December
8, 2007
'Anti-fascists' Defy Neo-Nazis
on Spanish Streets
Madrid
Neo-Nazis attacking immigrants are nothing new in Spain, but an
equally marginal and violent force opposing them is now emerging.
Youths calling themselves anti-fascists clash in Madrid, Barcelona
and other cities with neo-Nazis or similar gangs whom they resemble
with their shaved heads, leather jackets and military boots like in
a mirror image.
Little is known about the groups which only make headlines when
something bigger happens, such as the recent killing of a
16-year-old anti-fascist by a neo-Nazi on the Madrid subway, or
clashes between hundreds of anti-fascists and police in Barcelona.
The emergence of violent as well as non-violent anti-racist groups
are a response to insufficient official policies, which have failed
to stem the increase of racist attitudes, says Esteban Ibarra,
president of the Movement Against Intolerance, which campaigns
against xenophobia.
Sociologists, on their side, are detecting an increasing, even if
superficial, interest in ideologies among young people who have
grown up in a consumerist society.
Spain is one of the European Union countries where the number of
immigrants has grown most rapidly, now making up nearly 10 percent
of the population of 45 million.
The biggest non-European groups are Moroccans and Ecuadorians, who
number around half a million each.
Police estimate that about 10,000 people belong to various kinds of
far-right groups in the country, which does not have a far-right
party with parliamentary representation.
Neo-nazi youths do not only attack immigrants, but also others such
as homosexuals and homeless people. Such groups suffer about 4,000
acts of aggression annually, according to the Movement Against
Intolerance.
The youths most commonly known as anti-fascists, who seek to prevent
such attacks, belong to groups with names such as Sharp, Redskins,
National Revolutionary Youth, Anti-Fascist Brigades or Bukaneros.
Both the anti-fascists and the neo-Nazis often have their roots in
similar movements in other European countries or the US.
Both types of radicals also seek ideological points of reference in
Spain's 1936-39 Civil War, which pitted the leftist republican
government against right-wing dictator-to-be Francisco Franco.
Police estimate that there are at least 500 "really violent"
anti-fascists or related people in Madrid alone. But it is difficult
to distinguish the violent from the non-violent ones, making the
total number hard to determine.
The violent groups that make headlines are part of a much wider
movement comprising the most heterogeneous groups ranging from punks
and squatters to anarchists and the far left, Ibarra pointed out in
an interview with the DPA.
The anti-fascist groups started emerging already a decade ago as
part of a Europe-wide "anti-globalisation" movement, but they are
now becoming more visible, he observed.
People whom police regard as thugs looking for brawls often attend
peaceful demonstrations for causes ranging from calls to end poverty
to affordable housing.
Demonstrations, football matches, neighbourhood festivals or other
events can escalate into violent clashes with police, as has
happened in Barcelona, where hundreds of anti-fascists and
"opponents of the system" confronted the security forces with
stones, bottles or sticks.
Dozens of people have been injured in clashes that have also caused
material damage worth hundreds of thousands of euros in the recent
years.
"Political parties' lack of efficiency against racism feeds the
activity of marginal groups," Ibarra says. "Neo-Nazi flags, for
instance, are allowed at football stadiums."
"Racist websites continue functioning with impunity, and people who
are convicted of racist attacks come away with light sentences," he
added.
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