European Identity - Individual, Group and Society - HumanitarianNet

DOES EUROPE ADMIT OTHER IDENTITIES? MODELS OF INTEGRATION ... 277different cultures. Once again, this shows just how unreliable andbiased our tendency to rely on historical memory is when trying tounderstand the present.Therefore, in the light of all the above, it is not surprising that thepeoples of the South choose to risk their lives embarking on dangeroussea crossings in rowing boats to reach the prosperous North. However,the Vietnamese, Cuban Haitian or North African who manages tocheat death in this way not only becomes a symbol of someone whoescapes their misery, but also a threat to those who receive them andbear witness to this human avalanche of immigrants. In fact, in ourcollective imagination, the new threat to the prosperous world is notthat of local revolutions that may come to pass in the Third World, noris it that of political ideologies and economic associations of theproducers of essential raw materials. The real threat to everyday life inthe countries of the North is the uncontrolled mass immigration ofcitizens from the third world who come in search of fair and just livingconditions.How does the Spanish State perceive this phenomenon? Even untilvery recently, Spain has been a country of immigrants 4 ; today morethan two million Spaniards live and work in other countries. Presently,as a result of the social and economic development occurring in ourcountry, Spain is now on the receiving end of immigration 5 . In theabsence of community policy on immigration, and following the recentreform of the Spanish State’s infamous Immigration Law (L.O. 4/2000)—which includes the newly created department of Immigration on theorganization chart of the Ministry of Interior— it would be difficult toargue that the Spanish stance on the issue is anything other than toengage in a policy of border control and security measures.This is a fundamental error which diverts our attention from ourprime objective: the creation of a global immigration policy which4These people remember how they were rejected; they lived in ghettos and had themost degrading and poorest paid jobs. Rosa Regás told us recently how when she wasan immigrant in Germany she found signs in cafeterias which read “No dogs orSpaniards”, Goytisolo also refreshed our memories with the manuals that werepublished in France in order to explain to housewives how to “treat and domesticateSpanish servant girls”. All too often we suffer from amnesia when it comes to our ownrecent history.5We are talking about 450.000 non-Community immigrants, the figure includesthose who are considered as illegal immigrants, who in general are employed inagriculture, construction, the hotel industry and domestic service, sectors in which thereis great instability. This figure represents around 1.2% of the total population, which isa far lower figure than the 9% to be found in Germany, the 8% in France and Belgiumand the 37% in Luxemburg.