The migration phenomenon acts as a major source of discord and social and political concern. This is because the country has received significant influxes in recent years, and some have exploited the inherent difficulties of managing them to question them, reject them, and express xenophobic ideas. Regarding the misunderstandings and discomfort that coexistence with new cultural forms can cause in some people, there are those who, instead of smoothing them over and addressing them appropriately from a political perspective, have done exactly the opposite. They have used them as a weapon in confrontation to stimulate base passions and raise our supremacy against a people who have been forced to leave their sociocultural environment to make a living. Too many people handle this issue clumsily and self-servingly, without the slightest scruple about the possibility of causing fractures that are later difficult to heal. It's not a bad thing to publicly discuss the migration phenomenon, but it is a bad thing to speak of it with rumors and lies, to fail to explain the whole truth, and, most importantly, to fail to maintain the respect due to all kinds of people. Migrations, large population movements, are inherent to human history. Europe now receives people from all over, but less than two hundred years ago it sent a quarter of its inhabitants to other continents.
Certainly, forced mobility by people who need to make a living is not desirable. The best thing would undoubtedly be for everyone to be able to live and die in the environment and culture of their birth. But this, unfortunately, is not possible because neither opportunities nor employment possibilities are distributed adequately across the planet. The world is very unequal, and labor and demographic needs are often inversely proportional. This was accentuated by the phenomenon of economic globalization, which we uncritically bought into forty years ago. We were told it would bring wealth for all. However, in reality, it has led to a global redistribution of factors that moves not only goods in containers and capital but also people according to different demographics and labor market needs. If production has been reconfigured around the world, it also moves people, even if this angers Trump and the far right. Europe and the entire Western world need labor due to their aging and declining populations, but also because there are jobs that natives don't want to do. In Catalonia, as in Spain, we have an economic structure heavily influenced by labor-intensive activities that generate little added value and have very precarious conditions and wages. People come because part of our activity requires them. It's not possible to completely prevent arrivals, whether we like it or not, and labor is captured by those who need it. It's very cynical to attribute migratory movements to a political or ideological will or paranoid considerations of facilitating a "great substitution." Migrants go where there is work. The fact that they arrive in excess doesn't worry employers because it has a moderating effect on the labor market. If anyone believes this is a problem, they should speak out and influence employers in certain sectors, not make anti-political speeches in Parliament.
In Catalonia, there are four major sectors that have a "pull effect" on immigration. The countryside is one of them. The low profit margins on fruit and livestock farming lead to the use of a very poorly paid and often irregular foreign workforce. As consumers, we want to continue having very cheap fruit on our tables. This cannot be maintained without newcomers, whom we practically enslave for a time. Another sector that would be impossible without immigration is the most basic meat industry, slaughtering and butchering. Hard work that no one from there wants to do. It's dominated exclusively by foreigners. I know a little about this environment in Osona. Can anyone believe that thousands of people from Punjab, or many other nationalities, come to Vic attracted by the climate, the gastronomy, and the Romanesque art? Tourism is the other major sector attracting cheap labor. It's the one with the low-cost model we've happily settled into. The Catalan cities with the lowest average income are Salou, Lloret, and Roses, where the population is primarily migrant and temporarily employed. Finally, we should also mention the personal services and health sectors. Those who come from outside, especially women, are the ones who make it possible for our seniors to receive very good humane care and at affordable prices. A large part of our economy can only be sustained by immigration. If we have opted for this model, we must accept what it means. We could have a better economy, but societies are and will always be multicultural. The longer we delay accepting this, the worse it will be for us. In reality, diversity and the convergence of different cultures bring wealth and opportunities. In no way can we blame the people who have come, as our economy and theirs have forced them to do so.
