Religious Affairs Office

Barcelona City Council’s Office for Religious Affairs (OAR) organised the activity ‘Barcelona’s religious communities against racism and discrimination’ on 27 November. It consisted of two round tables where civil organisations and religious and spiritual communities discussed their roles as agents involved in the fight against racism.

The initiative, held from 9 to 11 December, was part of a series of activities, ‘Voices against racism’, taking place alongside the 4th UNESCO Global Forum against Racism and Discrimination, aimed at putting the fight against racism at the top of international agendas in order to achieve specific commitments.

CHECK THE ACTIVITY’S PHOTO GALLERY HERE!

Religious beliefs are one of the causes of discrimination in Barcelona, as reported in the different editions of the Barcelona Discrimination Observatory Report. Most cases involve situations of Islamophobia or anti-Muslim racism, anti-Semitism and, to a lesser extent, Christianophobia. At the same time, religion is embedded in other spheres of society that have an impact on the access to, and effective guarantee of, fundamental rights such as education and health care. For this reason, religious communities and society at large need to be involved in order to turn this situation around. On the other hand, for years, religious communities in the city have been making significant commitments in the fight against racism and discrimination through their social and educational initiatives. Through anti-discrimination and shelter projects, these communities stand as agents of change and disseminators of anti-racism messages. Two panel discussions led by Mery Loor, a political scientist specialising in migrations and the intercultural perspective, addressed all these issues.

The event was kicked off by Sara Belbeida, Commissioner for Citizen Relations and Cultural and Religious Diversity at Barcelona City Council, who reported that ‘Barcelona is a plural city, a diverse city that is nourished by the richness of the people who comprise it’, but that ‘unfortunately, we also know that racism is still a fact that affects our society, with a worrisome increase in incidents year after year’. She continued by stating that ‘religious communities are true engines of change. Based on their commitment to the values of solidarity and justice, they have the ability to promote initiatives that not only transform their members but also inspire the entire city.’ She concluded by saying that ‘this activity will enable us to learn about specific examples of how these issues can be addressed from a variety of perspectives, but all with a common goal: to eradicate any kind of discrimination and build a more inclusive, cohesive society’.

The FIRST PANEL DISCUSSION aimed to present specific projects that are being undertaken in Barcelona. The participants included Houssam Bakkali from the Fundació Bayt al-Thaqafa, and Paul Sánchez, president of the board of the Mozaika Jewish cultural association. Houssam Bakkali began by presenting the history of Bayt al-Thaqafa (‘House of Culture’), an organisation whose referent is its founder, Teresa Losada, a person with a special, particular relationship with the Arab and Muslim world. This Franciscan sister left her job as a professor of Semitic languages at the University of Barcelona in the 1970s to devote her life to sheltering people who were mostly arriving from Morocco and North Africa. She defended their fundamental rights and created the first Islamic prayer room in Barcelona in a small space within Santa Maria del Mar Basilica. This year, the organisation celebrated its 50th anniversary, and its founder’s legacy has remained in Bayt for years, as it welcomes and helps people who have just arrived here, becoming a hub of interfaith and intercultural dialogue, one of whose main priorities is to help these people maintain their connection with their culture, language, etc. The foundation is currently working on many projects: training, children’s programmes, family and young adult role models, etc. One of these projects is Empoweryouth, which Houssam oversees.

Paul Sánchez, president of the board of the Mozaika Jewish cultural association, talked about the organisation, which was created fourteen years ago by a group of young Jews and offered them the chance to enjoy, explore or inquire into their Jewish identity and culture beyond what its religious communities offered. It began with informal meetings to talk about culture, books and more, which led to the creation of a fanzine called Mozaika. Mozaika is a Catalan Jewish association that welcomes both Jews and non-Jews interested in different aspects of Jewish culture. Its headquarters is currently in Casa Adret, the house in the heart of the oldest continuously inhabited Jewish quarter in Barcelona. Its projects have grown in size and nature and are open to all audiences. They include the Jewish Book Festival and Salam Shalom, an interfaith dialogue initiative between Muslims and Jews, along with the Future Up project, which examines the concept of diaspora today. It also creates educational materials for religious leaders to prevent anti-Semitic or Islamophobic attitudes. They hold concerts, talks and festivals and have been developing European Union projects that stress the fight against anti-Semitism and Islamophobia, because they view ‘the fight against racism as a shared, cross-cutting effort’, Paul said.

