The Vinicius case reignites the debate on racism in Spain, makes football creak and sneaks into the electoral campaign

Nor the golden headphones with which Vinicius Junior got off the bus real Madrid they waterproofed it at the Valencia stadium on Sunday since “You are a monkey, Vinicius, you are a monkey” that the local fans sang. None of the monkey sound imitations that rang out in the stands of the Mestalla stadium from where the Brazilian striker ended up being sent off and his team lost 1-0 to Valencia.

“I am strong and will go all the way against racists. Even if it’s far from here”underlined Vinicius on his social networks and stirred up the micro-world of Spanish football, leaving open the possibility of leaving the club which paid 45 million euros for him in 2018.

This Monday, very early, the Public Prosecutor’s Office of Valencia launched an official proceeding to investigate the alleged hate crime due to the racist insults received by the Real Madrid striker. In the morning, the club from the capital also presented itself before the Prosecutor’s Office General of the State as a private prosecution for the hate crimes and discrimination he suffered against the Brazilian.

A chorus of personalities, starting with the Brazilian president Lula DaSilva also the Paris Saint-Germain player kylian mbappe, condemned the attacks suffered by the ears of Vinícius. The president of Real Madrid, Fiorentino PerezWas with him this Monday. “The club will go to the last consequences”he promised.

Racism in Spain

For Antumi Toasije, president of the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination (CEDRE), “racism has a long history in this country. We can say that Spain is the inventor of racism as we know it today.

“More than 88 percent of people don’t report racism because they don’t trust institutions and because in most cases their denunciation will not be successful”, assures Clarín the president of the CEDRE, an independent organization although linked to the Ministry of Equality.

“Here there was an already known history with Francoism but, in recent years, there has been a growth of the far right which has brought back certain discourses that at the beginning of the century seemed silenced”, says Toasijé, who is also a historian and academic.

“There is, instead, a pernicious judicial conduct. Most of the judges do not consider the question either priority or serious – he assures -. In Spain there is a narrative that non-whites are not Spanish. The CEDRE report indicates “an increase in racism in education, blocking access to housing, even with Spanish nationality and work”.

“Spain has been denounced to the United Nations for its non-inclusion. According to our surveys, a non-white person is 47 times more likely to be stopped by the police for no reason than the rest of the population,” she points out.

“I don’t want to talk about football”

“Do you want to talk about football or do we talk about the other thing?”was the response of Charles Ancelottithe Real Madrid coach, to the Spanish press who were looking for him after the match against Valencia.

“I don’t want to talk about football but about what happened here. I think it’s more important” Ancelotti said. When a player is shouted ‘monkey’ and a coach thinks of taking him off the pitch for this, it means that something is wrong. (Vinícius) didn’t want to continue but told him I said it didn’t feel right. “Are You the Victim”I said.”

“There isn’t a person here who yells ‘monkey’ as has happened in many stadiums. Here is a stadium insulting a player for racism. You have to stop the game. They started insulting him from the first minute. But nothing will happen” the coach said.

“I have no problem. For me Vinicius is the most important player in the world, the strongest in the world. La Liga has a problem”, Ancelotti pointed out against the organizers of the first division championship.

“Neither Spain nor LaLiga are racist, it’s very unfair to say that”he defended himself Javier Thebespresident of the League.

“From LaLiga we denounce and prosecute racism with all the harshness in our power,” he insisted.

“Racial slurs have been reported nine times this season (eight of them were for insults against Vinicio). We always identify the lunatics and move the complaint to the sanctioning bodies. No matter how few they are, we are always relentless” Tebas said.

Racism is an issue in the election campaign

Racism on the fields burns on the sensitive skin of the Spaniards in a election year in which every issue, more or less media, is pure combustion in the campaign agenda.

Sunday 28 there are municipal and regional elections and the Vinicius chapter is already leaving its mark on the electoral boardespecially in the Valencian Community, scene of the last racist insults that Vinicius has heard and one of the most disputed territories at the polls: his more than 3.6 million votes can facilitate access to the Moncloa Palacethe Spanish Casa Rosada.

“It is worrying that there are racist expressions in society; That fertile ground generated by the far right unfortunately exists. But I don’t think the Mestalla crowd is racist at all. There is someone who has said something outrageous “, the president of the Valencian Community tried to mitigate this Monday,Ximo Puigcandidate of PSOE extension to re-election.

The Second Vice President and Minister of Labour, Yolanda Diaz -presidential for the December general election with his new party, Add– commented: “Football is very important and reproduces social behavior. What happened with racist comments is intolerable in a solid democracy”.

From Candiesthe minority party in the governing coalition he chairs Pedro Sanchezthe Minister of Equality, Irene Monteròhe pointed out: “I want to strongly condemn the racist attacks on Vinicius, they are attacks that unfortunately are repeated in certain sports fields”.

“We already have the institutional tools against racism: sanctions and expulsion of racists from parties. But we need to draft the Law against Racism immediately: education, training and change of foreign policy to move towards a better country”, proposed Montero.

The Popular Party has also condemned the attacks on the Real Madrid striker: “Racism has no place in Spain,” said its congressional spokesman, Cuca Gamarra.

“It’s very sad”, Ancelotti said on the state of mind of Vinicius, who arrived at Real Madrid as soon as he came of age. He will be 23 in July.

Madrid. Corresponding