A less pleasant face of Madrid
by Richard Morley
Richard Morley posts from Madrid about a problem that currently seems to be out of control in the Spanish capital:
There’s this scrawny guy who crouches most days in the Calle de Arenal, one of Madrids streets thronged with tourists as they move from Sol to the Palacio Real. Apart from looking somewhat emaciated, he seems in reasonable health, in late teens or early twenties, is well dressed and occasionally can be seen smoking a cigarette. Yet all day he crouches, staring at the ground. One leg is bent under him, the other bares the weight of his right arm stretched out with the hand semi clasped like a claw, but open enough to form a cup into which passers-by are silently beseeched to drop a few coins. Unlike the other human statues that seems to plague Madrid; those street “performance artists” who dressed as miners, ballerinas, cowboys or caked in mud, pose unmoving until an impressed observer throws a coin into the provided receptacle, this scrawny young man does nothing, not even a murmured “gracias” for the few one or two Euro coins that the sympathetic feel obliged to give him.
On Saturdays, when the shopping crowds throng the Calle de Preciados, a main shopping thoroughfare that connects the Gran Via to the Puerta del Sol and bounded by richly stocked department stores, the pedestrians passage is often blocked by supplicants kneeling and bent like Moslems praying to Mecca. These people moan and cry out for help, often beseeching God’s assistance, but what they really want are the shoppers to throw unwanted change into the cardboard box, cap or a paper cup from McDonalds resting before them on the paving slabs. The sight disgusts a Spanish friend who accuses them of duping the public with their piety and claims they make a small fortune from the compassionate crowd.
This month of August, deserted by vacationing Spaniards, but full of tourists, seems to be a popular time for beggars to ply their supposed plight and appeal for alms. It is almost impossible to walk Madrid’s streets without being pestered. Even the diner or person minding his own business in a café is not safe. The beggars approach tables seeking cigarettes or money. To one seeking a cigarette I pointed to a vending machine not five metres away. I received a torrent of abuse for my helpfulness and she moved on to other tables. A man approached me apparently selling lottery tickets. In Spain this is a job given to the blind and disabled, so one is naturally sympathetic, but this one appeared neither blind nor suffering any other handicap. When I told him I did not want a ticket, he quite rudely demanded I gave him money for food. I declined.
Quite frankly, estoy hasta el pelo with these people. I want to walk and sightsee unmolested. I have heard voiced similar complaints about these people from elderly British and American visitors. The beggars can be quite demanding and these people feel threatened. It is not a good memory to take from what is one of the most beautiful and friendly cities in Europe and does not present Madrid, and by extension, Spain, in a good light.
In the Plaza de Callao most days, a small South American woman with severely truncated arms, I presume from being born to a mother who took thalidomide while pregnant, spreads out a blanket on the pavement and in the searing heat of an unforgiving sun, asks for financial help. At the other end of the Calle de Preciados, in Sol, a youngish man with no arms at all holds and rattles a plastic cup in his mouth and appeals for money “para el amor de dios”. And while it is remarkable that he can voice this appeal while holding the increasingly heavy cup between his teeth, he is always well groomed, well nourished, clean and polite, which surely means that, with his appalling handicap, this man has someone who feeds him, dresses him, and cares for him in many ways. So why does he feel the need to appeal to the crowds of Sol for money? So many visitors must go away thinking that rich, resourceful Spain does not care for its less able population.
Yet we know this not to be true. Daily the local news on TV invariably will carry an item of how communities or charities are extending their help to the less well off members of this society. Of course, there are people who slip through the net. Like capital cities across the globe, Madrid has its share of rough sleepers blocking alleys and shop doorways with their makeshift cardboard “homes”. The numbers of poor legal and illegal immigrants are a huge drain on the community’s resources, but I have also been approached, two evenings running, by an obviously absent minded American youth who claimed his passport and wallet had been stolen and he just needed a “couple of euros” for him to use a photo booth so he could get a new passport. Then there was the purported Swiss businessman who claimed he had been mugged and wanted “to borrow” some money for a hotel room!
