EVERYBODY IS TALKING ABOUT CEUTA AND THE 30th OF JULY
Everybody is talking about Ceuta and the 30th of july.
Most of the media report about it using right-wing framing, fueling racist discourse and thus catering the fascist powers in Europe. The reports also use a colonialist take on Ceuta which is presented as "spanish enclave" and not as present-day colonial territory which is refused to be given back since it's occupation first by Portugal in 1415, then 1668 by Spain. Aditionally, there seems to be some sort of collective amnesia on previous intstrumentalisation of people on the move for geopolitical games in the exact same place: in 2021 for example, after the leader of the Sahrawi people Brahim Ghali received medical care in Spain, Morocco facilitated the entry of 8.000 people. Minors were illegally deported afterwards.
Over the catastrophistic framing which strenghtens anti-migration discourses, testimonies of the people on the move in Ceduta/Abyala/Sabta about their everyday experiences beyond July 30th are omitted: racist attacks in the streets, the chronically overcrowded detention center, as well as arbitrary arrests and deportations on the base of racial profiling.
Thus, the reactions by the spanish government come with no surprise: The deployment of military forces withdrawn from areas in Spain affected by the wildfire desasters; violations of the right to claim asylum, and thus international law, on a large scale (40.000-50.000 cases estimated); the installation of a floating fence in the sea; and the systematic refusal to provide people with basic necessities like food, water and shelter. Only 48 hours later, most of those who reached Ceuta/Abyala/Sebta left again and went to Morocco without a due process.
Even though the spanish government refused a Frontex mission which has been requested by the European Commission, migration is exploited by the spanish Government as mean to self-promote according to their political needs. While presenting as in favor of people on the move's rights, it remains silent the over a million of persons waiting since months to bring their promised regularization to a close, because the spanish ministry of interior does not provide enough appointments.
In the meantime Italy pulls political stunts and declares the temporary suspension of the Schengen agreements with Spain and introduces controls at airports and ports, instrumentalizing the situation for an inner-fascist battle between Meloni and Vannacci, so Fratelli d'Italia and Futuro Nazionale. This completely pointless power demonstration - Ceuta/Abyala/Sebta is not even part of the Schengen space - is funded, as usual, by public money. While the law and order mentality is displayed and yet more strategies to militarize the borders come into place, the italian government emphasized that these measures will not have any negative impact on the holy grale of tourism. Tourists are never presented as an invasion despite the immense harm on local housing markets, ecosystems, and communties by mass tourism.
The official numbers of those who have been killed between July 30th and July 31st mount daily, with the latest dat a from August 1st of 67 human lives (numbers coming only from the Spanish side while Morocco did not release any data). These victims add to other 30 persons murdered by the EU's border regime while entering Ceuta/Abyala/Sebta since the beginning of this year. No single effort is currently made to clarify the exact circumstances or to hold the responsibles accountable. This is yet another echo of previous occurences. Until today, no investigations have been made on the killing of at least 14 persons on February 6th 2020, a day which is referred to as "la Tragedia de Tarajal". This illustrates the impunity of European authorities as well as the violence used to deprive people of their freedom of movement. Once again, the victims of July 30th remain unidentified and no justice is done, neither for the dead nor for their families.