Dialogue and knowledge turn both organisations into transformative forces in the struggle against racism and discrimination. Houssam Bakkali from Bayt explained that they focus on ‘human dignity as something inherent and inseparable from human beings, and consequently we have to showcase the different dimensions of their identity’. The Fundació Bayt-al-Thaqafa fosters intercultural dialogue by organising anti-racist trainings and awareness-raising actions in the field of education, ‘fostering prevention and religious coexistence so that teachers can include interculturalism in their day-to-day work in a diverse, plural society’, he said. Houssam Bakkali highlighted the Gatzara Sessions and the aforementioned Empoweryouth project, which is being held in three regions—Catalonia, the Basque Country and Madrid—with the goal of fighting Islamophobia ‘by including the voices of Muslim people in different areas’.

From Mozaika, Paul Sánchez, said that its ‘mere existence as a Jewish cultural organisation in Barcelona places us in the public sphere’. And he argued that in his opinion, ‘anti-Semitism in Spain often springs from ignorance’. That’s why Mozaika organises activities open to all audiences, and he noted that ‘the majority of people who come to our events are not even Jewish, and we like it that way’ to put an end to this disinformation. He added that ‘in this way Jewish culture is once again emerging in Catalonia and can be associated with names and faces, so people can talk to Jewish people and not imagine fantastical caricatures’. The struggle against racism ‘has always been a part of Mozaika’. And he went on to say: ‘Racism has its own unique features, but what we have in common is that we’re ultimately all minorities who are claiming our rights, equality and dignity. Learning from each other and learning about the racism other people suffer from makes us stronger together. Together we weave a network and can support each other in such a basic, essential thing as people’s fundamental values.’

In the increasing cultural and religious diversity in a city as rich and plural as Barcelona, as clearly seen by its more than 500 centres of worship and 36 different religious traditions, and where more than 300 languages are spoken, this diversity is also unfortunately related to different forms of discrimination. Individuals and organisations have to work on and address many obstacles and challenges. Houssam from Bayt stressed that ‘one major obstacle that hinders our progress towards a more cohesive society is the increase in hate speech, which is also spread via the media. This stereotyped speech ultimately stigmatises racialised people and minorities and turns into discrimination and violations of their fundamental rights, and it always eliminates the richness of diversity and fails to take it into account. The worst thing about this hate speech is that it is often subtly shrouded as claims for freedom of expression.’ He continued by noting that ‘many times people forget that Spain is secular, that in theory it recognises the coexistence and existence of minorities under equal conditions, although this is often not applied effectively, efficiently and properly’. Plus, he added that ‘it is necessary and essential for all kinds of religious, social and civil organisations to work together and break stereotypes and stigmas’. He believes that ‘racialised people have to participate in the scholarly, social and public debate in order to claim their fundamental rights’. Paul Sánchez said that ‘coexisting and sharing public spaces, but each person with their difference, is the benefit of religious plurality. A country that doesn’t protect religious plurality seriously endangers religious minorities.’ He said that in his opinion, ‘it is not necessary to reconcile differences, but listening to and speaking with each other is essential. The dialectical attention should be kept, because if we are incapable of debating and listening to what other people are saying, we are not properly serving the democracy and freedom of expression that we enjoy.’

The second panel discussion examined racism from the perspective of different religious traditions: Islam, evangelical Christianity, Catholicism and the Bahá’í faith. Representatives from different communities shared their views on the fight against racism from the perspective of their own faith. This dialogue was between Emilio Egea, secretary of the Bahà’í Centre of Barcelona; Sara El Bahri Zaidi, member of the Entre Joves section of the Union of Islamic Communities of Catalonia (UCIDCAT); Guillem Correa, secretary general of the Evangelical Council of Catalonia (CEC); and Peio Sánchez, rector of Santa Anna church. They talked about how their organisations include the intercultural perspective and the mechanisms to combat racism and discrimination.

