Free-D

What’s your deepest fear? Well, apparently the majority of Spaniards are most preoccupied by the rising cost of petrol, with terrorism and climate change coming in 4th and 5th. Not much of a surprise really; a similar survey this time last year came up with more or less the same results. But of course these aren’t anyone’s deepest concerns.

We rarely talk about our real fears – there’s a feeling that even naming these things somehow summons them up. So, if the price of petrol isn’t the number one concern for most people, what is? If you’re a parent it’s a fair bet that the answer leaps to mind – and is best characterised by the question, “is my child safe?” Thankfully, for the majority this question is a relatively paranoid one. For some terribly unfortunate people, however, it is sadly pertinent. The pictures of the Sub-Saharan women who lost their children last week whilst trying to enter Spain would have stopped any parent in their tracks, at which point I’m sure the price of fuel wasn’t such a burning issue. The authorities were quick to point out that “No special case” was to be made for these illegal immigrants. Fair enough, it’s not the administration’s job to be humane; that, it seems, is up to individuals. But I do wonder at the rather hasty, slightly defensive, announcement made; even an equivocal “no comment” would have been more acceptable. We constantly hear that “immigration is a problem”; but the emphasis is nearly always that it’s a problem for “us”. But my goodness, if we think it’s a problem for “us” – how must it be for “them”; how bad must things be to risk the life of your child? It seems to me that the attitude of the west to immigration is very much a “have your cake and eat it” kind of affair: when we need cheap labour, for example, it’s one story, but as soon as there’s an economic downturn or any other problem for that matter, guess who shoulders the blame? We have an appalling record regarding the developing world, and let’s not forget that this peninsula in particular was very much involved in the “forcible importation of immigrants”, or “slaves” as they’re known. Teresa Chikaba is of course Salamanca’s most famous “immigrant”, and she was robbed not only of her freedom, but finally even of her identity as a black woman. We can never atone for the crimes, or if you like, sins of our forbears, but we can allow the shadow of their guilt to inform our behaviour today – and that applies as much to officialdom as it does to individuals.