Badalona's Trump apprentice
In a democracy, is the obligation of a responsible politician to treat everyone with the same respect, or to play at constructing an enemy and fostering confrontation between "us" and "them"? The image of the mayor of Badalona, Xavier García Albiol, in the macho mode of local patriotism (Badalonism, in this case), boasting about having evicted four hundred people from the former B9 Institute, will remain an icon of insolence and fascism. It's a display of an exclusionary vision of the city, always based on discrimination—the "us" and the "outsiders"—and seeking to make immigration the scapegoat for everyone's problems.
Although at times a certain expression of discomfort betrayed him, the mayor, in his official statement, proudly proclaimed himself responsible for the expulsion of four hundred people from the shelter where they had been living for two years, and completely disclaimed any responsibility for their fate. We'll do it again whenever necessary; these people are a nuisance, their problems don't concern us, they're simply superfluous.
It shouldn't surprise us, because Albiol has always thrived on this rhetoric. But trying to govern a city like Badalona with the absolute certainty of exclusion—"if you don't leave, we'll make you"—is nothing more than a logic of discrimination that denies recognition to those who don't fit into his limited definition of citizens. In Badalona, not everyone is equal before the City Council. And, therefore, many people aren't shown the slightest respect or consideration. It's their problem: let them leave.
Sending people from an occupied space to sleep on the street, while also promising that this type of person won't return, is irresponsible and deceitful. And Albiol flaunts it as a triumph: let others deal with it, I've done what I had to do and I'll do it again whenever necessary. That's how small his world is: refusing to even see the problems you have at home. Problems that, through denial, will only grow. The mayor should know that everything that happens in Badalona concerns him. And the plight of those living in precarious situations concerns him too. They are people just as worthy as everyone else. And it's unacceptable to pretend that their legal irregularity makes them unworthy of attention. However much Albiol may consider them nobodies, they are people and deserve recognition. A sinister way of denying reality to play the hero. They are there. And it's enough that there have been people and organizations trying to help where those in power refuse to act unless it's to repress. It's about upholding the law, says Albiol. Is that how you justify leaving people on the street? Something is wrong.
And so we build the dynamic that is contaminating democratic societies. We see it right now in a Europe that is losing image and power, while hate speech and contempt for the downtrodden grow. We can't take care of everyone, our own come first. The misery and cynicism of a homegrown Trump wannabe. The triumph of gold and the insolence that is plaguing Europe.
