I was very familiar with the 'chabolas' issue when living in Madrid
in the early 70s. At one point I was living within a very short walking distance from one of the northern, madrilenian, chabola townships
and this problem continued for many years after I had
left.
Indeed, The root cause of the situation was that Madrid and
Barcelona were considerably more prosperous than the central small towns and
villages.
Young people - with neither job promised nor adequate
qualifications simply invaded these cities. Having little money for what, to
them, was hideously expensive accommodation, and, in order to avoid vagrancy
charges, they set up hovels made out of cardboard and corrugated iron all around
the fringes of the city.
They went from a society where there were jobs - albeit poorly paid
ones - into the worst of poverty imaginable living in conditions where disease
was rife. The only money they gained came from the crimes they committed within
the city itself.
Seemingly, few of these prodigals were prepared to swallow their
pride and return to their towns and villages on the Meseta. Many were
from gypsy families who begged incessantly on the streets.
The Madrid Ayuntamiento (equivalent in many ways to a council) took
action but their extreme folly multiplied the problem many times
over.
They placed these people into accommodation not dissimilar to
council flats thus also qualifying the chabolistas for social
benefits.
They then bulldozed all the chabolas. Problem
solved.
Er ... well not exactly. A precedent having been established, wave
after wave of new chabolas appeared on the outskirts of Madrid only for the
Ayuntamiento to keep following the same policies.
This was a social catastrophe - not only for those inhabitants of
Madrid already desperate to find work or housing but also for the literally
thousands of villages which died because all of their young people had
fled. Abandoned villages are
commonplace.
When we consider the economic migrants of today, we must be very
wary of falling into this sort of trap.
We must not be morally blackmailed into accepting people into the UK
merely because they desire to live here.
The same applies to the countless bogus refugees (David Blunkett
once stated that the figure in his day was 90%.) who try to scam their way into
the UK.
They must be opposed. Checks must be rigid - and those refugees who
are declared genuine can then be warmly welcomed.
As it was in Madrid, an astonishingly high percentage of those
'escaping persecution' are young men. Have they abandoned their women, children
and ailing relatives to the horrors of war and persecution? - We may never know
the whole truth.
