The Mid-Year Spanish Fulbright Conference

I will taking a week long trip to the Principality of Andorra for the Mid-Year Spanish Fulbright Conference. The Conference will be dedicated to addressing the questions of researchers with their current work in various workshops. It will also feature presentations on our projects. My presentation will essentially build off of the post about my research that appeared earlier this month on this blog. I will have a few photos and thoughts on the experience when I return next Sunday.

For those of you who are wondering about the location of Andorra, it is a small city-state that sits between the borders of France and Spain in the Pyrenees mountains. The major cities near the city-state is Toulouse, France and Barcelona, Spain. Although the city-state is not a member of the EU, it does accept the euro as a its currency, much to the relief of many a Fulbrighter.

Photos from Cordoba

I just returned from a quick weekend trip to Cordoba, the medieval political, cultural, and social center of the Omayyad Caliphate that ruled Spain between the 9th and 12th centuries CE as well as a major Roman fort during the reign of the Roman Empire. Simply put, the city hosted one of the most dynamic cities in Europe during the dark ages, a place where music, philosophy, and the social and natural sciences made incredible progress under an administrative system that allowed three cultures - Jewish, Christian, and Muslim - to live alongside each other in relative peace. The Caliphate promoted this culture in other cities throughout Al-Andalus (the region known as Spain), most notably Toledo, Granada, and Sevilla. The influence of this culture not only impacted the Spanish language - ojala, "hopefully," comes from O Allah, "god willing," for instance - but also impacted the course of intellectual as scholars from these cities translated classic philosophical texts into Arabic to preserve the intellectual foundations of Western civilization. It is a truly fascinating time in Spanish history.

Check out the photos here

Views from the City: Templo de Debod

Madrid has an interesting manner of surprising you from time to time.

For instance, would anyone expect an ancient Egyptian Temple from the 2nd century BC in a park near the Palacio Real and my piso? I certainly did not when I went running through the Parque Oeste (West Park) that flank's the city center's west end back in September. Since that encounter, the Temple has become a familiar sight, albeit one with an unorthodox history.

Adikhalamani , the Kushite king of Meroë, started the project by building a small single room chapel dedicated to the god Amun near Aswan in Southern Egypt. Over the course of the next 250 years, the temple grew in size as various emperors from the Ptolemic Dynasty expanded the room and rededicated the temple to Isis. The Roman Emperors Augustus and Tiberius added decorations to complete the temple.

So how did this temple end up in Madrid? In 1960, UNESCRO made a call for donations to save archeological sites from the threats posed by the construction of the Great Dam of Aswan. The Spanish Government subsequently put forth the funds needed to save the the temples of Abu Simbel. As a sign of gratitude, the Egyptian Government subsequently donated the temple to Spain in 1968. The government of the City of Madrid subsequently turned temple into a free museum.

The Front of the Temple at Night

Some Observations on the Spanish Education System

As someone who conducts graduate level research at a Spanish University interacts with undergraduates from Spain and other EU countries, I often find myself reflecting on the strengths and weaknesses of the American and European university systems. Clearly, my own ideas on the benchmarks that mark the signs of an adequate undergraduate experience stems from my stints at a large research institution (Northwestern University) and a small liberal arts college (Macalester): small classes with regular contact with professors as well as an administration that enables academic departments and career development services to carry out their own initiatives were instrumental in advancing my professional and intellectual development.

In light of these experiences, my time at La Universidad de Carlos III has offered very little insight into the nature of the undergraduate/graduate experience in Spain and the EU. Most of the time, I work from home as I write my paper, read articles from JStor and Academic Search Premier, review Spanish legislation and case law on Arazandi/Westlaw, and set up interviews over the phone with Spanish labor unions, pro immigrant NGOs, and government ministries. In other words, my research is a solitary enterprise that sees me making regular trips to campus every few weeks to borrow books and make copies of academic journals. Given that my professor has left the university for a post with the Ministry of Equality, moreover, I no longer visit campus for our regular meetings. Instead, we meet at his office in downtown Madrid to discuss my work.

Most of my understanding of the Spanish education system emerges from my research on the system of governance of government programs established by the Spanish Constitution of 1978. Like health care and other government programs, the Spanish education is a decentralized system of institution and programs that remain under the control of the 17 Communidades Autonomas, Autonomous Communities, which are analogous to US states. Under the Spanish Constitution, the Spanish state provides funding, legal oversight, and some general guidelines for the operation of these programs. The state cannot extend its reach beyond these functions, a symbolic gesture that reflects the Post Franco Spanish political culture's aversion to a strong centralized government.

