Opinion piece by Alfonso Callejero on the chants of "whoever doesn't jump is a Muslim" at the football match between Spain and Egypt
“But your neighbor is from the same country.” The phrase was thrown at me, almost spat out, with an urgent need for a “Yes” in response, much to the relief of the person who was speaking to me this past week. All because I was telling them a trivial anecdote about the area where I live. As if having one accent or another were enough to make a stigma disappear.
And I, who still can't get used to these comments, after hearing them over and over again, like a mantra under my breath, it provoked that discomfort that has accompanied me since day one.
Because this phrase, far from being harmless, hides a whole host of prejudices deeply ingrained in our social ideology. These prejudices imply that there's suspicion based on the accent or surname of a neighbor, a coworker, or a gym buddy. And that to "be from here," it might not be enough to simply live, work, be a good citizen, and have someone hold the elevator for you while you're carrying your things. You might have to earn extra merits, things that aren't demanded of "one of us" but are simply bestowed upon us by virtue of our surname, even if they close the elevator door right in our faces.
And this came back to me when I was watching our national team's game against Egypt and a group of conservative, backward-thinking TikTok philosophers were chanting "anyone who doesn't jump is a Muslim" or booing the Egyptian anthem, as a racist act against a group that resides, lives and works in Spain.
This has a particular irony when we are lucky enough to have among the ranks of our national team one of the best footballers, who hopefully will give us many titles, Lamine Yamal, who is Muslim.
Which leads me to the reflection I mentioned earlier, that it's not enough to "copy the customs here" and thus be a "good neighbor," but these whistles and reprehensible gestures make it clear that you will never be "Spanish"; whether you score the goal in the World Cup final or hold the elevator door open for the neighbor who arrives carrying heavy things.
I'd like to think that what happened in Cornellà and my conversation were two spontaneous outbursts, but they're the consequence of years of cultivating hatred, spreading misinformation through TikTok and WhatsApp memes. Blaming migrants for all the problems and making them the scapegoat, dehumanizing and criminalizing them with no consequences for those who spread the lies and laugh along at the bar or in the WhatsApp group.
Then come the nuances: if it was only four people who did it and they don't represent society. If worse things are said in stadiums and nothing happens. But behind those shouts, we have the ones that whisper in our ears: "They're coming to take our jobs," "They want to impose their culture," "There are only foreigners at school," or "They're invading us." And so we end up normalizing racist comments creeping into the debate, without being surprised, without encountering radical opposition from society, and we end up turning it into just another opinion.
Racism isn't just insults; it's also the seemingly innocent comment, the constant need to prove that "you deserve to be here because you've integrated." Even though there's a risk that one day you'll be seen again simply for your accent or skin color and be "that foreigner."
Consequently, for this group of howlers, Lamine Yamal will never be fully Spanish; his nationality will be an accident, and he will always be Muslim before he is a compatriot. Just as my neighbor will always remain a foreigner to be regarded with suspicion. Because “a Muslim who doesn’t jump” is the explicit, group version of my “neighbor from the country,” and both carry the same poison.
Opinion piece. The opinions expressed in this text are the sole responsibility of its author and do not necessarily reflect the editorial line of this publication.
