Notable differences

It seems now so distant, but just half a year ago, the attacks in Barcelona and Cambrils shocked the whole country. And in these six months a lot has happened in Catalonia, including a referendum on self-determination and the proclamation of the Catalan Republic, the intervention of the government, state repression, imprisonment and elections. The Barcelona Center for International Affairs (CIDOB) is aware and it is reflected in the report Attacks in Barcelona: reactions, explanations and pending debate, published this week, which analyses the reactions subsequent to the attacks while admitting that force of the Catalan national conflict eclipsed the event, stressing the fact that Catalonia had “moved on… extremely quickly”.

Firstly, there was no outbreak of xenophobia or Islamophobia as has happened in other European cities after similar tragedies, “no curtailments of rights, no dominant discourse on the integration of Muslims,” says Blanca Garcés-Mascareñas, also from CIDOB. She attributes the reaction to the “true political consensus on multiculturalism,” and “the demonstrations against the war in Iraq.”

Moussa Bourekba, CIDOB researcher and coordinator of the report, recalled that “since 2014 there have been more than 50 attacks in Europe.” So, in a way, “terrorism has become a kind of routine that is not exceptional.” But he warns that it can not be dismissed, and there must be “an in-depth debate.”

This has not happened warns CIDOB’s Jordi Moreras who says that in the midst of a society which Catalans believe is “open and inclusive” the attacks were not carried out by young people from worlds we consider marginal who use terrorism escape their frustrations. “We see it as external, extreme and exceptional. As Salafism, which is not part of our world.”

These young men had jobs, some well paid, non-Muslims friends in Ripoll and spoke Catalan fluently. Perhaps the indicators we use to identify problems are inadequate. We need to debate what happened, urgently.