Every morning, at what feels like the crack of dawn, I make the trek to my familiar metro stop—Manuel Becerra in the Salamanca neighborhood of Madrid, Spain. As I walk half asleep to my platform, I pass the same poster. More than 100 metro trips have passed and yet it still makes an impact—a striking image of refugees, a man and his child, on a set of train tracks underneath the hashtag #SinFiltros. After googling the poster, I learned that the photo is in fact an advertisement for an art installation trying to call attention to the refugee crisis in Europe. This picture typifies the attitude towards the Syrian refugee crisis here—aware and earnest but without real support for actionable change. The realm of refugees in Spain is that of banners and news stories but very few actual refugees.
Madrid’s most well-known statement on the crisis is its infamous banner. When walking to the Prado museum or Retiro park, I pass the Cybele Palace, a beautiful neoclassical building that houses Madrid’s city council and, for the last year, has proudly displayed a banner that reads: “Refugees Welcome.”
Occasionally that statement is true. In September 2014, after a video of a Hungarian journalist tripping a Syrian migrant went viral, the CENFAFE football academy invited the father, a former coach in his own country, to work for them. Later that month, his son even appeared as [Cristiano] Ronaldo’s mascot on the field of Bernabéu Stadium. Afterwards, the football club Real Madrid committed to donating 1 million euros to aid refugees in Spain.
While these gestures, and even actions, are earnest and welcomed, they are not the norm. In April 2016, Spain had accepted a total of 18 of its promised 1,600 refugees. Unfortunately for the few individuals that make it to Spain, they are only guaranteed six months of protection by the government. At first, I found it strange that a country which borders Africa and boasts a population of over 46 million could have so few Syrian refugees.
Much of this situation is attributed to the country’s poor economy—Spain has no reason to accept refugees that it cannot employ. Its current rate of 20 percent is much higher than many other EU countries, and so most refugees quickly move on to Germany or Sweden. The lack of political power also functions as a roadblock. Spain has been under a caretaker government for eight months and just had its second inconclusive elections this past month.
I am not the only one that feels this frustration; there is a general consensus among citizens that they want to help refugees. In fact, in May 11 of the 17 autonomous communities called on the government in Madrid to change their refugee policy and do more. There are centers, NGOS, and individual citizens ready to assist, but they lack refugees to help.
I find that this idealism stands in contrast to the United States, which has shown a lack of interest and in many cases open hostility towards Syrian refugees. Last month, when being interviewed by CNN, libertarian candidate Gary Johnson was confused when asked about the humanitarian crisis in Aleppo. Last week, the Trump/Pence campaign released an ad comparing refugees to poisonous skittles. And just today my own home state of Texas has threatened to withdraw from the refugee resettlement plan after already keeping Syrian refugees out until June of this year, when they were ordered by a federal judge to accept over 200. Yet, despite protests, there are still over 5,000 Syrian refugees in the United States at this time, compared to Spain’s less than 100.
The UN’s General Assembly is currently going on, and international figures including Ban Ki-moon, Secretary of State John Kerry, and President Barack Obama have called for action, hope, and change. Yet as they spoke, the week-long ceasefire fell apart, aid convoys were attacked, and Syria continues to wait. And I also wait and watch as the country I come from and the country I am in struggle to convince their citizens to protect those that need it most.
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