Social policy exclusion zone

Social policy exclusion zone. Cartoon of 24/05/2025 in CTXT

Translation of the cartoon. Above: ‘Office of passing the buck between administrations’. Below: ‘Social policy exclusion zone’.

On 10 May, El País reported that "almost three months later, nobody knew who were the more than 400 homeless people (other figures say more than 500) at Barajas airport" and that AENA had threatened the Madrid City Council with legal action while a religious organisation undertook a census on its own, which was necessary to define responsibilities.

The passing the buck between administrations is a classic, everyone alludes to other people's competences and ultimate or primary responsibilities to muddy up the political confrontation and meanwhile the poor are left untouched. From time to time, the television channels open up trashy pieces emphasising delinquency, "illegal" immigration. Dirt and robberies, everything is ugly when talking about the poor.

For the facherío, the poor people are a nuisance there. They litter the landscape and give a bad image of the capital and the country to those who land in Madrid and, of course, it's all Pedro Sánchez's fault, says the sociopathic Ayuso. And Almeida, the one who claims to be mayor of Madrid, who only opens his mouth to reaffirm his uselessness, asks the government for a study on the people who are at the airport so that he can make personalised reports to adapt the solutions.

No surprise. What to expect from this herd of denialists who, by denying, deny even poverty.

Meanwhile, Mesa por la Hospitalidad, an organisation with links to Caritas, has already made a census, which is not yet public, of the hundreds of people who sleep at the airport every night.

According to El País, the census reveals that 412 people live in Barajas: more than half are registered in Madrid and 38% work, 78% are men and 74% are foreigners from 33 different countries.

Governments, communities and town councils have in this type of organisations a bargain that allows them to shake off the fleas while others do their work for them. Here you have Oscar Puente, that minister so praised in Tuiter just for doing what is supposed to be his job , replying to someone who asked him about the census to tell him that"Caritas has done a complete report" and adding some links from El País. He seems to want to tell us that nothing can be done in the face of the inaction and neglect of his duties by the City Council and the Community of Madrid.

And finally an agreement is reached, they say. But don't applaud yet, what AENA and the city council have agreed is to draw up a census. Meanwhile, the trade union Alternativa Sindical Aena/Enaire (Asae) thinks it's all very well, but continues to call for an urgent eviction.

Both administrations should be ashamed of themselves, but we know that is not going to happen. The fact that there are people living badly at the airport, and in other places, is nothing new. A few days ago, the media told us the story of a person who spent more than three years living in Madrid-Barajas airport.

Don't buy anyone's story suggesting that this is a one-off event, something extraordinary. It is yet another example of chronic poverty and its many symptoms that no one really wants to alleviate, such as the perennial problem of access to housing.