Youssef M. Ouled on Structural Racism and Algorithmic Profiling in Spain

• Riffian journalist and activist Youssef M. Ouled explores systemic racial profiling and institutional racism in his latest books, Vivir contra el racismo and La Frontera del Azar.
• He argues that racial profiling is not coincidental but a programmed mechanism of social control designed to marginalize racialized individuals.
• The author highlights how technology and artificial intelligence serve as tools for modern colonial dynamics, particularly in migration control.

The Mechanism of Racial Profiling

• Racial profiling is described as an eugenic tool used to cleanse public spaces, framing the bodies of racialized men as inherent risks to modern society.
• Ouled criticizes the instrumentalization of feminist discourse to blame migrants for gender-based violence, noting that institutional abandonment, not migration, creates the conditions for such violence in places like Ceuta.
• This systemic oppression induces a sense of powerlessness and constant surveillance among racialized individuals, limiting their autonomy in daily life.

Technology and Institutional Racism

• Algorithmic systems are used to automate historical patterns of colonial extraction and surveillance, masking bias under the guise of technical neutrality.
• New European migration regulations (ICE) seek to integrate biometric monitoring and AI to hunt and deport migrants, a model that threatens to eventually expand its reach to the rest of the population.

Resistance and Community Solidarity

• Real change stems from local grassroots organizations, such as neighborhood watch groups that monitor police activity to ensure dignity for their residents.
• Ouled emphasizes that mere diversity in schools—often labeled as 'tokenism'—is insufficient without addressing the underlying institutional structures that perpetuate inequality.
• The author views his work as a tool for future generations, aiming to provide them with the understanding necessary to identify and confront the persistent structures of systemic racism.