Although I can’t write this without remembering a band of happily inebriated beggars who used to occupy a few slabs of pavement near Sol metro station and then moved on to Callao. They would huddle on their cardboard surrounded by hand-written signs soliciting financial donations “por cerveza”, “por ron” and “por whisky”. They were always laughing and having a joke with the passing crowd. Any tourist amused enough to want to take a photo of this carefree bunch would suddenly see through his view-finder one of the men holding aloft a sign that bore the legend, “Fotos – 2 euros”. Unfortunately, other members of their ilk are not so amicable.
Wherever you look in Madrid, the “honest unemployed” are setting themselves up with an act to appeal for the tourist euro. The city is awash with musicians, performance artists, jugglers and other street entertainers. In several cases it would seem that “talent” is a minimal requirement, but at least they are giving something in return for whatever few coins they receive. But the beggars are just a pain.
This is something the authorities need to address urgently. The beggars seem to operate unmolested by the police, unless a café calls them in specifically. For me they represent a more unpleasant face than the pick-pockets of the Rastro. At least that’s an “honest” crime that does not seek to exploit the good nature of a sympathetic, but ultimately deceived public.
Posted: August 20th, 2007 under Madrid, Spain Travel.
Comments: 12
Comments
Comment from Andrew
Time: August 20, 2007, 7:55 pm
Ben - I bet the Madrid tourist board can’t wait to link to this site!
I thought about responding until I read the final line: “At least that’s an “honest” crime that does not seek to exploit the good nature of a sympathetic, but ultimately deceived public.”
As if there is an ‘honest crime’ (oxymoron) and as if everyone who begs is somehow a criminal. I feel sad reading this article on so many levels I don’t quite know where to start.
Comment from Amberly
Time: August 20, 2007, 8:14 pm
I agree with Andrew. Too bad those “honest” pickpockets don’t give us the option of whether or not we’d like to have our goods stolen. We can always say no to a beggar.
Is begging illegal in Spain? If not, there’s nothing the police can do. And if it is illegal, is it possible the police turn a blind eye because they know there’s no place for these people to go? And is it possible that the TV news pieces on charity for those-less-fortunate are more fluff than reality?
I don’t live in Madrid so I can’t speak for the situation there. However, I do live in a city with a tremendous homeless population (San Francisco, CA). What I’ve learned after 12 years of living here is that this is an incredibly complex situation. There are scores of reasons why people wind up begging on the streets and it’s impossible for us to know the full story — and thus simply not fair to judge. The beggar on the sidewalk who looks neat and tidy acts politely may just be trying to maintain a little self-respect in spite of his circumstances.
The bottom line is that people who beg, with rare exception, do not harm anyone. If they deceive people, it makes them no worse than practically any politician or corporation in the world.
Comment from Christof
Time: August 20, 2007, 8:44 pm
I agree that the beggars are annoying, there are lots of them here in Barcelona too. But I don’t find them worse then the living statues. If you fly somewhere, come to the city centre and see a golden man you don’t know if you are in Barcelona, London or Berlin. They are a bit like Star Bucks or McDonalds.
Comment from Uncle Drew
Time: August 20, 2007, 8:55 pm
Of course we can never always know whether or not someone is “honestly” begging, but over the years here in Budapest I can say that I really believe what the locals told me so long ago about a “beggars mafia” because one sees the same people begging over and over, year after year and they prey on visitors in the more touristy sections of town.
That said, I have given money to people - but this is totally based on my instinct at that instant in time (there’s no logic to it!).
But whenever someone approaches me while I’m having a meal or a coffee on a sidewalk terrace, I could strangle them. I find this so incredibly rude, that at that point I could really care less whether or not they are deserving of a handout or no. There should definitely be laws against such aggressive panhandling, but often I think the authorities may be in cahoots with “the organization” - there seems to be no other explanation in a city that is increasingly reliant on its tourists.
Comment from Brandon
Time: August 21, 2007, 3:07 am
My rule has always been been that if you’re making an effort- playing an instrument, doing a dance, whatever- I’ll have no problem dropping a dollar (or Euro.) People hit rough times, and sometimes you do what you can- but do SOMETHING!
