We uncover migration challenges

The debate on the impact of recent immigration in Catalonia is making its way beyond the four paternalistic and well-intentioned clichés of recent times. That so far this century the registered population has grown by twenty-four percent to more than eight million, that those born outside Catalonia are nearly four out of ten residents or that in the last year, in the intense transit of people arriving and leaving, it has become more relevant that social society is once again the one that talks most about the social variable.

But, whether due to a lack of systematic studies, or because they are still spoken of with mental restrictions due to the fear of being branded as racist or xenophobic, knowledge of this challenge, its consequences and the policies that should be applied is still scarce. A good example is the debate that has taken place in this same newspaper on the economic level, with the highly qualified opinions of Andreu Mas-Colell and Miquel Puig. And we are talking about the dimension that is probably the most objective and quantifiable, and between two people who had recently shown affinities for the political party itself.

In short, and to see the radical discrepancy between one and the other, for the first, to put it with the title of his article (January 12), in "Catalonia: immigrants add up", thesis reiterated on February 9. On the other hand, for Miquel Puig, in "Catalonia: some immigration no longer counts" (January 25). An idea that is also reiterated in "Catalonia leads, but what?" (February 9), where he writes that in order to grow better, the first thing to do is to stop population growth: "We are 8 million, but not one more until we have supplied this population with the public services it needs and until we have been able to provide good jobs for everyone."

However, the issue – as Miquel Puig points out – goes far beyond the strictly economic dimension and has profound social implications. First, because of how it impacts public services such as schools and health care. Or on the demand for housing. Once again, mental restrictions mask the "complexity" that the new "diversities" and "vulnerabilities" – above all, let us not forget the euphemisms – introduce into teaching, health care or housing demand, as if that of the natives were not already difficult to face. Secondly, because of the ways of life that share the same territory but are lived from temporal and social coordinates that suppose completely isolated, if not incompatible, worlds. I am talking about models of relationships with violence between parents and children that remind us of those of seventy years ago here, I am talking about patterns of forced marriage arrangements by the family, I am talking about patterns of despotic domination within the couple, I am talking about authoritarian systems of religious control...

And, obviously, all this translates into political behaviors that are the result of inequalities, precariousness, grievances, threats, fears and victimizations –justified or not– that are perceived and experienced everywhere with little or much objectivity and contrast. If, faced with all this complexity, it turns out that the country does not have the necessary legal mechanisms to confront it, if it cannot count on the fiscal resources that economic activity itself produces, if the framework of colonial political dependence protects those who still want to add fuel to the fire of division and conflict –such as linguistic–, then tell me how the motley society we have become can be maintained. At this point, the enthusiastic praise of multiculturalism, the candid songs in favor of diversity turned into a party –I will always remember that local slogan, in Terrassa, that invited us to "enjoy (sic) diversity"–, sound like a joke in bad taste.

Hiding the true dimensions of the migration challenge not only makes it difficult to assess them and find a solution, but also adds discomfort and irritation to those who must bear their difficulties on their own shoulders – be they migrants, transnationals or natives – and explains many of the unwanted political drifts. Knowing these challenges without restrictions would be much more useful than resorting to the usual ideological clichés of the extreme right and left – and also of the extreme centers, what's up! – whose function is usually to get rid of the fleas of the failure of an increasingly rootless society. I don't know if the truth will set us free, but it would certainly wake us up a little more.