Hate-Speech Countering by Immigrant and Pro-Immigrant Associations in Almeria (Spain)

Abstract

In recent years, there has been an exponential increase in anti-immigrant hate speech on social media. Drawing on interviews with 15 immigrant associations and 11 pro-immigrant associations in the southern Spanish province of Almería, as well as digital ethnography, this article explores strategies used by immigrant and pro-immigrant associations to counter hate speech. The rise of this hate speech, disseminated mainly by far-right parties, has occurred at a time when many immigrant associations have little or no access to social media platforms. However, members of all these associations (immigrant and pro-immigrant) are aware of the perverse effects of these discourses, as they have either received them on their personal social media platforms or experienced abhorrent hate-speech attacks against their members and/or users. Despite their difficulties in navigating the “glocaline political arena”, they have participated in a number of projects and developed tools that allow them to generate a counter-discourse. We identify and explore the richness and diversity of these online campaigns and activities, highlighting the difficulties that immigrant associations—compared to pro-immigrant ones—face in navigating the glocaline political arena.

1. Introduction

The United Nations (UN) (United Nations 2019) defines hate speech as “any kind of communication in speech, writing or behaviour, that attacks or uses pejorative or discriminatory language with reference to a person or a group on the basis of who they are, in other words, based on their religion, ethnicity, nationality, race, colour, descent, gender or other identity factor”. As they explain on their website, hate speech refers to images, cartoons, memes, objects, gestures and symbols. It is discriminatory or pejorative. It also refers to the real or perceived identity factors of an individual or a group. Chakraborti et al. (2014) define it as “any digital act of violence, hostility and intimidation directed at people because of their identity or perceived difference” (p. 24).

These discourses are embedded in hierarchical and exclusionary ideologies that “stablish clear lines of superiority and inferiority according to race, ethnicity, nationality, gender, religion, and sexuality. This includes a range of racist, anti-immigrant, nativist, nationalist, White-supremacist, anti-Islam, anti-Semitic, and anti-LGTBQ+ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer and others) beliefs” (Miller-Idriss 2020, p. 6). Taken as a post-truth communication phenomenon, these discourses involve an “information disorder” that aims to cause harm (Wardle and Derakhshan 2017; Lilleker and Pérez-Escolar 2023). This method of analysis can be used to classify disinformation in several ways. It can be classified as content that is false and deliberately created to harm a person, social group, organisation or country, creating false connections between misleading or manipulated content. Alternatively, it can be classified as false, but not deliberately created to cause harm, such as creating, for example, satirical content. Or, ultimately, the analysis can be used to classify misinformation as content based on reality, but used to inflict harm on a person, organisation or country, as occurs, for example, in cases of leaks, harassment or stereotyping.

Hate speech is inscribed in a pyramid of hate in which people face bias, discrimination, and violence. The pyramid of hate (ADL 2018) is a theoretical and visual image that shows how the seeds of hate, once planted, can quickly grow into biased attitudes through hate speech, discrimination and murder, and, in the most extreme case, rise to genocide. The pyramid comprises five interconnected levels and suggests that hate can escalate when left unchecked. While the behaviours at each level negatively affect individuals and groups, as one moves up the pyramid, the behaviours become more extreme and violent (Syed and Ali 2020).

As Barrientos Rastrojo (2022) points out, hate speech “implies the emission of an offensive and harmful invective against a person or group, which incites contempt and stigmatisation of a collective, and which is based on critical-emancipatory, hermeneutic, creative and cautious weaknesses, and which produces the breakdown of the ideal community that integrates the offended and the offender” (pp. 3–4). These discourses seek personal happiness consisting of the failure of the other; they are projected onto a diversity of collectives, weakening the critical and creative capacity of those who launch them, restricting their vision and wounding the social or community structure.

Strategies to address hate speech need “balancing between the fundamental freedom of expression and the protection of human dignity and personality rights against any kind of manifestation that is qualified as hate speech” (Sarlet 2019, p. 1208). These strategies are based on immunising against hate and include such strategies as developing critical and creative thinking, developing empathy, and improving the ability to listen to others and the ability to work in teams. Moreover, developing intolerance prevention campaigns accelerates moral engagement (Barrientos Rastrojo 2022; Wachs et al. 2022, 2023). Some authors recommend “that education or training—even machine learning such as empathetic bots—should focus on strategies that are positive in tone, acknowledging grievances especially” (Baider 2023, p. 249).

Both hate speech and counter-discourses of hate circulate in a “glocaline political arena”, understood as “an emerging space that shows the confluence of political action at global, local and digital levels” (Hernández Vega 2020; Hernández Vega and Escala Rabadán 2021). However, the fact that both hate speech and counter-discourses circulate in these digital spaces does not mean that all social actors have the same access to digital spaces, nor that their participation in digital spaces is equal, nor that their discourses have the same effects, as different social actors do not have the same opportunities to present and “re-present” themselves in these digital spaces.

Hernández Vega and Escala Rabadán (2021) highlight the importance of immigrant associations’ access to social media platforms, as they allow direct, horizontal and immediate contact between these associations, their members and other social and political actors. The present study explores in an original way the digital space of hate speech and counter-discourses about immigrants developed by immigrant associations and pro-immigrant associations. Since the associations are made up of groups of individuals who seek to counter the hate discourses that affect them, this research aims to explore a specific case of glocaline political space—the province of Almeria, in southern Spain—and tries to identify how the main issues that project hate-speech discourses against immigrants into the digital space converge with the counter-discourses that immigrant and pro-immigrant associations develop to counter them.

In the province of Almeria, there is a remarkable network of immigrant associations, as well as numerous associations that work with or support immigrants. The questions that guide this study are the following: How have immigrant associations and pro-immigrant associations experienced the rise of hatred? What resources do immigrant and pro-immigrant associations have to counter this hatred? Finally, what responses have they developed in the glocaline political arena? We will begin by outlining the social context in which immigrant and pro-immigrant associations operate in the province of Almeria, highlighting the difficulties faced by such associations in Spain in participating in the glocaline political arena. We will review the literature on hatemongers. We will then present the methodology of our study and the main results.

1.1. Social Context

The exponential growth of intensive agriculture, mainly for exporting, has made Almeria one of the most multi-ethnic provinces in Spain, a province where the foreign population is currently stable at around 21% of the total population (Cutillas Fernández and Pedreño Cánovas 2022). Since the beginning of the first international migratory flows to the province in the late 1980s and early 1990s, migrants have come mainly from outside the EU. From the beginning, there was predominantly an African presence, especially communities from Morocco. At the end of the 1990s, there were increases in the populations arriving from Latin America (mainly Ecuador) and Romania. After the 2008 financial crisis, the presence of African immigrants increased again. In 2021, the population of African origin represented 50% of the total migrant population, of which 40% were of Moroccan origin (Cutillas Fernández and Pedreño Cánovas 2022).

As Díaz López (2022) points out, since 1974, the province’s population has grown by 90% more than the rest of Spain, its production has increased 84% more than has the national average, and its employment has grown by almost 130% more than employment in the rest of the country (p. 16). In addition, Almeria leads the Andalusian provinces in most indicators of employment and wealth creation. It has gained more than 20 percentage points in GDP per capita. The arrival of international immigrants and their integration into the local labour market has contributed to the development of the province. It has created new jobs, enabled older adults and unemployed local women to find jobs, and even allowed the social promotion of some social groups, as native workers switched from greenhouses to construction, or from warehouses and domestic services to hotels. In this process, “immigrants act as substitutes for natives, while the improved socio-economic situation has opened up new jobs in other sectors” (Díaz López 2022, p. 29).

In Spain, high immigrant density is not a significant indicator of xenophobia. In fact, in Andalusia, education level, income and age were each more relevant in predicting xenophobia than was immigrant population density (Herranz de Rafael 2010). Currently, the older population (over 55 years old) and those whose ideology is right-wing, along with those who consider themselves religious, are the most likely to reject immigrants for reasons of national origin, along with those who disagree with the offering of facilities by the government allowing immigrants to obtain citizenship, and with the permissiveness regarding the entry of legal immigrants into the country (Moldes-Anaya et al. 2017, p. 256).

