Racism in Spain?
 

I'm scheduled to travel to Costa Del Sol in Spain next year. I was recently told that the locals aren't too friendly to people of color in Southern Spain. Is this true?

No.

So. Caligirl43. Your first ever post to this forum is a racial snag? Guess how I know.
You are going to be verry disapointeted about your trolling abilities.

I'm willing to be a little forgiving, so I'll answer the question. But first, CaliGirl43, where in the world did you hear of this "news" that locals aren't too friendly to people of color?

mync.
Why are you willing to be forgiving?
You have a posting history. caligirl43 signed on only to post this thread.

Yes it's true. They don't like purple or green people. They will however, tolerate magenta or turquoise tourists.

Has anyone considered the possibility that the OP is actually trying to get accurate information and not trolling?

Everybody has to have a first post sometime and just because this one may seem somewhat "controversial" doesn't mean it requires anything more than a civil answer.

To answer OP's question - the locals don't care for certain kinds of people, for example (illegal) immigrants from North Africa. No use beating around the PC bush. Or is there?

I agree Princess - no use beating about the bush

In my opinion racism is still an issue in Spain

Note that black players in the English football (soccer) team suffered monkey chants and general abuse from sections of the crowd in an international match against Spain a couple of years ago - plus the Spanish national team coach was caught calling an oppostion player 'a black shit' last year

i find it unbelievable that such public and openly racist attitudes still exist but unfortunately they do - thankfully they are an ignorant minority - although i would not worry about it too much in the Costa Del Sol as it is a heavy tourist area where they are used to seeing people from all over the world

Excellent reply, Dukey.

People of color????....boy, that means there are transparent people out there?....WOW, news for me!#-o

There certainly is racism in Spain - as mentioned black footballers regularly get taunted for their race. There is also a great deal of prejudice towrds gypsies, but that is far from unique to spain (see Borat for further examples).

However in the tourist areas they are more used to seeing people of differeing races, and really the only colour they're really interested in is green.

>...the only colour they're really interested in is green.<

It's not easy being Green.

((I))

I'm African American and have who traveled to the Costa del Sol and several Spanish cities - Madrid, Barcelona, Seville and Granada - without any trouble. There was the occasional curious, but not in a threatening way, stare in Granada, but that's about as eventful as it got.

Sorry about the "have who" in my above post. The keyboard did it!

And some people wonder why post volume has supposedly dropped off!

What happened to callgirl45?

there's racism here as anywhere else. given the high number of immigrants both legal and illegal its amazing there is not more.
please do not judge a country by its football supportes. if the mark of character of a country was that, we 'd all be pretty much doomed. another point :
"plus the Spanish national team coach was caught calling an oppostion player 'a black shit' last year"
you have to live in spain to understand that aragones was merely ( excuse the pun) calling a spade a spade, which could easily be transalted as a racist insult, but he could have just as easily said, "ingles de mierda", or "catalan de mierda" or "andalus de mierda". the point is this, spain is less PC maybe than other countries, but the word for a " person of colour" is "negro" he wasnt making an racial attack on the ethnicity of the player. of course, if you dont live here, its hard to understand.
anyways, i still places link the united kingdom and the united states are probably more racist than spain.

You may be interested in this:
http://web.amnesty.org/library/Index...amp;of=ENG-ESP

Spain is definitely less PC than the UK or the US. Newspapers refer to the IDF as the "Jewish Army".

Wheras in the UK the "Jewish Army*" is the nickname of supporters of a football team

*a much less polite form of the word "jew" is actually used.

There is racism everywhere, so just be prepared for it. If you have an incident, try not to let it ruin your holiday.

I have traveled all over Spain and have seen aspects of racism--little things that could be annoying but not life threatening.

I never heard that nickname. and who cares about a bunch of football hooligans. I still think the fact that major national newspapers like El Pais routinely write "Jewish Army" (ejercito hebreo) instead of "Israeli Army" when referring to the IDF should give some clues about the general level of sensitivity in Spain for this kind of issues.

right:
"Spain is definitely less PC than the UK or the US. Newspapers refer to the IDF as the "Jewish Army". "
what newspapers do YOU read?? i do believe they refer to them as israeli armed forces. you should get our more.

right:
"Spain is definitely less PC than the UK or the US. Newspapers refer to the IDF as the "Jewish Army". "
what newspapers do YOU read?? i do believe they refer to them as israeli armed forces. you should get out more.

Sorry, darling, posted to soon.

I also wanted to say that when I was traveling in Spain with my friend, Cynthia, an Hispanic Californian, I witnessed "slights" against her when she spoke Spanish to several people. At least three people corrected her Spanish or told her they didn't understand her because her Spanish was "Mexican," not "pure" Spanish. Cynthia became upset in Barcelona when a cafe worker made a deragatory remark about "Mexican-Americans who come to Spain thinking that they are Spanish, but they are just n******."

This is just anecdotal evidence, so take it for what it is worth.

begbie, maybe you have heard of "El Pais", the most widely-circulated newspaper in Spain?

Here's just an example from Sept 2006.
http://tinyurl.com/wbocy
" ... cerca de la verja murieron ayer en ataques del Ejército judío en las cercanías de Jan Yunis."

They use "Ejercito hebreo" and "ejercito judio" routinely.

