migration, racism and xenophobia in the country is something in the making only since about 20 years. The biggest groups of immigrants are Latin Americans, "Magrebíes" from Northern Africa and mostly Morroco, and Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa.
As most Latin Americans in Spain share the same language and religion with the Spaniards, I can never really tell who is and who is not "Spanish" - legally speaking. But culturally speaking, they are all more or less Spanish, and more or less latinos. Yet insensitive inquisitivities during my conversations with people I met have always led me to have some clue about their legal status. They are in all sorts of jobs in the informal economy, from bar-tender to artists, and many others. If there is anything which can serve as an indication of how many "illegal non-spanish latinos" are there, here is an indication - earlier this year the Government of Spain has granted working permits to 700,000 illegal immigrants who were already working in the countries for over 6 months.
The Magrebíes (mostly Morrocans) are also the biggest immigrant group after the Latin americans, and are said to be the biggest victims of xenophobic attackes, but I could not yet find materials about this, or whether there has been a surge of anti-magrebíes sentiments after the "M-11" in 2004 (that is how they call the terrorists attacks in Madrid, 11 March 2004).
The "Blacks" Sub-Saharian Africans are said to be considered as "invisible". Those of you who have been to Andalucia should have experienced this - a black guy with his hands full of pirat CDs or DVDs trying to sell you some of his disks. Obviously, they are recent immigrants speaking Spanish with a certain accent. Whether they are legal, I have no idea. But there are good chances that they are not. What is certain is that this is the most important (if not only) occupation in which I have seen a black person. So most of them did not benefit from the amnesty mentioned above because they would not even be able to prove how long they have been working in Spain - they are "transparent".
Categories: Discrimination, Europe, Race
*****
While the discrimination against gypsy people in Spain seem to be declining, that against immigrants is on the rise. Coinciding with the process of Spain becoming a destination of migration, racism and xenophobia in the country is something in the making only since about 20 years. The biggest groups of immigrants are Latin Americans, "Magrebíes" from Northern Africa and mostly Morroco, and Africans from Sub-Saharan Africa.
As most Latin Americans in Spain share the same language and religion with the Spaniards, I can never really tell who is and who is not "Spanish" - legally speaking. But culturally speaking, they are all more or less Spanish, and more or less latinos. Yet insensitive inquisitivities during my conversations with people I met have always led me to have some clue about their legal status. They are in all sorts of jobs in the informal economy, from bar-tender to artists, and many others. If there is anything which can serve as an indication of how many "illegal non-spanish latinos" are there, here is an indication - earlier this year the Government of Spain has granted working permits to 700,000 illegal immigrants who were already working in the countries for over 6 months.
The Magrebíes (mostly Morrocans) are also the biggest immigrant group after the Latin americans, and are said to be the biggest victims of xenophobic attackes, but I could not yet find materials about this, or whether there has been a surge of anti-magrebíes sentiments after the "M-11" in 2004 (that is how they call the terrorists attacks in Madrid, 11 March 2004).
The "Blacks" Sub-Saharian Africans are said to be considered as "invisible". Those of you who have been to Andalucia should have experienced this - a black guy with his hands full of pirat CDs or DVDs trying to sell you some of his disks. Obviously, they are recent immigrants speaking Spanish with a certain accent. Whether they are legal, I have no idea. But there are good chances that they are not. What is certain is that this is the most important (if not only) occupation in which I have seen a black person. So most of them did not benefit from the amnesty mentioned above because they would not even be able to prove how long they have been working in Spain - they are "transparent".
Categories: Discrimination, Europe, Race
posted by Man Yee at 7:37 pm
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