TRATAMIENTOS ESPECIALES
POLICLINICA VILLARROBLEDO DR. EL YOUSSEF MOUSTAPHA,
What explains these reception patterns? Why are Poles in Dublin and Ecuadorians in Madrid welcomed to their host cities despite economic downturn and their large numbers? Why are Nigerians excluded from Dublin? Why do Bulgarians meet with indifference and lack of interest in Madrid? Why do public officials and employers portray Poles in Dublin and Ecuadorians in Madrid as “embedded” and their Nigerian and Bulgarian counterparts as experiencing problems with integration? The material interests of receiving localities have something to do with it, but are not primary in the immigrants’ inclusion and exclusion.
60 Author’s translation from original quote in Spanish: “Pero así como el sudamericano se relaja rápido, el
del Este tarda más en relajarse. Y el africano se relaja un poquito menos” (M13-E); “Ellos lo tienen más complicado” (M11-E).
61 Author’s translation from original quote in Spanish: “Son más con ellos, no se juntan tanto con
españoles.”
62 Author’s translation from original quote in Spanish: “Se agrupan entre ellos y desarrollan sus relaciones
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At least initially, Polish workers were perceived to fill large gaps in undesirable occupations that Irish nationals no longer wanted to take. Irish employers and even the public were thankful for the influx of flexible, cheap Polish workers who dampened the rising costs of labor. Most interviewees went as far as to suggest that Polish workers were the drivers of the economic boom in Ireland, where they not only fueled the construction sector but also occupied “the apartments that were built” (D13-P). As one employer shared, “EU enlargement was a godsend, because we seem to have run out of local employees and resources and when these people came in, it was fantastic” (D10-E).
However, material factors cannot explain the persistent welcome for the Polish after economic downturn. Economic considerations are largely absent from elite discourse of Poles’ inclusion. They are also the least significant factor in Poles’ evaluation by the general public. “Hard work” was the East Europeans’ most important characteristic according to the Dubliners surveyed by this author and served as the basis of the opinions of 59.6% of respondents. However, hard work signifies non-material qualities rather than economic utility for the city’s residents. In fact, 45.3% of Dubliners agreed that “The Polish take away jobs from the Irish,” almost forty percent disagreed with the statement “The Polish are necessary in Dublin because there are no Irish to fill
some jobs,” and only 12.6% agreed that Poles are a source of cheap labor in the city.63
The East Europeans’ positive public image is based on Poles’ non-material attributes. In contrast to the Polish case, the arrival of Nigerian immigrants was considered not an economic asset but the cause of significant public cost. Nigerian asylum seekers arrived in Ireland in the late 1990s when the Celtic Tiger was only beginning to roar, governmental subsidies were fueling the rising economy, and returning Irish nationals
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provided for labor shortages in the country (Dorgan, 2006). As asylum seekers are not allowed to work while their claims are being processed, many Nigerians were not only losing valuable economic capital, but were also never considered a potential economic resource by the native population and public officials. In fact, in public discourse, admitting asylums seekers into Ireland is interpreted to be “costing a fortune” to Irish taxpayers and to be putting a strain on public finances and social resources (D25-J). As many were placed in the direct provision system and assigned housing, Nigerians were
also not considered valuable tenants in new housing tenements, unlike the Polish.64
Nonetheless, a majority of the original Nigerian asylum seekers are currently economic migrants filling the low-skilled jobs the Irish do not want. Many Nigerians arrive as students and employ their high educational levels to enrich the receiving context. Many have superior education and professional qualifications. However, such material considerations are not acknowledged by respondents. Discussion of Nigerians’ economic value is secondary to reports of the Africans’ cultural characteristics and difference from the Irish.
