Word: spanishness
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...area above the British box. On Monday, the track issued a statement saying, "The Circuit de Catalunya will not allow even the smallest incident to repeat itself within its facilities, and new measures are currently being taken into consideration in addition to those implemented." Likewise, the Royal Federation of Spanish Auto racing sharply condemned the acts, noting that it has "zero tolerance" for hooligans...
...races - including one at Montmeló - scheduled for later this year. Calling the events "sickening," British sports minister Gerry Sutcliffe told the BBC that the events "bring in question whether the Grand Prix should be held at this track." He also said that he would be writing to his Spanish counterpart, Jaime Lissavetsky, to express his outrage. "Racism should not be tolerated and this is not the first time British sportsmen have been racially abused in Spain," Sutcliffe said...
...point. Although Saturday's insults were a new phenomenon for Formula One racing, Spanish soccer has an unfortunate recent history of spectator racism. In 2004, Spanish national team coach Luis Aragonés publicly applied the same "negro de mierda" epithet to Arsenal striker Thierry Henry and Spanish fans bellowed monkey chants at black players in a "friendly" match between Spain and England later that year. FIFA fined the Spanish Football Federation $77,000 on that occasion. In 2006, FC Barcelona's Cameroon-born striker Samuel Eto'o walked off the field in protest after Zaragoza fans repeated the noises...
...response to incidents like those, the Spanish government passed legislation last summer that imposes stiffer penalties on those who foment racism within sports. But even this new law may not be enough to combat a larger problem. "The real issue is that Spaniards have a habit of not taking this kind of thing seriously," says Esteban Ibarra, president of the Movement against Intolerance, a watchdog group. "There's a banalization, a permissiveness in the face of racist incidents that worries me more than the incidents themselves. As long as society as a whole continues to see these crimes as insignificant...
...There are signs that the dismissive attitude Ibarra fears is occurring in this case too. Spanish Formula One officials have taken pains to emphasize that only a few among the 55,000-person crowd participated in the insults ("Maybe ten," says a Circuit spokesperson, when asked how many were involved). And online comments left on Spanish websites that have published news of the abuse display a notable lack of concern. "The insults to Mr. Hamilton aren't racist because they aren't insulting him for being black, they insult him for being a Formula One driver [who is] giving...