Is Spain racist? Does Spanish football have a xenophobia problem? Vinicius Júnior focused on this issue after suffering such insults in his match against Valencia at Mestalla. It’s the last part of LaLiga’s long list of complaints to try to fix an issue that has become a state issue, to the point of seeing how Brazilian president Lula da Silva or FIFA president Gianni act. Infantino.
Reuters, La Gazzetta dello Sport and The Guardian
To take a different look at the issue, EL PERIÓDICO DE ESPAÑA from the Prensa Ibérica group spoke with some foreign media reporters who have been working in the daily life of Spanish football and have been perfectly integrated into Spanish society for years. . like journalists Brazilian Fernando Kallas, Reuters sports correspondent in Spainwho is expressingIt is clear that Spanish football racism problem. This is the tenth complaint regarding racial slurs against a 22-year-old black boy. The problem exists, and it cannot be denied, but it goes far beyond football. It’s about the Penal Code and the absence of any sanctions against hate crimes. A criminal complaint for racial slurs is very difficult to come by, and this sense of impunity is the most shocking. There is a feeling that absolutely nothing has been done from Brazil.. They are washing their hands after the task Real Madrid and the League fulfilled by saying ‘we are doing our part by rejecting justice’. The price for racism in Brazil is paid by the loss of points, clubs are now aware that if something happens in their stadium, they will be blamed and they will pay the price.”
For Filippo Ricci, Spain correspondent for La Gazzetta dello Sport, “there is no racism. There are situations that happen in Spanish society and Spanish football. According to Tebas, there have been nine complaints this season. Nine complaints don’t sound like an exaggeration to me, but eight are about Vinicius. And this is a fact that must be read clearly. This does not happen with other players and This is not Vinicius’ fault. The victim of racists is the victim of choice. The reason seems clear as he is one of the best players in the league. And the thing is, the first thing that comes to mind, and here’s the dangerous thing, is racial slurs.”
normalize the insult
Ricci believes that “The problem is education. That’s what Courtois said. The point is not to belittle racial insults, but to underestimate the insult. We cannot accept being called a ‘son of a bitch’ just because it is not a racist insult. North lost. Let people go out on the field and cheer for their players. That’s what’s happening in England. In the closely watched Premier and if you want to punch an opponent, irony is used, not insults. The problem is that insult is normalized as if nothing happened, and generic insult becomes racist or homophobic when not seen enough. This is where education and perception come into play. The continued existence of the concept of race worries me, and I don’t like when politicians step in because they’re clearly taking advantage of the situation. about the message vinicius It seems exaggerated to me, it’s a generalization. I’ve been here for 17 years and I don’t see Spain as a racist country. There are problems here, as in England, Italy, France, Germany.”
Sid Lowe is the correspondent of the British newspaper The Guardian in our country. English football has successfully completed the journey from the most brutal violence to a much more festive and tolerant environment where insults are the exception. for Sid, “You have to take very seriously what Vinicius is revealing, because it’s something he pulls, feels and pulls in in the first person. LaLiga has already condemned ten incidents of racial violence against him, and that’s too much. Obviously racism exists in all countries and its manifestations may differ due to the cultural characteristics of each place. There was an image that caught my attention about what happened in Mestalla. This is when Vinicius is about to burst into tears. Above all else, he is a person who suffers. And you should take what he says seriously. I am not the best person to condemn racism because I am a white man and my experiences have nothing to do with race. But Vinicius talks about his experiences, and it’s undeniable that he suffered from them.”
Lowe admits “I am offended by this rhetoric that all insults are the same. Not all because it implies the dehumanization of an entire group. The talk that this happened as Vinicius was the trigger to later justify the racial disqualification is completely unacceptable. I don’t agree with the insults at all because you have to go out to cheer on your team and unfortunately there are people who will insult you. However I don’t feel such a culture of hate. I feel relatively comfortable in stadiums in Spain, in general I think these are safe areas. Yes, it makes me sad that it is not possible to leave with the jersey of another team in some stadiums. I think we need to investigate this and figure it out. Maybe there’s a culture of journalistic suspense that worries me, because most of the time the shots are about the team involved”.
