Nothing is true, nor is it a lie?
01 May 2003
- a powerful and moving essay on the indifference of Europe to dead migrants on Spain's beaches
Introduction
The following essay is a testimony from Tarifa, Spain, the nearest point to Africa in mainland Europe, by Nieves García Benito, who works for the Asociación Pro Derechos Humanos - Andalucía (Association for Human Rights - Andalucía). She addresses a debate that took place in Spain about whether there is indifference by the West towards the deaths of African would-be migrants, that started around a picture that was shot by photographer Javier Balauz of two tourists sunbathing while the corpse of a man who died trying to make the crossing from Morocco lay further along the beach. Looking at the situation in the Strait of Gibraltar, Nieves García Benito argues that there are hidden interests served by the current situation, and that while there there are hundreds of dead people who are not killed by anybody, a different immigration law, or even the absence of an immigration law, would save hundreds of lives.
"Nothing is true, nor is it a lie?" Nieves García Benito
"On 13 July 2001, photographer Javier Bauluz shot the image, on a beach in Tarifa, of a couple of beach-goers - on the left - sitting under an umbrella and, somewhat further - to the right - the dead body of a drowned immigrant man. The author entitled the photograph "The Indifference of the West". The picture travelled all around the world, and was even published in the New York Times.
The journalist Arcadi Espada, winner of the Espasa de Ensayo prize for his book "Diarios", wrote an article about this picture in which he tries to discredit the image itself by stating that it is fictitious, and as such, doesn´t show the truth. That, as a result of being taken from a deceptive angle, it doesn´t show a real image, and much less the indifference of the West towards the deaths in the Strait of Gibraltar.
The debate itself may seem the typical exchange of blows between colleagues from the same profession, or the old dispute between truth and fiction, which besides, is very much a current debate. If I may, it could even seem to be a discussion at the bar of a pub. Nonetheless, as the object of contention are different points of view, different glances, over a space, the Strait of Gibraltar, where, for the last 14 years, there has been no stopping the flow of corpses arriving to its northern shore, from here, from Tarifa, we want to contribute a little more information, so that the readers´ glance may be enriched and may start building up its vision from a wider foundation. This is our hope.
What is happening in the Strait of Gibraltar?
As a result of the Spanish Ley de Extranjería 4/2000, whose origins lie in the 1990 Schengen European Treaty, the large majority of sub-Saharan and Moroccan citizens who apply for entry visas to Europe have their applications denied. With a visa, they would cross the Strait in a ferry, which would result in the problem of the corpses disappearing. As the law precludes this possibility, the citizens, who are pushed to migrate by the economic conditions in their country, and are aware of economic circumstances in Europe, where there is wealth, and consequently employment, see themselves obliged to make contact with groups who own other means of transport - dinghies or zodiacs - with the aggravating circumstances that it is more expensive and dangerous for their own lives. This illegal crossing of the Strait entails exorbitant benefits to those who control it, as a result of the abundant and urgent demand (for their services). The average number of persons on a zodiac is 55. The cost of the trip is around 1,500 euros. This means of transport has been in use since 1989, which gives us an idea of the economic sums that are at stake, without taking into account the second part of the journey - from Tarifa to the workplace - which, according to information obtained from Moroccan workers, is aro