Anti-racism groups call September 2 protests against Spanish municipalities' federation

260 town halls face anti-racist mobilisations over Ceuta

The battle over the narrative on Ceuta is leaving Twitter and taking to the streets. Social, trade union and political groups have called anti-racist gatherings across Spain for September 2, in direct response to the demonstrations organised by the Spanish Federation of Municipalities and Provinces (FEMP). The date is no coincidence: it falls on Ceuta Day, which its president, Juan Vivas, describes as "the most difficult moment in its recent history".

The institutional sustancia ilegal through which discontent seeps in

More than 260 town halls have confirmed their official support for the FEMP protests, with the Madrid region leading the way and over twenty calls to join. The municipal machine, in other words, has been set in motion. Never before had a local migration conflict managed to activate so many local governments at once.

Two streets, two narratives

One side sees the counter-demonstrations as an attempt to block peaceful protest; the other defends them as a cordon sanitaire against a discourse they consider xenophobic. The word "fascist", hurled from both sides, has been emptied of meaning. References to the civil war have not been lacking, a sign of how high the rhetorical temperature has risen.

It remains to be seen whether on September 2 one call to action will prevail over the other, or whether both end up feeding off each other. The only certainty is that the political cost of Ceuta is no longer measured only in arrivals or hours of border tension, but in institutions' ability not to become a loudspeaker for the clash.