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Article: Turning the tide: while xenophobia and anti-immigrant politics threaten to flood Europe ... (there is) hope for a brighter future in Spain.
- Article from:
- New Internationalist
- Article date:
- September 1, 1998
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 1998 New Internationalist Magazine. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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SANDY beaches, paella and fireworks displays. For decades, these have brought nationwide fame to Valencia, the capital of Spain's Mediterranean Costa Blanca (`White Coast'). But last year the country's third-largest city gained a new, more sinister notoriety - an extreme right-wing group attempted to stage the first public antiimmigrant demonstration since the death of Fascist leader General Franco in 1975.
For an entire month, the attention of the local media and of human-rights organizations throughout the country was focused on Russafa, a working-class neighbourhood in Valencia. Russafa means `garden' in Arabic. The name was given by the Moors (North African ...