Beside this information and the stories about primary and secondary education that I hear from my Fulbright friends, I knew very little about the actual experiences of Spanish undergraduate students. Consequently, I find the comments of other Spanish university students particularly insightful when thinking about these issues. Over the last few months, two comments from conversations with two girls at the Universidad de Complutense de Madrid, the largest university in Spain, have stood out. Allow me to repeat them:

The first comment came from a young woman who was a journalism student at the university and a roommate of the individuals in the Fulbright program. At a coffee shop in Lavapies, the predominantly immigrant neighborhood in Madrid, she explained to me and my friends that the journalism program revolves around theory with very little emphasis on practical experience in its curriculum.

As a former Northwestern student with friends at the prestigious Medill School of Journalism, I asked her if the university gave its students the opportunity to intern with papers around the city. (For those of you unfamiliar with Medill, the school requires all undergraduates to take a quarter internship with a newspaper, magazine, or radio and/or television station to gain professional experience in the field of journalism.)

She said the University did not provide its students with programs to work in professional newsrooms over the course of the six year curriculum. In fact, the school's newspaper was a national publication produced by a group of student and professional journalists from various institutions in Spain. If a student wanted to find an internship, she would need to find a newspaper willing to take on an intern. Otherwise, she must wait until the end of her six year undergraduate career for her 'practicas,' a period of a few months where she will work with a news organization before entering the labor market and applying for her first journalism position. ('Practicas' is a general term for the period after graduation where a Spanish graduate interns with an organization before their post-graduate job search.)

As she finished describing her undergraduate experience so far, she said that the lack of experience and the focus on theory left her incredibly frustrated and bored with her work. To be sure, she appreciated the fact that the Communidad de Madrid provided her with a very inexpensive undergraduate education. Still, the experience left her wondering whether she would have enough experience to find a job in a country mired in a major economic crisis.

The second observation came from an undergraduate who was conducting her own biological research at the same institution. Although she was happy with her overall progress in her work, she was frustrated that the University did not provide her with a set of professors who could give her an opportunity to network and collaborate with other individuals conducting similar research in other countries. "We don't have many international professors, that's the problem," she explained.

She subsequently tied this problem to provisions in Spanish immigration laws that required all long term immigrants who received licenses/advanced degrees from foreign institutions to 'homogenize' their credentials through enrollment in a Spanish university or professional school in order to work at a Spanish firm (e.g law) or teach in a Spanish institution. I should note that this provision does not apply to visiting professors; the Spanish immigration regime that regulates the movement and rights of immigrants actively promotes efforts to attract visiting professors and students from other parts of the world. In order to live and work in Spain, however, the regime has consistently required immigrants to undergo this process since the first immigration law, LO 7/1985.

The student subsequently concluded that the number of international professors in a Spanish University is lower than other EU member states due to these factors, creating an insular academic atmosphere that failed to expose students to other points of view. She added that this type of academic environment consistently prevented Spanish university students from gaining work in other parts of the world, namely the United States.

As I noted above, I have little exposure to the Spanish University system. That said, the second observation certainly does raise questions over Spain's immigration policy. If the country wants to maintain a strong presence in the EU and world affairs, why would it impair the movement of qualified individuals to its academic and professional institutions? Put in another way: what factors propelled the appearance of these types of policies and provisions in Spanish immigration law? What factors keep them in place? While my topic revolves around undocumented immigration, I find myself reflecting on these types of questions over the course of my research on the Spanish Government's attempts to develop immigration.

An Update on my Research

As promised, I finally have an update on my research that features an early version of my abstract, some background on the Spanish judicial system, the development of the rights of undocumented immigrants to join labor unions, and the future direction of my work in Madrid.

Here we go.

