"Throw them back into the water" or "throw them into the sea" are some of the most heard and read slogans in recent weeks, among the racist messages circulating on social networks in the Canary Islands. The month of October has broken all records in terms of the number of boats arriving to the islands. Also in the number of people who have disappeared at sea. While Lanzarote, the island that leads the receptions of migrants, has gone two weeks without receiving precarious boats, El Hierro and Tenerife have seen increased rescues. However, the number of migrants arriving on the coasts of the Archipelago is not the only thing that has grown, racist and hate comments have also grown proportionally.
"Hate messages on social networks are not a direct reflection of Canarian public opinion," reveals Dr. Daniel Buraschi from the University of Castilla-La Mancha. The author of the thesis Racism and moral borders in the mediapolis. Discursive strategies in comments to online news and a proposal for anti-racist social intervention (2019) adds that this online narrative "is not the most worrying expression of racism." For him, institutional racism has a much more negative impact than hate speech on the internet.
However, he does not diminish the importance of the hostile environment created by racist comments. "Surely online hate speech is a worrying reality that can have negative effects on the dynamics of coexistence and reception," he begins. At the same time, he points out that different studies have shown that these discourses help to "legitimize violence, normalize racism and dehumanize migrants."
For this expert, affiliated with the Social Action and Research Network, online discourse has many elements in common with the hatred that can be found outside these platforms. However, he points out that social networks make the polarization of ideas easier. "The feeling of being in what is called an echo chamber, that is, thinking that what you think is what the majority thinks because the algorithms and the way you navigate and manage social networks makes you interact, see and read positions and opinions similar to yours," exemplifies this professor of Social Psychology. In addition, the reality of anonymity behind a screen provides users with a "sense of virtuality," of acting and speaking "in a world that is not real" and generates a sense of impunity.
However, the message is not only built from the networks. Daniel Buraschi argues that these reactions of hatred and rage towards migrants are related to the way the migratory phenomenon is mediatized, as well as the approach that prevails in part of the discourses and networks. "Immigration is a supposed threat to security, employment, the economy, cultural values," he adds.
Us versus them
Despite the proximity of the Canary Archipelago to the African continent, not only geographically but also historically, there is a widespread thought where two groups are created: us and them. The researcher points out that a fundamental element of racism involves the dehumanization of the other person. "This separation between 'us' and 'them' does not come from nowhere but is a complex process of social categorization that depends on social, political, ideological and historical dynamics," he analyzes.
At this point, the expert in Social Psychology reveals that the dynamics of dehumanization cannot be understood without talking about the colonial heritage that has separated the Canary Islands from the rest of Africa. "The dehumanization of people of African origin has a lot to do with the colonial representation, by the West, of the Arab, black, Muslim or sub-Saharan person." For Daniel Buraschi the answer is clear: the dehumanization of African migrants is part of a reflection of the colonial gaze.
To all this are added the political and social dynamics, where the role of the media comes into play. "A group is dehumanized when it is represented in social networks, in certain media and in certain political discourses as a threat and as a danger," he begins. At the same time, he reflects that the images experienced in recent years, from the undignified treatment, the overcrowding in a dock, the confinement in a Foreigners Internment Center or the reception in macro-centers, generates this dehumanization.
"Sometimes even the same entities that should support them contribute to their dehumanization when they treat them as passive, paternalistic victims, without respecting their autonomy and their migratory project," argues the researcher.
The first step to combat hate speech is to combat institutional racism, reveals Daniel Buraschi, since it is this system that "generates the conditions" that give way to social racism. Thus, from the Archipelago there are many experiences that try to fight against racial discrimination. Among them, this doctorate points to migrant and anti-racist associations for their contribution to building from political anti-racism, which is, in his opinion, more critical of the system and more effective. For example, Black Dignity, Afro Women (in) the Canary Islands, Anti-racist School or Migrant Network.
He also points to popular initiatives (assemblies, networks, informal associations of people who help and support newly arrived people), from where a work of denunciation and visibility of racism is carried out. Examples of these are platforms such as Canarias libre de CIE, Aquí estamos, Asamblea de apoyo a personas migrantes en Tenerife, among others.
At the same time, he continues to point out institutional projects and programs that promote coexistence in the Islands. In this case, he makes special mention of the initiatives Juntas en la misma dirección, CEAR Canarias, Cáritas, Raíz del Pueblo or Tenerife antirrumores.
To combat these discourses, Daniel Buraschi points out the importance of other initiatives that are born in schools, artistic, health or business spaces that try to combat hate speech. At this point, he makes special mention of the role of journalists who carry out "an important work of information, but also of dignification." For the doctor from the University of Castilla-La Mancha, all these initiatives "contribute to combating hate speech because they inform, denounce, make visible, give tools to understand the phenomenon of migration, promote empathy and responsibility."
