And the presence of migrant and racialized women in education, where is it?

We live in a system that assigns the labels of resignation and defenselessness to certain groups of people as if it were something intrinsic, as a sociocultural and immovable factor. However, the suffocation of not having papers in a world where the concept of “illegal people” still exists and the danger of not having safe ways to move freely (in many cases falling into labor and sexual exploitation) has not prevented Migrants in Spain look for alternatives, such as the struggle through anti-racist movements and mobilization and activism in the streets, institutions and social networks.

Those at the top of the pyramid have had more opportunities and freedoms within a system that directly criminalizes people in vulnerable situations, especially when they decide to overcome that given subordination and dependency and when they ask for real inclusion and equality.

It is not easy to analyze the problems related to migration, xenophobia and racism, and less from a national perspective, something that ends up being insufficient when it comes to finding solutions in such a globalized world. But without a doubt, we must think about the resources that can be improved and how we can reach a high percentage of inclusion in Spain as soon as possible. Apart from putting aside the policies of containment and avoidance, and recognizing that we live in a country of migration, any change begins with the same thing: education.

Some parties try not only to prohibit and avoid any progress, but to repeal laws and active policies that improve the lives of many people.

An education in equality and rights, anti-racist, LGTBIQ and feminist is now more necessary than ever, but it must always be from an intersectional perspective.

Bearing in mind the latter, even those of us who often find ourselves in spaces for reflection from various social organizations, we are not doing quite well.

Something is wrong.

Who educates and who receives this education?

I cannot but mention the recently deceased bell hooks, a great postmodern political thinker and cultural critic, as well as a teacher and educator.

His book

In which she tells of her experience as a black teacher in basic and compulsory education courses and also university during the seventies, it makes me think about the importance of educational environments, schools, institutes, universities, and how it should be compulsory make them safe, open, respectful and, of course, motivational spaces, since the latter is what has been for many, even dealing with the hostility that still exists towards women. But also in diverse environments, where multiculturalism embraces anti-racism and equal opportunities. Education cannot be a practice of freedom unless there is first equality in all senses.

What happens in Spain with spaces for higher education and technical training? Where is the intersectional perspective that is so much talked about? Although transversal learning is offered in any type of studies on the rights of people and the planet, we cannot create these types of spaces without counting on those who have really been banned from them for too long.

For example, there are trainings related to migration, gender and trafficking where intersectional feminism is theoretically promoted with expert teachers and active human rights defenders, as well as with internships in organizations, but we must ask ourselves: if almost all the students who attend These groups are white people and none of the group that has experienced hostile migration or has suffered trafficking, can a substantial change be carried out?

If access is only feasible for white nationals with a rather medium-high socioeconomic level, but inaccessible for black migrant women for clear socioeconomic reasons, unequal opportunities, lack of inclusion programs, segregation by neighborhoods and in the schools themselves, And because of ridiculous meritocracy and title demands (which in many cases end up being obsolete), what impact will it create?

None, as we continue to perpetuate the same hierarchical and discriminatory system that we are supposed to want to end.

There have been more than two generations of migrants in our country and we keep asking ourselves where are the programs to promote coexistence between cultures

If having a degree is decisive to get a job, and from the public sphere it is not promoted or facilitated that these women can lead their own struggle by training and training, what teams will we continue to generate in organizations and institutions? We are clear about who you work for, but not from what position you want to work.

If there is no intersectionality, the university in Spain will continue to be a racist, sexist and classist space until we achieve a real inclusion in both the teaching staff and the students, and the reality is that for that, among other measures, more scholarships and scholarships are needed. Reduce costs. There have been more than two generations of migrants in our country and we continue to ask ourselves where are the programs to promote coexistence between cultures, and when will this trend towards system-forced segregation end. Coexistence is also in educational spaces.

It is not enough that there are one or two migrant and / or racialized women in work teams in order to feel a little better because their economic autonomy is promoted and because "they are being integrated." The problem is that these women are still viewed, even within these organizations, from the prism of "white saviors."

Helena Maleno said in a work space on gender violence and discussed by the 25N, that the experiences of these women "are knowledge", and that is the reality, but their experiences are demanded as testimonies and not as knowledge, teachings and learning, thus maintaining paternalism and utilitarianism.

Do we want immigration policies that do not dehumanize people?

Do we want to abolish the Aliens Law?

Do we want to promote inclusion programs and policies at the national level?

Well, the percentages will have to be invested in the training, discussion and work spaces.

The time has come when organizations have to question ourselves even about the resources offered to women in vulnerable situations

The time has come when organizations have to question ourselves even about the resources offered to women in vulnerable situations. From what position do you work for them? Why are the phases through which they have to pass in such a limiting way decided? Being aware that the situation of irregularity is incapacitating in many cases, they must have the greatest possible freedom and autonomy within a system that does not want to allow it. Here the State contributes little, since there are no long-term resources financed with public money, and child protection in many cases is conspicuous by its absence. The generational factor is not taken into account, which means that we return to unequal opportunities for the sons and daughters of these women,that start again almost from scratch. For this reason, its inclusion in all possible work and debate spaces is so important if you really want to change something.

The fact that a person has lived an extreme situation does not mean that when they are in the process of recovering their life they have to settle for something that many of us would not settle for. Re-victimization is unjust and paternalism hurts more and more in a world and at a time where it is aware that the violence suffered comes from the system itself and those who run it, and that helplessness, in many cases, it is learned and compelled by the same institutions. Therefore, this discrimination cannot continue in spaces that fight for social justice and less when, in parallel, it is necessary to stand up to reactionary movements that want to overturn any hint of equality.

We must question absolutely everything and recognize that much of what we knew, even what is familiar, for some has been oppression.

You have to read books such as

, where Desirée Bela-Lobedde recounts the prejudices that are experienced on a day-to-day basis in a country with still strongly installed social and institutional racism, but also keeping hope on how we can get out of this.

As bell hooks used to say: “… An open mind and heart that allows us to face reality, as well as collectively imagine how to cross borders, how to transgress”.

Beatriz García de la Torre

is a psychologist specialized in trafficking and development cooperation.