Mapping the responses to Ceuta

Introduction

On July 30, about 60,000 Moroccan migrants stormed the Spanish border into the Ceuta enclave 1. In the ensuing chaos, 57 people died on the Spanish side, with additional possible casualties on the Moroccan side 2. By August 1, 48,300 of the migrants had returned 3, and the Spanish government had added new barriers to entry 4.

All of that, however, is almost irrelevant to the issue I want to shed light on, namely the far-right response to this horrific tragedy. I spent a significant amount of time documenting it to show:

Politicians

I have translated some of these posts using Deepl (I corrected the wording on Milan Uhrik's statement, "zvolavame" means "we're convening" not "we call on") .If you are curious about the wording in the original language and happen to speak them, you can obviously click on the link to the original post.

Influencers

Media Coverage

I'm quoting either the headlines of the article, or the youtube videos. Again, some of these are translated.

Independent Media channels

This is from either their thumbnail or their title. All of it is translated.

Substack

US commentary

Analysis

There is a consistent framing across all of these posts:

There is an invasion (or something catastrophic akin to an invasion) going on. This is the result of the horrendous policies of the Spanish government and the EU, which are complicit in the disastrous consequences (crime, violence, demographic change). Every available measure must be taken because this is an existential threat. We are the ones who can prevent this catastrophe from continuing if we get the mandate to do it. Some proposed measures include a radical reform (with some wanting to abolish it completely) of the asylum system, mass deportations, and no social support for refugees.

// Again, just as a reminder, not a single one of these migrants reached the European mainland.

The politicians and activists use the words "invasion," "war," and "onslaught" very deliberately to instill an existential fear in the reader. The blame for that fear is then allocated to the Spanish government and the EU, both of which are often labelled as "left-wing." As a way to channel the ensuing anger, a magical solution—giving power to far-right parties—is offered. It's textbook political messaging, optimized to gain political power.

Almost exactly the same mechanism is used by the media covering the situation, but they rarely take the final step of explicitly offering the magical solution (to maintain some semblance of non-partisanship). Instead, that solution is left hanging in the air, perfectly prepared for politicians to take advantage of. In fact, some of these media outlets then conduct friendly interviews with politicians, giving them the opportunity to take that final step.

I included the Substack commentary to show the result of this funnel. The messages are less polished and not optimized for political gain, but they serve as a reinforcing mechanism that solidifies the image created by the professionals.

Another vector of reinforcement is the U.S. political commentary class, which props up its European allies through its reach while using their narratives to draw parallels to the situation in the United States. This also benefits the Republican Party because the Democrats become associated with a Spanish border policing failure.

#Mediaenvironment