Google is your friend, use it before making an *** of yourself.

Begbie

firstly i have lived in Spain, well Bilbao anyway (some would argue it is not Spain but that would be a whole new thread) - plus having lived in all 3 countries I do not agree with your comment that the UK and USA is 'probably more racist than Spain'

in fact i think your dismissive attitude about the severity of the Aragones comments is indeed an indication that Spain is years behind other countries in dealing with any problems with racism (which as you rightly point out occurs in all countries) - the fact that he called him 'negro de mierda' (black shit) rather than 'frances de mierda' (french shit) is of course the whole problem and the fact that you dont see this is saddening

But then again, if we consider that begbie has used this website at least 60 times to promote his/her own crappy website - just click on the handle - we begin to understand. Had I clicked sooner, I wouldn't have bothered researching the El Pais quote.

I have been out of circulation on this forum for a few days, and came back to find this, which is indeed an interesting post.

Spain is not PC and I am still working to determine if being PC has a particularly positive effect on society. I think that slurs and open racism are completely inappropriate, but what I think is even worse is riding the high horse and being so PC and then behind closed doors sharing the same sentiments as radical or even general racists. That said, Spain is quite low on racial violence. Yes, I notice that Spaniards tend to recoil from darker people. A dark Dominican friend of mine who speaks perfect English went for an interview to teach it and the owner said "for you we only have house cleaning." So, she got a job putting out flyers on the Ramblas and was approached and asked how much an hour with her would cost (and no, she was not dressed like a hooker). She said she was not a hooker and the guy said "where are you from?" "DR." "And you are not a hooker?" "No." "Really?"

If anyone wants the photo I am about to refer to, e-mail me, but la Caixa de pensions, a bank here, has a program called "obra social" which is supposed to promote jobs for the marginalized and other possibilities of social progress. The particular ad I am referring to has the slogan "Do you want to give your business a more social side?" Then there is a montage of four pictures: a woman in a wheelchair at a desk, a boy with Down's syndrome in work clothes with earphones, a blind man with a seeing eye dog at a computer and then a smiling, able bodied black man standing amongst boxes to be loaded onto a truck. Would that image be tolerated in the US? I am going to go with no, because the connotations are just too raw and they compare race to disability. Also, of the 4 people, 2 are doing manual labor (black man and Down's syndrome boy) and the intellectual office stuff is for the white and disabled.

Now, I could not believe this sign, but as a Spanish friend pointed out "Well, the disabled people can't do the manual labor, and no one would believe a black man in a business suit here."

Unfortunately, in the Spanish job market, race is indeed a disability that at this point is nowhere near disappearing. In fact, with the growth of immigrant populations and the animosity that brings out of people, I think it is actually headed downhill.

So, are you safe in Spain? Yes, as a tourist, you are. In fact, even living here you are, but you will see blatant racism in many forms throughout the country all the time, which after a while wears on one's will.

Thank you to all of you who have replied to my post. My apologies to those who felt the post was inappropriate, or "Trolling". I can only assume that those who were insensitive to this post have never experienced racism. I was just curious as to the experience of others. Sure, theres racism everywhere, but I wouldn't want to spend my vacation surrounded by it. I'm really looking forward to the trip. Thanks again!

nixx... iam dismissive whatsoever ,simply not giving importance to something that should not be exagerated. i have suffered racism myself and have seen it here in spain towards groups such as the gypsies or morrocans. but some people have completely missed the point by judging a country by someone such as a football player, always well known for their intellect and highly rational statements, never getting into trouble etc. alsp its getting tiring to read about how superior americans feel about themselves with respect to therest of the world. guess thats why you'll be one of the most loved countries in the world?

that should read "not dismissive"

begbie

what makes you think im american? I most definitely am not

and neither do i judge a country based on something said by a football manager - more interesting for me was the reaction (or lack of) to his comments from the general spanish people - in general they did not seem to feel there was much wrong with his comments and he continued doing his job (he would have been sacked/resigned for less in other countries)- in my opinion this is a very good indication of where Spain is in the fight against racism

Why is begbie saying pro footballers aren't very bright? I think he has a lot in common with them. Let's see. Narrow-minded - check. Sweeping statements - check. Hatred toward other groups - check. What a hypocrite.

And the way some people responded to caligirl's perfectly logical question makes me understand, as Dukey astutely pointed out, why posts are down. Hey bebgie, join the crowd who stays away. No one will miss you.

Gee, something must be wrong. I keep agreeing with Dukey! Well said, Dukey.

I usually avoid these type of attack threads like the plague. But one thing caught my eye about black footballers being treated badly by Spanish fans. I know nothing of Spanish futbol, but I sometimes follow Italian calcio. The racist chants and banners (including monkey chants, whistling when a black player touches the ball, and even swastikas) are unfortunately present there as well. I don't think anyone should judge Italy on the basis of their ultra tifosi, just as the English don't want to be judged by their own skinheads or hooligans. The real question is, is this behavior aberrational and abhorred by the rest, or is it accepted as normal?

>>>The racist chants and banners (including monkey chants, whistling when a black player touches the ball, and even swastikas) are unfortunately present there as well<<<<<

Makes an Ole Miss fan waving a Confederate flag during an Ole Miss football seem rather tame? Yah think?