Vinícius, LaLiga and racism in Spain

The Brazilian footballer Vinícius Júnior is a divisive and controversial figure in Spain. He arrived in Spain five years ago and after a few unconvincing seasons finally managed to stabilise his form and earn a star player status for himself, which was expected of him at Real Madrid. A few years ago fans of opposing teams still laughed at his lack of effectiveness in front of goal and his often ineffective dribbling. I myself used to think that he would probably become another Robinho - a player with certain talent but far from being world-class. Although football fans have finally learnt to value his undeniable skills, he is often disliked due to his attitude in the field. The Brazilian is infamous for his arrogant and disrespectful behaviour towards rival teams and their fans. In the recent Copa del Rey final against Osasuna he expressed disdain for the opponents reminding them they couldn't win the cup because they were a small team. There is no doubt that Vinícius has become a highly unpopular figure quite deservedly. Personally I don't like him either for the above mentioned reason, however this time, after the shocking string of racist abuse that he has suffered in different stadiums around Spain (including "my" Camp Nou), I feel obliged to write something in his defence because nothing at all can justify racism, and when someone denounces it, the privileged majority who do not suffer from racism should listen and examine itself instead of becoming defensive.

I have just read an article in the Spanish 'Sport', in which the author Albert Masnou blames the Brazilian forward for the situation in Valencia and asks why rival fans only target him and not other players of colour in the Real Madrid squad like Tchouameni and Camavinga. I can understand why fans dislike Vinícius more than the humble French duo, but when people shout racist obscenities from the stands, it's simply because they are racist. People do not say racist things in the heat of the moment unless ideas of white supremacy are deeply rooted in their subconscious or even conscious set of beliefs. When the player, understandably affected, denounced this disgraceful behaviour, our first reaction should not be denial and taking a defensive stance. Instead we should question ourselves whether what he says is not true. The worst possible response to Vinícius's complaints against racism in Spain came from the disastrous LaLiga president Javier Tebas, who chose to go defensive by boasting about his supposed success in the fight against racism and claiming that Spain is not a racist country - the same Tebas who is a proud supporter of the far-right party VOX and was seen at a far-right groups gathering. Is it really true that Spain is not a racist country? Maybe instead of getting offended we should first examine if the player might be right.

I have lived in Barcelona for the last eleven years, and have traveled to many places in Spain in those years. I follow the Spanish and Catalan media and the debate about racism in Spanish society is one that I'm especially interested in. Although I have generally felt welcome wherever I have been in the country, and thought that people were much more open and friendly than in other parts of Europe, in the end I am not perceived as a person of colour here, therefore I'm not the right person to make such judgements. To really know how much racism there is in Spain, we would need to talk to the Subsaharan street vendors or the Moroccan fruit pickers in the Spanish countryside or the numerous Spanish citizens of African and other origin who are still facing quite a lot of prejudice. Only then we would discover that their reality is quite different from what we experience. At the end of the day, I'm not a poor migrant from outside of the EU but a European with a fairly light skin (despite my Indian origin), so who am I to say that there is no racism in Spain?

Perhaps Spanish society is not more racist than other European ones, but, as a friend once told me, this is not a competition of who is less racist. As antiracists we should only be satisfied if this hideous discrimination is universally condemned and relegated to the margins of society as something abominable and intolerable. In this sense the Premier League is far ahead of most other tournaments such as LaLiga and Pep Guardiola might be right in suggesting that the Spanish football authorities should follow the English example. In England there is a zero tolerance approach to any discriminatory insults in football stadiums, while in Spain rules are perhaps too lenient. To be fair, we must mention that England has an advantage of a few generations more which have lived in a multiethnic and multicultural society, and therefore the intolerance towards racism is perhaps much more common there than it is in Spain, where large-scale immigration has a much shorter history.

Having to pick sides between Tebas and Vinícius is not an ideal situation to be in when you're a Barcelona fan but to me it's clear who the victim is. My personal view of the player is irrelevant. Fans might not like Vinícius and have the right to express their outrage at his provocative behaviour, but shouting racist slurs is going several steps too far. That the abuse came from Valencia fans is hardly a surprise to me considering the offensive anti-Barça and anti-Catalan chants heard in Mestalla stadium whenever FC Barcelona play there. On the other hand, I do think that the harm done to Valencia CF because of the disgraceful behaviour of a rather small group of fans is a very harsh punishment. The club almost lost a sponsorship deal due to the reputational damage. LaLiga will have to figure out a better way of tackling racism in Spanish stadiums rather than yielding to pressure from Florentino Pérez and Real Madrid on those rare occasions when the incident becomes an international scandal. However, under the presidency of Javier Tebas, who thinks he and his organisation have done enough, there is plenty of doubt if things can improve in the near future.