If we look at the results of the studies, in this region there has been a type of relationship between migrants and natives that would correspond to the extended relative acculturation model (RAEM) (Navas Luque et al. 2007), since, as the authors conclude from a study of 1523 natives and immigrants carried out in 2005, “immigrants and natives coincide in their choices for acculturation (“assimilation”) in the peripheral domains of the RAEM (work, economic); they also coincide in their acculturation attitudes in the social domain (“integration”); however, they differ enormously in the options preferred for the central spheres, or hard core, of the culture (e.g., family, religious, ways of thinking): While immigrants prefer “separation”, natives continue to prefer “assimilation” (Navas Luque et al. 2007, p. 67)”. In other words, the immigrant population has assimilated with the native population in its attitudes towards the central spheres of the new social structure, but still maintains a relative separation in the family and religious spheres.

In Spain, there are no studies on how immigrant and pro-immigrant associations operate in the glocaline political arena. Hernández Vega and Escala Rabadán (2021) highlight the importance of immigrant associations’ access to social media platforms, as they allow direct, horizontal and immediate contact between these associations, their members and other social and political actors. In the case of Spanish immigrant associations, as of 2010, a large majority of associations lack their own facilities and paid staff. Many do not even have a website, an email address or even their own postal address (Aparicio Gómez and Tornos Cubillo 2010, p. 35). Therefore, their use of social media is a relatively recent phenomenon. The authors (Tovar Parra and Torralba Vásquez 2020) highlight the existence of a digital divide that, from 2012 to 2015, differentiated between the ones who did not have access to the Internet and the ones to had access to it and produced quality content. Associations that did not have access to social media were not able to develop their full potential, as the absence of the Internet hindered their integration into the information society. In fact, of the 852 immigrant associations registered in Spain, only 116 had an active account on one of the following platforms or resources at the time: Facebook (46% of associations), Twitter (16%), blog (23%), web (32%) and YouTube (13%). Moroccan associations were predominant among those with access to the web and social media, and Romanian associations were predominant among those with less access. In the study by Tovar Parra and Torralba Vásquez (2020), only 46% of the associations interviewed had some kind of Internet site, with mobile phones being the main means of communication and maintaining synergies with other associations. In general, the strategy adopted by the associations was to use the personal resources of the association’s members (mobile phones), making them available to the association (74% of the associations used the mobile phones of their members). At that time, they used email as a means of connecting with other entities.

It should be noted that hate speech against immigrants disseminated in the glocaline political arena could remain unanswered due to the digital divides. Online platforms would thus contribute to the deepening of a social climate of division between the indigenous and immigrant populations. They would serve to draw a line between us and them, one which would contribute to the reinforcement of differences. In the following section, we would like to draw attention to the literature on hatemongers. Later, we will explain the methodology and present the findings of our exploratory study on the strategies used by some immigrant associations and pro-immigrant associations to counter hate speech in the glocaline political arena.

1.2. The Hatemongers

Hate speech against immigrants contributes to the generation of anti-immigrant sentiments in the Global North, fostering feelings of insecurity among citizens and anti-immigrant attitudes (Ekman 2019). It is worth noting, first of all, that in Spain, before the entry of the radical right and especially prior to its electoral rise in the 2018–2019 elections (Mariscal de Gante and Rinken 2022), the issue of immigration was not highlighted as one of the most important issues. A more humanist view of immigration prevailed. After 2019, while political parties such as the Socialist Party “highlight the most humanistic part of immigration and consider that it is a problem that should be solved internationally, the second (VOX) highlights the negative consequences that this situation could have on the security of Spanish citizens” (Galindo-Domínguez et al. 2023, p. 98).

Indeed, hate speech against immigrants is not necessarily more prevalent in areas with a high immigrant population. As the authors point out, “the territorial concentration of economic migrants is negatively related with the vote for VOX, which illustrates the positive character of interracial contact” (Iglesias-Pascual et al. 2022, p. 117). Moreover, in those European regions with a higher proportion of immigrants, there is greater citizen support for such groups, and therefore lower rates of hate speech on social media such as Twitter (Arcila-Calderón et al. 2022, p. 32). The conclusions of the studies support the idea that “Although perceived size is not totally detached from actual size, the discrepancy between actual and perceived size is found to be a more powerful predictor of opposition to immigration than actual size. The more inflated is the misperception the more pronounced is opposition to immigration” (Gorodzeisky and Semyonov 2020, p. 612).

In Spain, as in the rest of Europe, hate speech against immigrants is mainly launched by far-right populist political actors (Miller-Idriss 2020; Lilleker and Pérez-Escolar 2023). Lilleker and Pérez-Escolar (2023) have studied the dominant frames of hate speech on community pages dedicated to right-wing parties in Spain (VOX) and the UK. Their research shows that there is frequent use of hate speech that promotes xenophobic and discriminatory attitudes towards the immigrant population. In fact, they conclude that “hate speech against immigrants in the UK and Spain share common key frames. Immigrants are framed as a drain on resources, illegal, potential, or actual criminals, and discourse is coloured by the worship of traditional social norms and national customs—conventionalism. The strident language used represents an aggressiveness towards otherness which leads to homogenous thinking (…), the need to transfer strength to the nation and the communities or leaders who are like-minded and defend traditional homeland values, and a closed or dogmatic mentality” (Lilleker and Pérez-Escolar 2023, p. 234).

VOX defines itself around the rejection of the fundamental principle of equality, which means mixing xenophobia, racism, ethnocentrism and exclusionism, rejecting multiculturalism and cultural diversity. In their discourse, immigration becomes a political issue, which allows them to link it to problems that concern citizens, such as unemployment, delinquency and crime. Vox’s hate speech appeals to the economically marginalised, the losers of the processes of modernisation and globalisation, which leads the party to argue against the welfare state and its maintenance. Social media allow them to connect with new voter niches in the context of fatigue with the establishment, a culture of voters rooted in the rise of authoritarian orientations and feelings of resentment at the erosion of beliefs and values (Norris and Inglehart 2019). Hate speech expands the resentment of “losers” and activates fear and anxiety (Salmela and von Scheve 2017), as well as feelings of anxiety, anger, hatred, contempt, worry, resentment, bitterness and disgust (Rivera Otero et al. 2021, p. 129; Mariscal Ríos 2022). These discourses reinforce and/or merge with Islamophobic discourses directed against a specific group of immigrants, specifically those from Muslim countries. Although, as the authors point out, Islamophobia appears to be a more ideologically transversal social phenomenon (Zamora Medina et al. 2021, p. 16).

According to a report on the spread of hate speech on the Internet in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic (Consejo Audiovisual de Andalucía 2021), the wave of hate and xenophobia, seeking scapegoats and fomenting fear, had increased through the exchange of videos (Youtube) and other social media (especially Facebook and Instagram). The authors emphasise that “it is clear that hate speech exists on the social media, which feeds back and extends these frontiers to violent, hostile, unpleasant and distasteful communication in forums that encourage it” (Consejo Audiovisual de Andalucía 2021, p. 47).

Looking at the hate crimes solved in Spain from 2020 to 2022, those related to racism and xenophobia are both the most frequent (around 70% of the total number of crimes) and also the ones that have increased the most (18.5% variation) (Muniesa Tomás et al. 2022, p. 10). According to this report, hate crimes related to the public promotion of hate are not the most common, as the most common crimes are related to threats, sexual aggression or injuries, a fact which confirms the difficulty of reporting the promotion of hate against groups on social media. According to this report, in Almería, with a population of 201,775, there were 18 victims of hate crimes, 10 of which were racist or xenophobic. The best-known one is that of “Antas Klan”, a far-right group which was the subject of an intervention by the Guardia Civil in June 2020; the group was accused of composing Nazi apologetics, disseminating a racist manifesto announcing citizen patrols to end an alleged wave of robberies, and organising an event in a town (Antas) where a Moroccan citizen was assaulted (La Voz de Almería 2023).

