Nobody likes to speak ill of their country. Me neither. Self-criticism is tedious. It's easier to relativize, to look the other way, to see the speck in someone else's eye and not the log in your own. It's uncomfortable to put your finger on your own wounds. When the wound is open, it hurts. In this article, I do just that: apply a good splash of alcohol to see if our political, social, economic, and cultural body reacts. I confess I don't have much hope. The warning signs are clear.

The ARA (Argentine Anti-Communist Alliance) has returned to the town of Torre Pacheco, in the province of Murcia, six months after the far right launched a campaign against Moroccan immigrants, incidents that marked a turning point in the xenophobic agenda in Spain. "There are no too many immigrants, there are too many racists," read a banner displayed a few days ago by Moroccan farmworkers during a labor protest in the town. Life in this town, as in so many others, is marked by segregation: locals and foreigners socialize in separate spaces. There is little interaction. The integration work carried out by schools and some associations is insufficient. Distance and mistrust persist, especially regarding the Muslim population: Islamophobia has taken root. The far right promotes it unfiltered on social media and is profiting from it, both in Spain and Catalonia, as well as in other parts of Europe. In fact, despite the diversity within the far right (for example, on gender issues), Islamophobia is the element that all continental far-right groups have in common.

In the field of migration studies, we have long analyzed a dynamic that is as disturbing as it is paradoxical: the policy trap (policy trapThis refers to the situation where public actions, far from achieving their intended goals, end up producing the exact opposite effect. Today, in Catalonia, we are facing one of these traps: a proliferation of institutional plans "against" racism that, instead of defusing hatred, may be fueling the very narratives they seek to eradicate.

After entering the Catalan Parliament and with an eye on the municipal elections, Aliança Catalana has been creating regional executive committees. All of them have chat groups with the leaders and members of the region. There, they discuss current political events and organize the weekend information booths. The far-right pro-independence party also has an unofficial one.

From having a completely free stroller to passing by local citizens to receive healthcare or social benefits. They are the Rumors that fuel hate speech against migrants, which without any basis are spread throughout a society that has seen how, despite macroeconomic improvements, there is much social precariousness. Dean of the Official College of Social Work of Catalonia, Laura Morro, has warned that professionals from basic municipal social services try to deny favorable treatment toward residents of foreign origin while simultaneously resolving the problems raised by users.

Leila Nachawati Riego, a journalist and writer from Galicia, is an active defender of human rights. Her father is Syrian and her mother is Galician. She has developed her career between two worlds, and as such, she is a voice that must be heard. She is part of the Association for the Progress of Communications, an international human rights network that promotes social justice through information and communication technologies. She also teaches courses on violence and the media at the Carlos III University of Madrid.

Measures exemplary for the ultra accused of inciting social networks Hunt against the North African community in the Murcian town of Torre PachecoThe judge on duty has sent Christian LF, the leader of the xenophobic supremacist movement, to preventive detention. Sport Them Now The High Court of Justice of Catalonia (TSJC) reported this Thursday. The judge of Mataró's first investigating court has ordered the detention of the accused without bail. to the 28-year-old, who is charged with inciting hatred, belonging to an illicit association for committing a discriminatory crime, and illegal possession of weapons.

The Civil Guard arrested on Monday in Mataró director of the supremacist and xenophobic group Deport Them Now for his alleged role as instigator of the riots and racist "hunts" that have taken place in recent days in the Murcia town of Torre Pacheco. According to sources from the Ministry of the Interior who spoke to Efe, the arrested man is a 28-year-old man who lived in Barcelona and who last January obtained authorization to work as a private bodyguard.

The events and images from Torre Pacheco hold up a mirror to the politics of hate fueled by the far right, an incendiary reality spreading across Europe like wildfire through social media, seeking places to disrupt coexistence with easy enemies. The immigrant population—even though they are sometimes second and third generations with Spanish nationality—and marginalized communities are in the crosshairs, all rife with Islamophobic and racist rhetoric. The case of the fire at the new Piera mosque, still under investigation, could also respond to this logic. In its various acronyms, forms, and versions, the underlying discourse and street actions of the European far right respond to the same pattern, with more than plausible digital connections. Communities with elements that ignite a spark are sought everywhere, and calls for violent activism are issued. Then the hunt for immigrants begins. In the wake of the chaos, the targeted group is generically blamed, creating a general climate of fear, also among the native population. This is how bridges are easily burned and a culture of suspicion is established.

The rise of the authoritarian far right is putting democracy and coexistence on the ropes. It is a very worrying global phenomenon that is being given wings by the American president, Donald Trump, side by side with the technological magnate Elon Musk. The wave has been growing for some time now in Europe, where it already governs in Italy and is growing in almost all countries. Catalonia and Spain are not exempt. In the State as a whole, Vox is the third parliamentary force, and here the far right has made holes in both the Spanish and the pro-independence camps with Vox and Aliança Catalana, two parties that, beyond their national affiliation, share with the entire European far right – Le Pen, Orbán, Weidel, Wilders, Meloni… and the island – the social and economic weaknesses of families and people often forced into illegality and precarious jobs. These are parties that, far from seeking the civic, linguistic and cultural integration of newcomers, directly reinforce their stigmatisation and suggest expulsion as a solution. Precisely, their discourse can be a breeding ground for radical attitudes. Intolerance generates intolerance.

Thousands of attacks against religious minorities, women, migrants or the LGTBIQ collective go unpunished every day throughout the European Union. Between 40% and 90% of victims of so-called hate crimes choose not to report the attack, partly because they distrust official institutions or are afraid of reprisals for pointing out who their attackers are. The Fundamental Rights Agency (FRA) warns of this in a report in which it encourages reporting and making visible expressions of intolerance. Extrapolating from this, the 1,700 complaints of discriminatory attacks that were registered in Spain in 2019, the last year collected by the CGPJ, are the tip of the iceberg.

Vox will be able to maintain in its electoral campaign the xenophobic poster that was hung two weeks ago in the Sol train and metro station, in the heart of Madrid, because it is part of the "form of expression" of the Spanish far-right party's immigration policies. This is at least the opinion of a judge in Madrid, who has dismissed both the complaint filed by the Public Prosecutor's Office and that of the PSOE for an alleged hate crime for the poster that criminalised an immigrant teenager who was identified as a member of the group of unaccompanied foreign minors.

Vox has done it again: it has used immigrants for its populist discourse and has attracted the media spotlight at the start of the election campaign in Madrid. On this occasion, the far-right party has perpetrated a poster in which it contrasts an adorable white-haired woman with a supposed immigrant minor with her face covered, accompanied by the slogan "A mena [acronym for Menor Extranjero No Acompañado, unaccompanied foreign minor], 4,700 euros a month. Your grandmother, 426 euros a month pension". These are two simple sentences - but they are a lie.