In an autonomous community where Vox has surprised the SWP in the opinion polls, and where immigration has become the second concern among the population, the Muslim community has decided to say enough is enough. After appearing in headline after headline demonizing them, they have just launched the Muslim Community Rights Platform.
In less than six months, Maghreb citizens, persecuted by armed and unscrupulous fascist groups, attempted to ban Muslim celebrations in the municipality of Murcia and closed a center for unaccompanied minors. Behind these events is always the rhetoric of the extreme right.
To address these issues, at Torre Pacheco we met with Osama Allalou, professor of political science and one of the programme’s promoters: “Through politics, important changes can be achieved for society as a whole,” he explains, convinced and full of hope. The young man does not reside in this municipality, but he travels here daily to fulfill his work schedule. The location of the interview is symbolic: this municipality of Murcia was the scene of an invasion of dozens of ultras organized via social networks who arrived from all over Spain last July. They took to the streets of the city, persecuted the Muslim community, and destroyed their businesses.
Alalu, together with his wife Kenza Midoun, were responsible for reading anti-racist statements both at the march held in Torre Pacheco and at the demonstration that took place in central Murcia a few days after the racial riots that devastated this city of Murcia.
Alalo’s life was constantly linked to associations, as he was one of the voices of condemnation against the racist quarrels that took place in this Murcian city: “We want to try to unite the Muslim communities in the different cities. After what happened in Torre-Pacheco or Jumilla, the Muslim communities in these cities found themselves alone, so we want to work on this network of union.” In the municipality of Altiplano, the PP and Vox parties approved a proposal last July to ban Islamic prayer in sports facilities.
To a Syrian father and an Algerian mother, the world of politics grew up in an environment that he defines as “demanding and fighting injustice and inequality.” The “platform” is precisely the result of the union between friends: “We have the same interest, and we know that we have to do something to change the reality we live in and give a voice to those people who do not have a voice.”
What are the results of this first meeting of the Islamic Community Rights Platform?
We wanted to examine what the main challenges we face as a society. According to the latest FOESSA report, most of the inequality falls on the shoulders of immigrant populations. If we break down this data, we see that North Africans suffer from the highest rates of poverty and extreme poverty.
We also notice the disintegration of society as a Muslim community and the lack of representation and political participation of our community in the society in which we live.
How do you envision the future of the platform?
Our goal is for the platform to be horizontal and participatory, where content is co-created between the community and its promoters. We do not want hierarchies or leaders within the organization, we only want facilitators of the process, so that reality emerges from the community itself.
How do you define the interconnected fabric of the Muslim community in the Murcia region?
It’s very risky. There is no professional association with a stable membership structure that operates throughout the year. There are volunteer-driven associations, but none have an annual program that receives support and membership fees.
The only stable organization we have are Islamic centers, mosques, but in the end we see that they do not respond to social needs.
What is the reason?
We assume that our societies in general do not have a culture of participation due to the countries of origin they come from. They arrived here with their main concern being work. The only thing they have been able to do in cooperation or for the community is mosques. But mosques are concentrated within themselves, and the leaders in most of them do not have a vision for the whole.
Mosques in most municipalities are private property, and the most they have been able to achieve is to promote Arabic language lessons.
Does this lack of organization occur within the Muslim community in the rest of Spain?
We have an important collaborative network in Valencia, just as in Madrid and Barcelona. It can be said that Murcia is a virgin land for the collective action of our society.
How do mosques fit into the platform?
We decided to take another route, but without forgetting them (the mosques). We want to talk and engage with them and teach them that things can be done differently. We must think about the meaning of the mosque in the Murcia region, and it does not have to be the same as the one in Morocco or Algeria because we are in the diaspora. We understand that a mosque must go beyond just a place of prayer.
Do you feel that this lack of representation extends to the media?
We see that we are always in the spotlight, and in a negative way. Day by day, the fear towards us is increasing. There is “cowardly courage” against our society that wants to take away our rights. We have seen that it is normal for other people’s voices to speak for us. When something happens, they (the media) call on the third sector, which for the most part does not serve the Muslim immigrant community per se, but rather serves the new arrivals.
We are completely deprived. The approach that is presented is incorrect and, moreover, always a paternalistic vision.
Entering politics, one of the conditions for the People’s Party and Vox to sign off on this year’s budgets was to abolish the party Arabic Language and Moroccan Culture Program In the Murcia region. Education Minister Victor Marin insisted this was “good for the public interest.” Do you feel like a bargaining chip?
They think we can be a bargaining chip for anything because we are not organized to complain or do anything at all. (The People’s Party) knows that the Vox Party will always want to diminish the rights of our residents.
Our position of weakness and lack of cohesion and organization is already directly harming our rights. Yesterday it was Arabic language lessons, tomorrow it will be something else. This is an escalation. As a minority, we are being crushed.
We are in Torre Pacheco. It has been more than four months since ultras from all over Spain arrived for what they called “ Migrant huntHow is the condition of the Muslim population in the municipality?
I don’t know what needs to happen to the Muslim community for it to wake up. Everything stayed the same, there was no community movement. They did not sit down to analyze what happened and how to prevent it from happening again. The same dissolution continues: each one alone and waiting for the next blow.
As you describe it, they seem to be dealing with the situation with resignation.
It seems that they have completely resigned. The guilt is multidirectional, we also have the government of Spain, the autonomous region, and the city council. We don’t see any movement on either side. An association from Malaga had to come to hold a day of coexistence here in Torre Pacheco. It’s a bit harsh, as they have to come from 450 kilometers away to organize something for you in your city.