The connection between economic benefit and reception patterns is even less clear in Madrid than in Dublin. Ecuadorians were indeed recruited to Spain through a number of bilateral agreements in the 1990s to fill shortages in jobs left vacant by an ever more educated and skilled Spanish middle class (Pérez, 2003). As Masterson-Algar (2011) argues, many Spanish companies invested in or relocated to the emerging markets of Latin America, with those enterprises that could not outsource their operations importing South American workers to fuel their growth locally instead. Ecuadorians’
64 Direct provision signifies placing asylum seekers in state-mandated residences, where the state provides
each adult individual with full-board accommodation, including two meals per day and a personal allowance of €19.10 a week (Reception and Integration Agency [RIA], 2010).
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fitting human capital made them a particularly attractive source of a flexible cheap labor in the booming Spanish economy of the early 2000s (CIS, 2012, p. 6).
However, Ecuadorians’ economic utility is not discussed by Madrilenian respondents in this project. While Ecuadorians are considered “good workers” by some employers, stereotypes suggest that Latin Americans “do not work well” but “drink and
party a lot” (M23-TU).65 Ecuadorians are reported to be “less organized” or hard-
working than East Europeans, for instance, and to lack “seriousness, respect, and long-
term plans” in the work place (M11-E; M18-ADMIN).66 Therefore, the South Americans
are accepted despite of, rather than due to, their material value to the receiving context. Finally, most Madrilenian expert respondents consider Bulgarians educated, skilled, and good workers. Bulgarians’ arrival to Spain in the 2000s is seen as the result of “the size and vigor of the construction sector, of the tourist industry, of the domestic service, care industry, and to some extent, agriculture,” where the Balkan workers have complemented the work of Latin Americans and Moroccans (M31-R). However, as Bulgaria’s accession to the EU in 2007 and the removal of limitations to Bulgarians’ employment in Spain in 2009 coincided with economic downturn, evaluation of the economic effects of the East Europeans’ labor are ambiguous. The advantages of Bulgarian work are disputed, as the Balkan workers not only compete for jobs with other immigrants, but also undercut employment opportunities for Spaniards returning to the dirty, dangerous, and demeaning jobs they had vacated in the 1980s-1990s. According to one respondent, such material costs have resulted in the “public opinion that they need to
65 Author’s translation from original quote in Spanish: “Los latinoamericanos no trabajan bien beben
mucho, fiesta y not trabajan.”
66 Author’s translation from original quote in Spanish: “menos organizado” (M11-E); “esa falta de seriedad,
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leave” (M26-TU).67 Moreover, Bulgarians reinforce the growing underground economy
in which they are embedded. While participation in the informal economy is common to all foreign populations in Spain, Bulgarian’s European status renders such participation particularly costly, since “even if they work illegally, they cannot be expelled” (M31-R). The connection between economic self-interest and inclusion is even more tenuous in public opinion of Bulgarians in Madrid. Bulgarians receive a neutral reception regardless of the fact that they are considered “hard-working” in 42.9% of the responses given by the Madrilenians surveyed by this author. Most respondents are unsure of Bulgarians’ usefulness to the city, with 49.5% persons agreeing and 39.3% disagreeing with the statement that Bulgarians are necessary to fill the jobs natives do not want, and 52.8% of participants considering the East Europeans a source of cheap labor, while 47.2% finding them expensive. Interestingly, the Balkan workers ae viewed less positively than Poles in Dublin despite the opinion that that they make a larger contribution to the Spanish labor market. To illustrate, Bulgarians in Madrid are welcomed by less than 50% of participants and Poles in Dublin – by 90% of respondents. Yet, 26.1% of Madrilenians believe that Bulgarians take away Spanish jobs. The figure is
37.9% in the Irish case.68
In sum, immigrant inclusion and exclusion in Dublin and Madrid occur despite of, rather than on the basis, economic considerations. Local elites and publics evaluate the newcomers in their midst in relation to “the flag” and not “the pocketbook” and are more concerned with the immigrants’ socio-cultural characteristics than their economic profile.
67 Author’s translation from the original quote in Spanish: “Es esa, tú le estás diciendo a la opinión pública,
que tienen que marchar.”
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