What are Catalan universities doing in response to far-right actions?

BarcelonaUniversities are once again the epicenter of far-right political experiments and conflagrations. The radical right goes back inside In the ideological war, classrooms are a key element. With the strategy of entering forcefully to wage their cultural battle, they are also disrupting classes and denouncing censorship. Thus, Students for Change (EPC) denounced last Friday: The University of Barcelona's veto of a talk on the Spanish empire of the Francoist historian Fernando Paz, who has flirted with neo-Nazi movements and who even Vox had to give up on his being the head of the list for Albacete in the 2019 state elections. A veto that was defended by the UB because Paz "defends values contrary to those of our university, and goes against gay rights." Now, this Thursday an S'A Acabat (S'H) event was held at Pompeu Fabra University with an ultra-right component, as Vox MP Alberto Tarradas spoke. Are universities responding in the same way to the events promoted by the far right?

It is evident that despite the veto of several events with highly controversial content, the two far-right entities present in the student councils, EPC and S'H, have been able to hold the events that have been proposed, despite opting for a victim-playing strategy and denouncing "censorship" at the UB itself. For example, Se ha acabado (The University of Buenos Aires) denounced the censorship of an event at the UAB featuring Spanish nationalist professor Rafael Arenas at the end of April—according to the university, no space had been requested—but on Thursday, a completely normal discussion was held with the ultraconservative Neos Foundation and its director, Javier Martínez-Fresneda; Vox MP Tarradas; the president of Impulso Ciudadano, Pepe Domingo; and PP MP Lorena Roldán.

For Women's Day, S'H also came forward an event at the UPF with the Vox deputy Mònica Lora and also the popular Lorena Roldán, in addition to numerous economic profile acts or with retired far-right leaders as Ivan Espinosa de los Monteros. They also denounced the veto last year at the UB of the state spokesperson for Vox on immigration, Samuel Vázquez.

On the other hand, Estudiants pel Canvi did give a talk on housing in October last year at the UB, led by the deputy and spokesperson for Vox on Housing, Carlos H. Quero. For its part, the same entity was prevented from holding an event at the UB in January to screen a xenophobic documentary full of falsehoods that pointed to Pakistanis as a group responsible for rapes in the United Kingdom. In parallel, this Thursday S'H also denounced an event at the UPF's main festival called Shoot the fascist The shot was supposed to hit the logos of the student organization Vox, the PP, and the Catalan Alliance, prompting the PP to call for a public condemnation from the Catalan government. In any case, the university maintains that the act took place outside its facilities and was "self-managed" by the students.

Similarities and differences between universities

The three universities affected by far-right acts have had disagreements over what to do about the organization of events by the far right. As stated in the ARA newspaper, the University of Barcelona has a clear criterion on which vetoes to impose, as they practiced last Friday with the Francoist historian. Sources at the institution clarify that the request for authorization receives "affirmative and negative responses depending on the type of event, the availability of spaces, or criteria of opportunity and appropriateness," but it is crucial that "any event held at the university must respect the values and principles enshrined in the Statute of the University of Barcelona." When rejecting any event, the academic trajectory is taken into account, and when the events are "events with a partisan political component," the priority is to "give priority to pluralism" and "avoid conflicts that disrupt university coexistence." In other words, broadly speaking, they try to prevent far-right events, but they admit that if the event is organized by a legal student association, there is less room to do so.

Regarding the UPF, sources from the University emphasize that students can promote the creation of university associations, which must be registered in the Registry of Associations of the Generalitat, and that "all associations have the same rights and duties", which regulates the regulations of student associationsSpecifically, it provides for the right to organize activities and use university spaces, although the UPF clarifies that it is necessary to "respect the Code of Ethics, freedom of expression, current legislation, and the university's own regulations." These are limits that the far right can often clash with, but which Se ha Acabado has circumvented with calls for proposals that include other sensitivities.

At the UAB, however, they limit themselves to saying that "in order to cede common university spaces to entities," they "must be registered" in the directory of collectives and "then it is verified that the proposed activity is consistent with the entity's objective." For example, Se ha Acabado is part of the collectives And it's one of those who rent spaces. The last element they cling to, and which can bring down an activity, is "the suitability of the activity for the requested space and availability." However, at the UAB, the anti-fascist movement usually organizes to confront this.