The policy aims of SOS Racisme and the electoral needs of the French socialist party have always been closely linked, and two organisations have historically shared leading figures. Its Spanish equivalent, Barcelona-based SOS Racismo, is linked to more extreme organisations–its prime movers are nationalist-communists and nationalist-socialists from ERC, EUiA, ICV and the youth wing of the PSC–but it has also served generally as proxy for publicising race problems on the right while ignoring those on the left.
However, where the French body has criticised both anti-Muslim and anti-Jewish acts, the Spanish group appears to believe that anti-Semitism ceased to constitute racism on the foundation of the state of Israel. So we find
- new attacks on the PP for opposing a new mosque in Badalona, but no mention of the baseball bat assault on the synagogue in central Barcelona two weeks ago, which left one of the staff with a broken arm and head injuries;
- attacks on businessmen in Torroella de Montgri for opposing the construction of a mosque there, but no mention of the vandalism of the Chabad house in Barcelona last month;
- an attack on the CiU for allegedly seeking to delay the construction of a mosque in Lleida, but no mention of pro-Hamas demonstrations in Barcelona featuring politicians from parties associated with SOS Racisme and gun-waving, nor of the Barcelona area being Europe’s major zone for the preparation of terrorists whose victory would mean the end of any Jewish presence in the Middle East.
SOS Racisme/Racismo is not by any means influential, even in Barcelona, but its behaviour will encourage those extremists who it claims to oppose and who are aware of what it says. For if the left refuses to criticise violence against Jews, why should the right object to violence against Muslims?
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Hei, how come you didn’t call the French socialists ‘national-socialists’? Shurely shome mishtake.
By the way, the Spanish Ministry of Equality, until recently, mentioned nothing of race or class equality on their website.
I haven’t heard the PS utter anything coherent for such a long time that for all I know they have retired to an old folks’ home on the Riviera.
How is your relationship these days with the Catalan political party which describes itself as nationalist and socialist? I think I preferred amiable, Quixotian peasant thieves like Carod and Benach from the south to mountain man Puigcercós, who appears to me both miserable and vicious.
Well I haven’t been following them much recently. Their last election result and the contemptible failure to go for anything other than ‘more of the same’ at conference seem to have combined to make them practically invisible. Anyway, do they actually use the term ‘socialist’ or is it just ‘left’?
Generally I agree with you that SOS Racismo should oppose Anti-semitism more effectively, but I wouldn’t call pro-Hamas/anti-Israel demos as anti-semitism in and of themselves. Perhaps anti-semitism went on at them (and given the general lack of sensitivity around all matters racial in Spain, I wouldn’t be surprised) but without evidence, I’d say you were on shakey ground.
I recently joined a new organisation fighting to stop racism against immigrants from the Cono Sur: “SOS Boludo”.