“Anzuelo de rabia” (“Rage bait”) is the word of the year for the Oxford University editorial. It is a term that refers to clickbaitusing owners or images that encourage us to click on links to increase advertising revenue. The spark of rage, unlike the click trigger, does not take advantage of our curiosity. The angry mind takes advantage of our ability to feel anger and seeks to feed our emotion of anger. If we are presented with content that aims to bring out our anger so that this emotion changes us and not other emotions, feelings or calm rationality. Han chose this word because of the proliferation of its use and what is happening in Badalona is a good example.
The expulsion from the former B9 institute was carried out by court decision, but the judgment has not been confirmed. We were not accompanied by people seeking refuge, and we were not offered alternative accommodation to prevent them from falling onto the streets. The mayor of Albiol (PP) did not hesitate to appeal to the legality and criminality of refugees to expel them. If they bragged about having withdrawn and not being offered an alternative.
The expulsion took place on school morning. People who slept all the time sought life on their own, but many fell into the streets. Sunday morning, after days of heavy rain in Badalona, Caritas offered 15 places to spend the evening, temporarily, in the parish of Mare de Déu de Montserrat, in the Sant Crist neighborhood. That night, a group of people could not enter the church. The mayor is also there, without offering a solution to anyone. Albiol, throughout the legislature, reduced or eliminated assistance policies. Entities like Cáritas or Badalona have spent time denouncing that from the town hall the obligations imposed on people in emergency housing situations are not respected, that they suffer from poverty, that they are powerless…
Albiol, although asked about the lack of support for these people, limited himself to deciding that they are illegal and that in Badalona there are no resources for them. Badalona is the third largest city in Catalonia in terms of population. More than 230,000 people live there and it was not possible to accommodate 15 people in a parish. Discourses of criminalization and hatred against migrants have given rise to a movement based on fear, anger and the perception of a part of citizens who are lost if something is offered to someone who does not have housing. Han blocked the path to the occupation of a church resulting from Francoism to demand a public school. Some people who were unable to seek refuge may have families who were criminalized and subject to reprisals for emigrating to Catalonia during the dictatorship. We should learn how brotherhood creates freedom and equality for people who come from very different places.
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