Three types of campaigns have been developed in response to these forms of hate speech: awareness-raising, affirmative and restrictive (Titley et al. 2014; INJUVE 2017, p. 29). The first aim is to raise awareness among the general public—or specific groups in particular—about what hate speech is and the consequences it can have for vulnerable groups. The second type of campaign is affirmative, which aims to present vulnerable groups in a positive light in order to prevent discriminatory attitudes or behaviour. Thirdly, there are restrictive campaigns, which aim to gather information about intolerant content in order to take action or restrict it (Titley et al. 2014; INJUVE 2017, p. 29). Such campaigns can be carried out by different political actors, such as political parties, educational institutions, or NGOs. In this study, we will focus on pro-immigrant and immigrant associations, as these associations—especially immigrant associations—bring together those citizens who are, in principle, most interested in developing counter-discourses of hate. Our aim is to explore the kind of counter-hate discourses developed by immigrant and pro-immigrant associations in the global political arena. In the following section, we describe the methodology of our research.

2. Methodology

In order to study the counter-hate-speech activities carried out by immigrant associations in the province of Almeria, we designed a study that involved, firstly, identifying the associations and classifying them according to their use of social media. Secondly, a semi-structured interview was used to find out the ways in which they had experienced hate speech about immigrants and what activities they had undertaken to counteract such speech. In addition, a digital ethnography study was carried out to find out how they had proposed to deal with hate speech, what kind of prevention programmes they had set up, and how these programs had been funded.

2.1. Mechanisms and Data Analysis

In order to locate immigrant associations, we worked with a file of associations, published on the Junta de Andalucía website, which contains the names and telephone numbers of immigrant associations. This website is completely out of date (the last update was 11 years ago), so many of the telephone numbers were no longer operational. To locate the associations, we went to the social services offices of the municipalities of the province and also asked the members of known associations about the existence of other associations.

The fieldwork was carried out during the months of September and October 2023 and consisted of an interview with each of the associations. They were asked about the association’s participation on the Internet and their activities centred around hate speech, on the part of both the organisation, the collective, and the association’s employees or users. In addition, a qualitative analysis was carried out which included a detailed reading of the association’s activities in relation to hate speech on their website, as well as comments and posts on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Instagram. Both websites and social media sites are open to the public.

Initially, all of the associations included in this study were contacted by telephone. In the telephone interview (conducted with association presidents, technicians, social educators, administrative staff, or volunteers) they were asked for information on the types of members and users of the association (whether they were immigrants or not), whether their members had social networks, whether they as an organisation had detected hate speech, and whether the members or users of the association had detected hate speech. If the interviewee had any experience of hate speech, we asked them to describe it. The interview was repeated with most of the associations. In some cases, the interview was conducted face-to-face, in other cases by telephone, and in a few cases the associations asked for the questionnaire to be sent to them so that the answers could be discussed in plenary sessions. All of these data were collected in an Excel file which was used for the analysis.

Once the analysis had been carried out, the first draft was emailed to all the associations for their feedback. Some associations provided us with comments that helped to improve our analysis.

As for the digital ethnography study, it was carried out by reviewing the web and social media platform of each association. The information was used to elaborate the nature of the campaigns against hate speech. We compiled a list of online activities, which we then grouped into types of campaigns: awareness-raising, affirmative and restrictive.

2.2. Ethics

In the presentation of the analysis of the interviews conducted with the associations, the names of the associations are not shown, in order to preserve anonymity. Except for cases in which the questionnaire was completed after a plenary meeting of the association, the members of the associations who responded to the interviews did not want these statements to be directly attributed to the association, so we have decided not to identify the answers with specific associations in the presentation of our results.

3. Findings

In this section, we present the findings of our research. First, we describe the social media activity of immigrant and pro-immigrant associations in Almeria. We will then describe the experiences of hate that the associations reported during the interviews. Finally, we will discuss the objectives and activities that immigrant and pro-immigrant associations have implemented online against hate speech, based on an analysis of their social networks.

Most of the immigrant associations in the province of Almeria were founded in the 1990s. Of the three digital divides (access, use, and quality of use), we can say that the immigrant associations in Almeria have not yet overcome the second or third digital divides.

Table 1. Social networks of immigrant associations and pro-immigrant associations in Almería, ordered according to the date of the commencement of activity in a social network.

Associations	Social Media	Start of Activity in Social Networks
Immigrant Associations
Asociación Marroquí	Facebook: Asociación Marroquí- España (14,000 followers) YouTube: Asociación Marroquí para la Integración (13.6 k followers) Tiktok: asociacionmarroqui (124.4 k followers)	Facebook: 5 November 2009 YouTube: 5 October 2013 TikTok: -
Asociación Codenaf	Web: http://www.codenaf.org (accessed on 15 October 2023) Facebook: Codenaf Málaga (442 followers) Twitter: @AsocCodenaf (767 followers) Instagram: @codenafmalaga (949 followers)	Twitter: May 2012 Facebook: 12 March 2020 Instagram: March 2020
Asociación de inmigrantes malienses (Malian Association)	Instagram: @casademali (971 followers) Twitter: @casademali_ong (495 followers) YouTube: @videoscasademali (46 followers)	Twitter: October 2010 YouTube: 15 July 2012 Instagram: May 2017
Asociacion At-Tawba (Moroccan, African and Caribbean Association)	Web http://www.at-tawba.es (accessed on 15 October 2023) Facebook: Asociación at-tawba (1054 followers) Instagram: @attawba2020 (124 followers) YouTube: @at-tawba (32 followers) E-mail: [email protected]	YouTube: 20 April 2013 Facebook: 20 November 2016 Instagram: August 2020
Asociación Aisad Mbolo (Senegalese Association)	Facebook: Aisad Mbolo	1 August 2011
Asociación De Colombianos “Almería Para Todos” (Colombian Association)	Facebook: Almeria para todos (1824 followers) Twitter: @yaddygonzalez (281 seguidores)	Twitter: March 2011 Facebook: 24 April 2015
Asociación Rumanos Almeriense (Romanian Association)	Facebook: Asociatia “Rumanos-Almerienses” (1409 followers) Twitter: @RAlmerienses (6 followers)	Facebook: 14 March 2016 Twitter: July 2019
Asociación Alcemos la voz África (African Immigrant Association)	Web: https://alcemoslavoz1.blogspot.com (accessed on 15 October 2023) Instagram: @alcemos_la_voz_africanos (2.797 followers) Facebook: Alcemos la Voz Africa (263 followers)	Instagram: November 2017 Facebook: 1 December 2017
Colectiva Nunca más sin nosotras (Association of Immigrant Women)	Instagram: @nuncamassinnosotras.mm (212 followers) YouTube: @NuncaMasSinNosotras (1 follower) Spotify: Nunca más sin nosotras-mujeres migrantes E-mail: [email protected]	Instagram: March 2023 YouTube: 13 April 2023 Spotify: -
Asociación po-rusky (Russian Association)	Web: https://www.almeriaporussky.es (accessed on 15 October 2023) E-mail: [email protected]	-
Asociación de inmigrantes mauritanos-AEMA (Mauritanian Association)	https://www.africanidad.com/2016/01/asociacion-de-emigrantes-mauritanos-en_54.html (accessed on 15 October 2023)	-
Asociación de inmigrantes nigerianos (Nigerian Association)	E-mail: [email protected]	-
Asociación Al-Mouhajir (Moroccan Association)	E-mail: [email protected]	-
Asociación RAHMA (Moroccan Association)	E-mail: [email protected]	-
Asociación Mali-CAIRA (Association of Malian Immigrant Women)	E-mail: [email protected]	-
Pro-Immigrant Associations
Asociación Movimiento Por La Paz (MPDL)	Instagram: @movimientoxlapaz.mpdl (3.478 followers) Facebook: Movimiento por la Paz-MPDL (13 k followers) Twitter: @MovimientoxlPaz (11.8 k followers) YouTube: @MovimientoPorLaPaz (948 followers)	YouTube: 2 April 2009 Facebook: 20 April 2009 Twitter: October 2009 Instagram: May 2019
Asociación Accem	Facebook: Accem (24 k followers) Instagram: @accem_ong (15 k followers) Twitter: @Accem_ong (18 k followers) YouTube: @AccemONG (4.51 k followers) LinkedIn: Accem	YouTube: 21 September 2009 Twitter: September 2012 Facebook: 18 December 2012 Instagram: June 2016 LinkedIn: -
Asociación Almería acoge	Facebook: Almería acoge (2496 followers) Instagram: @almeriaacoge (780 followers)	Facebook: 23 September 2010 Instagram: 24 September 2015
Cáritas Diocesana	Facebook: Caritas Almería (2430 followers) Twitter: @caritasalmeria (1083 followers)	Facebook:14 November 2010 Twitter: January 2011
Asociación CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado)	Facebook: CEAR (67 k followers) Instagram: @cearefugio (42 k followers) YouTube: @comisionespanoladeayudaalr4181 (8.56 k followers) LinkedIn: Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado (CEAR) (58.292 followers)	Facebook: 31 May 2011 YouTube: 12 June 2012 Instagram: October 2015 LinkedIn: -
Asociación Hermanas Oblatas	Facebook: Hermanas Oblatas CCSS de Jesús y María (3213 followers) Instagram: @programaoblatasalmeria (133 seguidores)	Facebook: 9 December 2011 Instagram: June 2023
Médicos del mundo	Facebook: Médicos del Mundo Andalucía Instagram: @medicosdelmundoandalucia (1450 followers) Twitter: @MdMAndalucia (1.117 followers)	Facebook: 9 November 2011 Twitter: September 2011 Instagram: February 2015
Cruz Roja	Web: https://www.cruzroja.es/principal/web/provincial-almeria (accessed on 15 October 2023) Facebook: Cruz Roja Almería (339 k followers) Twitter: @CruzRojaEsp (129.5 k followers) Instagram: @cruzrojaesp (106 k followers)	Facebook: 22 January 2009 Twitter: April 2011 Instagram: November 2015
Fundación CEPAIM	Facebook: Fundación Cepaim (22 k followers) Instagram: @fundacioncepaim (8.046 followers) Twitter: @fundacióncepaim (10.7 k followers)	Facebook: 15 November 2012 Twitter: November 2012 Instagram: 5 October 2018
Servicio Jesuita a migrantes (SJM)	Facebook: SJM España (2063 followers) Twitter: @migrantes_sj (6.397 followers) Instagram: @sjmesp (1.459 followers) YouTube: @SJMEspana (211 followers)	Twitter: March 2016 Facebook: 18 November 2016 YouTube: 11 November 2016 Instagram: October 2019
Asociación Ítaca	Facebook: Asociación Ítaca (663 followers) Instagram: @asociaciónitaca (1561 followers) YouTube: @asociacionitacaalmeria.2734 (110 followers)	Facebook: 7 March 2019 Instagram: March 2019 YouTube: 2 April 2020

