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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: The racism question and a drop of hope for drought-hit places

In this week's Inside Spain, we look at how racist incidents keep damaging the country's reputation but not enough to change attitudes, and how the heavy Easter rain in Spain has alleviated the drought crisis but not resolved it.

Published: 6 April 2024 12:59 CEST
Updated: 8 April 2024 07:07 CEST
Inside Spain: The racism question and a drop of hope for drought-hit places
Migrants in Spain are three times more likely to be stopped by police than Spaniards. (Photo by JOSEP LAGO / AFP)

The perennial ‘Is Spain racist?’ question reared its ugly head last week, twice. 

It started with a leaked video of two young African men in Madrid’s Lavapiés neighbourhood – who were unarmed and showed no aggression – being hit and pinned to the ground by Spanish police officers. 

Left-wing parties have demanded answers, a demonstration took place to protest against police harassment in this multicultural barrio of the capital, the Interior Ministry has since opened an investigation, and polarisation on social media is rife with allegations that the attack was either unprovoked, that they were carrying drugs or were hostile to the officers before the video was shot.  

And in another chapter of racism in Spanish football, third-division Senegalese goalkeeper Cheikh Sarr was suspended for two matches after receiving a red card for jumping into the stands and confronting a supporter who had repeatedly racially abused him. 

His teammates refused to finish the match, denouncing the “unacceptable racist insults”.

The Spanish football federation (RFEF) acknowledged Sarr was “seriously offended”, but banned him for his reaction and criticised him and his teammates for not reporting the racist chanting earlier in the game when it had first started, as well as awarding the other team a 3-0 forfeit victory.

As expected, this approach by Spain’s chief footballing body, which is currently under investigation for corruption, went down like a tonne of bricks among the international Spanish football commentators, already irked by the racist chants shouted practically every week at Real Madrid’s Vinicius and others. 

Awareness of racism in Spain and its coverage in the press have certainly increased, although much of Spanish society has not yet incorporated political correctness into their daily speech when referring to other races. 

Unfortunately, reported cases of racist and xenophobic hate crimes increased by 18 percent in 2022, according to the last Interior Ministry data. 

But a study last year by the National Research Council found that the vast majority of Spaniards consider racism in the country to be an insignificant problem compared to other issues, ranking it 54 out of 65 in importance. According to Amnesty International, many Spaniards are unaware or in denial over whether there’s racism in the country.

Keeping this in mind, it seems that racist abuse at Spanish football stadiums and leaked videos of police violence against migrants will continue to be given coverage, but it may be some time before we see an actual change in attitudes. 

A problem that worries a higher proportion of Spaniards is the drought affecting large swathes of the country, namely Catalonia and Andalusia. 

The very heavy rain over Easter may have put a damper on the processions, but it’s been a blessing for stored water reserves.   

READ MORE: Will there still be drought restrictions in Spain after all the rain that’s fallen?

Regional and local politicians have felt the pressure to promise that water restrictions in cities such as Barcelona, Málaga, Cádiz or Seville will either be lifted or not implemented during the summer.

There is a general sense of caution, though.

Environmentalists have warned that the drought is far from over and that assuming that a week of rain can solve Spain’s lack of water only reflects how the general public reacts to long-lasting environmental issues. Catalonia’s drought for example has been raging for at least four years.

The Easter downpour certainly brought some respite, but Spain’s fight against drought is a marathon, not a sprint. 

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INSIDE SPAIN

Inside Spain: ‘corrupt’ TV stars and new fake news law

In this week’s Inside Spain, we look at how corruption is so pervasive among the country’s elite that even the protagonists of Spain’s longest-running TV series have been in the dock, and how the government wants to put a stop to fake news. 

Published: 15 June 2024 13:01 CEST
Inside Spain: 'corrupt' TV stars and new fake news law

If you’ve ever watched an episode of Cuéntame cómo pasó (‘Remember When’), better known as Cuéntame, you’ve taken a big step to integrate in Spain, as it’s perhaps the most quintessential Spanish prime time TV show ever. 

The series charts the tumultuous modern history of Spain through the lives of the Alcántaras, a working-class Spanish family. It ran for 22 years (23 seasons, 413 episodes) before its grand finale last year. 

Every Wednesday, millions of Spaniards tuned in to watch Cuéntame on La 1; and the series’ stars Imanol Arias and Ana Duato are household names here. 

So it was perhaps (or perhaps not) a surprise for their fans to see them stand before a judge this week accused of evading millions of euros in tax.

“I want to stop being part of this cast, the sooner the better,” Arias told the judge before pleading guilty to five charges and agreeing to pay back more than €2 million owed in tax as well as a penalty. 

He, as so often happens to high-profile offenders with no previous misdemeanours in Spain, will not actually end up behind bars despite being handed a 26-month jail sentence.

His co-star Ana Duato is next to stand before the judge and fight her corner against the fiscal fraud charges she faces. Duato plans to plead her innocence even though she faces a possible 32-year sentence.  

The Cuéntame scandal is part of the Nummaria case, involving a law firm by the same name that allegedly helps its clients (Arias and Duato included) avoid taxation in Spain by using opaque shell companies overseas.

However, what’s most telling of all is that two TV stars who have for more than two decades portrayed a typical Spanish couple have ended up showcasing exactly what Spain’s rich and powerful often do with their money. If only they’d worked it into the series’ plot. 

On another somewhat related note, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez is preparing what’s been dubbed the ‘anti-fake news law’, legislation which will fight against what he’s called la maquinaria del fango (which could be translated as the ‘mud-slinging machine’). 

Sánchez started using this term when he announced he was considering standing down as PM due to accusations of corruption against his wife Begoña Gómez. 

He ended up staying after several days of ‘reflection’ and keeping Spain on a knife edge.

But it didn’t stop his wife from being investigated (the probe is ongoing) and there is now also a case open against his brother Daniel Sánchez. 

So the timing of this new legislation seems particularly appropriate, as what the ley anti-bulos would reportedly serve to do is to give news outlets and journalists that allegedly publish fake news 24 hours to retract their comments or face legal action. 

Sánchez appears to be targeting right-wing media which in his words “dehumanise and delegitimize the political adversary through complaints that are as scandalous as they are false.”

It may seem like Spain’s PM is attempting to protect himself, his party and entourage from so-called “pseudo media” but it’s actually part of a wider plan under European law to fight disinformation, AI-generated content and fake news.

By 2025, all EU Member States are expected to have legislation in place addressing this, but it will be a difficult balancing act for both Spain and the EU for such laws to not come across as censorship and an attack on freedom of the press.

According to the 2022 Digital News Report, only 13 percent of Spaniards see the press as free from undue political interference, one of the lowest rates in the EU.

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