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54 Rutgers L. Rev. 893 (2001-2002)
Tying Racism in El Ejido to Spanish and European Politics

handle is hein.journals/rutlr54 and id is 903 raw text is: TYING RACISM IN EL EJIDO TO SPANISH AND EUROPEAN POLITICS Manuel J. Caro* I. INTRODUCTION El Ejido is a town on the Mediterranean coast of the southeastern corner of Spain. Its population, whose livelihood depends mainly on agriculture, has doubled and its income per capita has climbed to be among the highest in Spain in the last fifteen years. El Ejido's landscape and its adjacent towns look like a gray sea of plastic that, from a distance, shines as much as the nearby Mediterranean. This miracle is due to the implementation of greenhouse-related techniques and genetic advancements in agriculture. But this miracle is also due to the availability of cheap labor that is willing to work long hours under extreme conditions of heat and humidity-the temperature inside the greenhouses can surpass 113°F on a sunny summer afternoon.1 Without such human labor, technological advances would have amounted to nothing. Although natives suffer from high rates of unemployment in Southern Spain, they prefer not to work in the greenhouses for as little as $3.50 an hour-the lowest agricultural salary in Spain.' As a result, cheap foreign labor is brought from the nearby Maghreb area of Africa. The Maghreb, literally translated, means the westernmost * Assistant Professor of Sociology and Criminology, Barry University; Ph. D. and M.A. Sociology, University of Miami; B.A. Sociology and Political Science, University of Granada Spain). I would like to thank Alvaro Bldzquez and Angeles Garz6n for keeping me posted about their experiences as lawyers in the aftermath of El Ejido's riots. 1. Juan Goytisolo, Espaia y sus Ejidos: Sin la Llegada Providencial de los Inmigrantes el Milagro Almeriense no Habria Sido Posible, EL PAiS DIGITAL-ESPARA, Mar. 20, 2000, at http://www.elpais./p/d/20000320/espana/ejido.htm. 2. Angeles Castafio Madrofial, Una Sociedad Ahogada en un Mar de Pldsticos: Factores Precipitantes de una Persecucidn Ektnica, Paper Presented at the II Congreso Sobre La Inmigraci6n en Espafia, Madrid, at 12 (Oct. 5-7, 2000), at http://www.imsersomigracion.upcp.es/otros%20documentos/congreso/datos/CDRom/El %20Ejido/Ponencias/AngelesCastanio.PDF. For purposes of this article, I have converted Madrofial's figure of 4,944 pesetas to dollars, using an exchange rate of about 167 pesetas to the dollar.

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