Source: Elaborated by the authors.

lists the immigrant associations that currently target their social work at immigrants and that have a website and social media. The table includes the date when their social media activity started.

Among the currently active immigrant associations, the first to start working in social media in Almeria was the Asociación Marroquí (Moroccan Association), which started its activity on 5 November 2009. It was followed by the Malian Association, the Codenaf Association (made up of immigrants and Spaniards), At-Tawba (which brings together Moroccan, African, and Latin American immigrants), Aisad Mbolo (Senegalese), the “Almería para todos” Association, the Colombian Association and the Romanian Association. The beginning dates of activity on these different digital platforms correspond to the arrivals of these populations in the province of Almería. The first form of social media created by these associations was Facebook. It was followed by YouTube and Twitter. More recently, many have created an account on Instagram or TikTok.

As can be seen, many of the immigrant associations that operate in the province do not have access to digital platforms. The Russian association Po-Rusky has only a website. The Moroccan associations RAHMA and Al-Mouhajir, the Mauritanian association AEMA, the association of Nigerians and the association of Malian immigrant women, Mali-CAIRA, only have email addresses. When we asked them why they did not have a website and/or a social media profile, they replied that they did not have the time or resources to hire staff to take care of social media promotion.

The migrant association with the most followers on social media is the Asociación Marroquí, due to its national presence. In general, the numbers of followers on the different social media do not tend to coincide, suggesting that some associations have adapted better to some social media than have others. As can be seen in the third column of the table, the Asociación Marroquí started on Facebook, where it has 14,000 followers. But it has managed to reach many more people through YouTube and TikTok. Al-Tawba, the “Almería para todos” Colombian association and the Romanian association reach most of their followers through Facebook. Codenaf reaches most of its followers through Twitter. The Malian association and the Let’s Raise the Voice Africa association reach most of their followers through Instagram.

As for the associations working with immigrants in the province of Almeria, all of them are present on social media. Many of them work at a national level. Almería Acoge, which is the best-known association working with immigrants in the province, started its activity on Facebook in 2010. For all of these associations, Facebook is the predominant form of social media, the one where they are most active. Twitter is used more by these associations than it is by the immigrant associations. In general, these associations have more social media channels than the immigrant associations, which can be explained by the fact that they have more resources to hire staff to set them up.

3.1. Associations’ Experiences of Hate

The associations interviewed have not experienced hate on a regular basis. They point out that in the places where they operate, “the neighbours are very accepting of the association’s social activity”. According to these organizations, they have not experienced hate speech on their institutional social media, although they have occasionally experienced it on the social media of the associations’ members or users. Their experience of hate speech is of an individual nature. As one association points out, “not on our social media (which we don’t have), but on all the social media that we personally manage”. They have also noticed “the existence of bots that spread a repetitive and continuous message of hate”.

The interviewees make a distinction between online and offline hate speech, saying that they have received offline hate speech directed at (immigrant) users and association staff.

“Towards users (especially people of foreign origin) and also towards those who show solidarity with them”, related to “prejudice, ignorance and extrapolation. They are based on dehumanisation, on depriving another human being of his or her dignity (…) Sometimes these discourses are latent or covert, appearing in passing comments such as “look, they even have a mobile phone”. This indicates a level of degradation in the way they are viewed, which considers these people not only inferior but subhuman (…). This is a degrading treatment that protects structural violence”.

They point out that the offline hate speech they have identified is “mainly racially motivated (because they are black) rather than religiously motivated”. These are discourses that “associate crime and insecurity with immigrants” and contribute to the creation of hoaxes about “taking advantage of benefits and jobs because they are immigrants”.

In addition, immigrant and pro-immigrant associations point out that they have suffered aggressions related to hatred of various kinds; these aggressions can be physical, economic, or social. This type of hatred has been experienced by local associations, particularly in the form of apartheid, as they denounce the existence of certain bars that specifically refuse entry to Africans or even increase the price of drinks to make it more difficult for those who decide to enter. Interviewees have also received hatred in the form of “death letters”, sabotage of the association’s headquarters (broken glass and graffiti), closure of bank accounts because they are Russians, and refusal of treatment in certain establishments.

In general, associations report receiving hate speech offline, both from natives towards immigrants and between immigrants of different nationalities. For example, they say that both immigrant users of the association and their descendants have suffered hate speech. Another association highlights the identifications made within these discourses between young immigrant women and prostitutes. We highlight an interview with one of the associations that works with immigrants:

“Question: Who is the target of this hate speech, the users, you or the organisation?

Answer: The people we help, especially immigrants. Against the staff who take care of these people. We are not aware of any hate speech against the organisation.

Question: Have you identified any subject, organisation or political party that spreads hate speech?

Answer: Yes, specifically the VOX political party.

Question: Have you received hate speech outside social media? If so, what is it about?

Answer: There have been specific cases in which when we have been accompanied by migrants or people of colour we have not been attended to in some establishments, and also when we have accompanied a user we have been given the feeling that we do not help everyone equally, as if we were only dedicated to helping foreigners”.