Abstract:

As Spain becomes a major destination for immigrants, the question over the rights of undocumented immigrants to organize and strike, which are protected by the Spanish Constitution, has been a key issue facing the Spanish government since 1978. Although most immigration legislation generally avoided regulating these rights, the Spanish government under the rule of the right wing Partido Popular (PP) took stricter measures to resolve this issue in December 2000. Specifically, the PP led government adopted a law known as Ley Orgánica 8/2000 that granted the right to strike and organize to immigrant workers who possessed work and residency permits. In this sense, the law linked the exercise of these rights to the fulfillment of administrative requirements. In 2007, however, the nation's Constitutional Court struck down these regulations, declaring that any effort to link these rights to the legal status of an individual violated the spirit of the Constitution as well as international human rights law. My paper will discuss the significance of this ruling on the development of Spanish immigration law and human rights law in Europe.

Background Information on the Spanish Legal System:

The majority of my work revolves around the development of laws known as 'Ley Organicas.' All Immigration and Labor Laws are LOs since the they elaborate on the contents of the most 'organic' document in the Spanish legal system, the constitution. The constitution establishes the basic parameters of the relationship between citizen and non-citizen and protects the right to organize and strike as well.

In order to pass a LO, the congress of deputies must carry out a majority 50 + 1 vote on a proposed bill. The only judicial body that can rule on the constitutionality of a LO is the Tribunal Constitucional, which operates independently of the rest of the nation's judicial system. This court issues the ruling in 2007 that overturned the provisions in two immigration laws that appeared in 2000 and 2003.

This court is a unique characteristic of Spain's legal regime. Unlike the United States, where the Supreme Court is the ultimate arbiter on all legal matters, Spain uses two supreme courts - the TC and a Supreme court that rules over a wider system of upper and lower courts - to rule on LOs and standard issue civil laws known as Repertorios de Legislación Civil (RCLs) that do not elaborate on the contents of the Constitution, respectively.

The Development of the Rights of Undocumented Workers to Join Labor Unions

The time line generally for the development of the rights of undocumented workers to join labor unions follows a simple trajectory. Initially, the laws were fairly lax in regulating the right of all migrant workers to join labor unions. With the rise of the right wing PP, however, the Spanish government began using administrative requirements that regulated entry and exit into Spanish territory as a prerequisite for the exercise of the right to organize. The trajectory ends with a Tribunal Constitucional (TC) ruling 2007 that defines this method of regulating the rights of immigrants as a violation of international law as well as the spirit of the Constitution of 1978.

Here is the timeline:

1978 - Spanish Constitution:

Declares that all legal immigrants have the same rights as Spaniards, with the exception of the right to public office and universal suffrage. Also declares that 'todos' - literally, everyone - has the right to organize, strike, public assembly, and association (with unions and other organizations).

1979 - 1980: LO on the Right of Unions; RCL Statute of Workers:

The government passes a LO on union related matters and a RCL known as the statute of workers, which have remained static since the early 1980s. The law over union rights of 1979 governs the rights and responsibilities of labor unions while the statute of workers of 1980, a law that serves as the founding document on the rights and responsibilities of employees and employers.

1985 - Ley Organica 7/1985:

The first immigration law, that states that all migrant workers must reside legally in Spain to exercise the right to join a labor union and go on strike.

1995 - Restatement of the Statute of Workers:

RCL clarifies that the right to organize is a fundamental right of all Spanish workers as stated by the Constitution.

1996 - Royal Decree on the Rights of Immigrants:

This statute, which issued by the government and approved by the president's council of ministers, was a reform of LO 7/1985 that created three new legal categories for the rights described in LO 7/1985 and expanded legal guarantees for immigrants residing legally in the country. The right to join a labor union and strike, however, remains reserved for immigrants who entered the country with proper documentation.

At the end of the year, the right wing Partido Popular (PP) wins the elections in 1996, ending 14 years of rule by the Spanish Workers Socialist Party (PSOE).

2000 - LO 4/2000 and 8/2000.

The two major reforms of the LO 7/1985. The first law, which was the product of major negotiations between the PP, the PSOE, and various nationalist parties, essentially relativized the right of undocumented workers, giving them the right to join labors while criminalizing their status as undocumented immigrants.

The second law was passed after the PP party gained an absolute majority in the middle of the year, was a reform of 4/2000. LO 8/2000 declared that migrant workers could not join labor unions unless they possessed both a work and residency permit. The applies similar restrictions to the right to association, strike, and public assembly. Further, any immigrant who enters and works in the country illegally becomes subject to immediate expulsion.

2003 - LO 14/2003:

The most recent immigration law maintains LO 8/2000's text that links an immigrant's ability to exercise the right to join a labor union, go on strike, public assembly, and association to the possession of a work and residency permit.