Mery Loor, who also moderated the second discussion, stated that when talking ‘about fighting racism and discrimination of all kinds, we have to talk about a paradigm shift: we have to go from an assimilationist or multiculturalist perspective to an intercultural perspective’. She specified that the assimilationist perspective makes people give up their unique traits, that is, their culture, language, religion and other traits, to adapt to the host culture’. She continued by stating that a multiculturalist perspective or government grants a series of rights and recognises diversity but does not open spaces of citizen dialogue and participation in order to build a society and take decisions on such important issues as education, politics, the economy and many others’.

DO RELIGIOUS COMMUNITIES HIGHLIGHT THIS INTERCULTURAL PERSPECTIVE? HOW? As powerful change agents, religious communities highlight this intercultural perspective in many ways, and Peio Sánchez, representing Catholicism, wanted to note that ‘the increase in fundamentalisms using the new technologies like social media, in a situation of polarisation within the Catholic community, makes it difficult to maintain the communities’ will and hinders the fight against racism’. However, ‘this intercultural perspective is more necessary than ever’, stated Emilio Egea, representing the Bahá’í faith, ‘and we have to keep in mind that culture is not static but changing. To the Bahá’ís, the Earth is a single country and all of humanity is its diverse, plural citizens, and we should take advantage of this so that one culture imbues another one to make it more meaningful. This is the root of the richness of humanity. To us, interculturality is essential.’ Next Sara El Bahri, spoke from the perspective of Islam to say that even though there may be diversity and interculturality, often times ‘little bubbles are created, and they tell you that you’re not interacting with other bubbles. Interculturality isn’t that; it’s not creating isolated bubbles, socially isolated groups. It’s interacting with each other, participating in the public space and discovering synergies.’ In the opinion of the evangelical Christian Guillem Correa, today there is a ‘crisis of civilisation that was prompted when the identity crisis went beyond a personal situation, as it does today. There is a tendency to define identity as one person versus another. And this is wrong. We should experience our identity as an affirmation of who we are and share our identity with others via dialogue.’ With regard to the aforementioned fundamentalist attitudes, he explained that ‘today fundamentalism is not limited to groups that view themselves as or call themselves fundamentalists. It goes far beyond that.’ To combat these racist, discriminatory perspectives, Correa argued, ‘we have to cultivate seeds of peace, dialogue and models, and religious communities have to become a single community welcoming anyone, no matter who they are.’ After all, he said, ‘we all share the same identity. It is a positive identity, one that affirms ourselves. It is an identity that doesn’t pit us against each other but leads us to build a bridge so that the other is part of this shared project which is the society we want.’

