Spain’s Valencia shameful example to its immigrants

The regional government of Valencia, which is ruled by the right-wing opposition Popular Party (PP) , is planning to force immigrants to sign a contract obliging them to respect local “customs and traditions.” Apart from being illegal and a slap in the face to respect for other cultures, the PP-led initiative is racist as well.

But what does respecting “local customs and traditions” mean? Who is to say what is Valencian never mind Spanish culture unless you want to dwell in generalities and stereotypes.

Unfortunately the measures, which will put the PP on a collision course with the Socialist government of Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, it exposes the myopic world of some Spaniards in the PP. It also exposes their cultural uncertainty. Such politicians continue to live in the “good old days” when Spain conquered and pillaged other cultures.

In an attempt to win over voters, PP leader Mariano Rajoy launched the idea of a immigrant contract on the campaign trail. The PP lost the March 9 election to the Socialists.

Possibly this would be a good case to take such a racist measure to a European Union court. It would be a good matter to tell these politicians as well that there are many examples were multicultural societies have benefited from cultural synergy.

Has the English language been undermined by the fact that it has been influenced by over 300 languages? Certainly not. Such a matter has strengthened – not weakened it.

Carnage in southern Spain

It was a quiet Saturday evening when a phone call awakes me from my rest at about 11pm.

“A lot of Finns have died in Málaga [in southern Spain],” the journalist from a large Finnish magazine said. “Can you check what is going on and I’ll call you at noon [Sunday].”

The first death count I heard was eight, which had risen to nine, with 22 people being sent to different hospitals. That was Saturday evening.

About 3.5 hours before the call, a young man had passed a bus full of Finnish tourists that was going to the airport. The driver, who lost control of the black SUV and was driving under the influence of alcohol, crashed into the ramp and then smashed against the bus, causing it to overturn. Part of the ramp broke off and flew with tremendous force and cut into the bus like a sword. Some of the passengers were unrecognizable. DNA tests had to be made to determine their identity. That is how ferocious the crash was.

Contrary to Saturday night, when Andlausian authorities said there were two Finns in critical condition contrary to one on Sunday. There were still 18 hospitalized the day after the crash. By Thursday, there were 13 still hospitalized but they were ready to fly back to Finland on Friday. Only the lady, who was in critical condition, would continue to be hospitalized in the intensive-care ward.

There were a few matters that shocked and surprised me about reporting the event:

1) A 6-year old girl was one of the victims that died in the crash.

2) The victims and the suffering they endured.

3) The driver and how he has ruined his life. The General Council of the Judiciary (CGPJ), Spain’s top judicial watchdog body, told me that the driver could receive a prison sentence of “over 10 years.”

4) Why didn’t the Finnish embassy in Madrid raise a flag in half mast to honor those who died in the crash?

So, apart from the prison term that awaits the driver, does he have to pay any indemnities to the victims of the crash? “The one who will pay the indemnities is the insurance company,” Enrique López, a CGPJ spokesperson, told me. “Not the driver.”

Franco’s shadow still hangs deep in Spain

“Democracy is shit!” a former Spanish diplomat in his 70s told me at a Madrid bar. “Democracy does not work. The socialists have destroyed Spain!”

A small lapse of silence as he gathers some wind for is arguments: “Our foreign policy is in tatters (because Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero defied George W. Bush by pulling Spanish troops from Iraq in 2004).”

I listened for a while longer and remembered an old couple in the 1960s that lived in exile in Paris from the Spanish Civil War (1936-39). There names were López and Angelina. I remember López very well because he fought for the Republican Army and told me a little about the horrors of that conflict.

After López’ and Angelina’s image faded in my thoughts, I responded:

“In Argentina one of the problems we had before the 1916 elections was that voting was only a privilege of the few,” I said. “This is what messed up Argentina for close to the seventy years.”

I was surprised that still in Europe there were people who thought so lowly about democracy. But if we look at the conflict in the Balkans and the persecution of minorities like the Roma, it’s unfortunate that a large minority of Europeans don’t appreciate Western democracy.

Our discussion on whether democracy was good or bad for Spain ended in an instant. Even so, such a discussion would have never been possible under dictator Francisco Franco’s regime (1939-75).