The law also grants the national police force the right to review all demographic data on the inhabitants - citizen, documented immigrant, or undocumented immigrant - collected by each city's statistical department 'for single purpose requests' related to an investigation. Previously, each city kept this file closed to all government agencies and used the information primarily for statistical purposes.

2004 - 11/3 Bombings; PSOE returns to power:

The PSOE, which ran on a pro-immigrant platform, among other things, beats the PP in the national elections held three days after the attack. One of the main reasons for the victory results from reports that the PP blamed the ETA Basque Separatists for the bombings instead of an Al Qaeda 'inspired' terrorist cell that sought to punish the PP government for supporting Operation Iraqi Freedom. The PSOE comes to power and removes troops from Iraq, creating major tensions between Washington and Madrid.

The PSOE subsequently sets the stage for stronger integration policies as well as plans for the largest amnesty for undocumented immigrants in the history of Spain. The government carries out the Amnesty in 2005; 1.7 million immigrants become regularized in the legal system as a result.

Nov. 2007/Dec. 2007 - RTC 2007/236 and RTC 2007/259-265 (TC rulings):

In seven law suits filed by several autonomous communities, the PSOE, and the majority coalition in the congress of deputies, the TC struck down the articles in LO 8/2000 and 14/2003 that require immigrants to possess a work and residency permit to join labor unions, protest/public assembly, strike, and association with organizations/unions.

Two ideas sustain the Court's reasoning for this decision. In RTC 2007/236, the court declared that any precondition on the free exercise of the right to join a labor union violates international treaties such as the Convention on Human Rights of the Council of Europe/the Social Charter of the Council, the Universal Deceleration of Human Rights, and the conventions of the ILO that protect the right to organize/strike.

At the same time, the law violated the spirit of the constitution, which gives the right to join a labor union to any individual, regardless of their legal status. In this sense, the decision breaks the link between the right to join a labor union and the administrative requirements created by LO 8/2000 and maintained by LO 14/2003.

However, the court adds that the legislator can develop specific conditions that regulate the an undocumented immigrant's right to join a labor union only if these conditions respect the constitutional foundations of the right to join a labor union: the right to organize can pertain to any person, independent of their administrative or legal situation.

The Next Steps in the Direction of my Research

My paper will focus on the seven rulings that were issued by the TC in 2007. My advisor suggested that I compare the rulings to the rest of Spanish immigration law as well as EU law to understand A) how these rulings have clarified the relationship between fundamental rights and administrative requirements and B) the implications for the development of human rights/immigrant rights in Europe that emerge from the clarification of the aforementioned relationship.

He also suggested conducting a comparative study of US rulings on similar issues (e.g Hoffman Plastic Compounds vs. NLRB). As far as I know, the Inter-American Court on Human Rights issued a similar ruling with Advisory OC-18/03 on September 17, 2003. (please see Sarah Cleveland's article at: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1562510.) Of course, a comparison of rulings does not square with the aims of the Fulbright program, so I might leave this work for a law school course or part time fun when I'm working for a year or two before heading off to law school.

That said, I have begun writing the paper based on my research so far. I am also in the process of preparing interviews with the legal offices of government ministries, labor unions, and pro immigrant NGOs in Spain. I need to develop my theory section, which will most likely focus on the intersections between citizenship and human rights in the context of immigrant rights in modern Europe.

Another BBC Piece on a Unique Social Conflict in Spain

Like any other nation in Europe, Spain's social conflicts extend beyond the realm of immigration and workers' rights issues. One particular social conflict that is unique to the country, however, is the introduction of a new education curriculum called Education for Citizenship. The initiative, which is led by the PSOE, strives to provide young adults with comprehensive sex ed as well as wide ranging discussion on issues related to abortion and sexual orientation.

Although homosexuality and abortion have lost some of their stigmas since Franco's death in the late 70s, the introduction of these topics in school classrooms has proved to be a divisive issue that pits a very socially progressive PSOE government against the conservative wings of Spanish society, including the powerful Opus Dei sect that plays a major role in the Spanish Catholic Church as well as the PP.

This story from the BBC and its accompanying podcast give a nice overview of the issue and the ambiguities that are characteristic of the attitudes of the people that find themselves positioned between these two antagonists in the debate.

Another post on education in Spain will follow this week.