Now in Spain, viral and unfounded messages against migrants; the prosecutor’s office investigates
Armando G. Tejeda
Correspondent
The newspaper La Jornada
Friday, August 23, 2024, p. 23
Madrid. The method is not new: it has been used in England, Holland, Sweden and Germany; it consists of spreading a rumour about a tragic event, such as the murder of a minor, or a rape in a house, from profiles, mostly anonymous, on social networks. herd or violent cruelty towards an elderly person, and is attributed to a migrant, preferably of Arab and Muslim origin. This is what happened in Spain this week following the murder last Sunday, in the Toledo town of Mocejón, of an 11-year-old boy, who was stabbed 12 times.
The tragedy meant that in the almost 48 hours that the perpetrator of the crime, a 20-year-old Spanish man with a mental illness, was unknown, the idea that the person responsible for the crime was a Muslim minor was spread with impunity.
Concerned about these hate campaigns promoted by the extreme right, the Spanish public prosecutor’s office has opened an investigation and is seeking criminal liability.
From Sunday until midday on Tuesday, on social media, especially from the X and Tik Tok platforms, the theory that the murderer of the Spanish child was a foreigner with an irregular situation or a Muslim simply, or one of the thousands of unaccompanied minors (Menas, as they are known), who live in the reception centres of the Spanish State, most of them in overcrowded conditions.
The origin of these messages were anonymous profiles sponsored by the extreme right, from which they spread hatred and racism, although there are some public profiles, from some opinion leaders of the Spanish ultras, such as the user Santanav: A 10-year-old boy was stabbed to death by a Moroccan. Call me racist, xenophobic, whatever you want, but I want them out NOW!
In England this month they used this method to set the streets of the country on fire and provoke one of the most serious xenophobic hate campaigns in recent years in Europe, but they have also tried it in Sweden, Germany, France, Italy and the Netherlands. The Spanish prosecutor’s office, through the coordinator against Hate Crimes, Miguel Ángel Aguilar, decided to take action on the matter and start an investigation, determine criminal responsibilities and explain that Those people who use the Internet or social networks to commit a crime, in the most serious cases and taking into account the circumstances of the specific case, will be investigated..
The debate has also served to discuss in Spain whether a digital identity permanent, which should be mandatory for opening any type of profile on social networks, in order to prevent hatred and racism from becoming a permanent part of public life.