It is worth noting that several of the associations surveyed identified hate speech as coming mainly from the VOX political party. This identification is consistent with the studies reviewed in the previous sections on hate speech. It is particularly worrying, given that VOX is currently represented in the Andalusian government.

3.2. Hate Counter-Discourses Developed by Immigrant and Pro-Immigrant Associations

We noted earlier that three types of campaigns have been developed in response to hate speech: awareness-raising, affirmative and restrictive (Titley et al. 2014; INJUVE 2017, p 29). The first aimed to raise awareness among the general public—or, more specifically, specific groups—about what hate speech is and the consequences it can have for vulnerable groups (in this case, immigrants). The second type of campaign was affirmative. In this case, the aim was to convey a positive image of vulnerable groups, to humanise them in order to prevent discriminatory attitudes or behaviour. Thirdly, there were restrictive campaigns, which aimed to gather information about intolerant content in order to take action or restrict it (Titley et al. 2014; INJUVE 2017, p. 29).

Table 2. Online activity and activities against hate speech of the associations of Almería province.

Association	Types of Campaigns	Activities against Hate Speeches
Immigrant Associations
Asociación Marroquí	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative - Restrictive	-Informative post (1,2) -National congress “desmontando la islamofobia” (1,2,3,4) -National forum of professionals “retos para la prevención social y la atención jurídica de los delitos de odio” (1,2) -National Islamophobia prevention program (19) -Project “Tetris: ¡Denunciando el odio!” (1,2) -Project “viviendo juntas, desmontando mitos” (4) -Project “caminando hacia la autonomía” (5) -Program “Universitarios por la tolerancia” (3,4) -Program “Algoritmos y neuronas: Sensibilizando sobre la islamofobia” (1) -Podcast “verdad-o-fobias” (1,2)
Asociación Codenaf	- Awareness-raising	-Actividades de sensibilización al alumnado universitario (3) -Sesiones formativas (sobre inclusión y migración) promocionadas por la propia asociación -Project “Juntos hacemos nuestro barrio: ciudadanía intercultural y cohesión social en los Barrios de Casco Histórico, Pescadería y La Chanca”. (19) Inside of this, it has been develoved: -Speeches “gestión de la diversidad cultural a través de la mediación intercultural en el ámbito socioeducativo” (19) Taller de “Gestión de la diversidad cultural en los centros de salud”, para los profesionales de Almería (19) -Online workshop about the misinformation that revolves around the reform of the immigration law (13,14,15,16)
Asociación de inmigrantes malienses (Malian Association)		-Denunciation of the immigrant situation
Asociación At-Tawba (Marrocan, African and Caribbean Association)	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative	-Collaborates in the program run by Asociación Marroquí “Programa Nacional de Prevención de la Islamofobia” (19) -Publication of posts based on real stories of immigrants to counteract hate speech
Asociación Aisad Mbolo (Senegalese Association)		-Informs about the activities carried out by the association
Asociación De Colombianos “Almería Para Todos” (Colombian Association)	- Awareness-raising	-Municipal forums about bullying, peace and human rights (10)
Asociación Rumanos Almeriense (Romanian Association)		-Informs about the activities carried out by the association
Asociación Alcemos la voz África (African Immigrant Association)	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative	-Combats misinformation through its post -Creation and implementation of a challenge against racism with the hashtags: #soyunserhumanonosoydecolor #mitonodepielnodefinequiensoy #JUNTOSSOMOSMASFUERTES -Artist Project fridafro #4 “Almería en Madrid” -Featured stories with literary recommendations -Speech “Racismo en el periodismo. Afrodescendencia, identidad y género”
Colectiva Nunca más sin nosotras- mujeres inmigrantes (Association of Immigrant Women)	- Awareness-raising	-Informative post about fake information related to “el racismo a la inversa”
Asociación Po-rusky (Russian Association)	-	-
Pro-Immigrant Associations
Asociación Accem	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative - Restrictive	-Campaign “Odiame” -Campaign “Save a Hater” and hashtags: #SaveAHater #Ódiame #PorLaIgualdad -Campaign “refugiados en el cine” and hashtag “RefugiadxsEnElCine” -Project “Detección y asistencia a víctimas de incidentes y /o delitos de odio por motivación racista, xenófoba o intolerancia asociada” (1,19) -Project “ENREDandoBarrios” (1,2,19) and hashtags: #CONviveSINprejuicios #SINprejuicios #PIENSAloquedices #SumamosDiversidad #AcogemosEIntegramos -Project DIVEM (1,2) -Conference Sinracxen (1,2) -Guide fighting against hate speech in Guadalajara and Ávila as part of the DIVEM Project (1,2) -Sensitisation conference “Barrios digitales libres de odio” -International conference “Buenas prácticas para la denuncia del odio” (12) -“Espacios tolerantes” initiative -Post “#RefugiadxsCélebres” y “#RefugiadxsEnElCine”
Asociación Movimiento Por La Paz (MPDL)	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative - Restrictive	-Ciclo de Cine por la paz (7,8,11) -Informative post about hate speeches and the hate pyramid -“Antirracista” Speech (6,7,8) -Project “Jóvenes frente a la discriminación: convivencia pacífica e intercultural en el ámbito educativo” -“Escuelas inclusivas e interculturales” Guide to an education free of racism and xenophobia (12) -Use of the hashtags: #StopRacismo #ConRacismoNoHabráPaz #ComunicaciónAntirracista #NuestroOrgulloNuestraDiversidad #NoHateSpeech #NoHate #DiscursodeOdio #JóvenesAntirracistas
Cruz Roja	- Awareness-raising	-Project “sociedad digital” that offers courses on: -Origin of hate speech -Hoaxes and misinformation -Good practices in social networks with the hashtag: #SaberParaSerMejores -Campaign “Desenmascara el ciberbullying” (12) -Project “Generando convivencia frente al acoso escolar” (12) -Project “Prevención y sensibilización sobre la no discriminación y promoción de la igualdad de trato” (12) with the hashtag #MejoresPorPrincipio -Online workshops for volunteers from Stop Rumores (1,2) and Andalucía Acoge: “Cómo detectar rumores y poner freno al odio”; and Newtral “Luchar contra la desinformación: sin verificar, no compartas”. -Publication of vignettes designed by artists on social networks and on its website: -Una educación en igualdad nos ayuda a salir del estereotipo (Emma Gascó) -El peso del lenguaje (Gazpacho agridulce) -Lo peor, a veces, está por llegar (Javier de Isusi) -Podcast “+ahora” -IV Jornada #GenerandoConvivencia (12)
Médicos del mundo	- Awareness-raising	-Using “Stop rumores” imagines (1,2) -Conference about trafficking and hate crimes -Awareness campaign against stigma and discrimination towards people with HIV (22) -Short film festival and mental health program -International speech “vivir más, vivir mejor” addressing ageism and discrimination against older people (12) -Podcast “de mujer a mujer”
Asociación Almería acoge	- Awareness-raising	-“Stop rumores” program (1,2) -Dissemination of the hashtag #LaVivienda+Que UnDerecho
Cáritas Diocesana	- Awareness-raising	-Conference about human rights (12)
Asociación CEAR (Comisión Española de Ayuda al Refugiado)	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative - Restrictive	-Project “escucha refugio” (6,7,8) -Podcast “danzando diversidad” (6,7,8) #escucharrefugio -Project “Servicio de asistencia y orientación a víctimas del consejo para la eliminación de la discriminación racial o étnica” (CEDRE) (17,18) and use of the hashtag #FrenteAlOdioDDHH -Speech “discursos y delitos de odio hacia la población migrante y refugiada” (6) -Speech “Formas de lucha contra la discriminación y los delitos de odio” -Demand for a social and political pact against hate crimes -Online speech “La normalización del racismo y el discurso del odio en los medios de comunicación” -Request for an investigation together with other associations against hate crimes spread by VO X-Use of the hashtags: #FrenteAlOdioDDHH #ElOdioNoEsInocente #DiaParaContrarrestarDiscursoDeOdio
Asociación Hermanas Oblatas	- Awareness-raising	-
Fundación CEPAIM	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative - Restrictive	-Project “desactiva el racismo y la xenofobia” (1,12,19) and website www.desactiva.org (accessed on 15 October 2023). -Project “Stickers contra el odio” (12) -Radio show “la comunidad” with Onda Cero and @UnitedwayEspaña, and using the hashtag #YoDesactivo -CEPAIM Madrid Radio show “Diálogos que Desactivan” -Racism and xenophobia film festival with the use of the hashtag #YoDesactivo (1,2,12) -Youth Conference about hate speeches (1,12,19) -Awareness activities in universities -Awareness activities in secondary education centers “jóvenes que reflexionan” (1,2) -Program RED (12) -Fundación CEPAIM Podcast “Convive sin odio” (12) -Wokshop Desactiva–Grupo Motor de sensibilización contra el Racismo y la Xenofobia (1,12,19) -Antiracism conference (1,2) -Conference_ Jornadas Desactivando el racismo y la xenofobia (12) -Online workshop: Webinario: “De la intersección a la intervención, Aplicación práctica en casos de racismo y xenofobia.” (12) -Speech“Tratamiento de bulos y fake news en los medios de comunicación” (1,2,12) -Rueda contra el racismo (12)
Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (SJM)	- Awareness-raising	-Podcast “semillas” -Reportage “Tendiendo puentes”
Asociación Ítaca	- Awareness-raising - Affirmative	-Post: Made in Puche “historias que no conoces” -Reportage “¿y si es verdad?” (10) -Podcast “a pie de calle, mostrando el cambio” (5,10,20,21) -Use of the hashtag #EstoTambiénEsElPuche

