A fence of opportunity: on how populist narratives frame and fuel crises in the border between Spain and Morocco

Spanish autonomous cities Ceuta and Melilla constitute the southernmost and unique land border between the European Union (EU) and an African Country, Morocco. These borders have often sparked controversy. They symbolise the great divide between the global south and north, and instruments in border games regarding unfulfilled sovereignty aspirations and attempts to control refugees and migrant flows. Human rights violations of those who attempt to jump the fences and enter the EU. This paper applies a computer assisted content analysis (MAXQDA) to the discourses of the main political leaders in Spain regarding two major incidents that took place on 17 May 2021 and 24 June 2022 when hundreds of refugees and migrants attempted to cross the fences that separate Morocco from Spain. Many were injured and several people died in each of these incidents. This article compares the density of populist and anti-populist references, as well as that of a set of borders and security related codes in the speeches of the speakers of the main political parties in the Spanish Congress right after both tragic events. It shows that several right-wing leaders, and especially those of Vox, use the incident to convey a sense of moral panic and crisis. These narratives not only present migrants as a menace, but also claim that these incidents represent threats to territorial integrity and accuse the Spanish authorities of connivance and ill-intention.