This article is the last one from the series of 6 about Spain and Catalonia. It discusses the current state of economic migrants in Europe. It also deals with the difference between Spanish and Catalan languages. It also examines the issue of volunteering. Unfortunately, some entrepreneurs and ordinary people confuse volunteering with free labour (slavery). This leads me to a question of where unregulated capitalism can lead to.
At the end of the article, I posit a new point of view on immigrants’ integration to the majority society and why it doesn’t work out and how it could work (If there was more self-reflection and self-criticism).
Immerse in a series of 6 articles about Spain:
- Spain, Barcelona and San Cugat (1),
- Zaragoza (Aragon), thieves and high-speed trains (2),
- Girona, Montserrat and a grilled pigeon (3),
- Spanish cuisine and overall impressions about Spain (4),
- Spanish pronunciation and dictionary (5),
- Spaniards, Catalans, integration of foreigners and capitalism (this article).
RMS Titanic
I was staying over at a hostel which is located at the outskirts of Barcelona. Hostel is a type of accommodation where 4, 8 or 16 people sleep in the same room. Hostels usually have a kitchen, a living room (common area for socializing). They are more similar to places where people get to know each other and sleep over.
The hostel I was staying over surprised me. I felt like being in the 3rd class on the lower deck of RMS Titanic. The time when poor Europeans voyaged to America to seek a better life. Even bed berths were similar to cabins on a ship. 90 % of my fellow accommodated were economic migrants from various parts of the world. The majority of them came from Latin America. However, there were also people from Nepal of Africa.
It shed light on the notion of strong impenetrable borders in which only one nation with one language resides. The notion utterly dissociated from the reality. The real situation is that there have been waves of massive migrations in the last 15 to 20 years from one part of the world to another. This also includes Prague.
Do economic migrants find the better life? When you have a chat with them, they get a very low salary. Sometimes the salary is below the legislated minimum salary. Yet they can still send some money to their family back home.
The Nepalese who was staying over with me at the hostel, got a job with a pay of 900 € per month in Barcelona. The minimum salary in Spain is 1080 €. The salary is deeply below cost of living in Barcelona. The website Cost of living estimator says that if you share a 3-room apartment outside of the city centre, the cost of living is 1 280 € per month. If you would like to rent a 1-room apartment, the cost of living would be 1 800 to 2 100 €.
New business model of hostels
Regulated free market is the pinnacle of the development of the human society. It is ruled by offer and demand. Nuclear fission can be used either to produce electricity or drop bombs on those who disagree.
I believe the analogy applies on capitalism as well. The free market and capitalism can take on unprecedented proportions if left unregulated. The regulation which would help is strict adherence to laws and regulations under the threat of such a fine, that the fine can make a company go bankrupt.
Many hostels operate on the basis of volunteers, which are accommodated at their premises for free in an exchange for labour.
Example: A hostel in Gdansk offered one-room accommodation in exchange of 4 hours of work per day. That amounts to 28 hours per week which is 0,7 of a full-time employment (40 hrs per week). It is like paying 0,7 of your monthly salary for rent.
Example 2: A hostel in Barcelona had 3 hours per day which amounts to 21 hours per week (0,525 of a full-time employment) for a bunk bed in a 16-people room.
There is a website workaway.info. Its purpose is supposed to be to offer volunteering opportunities in hostels, family homes, cottages and so on. After reading a few adverts and in conjunction with the hostel volunteering reality, I came to a conclusion that some people and business confuse volunteering with free labour (slavery).
That high level of commodification (Capitalizing on aspects of human life which didn’t make any money before) is really wild.
The question is: How much have access to websites and technology contributed to it and removed the entry barrier?
Spanish speaking, I met
Barcelona population consists of 25 % of foreign people. The percentage is Prague is 15 %. I spent 7 days in Spain and asked around where people come from. All of them spoke Spanish.
Spaniards, I met
I met the first Spaniard on the 3rd day of my stay in Barcelona. I mean somebody who was born in Spain.
Catalans I met
I met the first Catalan on the 6th day of my stay in Barcelona. By Catalan I mean a person who was born in Catalonia and speaks Catalan. One would say that Catalan language is very similar to Spanish.
The difference between Catalan and Spanish is bigger than between Czech and Russian, Dutch and English or Dutch and German. The difference is calculable on this website. Catalan is more similar to Italian than to Spanish.
After discussing the issue with locals, I got contradictory answers. Some told me, the languages are very similar. Some told them that they are very different.
I understand Catalans now. Imagine a Czech being forced to speak Russian and being banned from speaking Czech? That’s what Francisco Franco did with Catalan language. How would you feel?
Integrations of immigrants
I have always wondered why integration of immigrants doesn’t work in the majority of Western countries (The United Kingdom, France, Germany). The general truth is that the culprit are maladjusted immigrants. However, is it truth?
There is something very interesting about immigrants in Spain. They all speak Spanish. Even those who know English prefer speaking Spanish in a casual conversation. It was also interesting walking through districts of Barcelona which would be considered no-go zones in France or England. How did I feel in these districts? Pleasant and safe. What kind of feelings did I have in England or the Netherlands? I was afraid and wary.
I spent some time living in England. I met multiple people there who had been living in England for years and didn’t speak a word of English. A Chinese whom I met hit the nail on the head. He said: “I’ve been living here for 15 years and I am still considered a 3rd grade citizen.”
I also have firsthand stories of people who lived and worked in Germany. The Germans say they are open-minded and accepting of immigrants on the surface. However, in its true core, the majority of German society don’t accept immigrants.
I discussed the topic with Ursula, a Polish, who has been living in Spain for around 10 years. Throughout our discussion we came to a conclusion that the problem isn’t the migrants but the majority society (The French, Germans and Englishmen) and their point of view of immigrants. Their reluctance to accept immigrants and open to them.
This is not the case of Spain. The majority of Spanish society is open towards immigrants which can be supported by the fact that all immigrants speak Spanish, no-go zone are good to go and nonexistence of ghettos. Do countries such as Germany, England and France want to solve their problems with immigrants? It is necessary to look at the issue at hand from a different point of view.
Einstein was supposed to say: ”Madness is when you repeat the same steps to achieve something. However, you expect different results.” I believe the same pearl of wisdom can be applied to different points of view.
Conclusion and the end of the series
In the 6-article series, you have learnt about Spain, Catalonia and what to visit. We have discussed Spanish cuisine, Spanish language and culture. We have also critically looked at the current state of affairs in Europe.
There was a question put forward at the beginning of the series. Were my notions based on truth or a fragment of my imagination? Mostly fragments of my imagination based on my short experience with Spaniards. A train was delayed only once and due to a technical failure. The siesta is not used for slacking, but for surviving the afternoon heat when your stomach is full.