Source: Elaborated by the authors. Notes: 1. Financed by the Ministry of Inclusion, Social Security and Migration. 2. Financed by the ESF (European Social Fund)/European Union. 3. Financed by the Malaga City Council. 4. Funded by the University of Malaga. 5. Financed by the Government of Andalusia. 6. Financed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. 7. Financed by AECID. 8. Financed by Spanish Cooperation. 10. Financed by the Almería Provincial Council. 11. Financed by the Ministry of Health, Consumption and Social Welfare. 12. Financed by the Ministry of Social Rights and Agenda 2030. 13. ESCIT collaboration. 14. SOCIAL PROJECT 4.0 collaboration. 15. ASOCOLGI Collaboration. 16. Collaboration, Catalan Development Cooperation Agency. 17. Funded by the Ministry of Equality. 18. Funded by the Council for Racial and Ethnic Elimination. 19. Financed by the Asylum, Migration and Integration Fund of the European Union. 20. Financed by La Caixa. 21. Financed by the Santander Foundation. 22. Financed by the Seville City Council.

shows, in the second column, the kind of anti-hate-speech campaigns developed by immigrant and pro-immigrant associations. The first thing to note is that, in order to act in the glocal political arena, it is necessary to be specialized in hate speech, having resources, connections at the national and/or international level and trained staff to manage social media. Only a few of the pro-immigrant associations fulfil all these conditions, which is why they are the only ones to carry out all three types of campaigns. These are ACCEM, Movimiento por la Paz, Fundación Cepaim, and CEAR. These pro-immigrant associations focus their attention on hate speech, develop awareness-raising and affirmative campaigns and try to establish collective standards to control hate messages. They are perhaps the most established in the glocaline political arena.

The list of pro-immigrant associations also includes Cruz Roja and Médicos del Mundo, which work with several vulnerable groups and are not as oriented towards hate speech, i.e., they do not develop restrictive campaigns against hate speech circulating on social media.

Immigrant associations either do not develop campaigns against hate speech or they run awareness-raising or positive campaigns. There is, however, one exception, the Asociación Marroquí. This association operates at a national level and has many links with other associations, political parties, etc. In addition, it participates in many projects that have received grants from institutions and it has human resources dedicated to its campaigns, in addition to the other described considerations.

As mentioned above, with the exception of the Asociación Marroquí, the rest of the immigrant associations do not participate in campaigns aimed at establishing collective norms to control or regulate hate speech. As a result, immigrant associations are on the periphery of the glocaline political arena. Moreover, this proves to be a paradox: immigrants who are the subjects of anti-immigrant hate speech have the least access to the glocaline political arena to express their voices.

Table 2 shows also the activities presented on the social media of each of the immigrant and pro-immigrant associations. The first objective of the associations’ online activities tends to be to provide information about the activities they carry out.

Many of these associations develop or have developed projects or programmes at local, municipal, provincial, regional, national and international levels. These programmes—together with others that do not receive external funding—are listed in the third column. In most cases, the programmes have been funded by the Ministry of Integration, Social Security and Migration; the Ministry of Foreign Affairs; the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation; Spanish Cooperation; and the Ministry of Education and Vocational Training of the Regional Government of Andalusia. In some cases, projects have been co-financed by the European Social Fund. There are also two private financial institutions, La Caixa and the Santander Foundation, which finance local projects in Almeria. It should be noted that the Junta de Andalucía has only funded two programmes of regional application, both of which are youth-oriented. These programmes are associated with the Asociacion Marroquí and the Ítaca Association.

The aim of all of these projects and programmes is to combat hate speech, with the main target groups being society, public institutions, or specific target groups such as students. In other words, they focus their work on raising awareness of the issues that create vulnerability among immigrants, as well as fighting to eliminate the stereotypes or fake news that revolve around them. They also carry out activities aimed at the users of the associations which aim to create a safe and empowering space for all users, especially those who have been victims of hate crimes, in order to combat inequalities, through such means as free legal advice, social inclusion and empowerment dynamics, workshops, provision of goods to families with low economic resources, etc.

The pro-immigrant associations are more involved in these programmes and projects than are the immigrant associations, which often carry out their activities without any funding. In fact, though, six of the immigrant associations have developed some form of online anti-hate discourse, either as part of a funded project or on their own. These are the associations asociación Marroquí, Codenaf, At-Tawba, Alcemos la voz África, “Almería para todos”, the Association of Colombians, and the collective of immigrant women “Nunca más sin nosotras”.

The Asociación Marroquí stands out because it focuses much of its efforts on eliminating Islamophobia, one of the forms of hatred defined on its website as: “Prejudice and discrimination against Islam, Muslims and the people and symbols understood as such”. It has participated in three projects to combat hate speech and has its own podcast programme called “verdad-o-fobias”. On their social media, they try to counter hate speech by offering information to counter false information spread in hate speech against immigrants. For example, faced with hoaxes containing hate speech about unaccompanied foreign minors (MENAS), on 29 April 2021 they pointed the following out on their Facebook profile:

“#BULO Dismantling the lies about the ‘MENA’ of the far right:

(1)

They have become the focus of hate speech because they are an easy target. They create negative sentiments to win votes.

(2)

They do not receive 4700 euros in Madrid. The money is used to pay for the facilities and salaries of the professionals who work in the centres. More than 70% of the minors under guardianship in Madrid are nationals, not foreigners.

(3)

They are not difficult to integrate. There are many successful cases, despite the lack of resources and institutional neglect they suffer.

(4)

They are not delinquents. They are children who are alone in Spain.

(5)

“More than criminals, they are the object of many crimes”, says the deputy director of the Institute of Criminology of Malaga.

Share to help us fight these hoaxes!”

Another association with a regional impact is Codenaf, which uses its social media not only to inform about its own activities, but also to disseminate information and raise awareness of hate speech among a wide audience through sensitisation activities for university students. They also carry out training sessions (on inclusion and migration) for professionals in the social and health services, and even an online training cycle aimed at the general and professional public, aiming to eliminate the misconceptions surrounding the reform of the Immigration Law.

At the municipal level, the Almería Para Todos (Almería for All) Colombian association uses its social media to provide information about the association’s activities and those activities that may be relevant to its users. They have been involved in the organisation of annual municipal forums on bullying, peace, and human rights. According to its Facebook profile, bullying is “a type of violence that occurs repeatedly and over time in the school context”. The association’s Twitter profile corresponds to its Facebook page, as is the case with most immigrant associations. In this case, the personal Twitter account of the president of the association is used to represent the institution on this social media. The online activities they present are directly aimed at combating hate speech.

