It's the cyclists' fault

"It's all the Jews' and the cyclists' fault." This slogan, coined by Joseph Goebbels, propaganda minister of the Third Reich, is still studied today in communication and political science departments as a clear example of a false dichotomy. It is said that Goebbels presented the idea to Hitler in the midst of the frenzy of anti-Semitic targeting and persecution, and that Hitler responded with what many of you might have thought, given the context: "And why the cyclists?"

The impulse to hate often lies in the deepest recesses of the subconscious. And unfortunately, the establishment of false dichotomies and twisted, self-serving mental frameworks is not the exclusive domain of 20th-century totalitarian regimes. It is a technique as old as populism, deception, and the march itself, but one that casts its shadow into our own time, in which the construction of arbitrary and common enemies still affects us from all sides. First it was the feminists, "who had gone too far." Then, trans people. A few years ago, Carles Puigdemont ceded the title of public enemy number one (theirs, naturally) to Pedro Sánchez, and in recent months it seems that immigration and certain religious denominations have been singled out as the culprits for the country's problems.

A prime example of this is the offensive against the burka orchestrated by the PP and Vox at the national level (with some rather conspicuous, almost caricatured, flashes in the Balearic Islands, as is the case with the Manacor branch of Vox). This is not only because it stems from a false premise—that the burka is a real and common problem on the streets of the Islands and the rest of Spain—but also because it seems more like a distraction tactic than a genuine fight to improve people's rights. Where are the PP and Vox when measures to support victims of gender-based violence are being debated? Where is their supposed feminist commitment when the attacker of women's rights is a white man, and above all, a powerful or wealthy one? How do they position themselves when avenues of cooperation with the countries of origin of the groups they are targeting are being considered? Who really benefits from all this calculated noise? It's clear that all the time we spend debating fantasies like the burka in our country, the "massive" problem of squatting, the discrimination against the Spanish language in the Catalan Countries, or even death by pepper spray is time we're not talking about real problems, real inequalities, housing, the climate emergency, and decent living conditions. And they're doing just fine with it, but perhaps the public should speak out enough.

Defending women's rights, like those of any group, requires a minimum level of credibility and consistency. Using their freedom as a pretext to target minorities and invent collective enemies demands far fewer scruples, but it seems to be cheaper for now. If you doubt it, just ask the cyclists, the most obvious culprits in everything that's happening.