Before the outbreak of atrocities in Gaza pushed every issue into insignificance, in early October some journalists showed the signs of another tragedy: the record number of immigrant arrivals in the Canary Islands. The excitement that more than 32,000 people from Africa jumped into the sea to reach Europe this year alone was documented by this and other media outlets for several weeks.
The harsh testimonies of the journeys, the daily increasing data on arrivals and deaths, the fragility of the system and the politicians talking about invasions, strains and typhus made it impossible to think beyond the “migration crisis” approach. In this, as in other emergencies of the past, everything that the sea brings with it is negative, problematic or unpleasant.
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It’s difficult to find stories that deal with hope, perhaps because bad news predominates and takes up all the words available. What is read with urgency and urgency usually devours important and very human things, such as desires, potential or abilities. Nobody thinks of saying that the future of Spain also lies in Cayuco and for this reason migrants are very rarely asked – as Massimo Livi suggests in his book Short History of Migrations – who they are and what their purpose in life is.
This collective approach is driven by at least four dominant narratives. The first sees migration as a threat. On board these precarious ships there are potential ruptures in Spain’s social stability, cultural integrity and economic heritage. Then there is migration as condemnation, where the most paternalistic people place these African silhouettes in a place of rootlessness and defenselessness. Vulnerability is inherent and that is why they need saving now – and they will always need saving.
Spain’s regulatory architecture still insists on maintaining the state of limbo in which a migrant must prove to the point of exhaustion that he has reasons to remain on this soil.
Then there is migration as an economic debate in which calculations are made to integrate foreigners into the labor market, in the demographic argument, in the tax opportunities or in the economic benefits. Human mobility cannot be justified without any of these categories. Finally, there is the ambiguous narrative of the good migrant, which revolves around meritocracy and pumps out the idea of exceptionalism, effort and hard work as a bargaining chip for roots. It is an ethnocentric vision in which we must earn the right to equality in order to be equal. Although he recognizes a certain potential in people, he ignores the fact that the starting point is not the same for everyone.
Overall, these are constructions that lack sound consideration: If a human being is capable of crossing a desert and an ocean to build a new life in that land, why couldn’t we formulate mechanisms that make this possible? happen? For example, it is still difficult for us to involve governments and companies in creating a system that goes beyond reception and guardianship and focuses on promoting the capacity and autonomy of every person. Even in the most well-intentioned social sphere, we find it difficult to understand that “development, as Professor Mbuyi Kabunda explained, requires a break from dependency.”
Spain’s regulatory architecture still insists on maintaining the state of limbo in which a migrant must prove to the point of exhaustion that he has reasons to remain in this country to which he came at the risk of his life, and in the meantime the policy entrenches itself around a debacle of the system. and that History continually reinforces the category of “irregular immigration.”
Although they have been seen many times, the photos of the young people arriving in Cayuco – where there are increasing numbers of women and children – are being circulated alongside publications and headlines that view them as a problem and ignore all the abundance of bravery. and resilience that led them to the shores of the Canary Islands. Because we only see the narrowness and poverty, because it is difficult for us to imagine that they have arrived and have no other hope than not to return, or rather that they have come to stay here, to be here dreaming to create something here and one day they are “the new Spaniards”. We still find it difficult to believe even for a moment and to dedicate a few optimistic words to them, at least in greeting.
Santiago Sanchez Benavides He is a Colombian journalist. He has been a consultant on sustainable development projects, social innovation and public policy. In 2018 he founded Voice (ES) to promote the economic empowerment of the foreign population in Spain.
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