The association At-Tawba cooperates with the Asociación Marroquí in its programme to prevent Islamophobia. They have also published a series of posts, based on real-life stories of immigrants, aimed at countering hate speech and challenging existing stereotypes about immigrants.

The association Alcemos la Voz África carries out virtual social activism by denouncing cases of racism and police abuse and responding and inviting critical thinking through its publications. It also seeks to involve society in anti-racist movements through literary recommendations and presentations of artistic projects and conferences, as well as the creation of a challenge against racism, using the hashtags #soyunserhumanonosoydecolor, #mitonodepielnodefinequiensoy, and #JUNTOSOSSOMOSMASFUERTES.

And finally, we find the women’s association Nunca Más Sin Nosotras (Never Again Without Us), which is the most recently founded, having started its work in 2023. Despite this, on their Instagram account they not only report on the activities they engage in and those that may be relevant to users, but also raise awareness of feminist issues and those related to migration processes, as well as demystifying myths related to migration and racism with informative posts against the hoaxes related to “reverse racism”.

We highlighted the fact that pro-immigrant organisations are involved in more projects and programmes on hate speech than are the immigrant organisations. These programmes are mainly aimed at raising awareness of racism, xenophobia and hate speech among the general public. They are mainly funded by national, international, or local public institutions, with regional institutions appearing only twice.

We will now describe some of the programmes developed by immigrant associations. Within the universe of pro-immigrant associations in Almeria with local activities, we find the Ítaca Association, which aims to improve the quality of life of adolescents and/or young people, especially those from disadvantaged areas, and their families, living in the El Puche, a district of Almeria. To this end, the association works in synergy with the Cepaim Foundation, among others, and organises the annual Anti-Racist Days. In one of its Instagram posts, the association explains its motivation for helping this population:

“Despite the fact that many countries have made progress in policies so that the population belonging to this group has full access to fundamental rights, there is still a long way to go. That is why it is so important to make visible the discrimination and #violencia (violence)they experience and to promote actions to put an end to acts and expressions of #odio (hate)”.

“Discrimination is something that is the everyday life and prevents or holds back many, many people of different ages from being able to develop and pursue their well-being.”

This association has independently produced the documentary “¿Y si es verdad? (What if it’s true?), which was financed by the Diputación de Almería, and the podcast “En la calle, enseñando el cambio” (On the streets, showing the change); both had the intention of stimulating critical thinking and eliminating negative stereotypes about the El Puche neighbourhood. In the documentary, vivid testimonies are collected from some members of the El Puche neighbourhood, as well as from some famous people from Almería, and in the podcast, journalists, monologists and businesspeople from Almería are invited to get to know the neighbourhood. In addition, on their website you can find a large repertoire of self-produced videos aimed at raising awareness. On Instagram, they use a similar strategy to that of Almería Acoge, and in their publications, under the hashtag #EstoTambiénEsElPuche, there is a section, part of their awareness-raising campaign, called “Made in Puche: Historias que no conoces” (Made in Puche: stories you don’t know), which gives a brief summary of the lives of the young people of the neighbourhood, with the aim of breaking down the stereotypes that circulate about them.

The Almería Acoge association works at provincial level. It is one of the associations that make up the Andalusian Acoge Federation, which launched the Stop Rumores programme (Stop Rumours programme) in 2013. As part of the Federation, Almería Acoge uses the images created by this programme on its social media, where it runs four campaigns: #LaVivienda+QueUnDerecho; #JuventudMigranteYSusDerechos; #ApoyaElComercioLocal; and #CierraEsaBoquita. The use of these images is mainly informative, with the intention of deactivating existing hoaxes and raising awareness of the problems caused by hate speech in the most disadvantaged groups. The association promotes the use of the hashtag #Actuate. It organises “Stop Rumours” training days and workshops in educational centres to create social coexistence agents.

Codenaf Almeria focuses its social action against hate speech on students and the general public. For the student community, it carries out awareness-raising activities and a programme for managing cultural diversity through intercultural mediation in the socio-educational field. It offers regular training sessions on integration and migration, which it promotes itself.

At national level, the Fundación Cepaim carries out its social work throughout Spain. This association is very sensitive to hate speech and hate crimes. In 2019, it launched the “Desactivando el racismo y la Xenofobia” (Defusing Racism and Xenophobia) project. This project has its own web platform (www.desactiva.org, accessed on 15 October 2023.) and Instagram presence, @desactivaodio, from where it fights disinformation and invites reflection through different tools aimed at different audiences. The work of the Desactiva project is aimed at the general public. The website has a section called Reliable Sources, where you can find truthful information from primary sources. In the tab “Campaigns and Videos” you can find the reports “Quiero verte” (I want to see you), “Formas parte “(You are part of it) and the spot “¿Te has preguntado alguna vez por qué? (Have you ever wondered why?). These highlight xenophobic and racist language within standard expressions and the factors of discrimination in employment and housing in order to stimulate reflection among citizens. For the education sector, they have developed materials that can be used in both formal and informal education. They have designed a tab called “Herramientas” (tools) which brings together a large number of educational materials for work on this issue.

Outside their website, they collaborate in the project “Stickers contra el odio” (Stickers against Hate), an initiative of the Anti-Rumour Network of the Community of Madrid (RAMA). They also have a radio programme called “La comunidad” (the community), which they run with Onda Cero and @UnitedwayEspaña, and a film festival, under the hashtag #YoDesactivo. They are also present in the educational community, carrying out activities with students, both in universities, with awareness-raising activities, and in compulsory education centres, with reflection activities, under the name “Jóvenes que reflexionan” (Young People Reflecting). They have also developed online and face-to-face courses and conferences on hate speech, which they promote through their RED programme aimed at the exchanges of initiatives and good practices in the fight against xenophobia and racism in education.

At the international level, the association Caritas Diocesana combats hate speech through its Human Rights Days, and the association Movimiento Por La Paz (MPDL), which is also very active against hate speech and hate crimes, commemorates not only 22 July but also 16 November, the Day of Tolerance. It also continues to raise awareness of the consequences of hate speech on social media:

“Hate speech, intolerance, polarisation and dehumanisation of the “other” generate multiple forms of violence.”

“Hate reifies, polarises and generates multiple forms of violence.”

“Because targeted hate is on the rise, reifying and polarising people and societies and generating multiple forms of violence 👉 with hatred there will be no peace.” (From their Instagram account)

In response to this, the association has developed the Ciclos de cine por la paz (Cinema for Peace Cycles) as an artistic method to give voice to the problems suffered by the groups with whom they carry out their social work in different geographical locations; last year, they also organised a conference on anti-racist communication which took place both in-person and online, on their YouTube channel. The information, awareness-raising and publications they produce on hate speech are linked to the use of the following hashtags: #StopRacism; #ConRacismoNoHabráPaz; #ComunicaciónAntirracista; #NuestroOrgulloesNuestraDiversidad; #JóvenesAntirracistas; #NoHateSpeech; #NoHate; #DiscursoDeOdio; #ConOdioNoHabráPaz; and #PirámideDeOdio.

On its website, we can find other actions that the association is carrying out to prevent hate, such as the project “Jóvenes contra el racism: Coexistencia pacífica e intercultural en el ámbito educativo” (Young people facing discrimination: peaceful and intercultural coexistence in the educational environment), which was launched in October 2023. On the website, they justify the need for such a project:

“To create an informed society that is critical of existing discriminatory behaviour and attitudes towards migrants or racialised people. Our mission has led us to strengthen in Spanish schools and institutions the acquisition of knowledge and tools that will allow us to build a peaceful society committed to putting an end to discrimination, with young people as the main engine of change”.

They have also published, on their website, a guide for teachers on how to combat hate speech called “Guía para una educación libre de racismo y xenophobia” (Guide for an education free of racism and xenophobia). They have also published a pioneering research project in our country, one which aims to find out the prevalence of hate crimes against homeless people in the resources and services provided by the member organisations of the Hate Crime Observatory.

