Spain's immigration petri dish

Until recently, Spain remained a fairly homogeneous country, where only Spaniards lived, barring a small number of foreigners — mostly Europeans from colder climes in search of sun.

Ten years ago, immigrants made up less than 2 percent of the population. Today immigrants represent 11 percent of Spain’s inhabitants, with Moroccans the largest group. More than 2.5 million immigrants arrived from 2002 to 2007, according to the National Institute of Statistics.

Two out of three neighbors in Lavapies are immigrants, Ibarra said. Seven out of 10 students in Lavapies schools are immigrants — the so-called “one-and-a-half” generation immigrants who were born in their countries but are growing up in Spain.

“Here you can sense a determination to build a common lifestyle in our diversity,” said Jose Enrique Ema Lopez, who lives in Lavapies. Ema participates in Ferrocarril Clandestino, one of many neighborhood platforms and associations.

The network is composed of Spaniards and immigrants, both documented and undocumented, and those who take part exchange favors based on reciprocity — one who receives help one day then gives back. For example, a participant accompanies a non-Spanish speaker to the doctor, and the latter babysits another day in turn.

So far, unlike in other European countries, Spain has no political parties with an anti-immigration agenda in the national parliament, nor have there been significant anti-immigrant demonstrations.

But Ibarra, who was born here 54 years ago, is worried about the future. “Police reports don’t reveal the motivation behind a crime, so we don’t have specific statistics,” he said. A recent survey by the Institute of Youth found that 14 percent of Spanish high school students said they would vote for a political party with a racist ideology. “Xenophobia is growing everywhere,” Ibarra said, including in Lavapies, though less than in other neighborhoods.

“Lavapies’s strong social fabric acts like a shock absorber against the neighborhood problems,” he said.

And there is no lack of potential trouble. After the Madrid terrorist train bombings that killed almost 200 people in 2004, the police arrested several Moroccans in Lavapies, some of whom are still in prison. There is crime in the streets, particularly from Moroccan thieves, according to residents.

Ibarra said his and other groups work hard to prevent this from stigmatizing the general Muslim population. A few years ago another group of Moroccans targeted Chinese shop owners to steal their money. “We saw the beginning of an inter-ethnic conflict,” Ibarra said, “but, thanks to police action and the Moroccan neighbors’ hostility toward these delinquents, they are not here anymore.”

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