Asociación Projuven interviewed SOS RACISMO MADRID on its work in the field of refugees and migration.
SOS RACISMO MADRID is a non-profit, anti-racist, independent, democratic, multiethnic and plural organization that is framed within the Federation of Associations of SOS RACISM of the Spanish State. Sos Racismo Madrid was established in 1992 with the aim of combating racism and xenophobia. Its scope of action is the Community of Madrid, coordinating its work with other associations to ensure that its activity has repercussion at national and international level.
Do you think that Spain is a country where racial discrimination and hatred are at a fairly high level?
From Sos Racismo Madrid we believe that the xenophobic and racist climate is spreading throughout the European area and the European Union in a very dangerous way, and because of that the situation of refugees and migration are being an excuse for the extreme right to have more voice and more people adapt to your ideas. We think that in Spain are also occurring situations and conflicts related to racial discrimination and hate speech, both what has to do with Islamophobia and the form and treatment in which the media and society present to the migrations and migrants arriving in Spain via the Southern Border.
How do you see the awareness of the problem of refugees in Spain and what programs do you have in this regard?
In Spain many organizations and groups work very hard and very well in order to raise awareness about the dramatic situation in which refugees live, both from Spain and in the camps of Greece and Eastern Europe. In particular, in Sos Racismo Madrid we are not specialized in the refugees, but we work against the racism and the xenophobia that the migrants and racialized people generally suffer. However, we work together with organizations that work specifically with refugees and we are on platforms that denounce the current situation, such as the Caravana a Grecia-Caravana Abriendo Fronteras, which this year will focus on the Southern Border of Spain.
What do we have to improve in the future to avoid today’s problems?
From Sos Racismo Madrid, we advocate a paradigm shift in migratory policies, both European and Spanish, advocating the closure of CIEs in Spanish, European and world territory, which only criminalize and make people suffer, that the Legality at European borders, and, finally, an end to the deportations of people who migrate, as well as improving coexistence and fighting for an antiracist and diverse society.
