The Immigrants will Bring Back the Far Right

All these immigrants washing ashore, hiding in the glove-box over on the ferry or climbing over the high yet un-electrified fence into Spain’s North African city-states. They are hungry in the Sub-Sahara and they are looking for a better life. Many of them will end up with jobs that no European will do – from working for a pittance in the plastic farms of Almería to importuning irritated tourists on the beach who already have a pair of sun glasses, thank you.

So far this year, says The Guardian, 27,600 have arrived illegally in Spain (at least, that’s the number of those who were caught).  

As we accept their arrival, or admit that they should have a chance to seek a better life, we play into the hands of the Hard-Right, who joyfully commission articles about violence, rape and destruction at the hands of the foreigners. The Daily Mail has recently had to quietly remove a hate-filled article regarding its ‘...devastating report about 300,000 illegal migrants living in Paris’, after it was shown to be a fabrication. Nearer to home, the vice-president of the diputación (‘county-council’) in Alicante, the PP veteran Alejandro Morant, is calling for ‘mass-deportations’, because, you see,  ‘...this is not immigration, it is a silent invasion that will end the Western world, turning it into Islam’.

Ah, Islam, where they wear pyjamas in the street and talk funny. Where words like Sharia, burqa and halal are bandied about by the Media to frighten our children. So frightening.

It is nevertheless evident that the immigrants do cause problems, especially – it goes without saying – the poor ones.
Perhaps these issues are exaggerated, because we all enjoy a good story, or a moment of indignation or perhaps some validation for our hatred of foreignness, but there is no smoke without fire. All said, it is true that the current wave of immigrants are not the cream of North African society: they are not doctors from Dakar, nor bank-managers from Bamako, nor chiropodists from Casablanca. They are uneducated, raw and largely unwanted.

But, as we know from our past, the hatred of foreigners can bring about war, destruction and harsh right-wing governments. Blacks, Orientals and Moors are so easy to notice, too.

Unfortunately for the haters, the Spanish are extremely generous towards foreigners, and many a child here shows evidence of having being born in another culture, but adopted and brought up as a natural family-member. We buy stuff from the manteros, who spread their sheets full of CDs or shoes or knock-off shirts on the sidewalk, we regularly visit the Chinese bazaars (because they are cheap and always open) and we eat in the Moorish restaurants (because the food is good).

And the undocumented immigrants themselves are exploited by mafias who, since we are talking illegal, are riding on their backs. The man who pays 1,800€ to cross the Mediterranean. The man who sleeps on the floor of a tiny apartment with ten others and must sell tat to the tourists to survive. The man who works in an invernadero in dangerous temperatures and conditions.

We see immigrants in our rear-view mirrors – what do they see?

Perhaps a partial solution is to help those African countries from whence come these migrants – but we know that financial aid is no answer (it will all get pinched and end up in a Swiss bank account). However, we could build things for them (like the Chinese are doing).

Every day the images are there on the TV, sad but relieved Africans wrapped in thin blankets and waiting to be processed by the overwhelmed Guardia Civil. Some people watching will say – this must stop – there are too many.

And yes, it has to stop – because the Far-Right will gather force from the increasingly over-hyped situation, and it will return with a vengeance.  



Jan says:  nice article on bloody furriners.  As per usual, I can't manage to negotiate your contribution system, so would you like to add the following comment:The 1800 euros comes from the family and community in which they lived in Africa.  The family and community see the 1800 euros as an investment;  if one man can work in Spain, he can send 1800 euros (36 euro per week) back that year, and then continue to send 36 euro per week for the next three or four years.  That way the money won't disappear into Swiss bank account or prestigious useless dams.  Every week at the local post office I have to stand in the queue as these "unwanted" (says who?) unwashed send all their spare cash home - and live in utter poverty meanwhile.  And the cost - 1800 euros - is mainly caused by all those righteous people who don't want foreigners picking their salad at a bare-bones wage.