The irresponsibility of fueling Islamophobia

PalmThe far right is playing with fire. It does so deliberately when it singles out a segment of the population—in this case, the Muslim population—as a source of conflict, a cultural threat, and supposed social degradation. Fueling Islamophobia is an exercise in colossal political irresponsibility, because the consequences of this discourse are not merely rhetorical: they directly impact coexistence, cohesion, and social peace in the Balearic Islands.

The narrative maintained by Vox and also by a segment of society—by no means a majority, but certainly an increasingly large one—is well-known and repeated ad nauseam. They say that immigration "invades," that it "doesn't integrate," that it "takes jobs," or that it "hoards aid." These are simplistic, false, and perverse ideas that seek to generate fear and rejection. A fear that is projected onto difference—religious, cultural, sartorial, or culinary—as if it were, in and of itself, incompatible with coexistence. It is not. The Balearic Islands have been diverse for decades, and much of their economic and social progress can be attributed to this diversity. In sectors such as agriculture and caregiving, often overlooked, the immigrant population—a portion of whom are Muslim—has been key to sustaining activities that would otherwise have been abandoned. To deny this contribution is to refuse to see reality. But it is even more serious to make this same population the scapegoat for social frustrations. Today, there are no structural problems of coexistence in the Islands linked to the Muslim religion. The risk is creating them. Because when constant suspicion is fueled from political and media platforms, discriminatory attitudes are legitimized, attitudes that manifest themselves both on social media and, increasingly, in physical spaces. Verbal hatred opens the door to real hatred.

In this context, sterile controversies like Vox's proposal—with the complicity of the PP—to ban the burka in public buildings only contribute to singling out and stigmatizing. They don't address real problems, but rather a strategy of highlighting differences and gaining political advantage from identity conflict.

The result of this drift is dangerous: social fracture. A society fragmented by origin or religion is a weaker, more unjust, and more conflictive society. And this benefits no one, neither Muslims nor any other cultural or religious group. The path should be precisely the opposite: fostering integration, opening spaces for encounter, strengthening community ties. This is a shared responsibility of those who aspire to govern, the media, and also citizens in their daily lives. To unite, not divide. To build coexistence, not destroy it. Because playing with fire can end up burning down what we have all worked so hard to build: a pluralistic society that has, until now, made diversity an asset, not a problem.