On the international scene, we also find CEAR (Spanish Commission for Refugee Aid). Through its “Escucha refugio” project, the association aims to contribute to the construction of a critical, transformative and committed citizenship by creating safe spaces for intercultural encounters, debates, exchanges of experiences, awareness-raising actions and materials for formal and non-formal education. As part of this project, they have created the podcast “Danzando diversidad” (Dancing Diversity) and organised round-tables and online talks on hate crimes under the hashtag #EscucharRefugio. The association has another project, called “Servicio de Asistencia y Orientación a Víctimas del Consejo para la Eliminación de la Discriminación Racial o Étnica” (Service of Assistance and Guidance to Victims of the Council for the Elimination of Racial or Ethnic Discrimination).

The Service of Assistance and Guidance is a free service provided by the State for the support and counselling of victims of racial or ethnic discrimination, and is provided by the CEDRE, a collegiate body currently attached to the Ministry of Equality, Directorate General for Equal Treatment and Ethnic and Racial Diversity. It was created in 2009, although since 2013 this service has been developed jointly by the Fundación Secretariado Gitano (FSG), CEAR, ACCEM, the Spanish Red Cross (CRE), the Cepaim Foundation, Movimiento por la Paz (MPDL), Red Acoge and the Rumiñahui Association. The objectives of this project are to provide counselling and information to victims, and, at the same time, to carry out dissemination of information and awareness-raising activities to promote service and equal treatment and non-discrimination on the grounds of racial or ethnic origin. It is for this last objective that they have created the hashtags #FrenteAlOrenteAlOdioDDDHH, #ElOdioNoEsInocente, and #DiaParaContrarrestarDiscursoDeOdio. These hashtags are used on their social media in publications within which they carry out social activism, spreading the call for a social and political pact against hate crimes or making requests for an investigation, together with other associations, of hate crimes disseminated by VOX.

Finally, there is the Servicio Jesuita a Migrantes (SJM), a network of religious organisations working at the national level to defend the rights of immigrants and their full access to citizenship. Although this congregation of organisations does not have specific projects on hate speech, they address it in a cross-cutting way through their podcast “Plantando semillas” (Creating Seeds) and the report “Construyendo puentes” (Building Bridges), both produced by the Network of Migrants with Rights.

4. Discussion

Corroborating the literature reviewed (Salmela and von Scheve 2017; Miller-Idriss 2020; Rivera Otero et al. 2021; Iglesias-Pascual et al. 2022; Mariscal Ríos 2022; Galindo-Domínguez et al. 2023; Lilleker and Pérez-Escolar 2023), anti-immigrant and pro-immigrant associations point to VOX as the main disseminator of hate speech. All of the evidence suggests that VOX’s strategy is aimed at creating public opinion and winning votes, rather than focusing on associations. VOX’s enormous power on social media platforms reaches individual users, volunteers and staff of the associations, as well as the residents of the neighbourhoods where associations work. This influence creates a perfect breeding ground for unsupportive, racist and xenophobic attitudes and behaviour, in some cases leading to aggression.

The participation of immigrant and pro-immigrant associations against immigrant hate speech takes place in a rich, diverse and disarticulated “glocaline political arena” (Hernández Vega 2020; Hernández Vega and Escala Rabadán 2021). The emerging space shows the confluence of political action at the global, local, and digital levels.

In order to develop counter-discourses of hate in the glocaline political arena, it is necessary to be specialised in hate speech and to have resources, national and/or international connections, and trained staff to manage social media. Only a few of the associations—several pro-immigrant associations and one immigrant association—meet all of these conditions. As a result, of the three types of campaigns that can be developed—awareness-raising, affirmative and restrictive (Titley et al. 2014; INJUVE 2017, p. 29)—the last type, aimed at monitoring and proposing measures to combat hate speech, is implemented least frequently. As a result, we can say that migrant associations are on the periphery of the political stage of the glocaline political arena. Moreover, this is a paradox, because immigrants, who are the targets of anti-immigrant hate speech, have the least access to the glocaline political arena to express their voices.

The digital divide (Tovar Parra and Torralba Vásquez 2020) and the lack of resources—and time—means that immigrant associations are less involved and, as a result, the impact of their activity in the digital sphere is limited compared to that of pro-immigrant associations. Malian migrant associations, Asaid Mbolo, Almeria Romanians, AT-Tawba, and Alcemos la voz África do not produce publications on their websites or social media platforms. Moreover, migrant associations that have access to social media have far fewer followers than do pro-migrant associations.

It can be argued that the fact that these associations are not very active on social media acts to some extent as a protective element against online hate speech. However, they experience the consequences of the rise of offline hate as they suffer hate speech and aggression on an individual level. Moreover, they cannot defend or speak out against it because they do not have a social media presence sufficient to counter the hate. We have already noted that crimes related to the public promotion of hate are not the most common hate crimes in Spain (Muniesa Tomás et al. 2022). Given that the aggressions highlighted by pro-immigrant associations were not reported, it is likely that the data contained in police reports do not represent the majority of aggressions actually suffered by immigrants or by native members of pro-immigrant associations. In other words, you cannot avoid the consequences of what happens in the online world by being excluded from the glocaline political arena.

Looking at countering online hate speech from a global perspective, we can see that the proposals developed by immigrant and pro-immigrant associations are extremely diverse and creative, providing information to meet the challenges of hoaxes and stereotypes, and developing activities to improve critical thinking, empathy and tolerant attitudes towards others.

In general, pro-immigrant associations have the greatest opportunities to generate counter-discourses because they receive more financial support, which gives them the resources to reach a wider audience. These are programmes or projects subsidised by public entities. The origin of this funding for programmes and projects shows that the concern to counter hate speech is fostered by progressive governments. At the same time, the lack of funding from the Andalusian and local governments is striking.

The associations most active in disseminating information on hate speech online are Accem, Movimiento por la Paz, and Fundación Cepaim. On the other hand, the associations most focused on producing online resources to develop anti-hate speech are Almería Acoge, Ítaca, CEAR, Médicos del mundo, Servicio Jesuita migrante, Cáritas, Asociación Marroquí, Codenaf, At-Tawba, “Almería para todos”, the association of Colombians, Alcemos la voz África, the collective Nunca más sin nosotras, Accem, Movimiento por la paz, Cruz Roja, and Fundación CEPAIM.

If we examine more closely the type of public to which these associations are addressed, regardless of whether they are made up of immigrants or work with immigrants, we find that there are two types of audiences targeted. On the one hand, certain associations carry out their social work for the general public, immigrants, the educational community and victims of hate speech; these include Accem, Movimiento por la Paz, Cruz Roja, CEAR, Alcemos la voz África, the “Almería para todos” Colombian association and the At-Tawba association. On the other hand, there are those that target professionals or public entities in addition to the general population, such as the Asociación Marroquí, Codenaf, and the Fundación Cepaim.

As Sarlet (2019) points out, strategies to tackle hate speech need to be balanced between fundamental freedom of expression and the protection of human dignity and migrants’ rights. This is because online hate speech needs to be stopped and/or countered. It can lead to violent attacks against migrants, dehumanise migrants and deepen social polarisation. Furthermore, programmes to counter hate speech should include the voices of migrants—through their associations—in their design, management, and implementation. Such involvement could facilitate the glocaline political participation of immigrant associations and the social integration of those they represent.

5. Limitations and Future Lines of Research

We would like to highlight some of the limitations of this study. Firstly, it should be noted that we may not have included all the immigrant and pro-immigrant associations in the province of Almería. As mentioned above, the list of associations provided by the Andalusian government is out of date. Although we contacted social services offices and other associations to complete the list, it is possible that some associations are missing, especially those that do not have social media platforms.

Another limitation of this study has to do with the ethnographic work. We have taken into account what appears in the social media or what the associations have told us in the interviews with them. In any case, this is an exploratory study that should be completed with more interviews with the associations, with a more in-depth study of programmes and projects on hate speech, and with a more exhaustive monitoring of social media platforms.