HOW DO THE DIFFERENT RELIGIOUS TRADITIONS VIEW RACISM AND HOW DO THEY ADDRESS DISCRIMINATION? In the opinion of Emilio Egea, one common point among all religious and spiritualities is that all human beings have ‘a spiritual nature, a transcendence, a human dignity’. Whenever we convey this knowledge and educate the children or people around us, we have to make it clear that ‘losing this human dignity is the worst thing that can happen to a person’. In the Bahá’í faith, there is a ‘spiritual identity, the soul, and all the other dignities, gender, background, etc., are subsidiary identities. If we believe that everyone belongs to a single human family, when a person arrives we welcome, support and help them. We shouldn’t fall into the temptation that subsidiary identities are the main ones, when they are precisely what separate us.’ Today’s society has a series of paradigms that should change, but it’s not easy. He added that we are living ‘in a society that promotes competition as a factor of progress, even though all the laws of the universe are grounded on cooperation, on unity, and if this exists there is real progress’. He went on to explain that everything we attribute ‘ to God, love, justice, mercy, should be reflected in this world’. We need education and society should be committed, not only churches and religious communities but society as a whole. A constant dialogue among everyone is needed to realise that we need to change.’ When talking about how to address discrimination, Sara El Bahri explained that Entre Joves is performing a study via surveys which is making it clear that the data on discriminatory situations among Muslims are showing that they are not individual issues but a collective problem. Guillem Correa continued that ‘it is essential to stand by people whose identity is threatened’, and he cited the examples of Rosa Parks, a Black woman who took a seat reserved for white people on a bus, and Martin Luther King, an evangelical pastor, prophet of non-violence and fierce, tenacious fighter against racism and injustice. Both managed to make that injustice, that struggle against racism, go down in history. But when faced with expressions of power and arrogance, ‘we become aware from the conscience of the church, and this crosses the boundary of the church and goes to the heart of our society, that’s when social changes happen’, Guillem Correa concluded. Next, Peio Sánchez added: ‘Racism is rising. That’s not prophetic; it’s an analysis of our reality. Social and economic policies are leading us to a complicated future scenario. Each religious tradition should dismantle fundamentalist discourses within their tradition. The Christian faith has a very strong tradition of recognising difference. Dialogue is needed. This also means that within each “house” there is a latent problem.’ He stated that ‘public administrations have to take the power of religions seriously in complex or conflictive situations’. He added that one of the ways to combat racism is ‘restoring the bonds among people, real knowledge and understanding’.

WHAT LESSONS CAN WE LEARN FROM RELIGIONS IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RACISM? Sara El Bahri began by referring to different episodes in the life of the prophet Muhammad that reflect how the struggle against racism has historically been present in Islam. For example, the texts by the imam Musnad de Ahmad ibn Hanbal, which contain the prophet’s last sermon, say: ‘an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab, nor a non-Arab over an Arab, nor a white over a black, nor a black over a white, except by piety and good action’, which reflects this anti-racist stance. But all these examples from far back in time lead us to talk about the situation today, ‘such as the Charter of Fundamental Rights, which did not enter into force until 2009’. She added: ‘Religions seem to be old. But through religion we can talk about lots of things that have to be resolved in the conflicts in 2024.’ From the Bahá’í faith, Emilio Egea mentioned that ‘racism is relatively recent, from the eighteenth century. What existed before that was hatred or fear of the other’. But he believes that ‘progress is gradually being made. We have to learn how to live with reality, which right now can be overwhelming, because there’s also a lot of media frenzy.’ He explained that ‘the tensions created force us to consider governance and think about how we can resolve these tensions. So, we don’t actually see it as a problem but as an opportunity.’ In his opinion, religious principles should come from the heart and the conscience and have to be put into practice. One of the practices he highlighted the most is dialogue, specifically interfaith dialogue: ‘We have to create spaces where civil society and religious communities can engage in dialogue and contribute to building a different society’. According to Peio Sánchez, these lessons ‘should not be a theoretical construct but are life right now, either praying together for a family, which happens naturally, or being beside another person sharing the table, or at the end of mass that we hold at church, where a Sunna from the Quran is proclaimed. Proximity to the other, experiencing it day by day, deepens our understanding’. Guillem Correa believes that ‘discrimination marks people, whether for religious reasons, skin, etc.’ One of the lessons or challenges he highlighted was ‘the revival of social justice within the church’. He concluded by saying that ‘there is an awareness that we need each other, that we need institutions and that we all want to head in the same direction. It is an awareness that gives us a sign of hope.’

Thus, this activity showed that the struggle against racism and discrimination is a constant, persistent struggle in today’s society, and obviously in a rich, plural and diverse Barcelona as well. It is a cross-cutting, shared struggle. That’s why listening and dialogue are needed to achieve the society we want, and religious and spiritual communities and organisations play an important role in this. Their values, projects and objectives are often examples worth emulating and following as possible models. The intercultural perspective, which enriches Barcelona even more today, should be borne in mind. People, with all their different identities and backgrounds, enrich the city. In the words of Guillem Correa, ‘the best struggle against discrimination in our society is for each and every one of us to assert our identity by what we are, not what we aren’t’.