Description
The last decade has seen the rise of populist far-right parties and movements around the world, coupled with exclusionary anti-immigrant rhetoric that has put migration at the centre of political agendas (Mudde, 2019; Traverso, 2018). The aftermath of the so-called 'refugee crisis' shaped a conjuncture in which the 'populism of the wall' (Urbán, 2019) became the common language of a growing anti-establishment right-wing (see Donald Trump, Jair Bolsonaro or Boris Johnson). Within this global panorama, Spain has not been an exception. Under a triumphant rhetoric of ‘reconquest’ and seeking to liberate Spain from all the enemies of the nation – migrants, feminists, or separatists – the far-right party VOX has gained prominence in Spanish politics since the 2019 elections. Using a multi-scalar approach and addressing the multiple spatialities of the border (Yuval-Davis et al, 2019), this paper explores the everyday impacts of Vox’s far-right narratives about migration on multicultural neighbourhoods and migrants’ everyday lives. We address how a core axis of Vox’s political discourse and action are the hate figures of the ‘ilegal migrant’ or the ‘menas’ – unaccompanied migrant minors – who are usually held in reception centres in several cities in Spain and have become a target of xenophobic narratives appealing to ‘security’ and ‘cleanliness’ of Spanish neighbourhoods. Looking at these politics and hate speeches through an intersectional lens, we address how the border is often constructed by mobilising racism in everyday contexts, interrogating its effects and the spaces of struggle.
