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Putting discrimination in context
Allowme to give two examples of a type of discrimination
in which the public authorities partake by action or omis-
sion (and thus the name “institutional discrimination”).
The definition of the word “
gitano
” found in the Dictionary
of the Spanish Royal Academy (official dictionary of the
Spanish language). The first and principal definition de-
scribes
gitanos
as members of a group not originally from
Spain that came from India and “spread over a large part of
Europe” and that “are still nomads to a large degree” and
“have their own physical and cultural characteristics”. This
definition is not only a far cry from reality but also rein-
forces the idea that the Roma “are not our people”: they
come from a far-off land, they not only live among us
but also in other places and they constantly move around
(and maybe in wagons?) which completely prevents them
from being considered “one of us”. This is a racist defi-
nition with xenophobic undertones, although one should
acknowledge the skill with which they were able to assert
so many negative things with such precision.
The sixth dictionary definition is even more sincere. The
editor removes the mask:
gitano
is “someone who com-
mits fraud or misleads”. But we could even take excep-
tion to the fifth definition which, at first glance, appears
positive:
gitano
is “a person who endears him/herself to
others with grace or art. Typically used as a compliment,
especially when referring to women”. Sexist undertones
are introduced here. While the expression “
qué gitana eres
”
(you’re so gypsy-like) would appear to be a folkloric com-
pliment, it is actually an insult because it evokes dishones-
ty and manipulation, albeit gracious. A simple systematic
analysis suffices to confirm this point: the dictionary de-
fines the word “
gitanería
” as “affection and flattery, sweet
talk, in the style used by Gypsy women”. In the style used
by Gypsy women. It would then stand to reason that all
Gypsy women are artfully manipulative? This sounds like
it’s right out of one of those black and white Spanish films
from the 1930s or 40s. The only thing missing from the
editor’s definition is to add that after the
gitanería
flirting,
what Gypsy women love to do is go off to the tavern to
dance Flamenco. But it is the word “
gitanear
” (verb form)
that provides hard evidence of the negative connotation
of the word
gitanería
insomuch as the first dictionary
definition is “gratify or flatter using
gitanería
to get what
one wants” but the second definition minces no words
and is much more to the point: “to attempt to deceive
when buying or selling”. Hence, the author of the Dictio-
nary of the Royal Academy of the Spanish Language is
very clear on this point: a Gypsy is a person who “is not
one of us” and who deceives, in a more or less reprehensi-
ble or amusing manner (in this case, Gypsy women which
adds an interesting sexist undertone to the mix).
Another example: the racist and xenophobic declara-
tions made by some political leaders. Why in France
is a militant National Front extreme right-wing party
member sentenced to nine months in prison and five
years of disqualification for uploading a photograph of
the French Minister of Justice next to a picture of baby
monkey onto his Facebook page with the caption: “at
18 months and now” while in Spain a town mayor like the
Mayor of Badalona is absolved in spite of distributing
leaflets, holding campaign meeting and making state-
ments on television asserting that the Romanian Roma
living in his city are a “plague” and an “ulcer” and claiming
that “there are groups of people in this country that
have come here for the sole purpose of stealing and
committing crimes”? An then we have the insolence of
the Mayor of Sestao referring to immigrants as “shit”
and ensuring that he would deal with the problem by
“chasing them from Sestao by beating the shit out of
them”. Of course their respective political parties came
to their defence saying that while the expression used
may have been unfortunate, these people were not in
any way racist or xenophobic. Naturally I am well aware
of the breadth of the freedom of expression, and much
more in the political arena, but our legal system is failing
us when a politician can get away scot free with state-
ments such as these. Here, all the emphasis has been
placed on the Criminal Code which covers the different
types of hate crime in an ambiguous manner rendering
it virtually useless. The criminal response to these acts
must be improved but at the same time, we need to
bring back the notion of an equal treatment law where-
by an independent institution (possible the Ombuds-
man with a view to keeping costs down) would ad-
ministratively sanction these acts in the form of a fine.
But of course, if there is no racism in Spain, why devote
time and energy to a problem that doesn’t even exist?
IV. How should liquid racism be dealt with?
Liquid racism requires specific strategies because the
battle here does not take place within the realm of im-
proving living standards. In other words, this is not an
issue for social services (although the latter continue
to be very important: someone once said that the first
human right is being able to have breakfast each morn-
ing and the rest follow). Liquid racism is fought on the
battlefield of ideology, symbolism and communication.
And this brings us to four key areas: education, culture,
the media and politics. If the Spanish Parliament were a
mirror image of the plural makeup of our society, there
would be 7 Roma MPs and 5 Roma senators in each leg-
islative period and this same proportion applies to all
regional and local parliaments and to public and private
institutions alike. This flagrant deficit in political repre-
sentation about which only a handful of people seem
to care, makes Roma second-class citizens and speaks
poorly of the quality of democracy in Spain.