That said, I thought this entry was a little harsh on the beggars. I know beggars aren’t always honest, but let’s face it- pickpockets are never honest. Best bet- keep your head down, be glad you’re not in their position, and walk on.
Comment from leftbanker
Time: August 21, 2007, 10:04 am
My trick, when I am confronted by aggressive panhandlers, is to masquerade as a Green Peace volunteer and ask them if they would like to answer a questionnaire about the environment. That will clear your walkway faster than a sawed-off shotgun. Fight fire with fire, and then some.
Comment from Graeme
Time: August 21, 2007, 6:42 pm
It’s so simple isn’t it, this cliche that all beggars are really rich people living in mansions? Begs, if you’ll pardon the expression, the question of why we don’t all do it? I too occasionally get irritated if someone really bothers me and refuses to leave me alone, but it doesn’t mean that I have to invent a story about them so that I don’t need to think about whether they might need help or not. The Spanish welfare state is better than it was but still largely relies on the family to do much of the welfare. If for any reason you have no support from a family, and there are many often unpleasant reasons why that might occur, then it’s not so surprising to see people relying on charity.
Setting the police on them of course won’t solve anything, apart from giving the police an excuse not to chase any “genuine” criminals. The area off the Gran Via, where the Cines Luna used to be, in Madrid is effectively used as a dumping ground by the police for all those they don’t want to see on the Gran Via itself. It’s tremendously unfair on the people who live in the area (I’m not one of them in case you’re wondering) and demonstrates the limits of what the police will do anyway. Perhaps the Rio de Janeiro solution where the police eliminate street kids on demand would be more acceptable? I’m sorry you can’t have a drink in peace Richard, but society’s to blame.
Comment from ValenciaSon
Time: August 22, 2007, 3:31 am
A very Giuliani blog.
Comment from Edith
Time: August 23, 2007, 12:18 am
It’s true that some Roma people teach their children how to beg instead of sending them to school, and in my opinion the parents are entirely to blame here.
I feel sorry for many beggars, especially for women and for elderly people who have lost their homes. Twenty years ago homeless people were a rarity in Holland, now they are everywhere. Today I encountered at least five of them near Utrecht Central Station: a girl selling the Straatkrant, an elderly Armenian-looking peasant woman playing a monotonous tune on a reed flute, two drug addicts, and a very polite black man in scruffy clothes who was begging near the bus terminals. He had a middle-class, educated accent which made me wonder how he had ended up without a job and without a roof over his head.
Someone told me the Straatkrant newspaper girl often gets shouted at by (male) passers-by; last week someone advised her to become a prostitute because she ‘would make more money that way’. The abuse these people have to put up with is unbelievable. It’s a jungle out there, especially for women!
Comment from greytop
Time: August 23, 2007, 7:51 am
I’m with Andrew. Your last sentence rather destroyed the piece! It’s in my good nature to think I can walk around with something in my pocket without some lowlife taking it. I seem to remember “walking the gauntlet” of street beggars many times in London so it’s not just Madrid. We get the occasional one here in my small town but African immigrants trying to sell Chinese goods are more prevalent - and just as annoying in a restaurant or bar. Ah well - there but for the grace……
Comment from Edith
Time: August 23, 2007, 9:29 am
Thieves and muggers are feared and somehow even respected because of their violent disposition, beggars are despised and treated like lepers… because none of us have ever walked in their shoes.
Comment from richardksa
Time: August 23, 2007, 12:00 pm
Greytop, I was trying to demonstrate the difference between a crime that is just plain dishonest, (pick-pocketing), and one that deceptively appeals to the charitable nature in all of us. This is a mean and nasty trick and tends to make one indifferent to the plight of the genuinely needy.
The piece was written after a week of seemingly non-stop hounding by these people. I needed to get it off my chest and then I suggested it to Ben as a piece for the blog.
Incidently, the woman I mentioned in the piece coming into cafés to beg cigarettes approached me again this morning with the same request and in her hand she was holding a lit cigarette!
I have no objection to giving to charity, except Oxfam, but that is because of to many years of seeing it abused in Africa, but I do not like being duped.
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