For Kallas, “I have been in Spain for 13 years, I have my wife and children from here. The Vinicius case should help what racism is, what a hate crime is, and to change the outdated Criminal Code. Es Código is collaborating with racism, with football protocol, I’m not even telling you anymore. For me, Rubiales said something very important, openly admitting that “we have a problem like racism and we need to fix it”. The first step is to own it.”
stamp the football
Brazilian journalist, on the stigma of football “focuses on football because this football. In Spain there are very few blacks in society and social discussion is not so normalized as these are more isolated cases. A wider discussion is needed. There are government surveys that say 70% of incoming blacks experience racism and only 10% condemn it. Spain must enter the global debate on racism and the first step is to acknowledge racism as a Spanish problem.”
Filippo is firm on this: “Football doesn’t have to solve the problem of racism. Football is the mirror of society. Football or the League cannot be asked to solve the problem of racism. Big clubs destroyed the ultras in Spain. AND Today, families generally go to the stadium very calmly. There are always sections, but they have improved a lot compared to what came before. The environment is very healthy. What we went through in the Cup final in Sevilla was absolutely amazing.”
correspondent Guardian He talks about the radicalization process of football based on his experiences in the Premier League: “It is a more complex issue than it seems. It is an economic and social process. It goes hand in hand with changing ticket prices, increasing police presence, changing cultures and taboo behaviors… It goes hand in hand with many things. When I go to English pitches, I find that it’s much more masculine, more tense, with that little point of tension, even the sound of the English stadium is stronger.”
According to Ricci, “This society has obvious racism issues because there is a political situation that is going in a certain direction. some political parties are creating a breeding ground for such a culture. Football doesn’t have to be an educator, It can help and I think you’re doing pretty well. But also To my surprise, the only party suspended in Spain was the one in the Zozulia case. In other cases, football should have been stopped. And the fact that it never stopped is very significant. In fact, they tried to stop in Italy and eventually convinced the always insulted player to stay. I like that Vinicius shows the person who insulted him because then you can customize it and eliminate it.. But then they The grand estates of Spanish football are blaming and fighting each other instead of forming a common front. This is stupid. There is a localized racism problem. The situation is not ideal, but it was worse before. Generalization is never good.
Hate culture, racism, bullying…
Fernando Kallas distances himself and says “There is a culture of hatred against this child that spreads like a virus, bullying as racism, racism as bullying. I grew up in 80s Brazil in stadiums where it was normal to say ‘faggot’ or utter homophobic insults… Today it’s rooted out because people as a society have realized they can’t do that. It doesn’t matter if Vinicius is called ‘stupid’ or ‘monkey’, the harassment he has suffered in all the stadiums he has been to is unacceptable. Harassment or racism cannot be relativized. How many times have you been an agitator before you became a victim of racism? None. We are talking about a boy who escaped the stereotypes of the Brazilian football player. He neither loves the night nor does he cry. Vinicius does things that defenders are not used to. When they kick him, he faces the defender who hit him, and this is Europe’s most hit player. And he also confronts racists and doesn’t quietly accept it”.
The anthropological optimist Lowe finally sees that the bottle is half full: “The optimist in me says that what happened was not ignored. FIFA president, from Brazil, Spain, Valencia kicking people out… I like to think something is moving. The solution is not instantaneous, but Vinicius itself changes things. What you did this weekend by pointing out the racist is very brave and very valuable. Behaviors vary from confrontations, sometimes more tense than others. They even have to pause the game and point someone. It’s a tough road, but it can force us to look at things differently. Vinicius is brave because it is easy to remain silent. Whether you are right or not, whether you agree or not. I think progress is already being made. The reaction of the media, Valencia kicking off the insults and not returning, those insulting Iñaki Williams sitting before the judge… We are approaching the day when a team leaves the stadium while there are racist insults. actor. And call me utopian, but I’d love to see one team come off the field when they insult one of the other teams.”