Ceuta tests Spain’s migration narrative

IT is estimated that more than 50,000 migrants entered the small Spanish enclave of Ceuta in a single day after border security effectively collapsed. Ceuta sits on Morocco's northern coast. The Spanish government has said almost all of the migrants have since returned to Morocco, and at least 57 have died. The public was left with only footage and photographs: people swimming and climbing on to Ceuta's Tarajal beach, tens of thousands in a single day and night, scores dead. With no explanations to back them, scenes like these land in the imagination first. And the imagination is where a country's attitude to migration is built. The Ceuta border crossing undermines one of Spain's more flattering ideas about itself. After enduring long years of fascist dictatorship, the country has spent recent years recasting itself as a place that embraces migration and diversity while much of Europe talks about walls and defence.This is a story Spain tells with conviction — a nation at the crossroads of Europe and Africa, shaped by centuries of cultural mixing. And it often puts these ideals into action. Six months ago, it opened a route to residence for hundreds of thousands of immigrants living and working in the country.But national self-image and public opinion are more a cultural achievement than a legal one. They run on emotions, which makes them more vulnerable to misinformation and exploitation than any law. Opinions of people are reflected in the words they use. A day earlier, the public language of migration was neutral. It mostly concerned integration, work permits, the paperwork of settled lives. The next day, images emerging from Ceuta showed a harder register as words like "invasion", "war", "flood" and "control" dominated across public statements and social media.For ordinary people, this means the migrant, who could be a neighbour, a colleague or a classmate's parent, becomes a faceless figure, a number crossing a beach. A number is harder to grieve than a person, and language that deals in numbers can be cold.Meanwhile, an image argues without making an argument. It moves the starting point of any conversation on the subject. The images from Ceuta mean that the Spanish government is forced to a position of explaining itself, while punitive ideas are waved through as common sense. Sentences that would have sounded ugly on Wednesday sounded sober by Friday. Moderate voices began to appear defensive and the burden of proof changed hands silently.Optics are a gift for Europe's far right and it knows what to do with them. Despite losing an argument with the real numbers, the far right can win because its aim is to make the story of a welcoming Spain look foolish. In the absence of any other information, videos and images do a lot of that work for it.The leader of Spain's right-wing opposition party, the Partido Popular (PP), has linked the border crossing to the Spanish government's policy of mass regularisation introduced in February, claiming that it created a "pull factor". The leader of Spain's far-right Vox party went further, branding the arrivals an "invasion" of military-age men.But the moment its vocabulary stops sounding extreme, the mainstream right will have to answer in the same terms or risk looking weak. Once the conversation shifts, anyone defending Spain's image as an open, welcoming country is already on the back foot, apologising before saying a word. In the wake of the Ceuta incident, Spain stands to lose the ability to tell its story of welcoming immigration and embracing diversity without having to first apologise for it.Credit: The Conversation

Ceuta tests Spain’s migration narrative

The Ceuta border crossing undermines one of Spain’s more flattering ideas about itself

Deniz Torcu

Ceuta tests Spain’s migration narrative

The Ceuta border crossing undermines one of Spain’s more flattering ideas about itself

Deniz Torcu

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