Dalal Hanin, president of the Moroccan association for coexistence and citizenship, fears that there may be a "clash" with the new government if Vox get a foothold in it.
He refers to a video that appeared in mid-May in which the leader of Vox in the Balearics, Jorge Campos, and two residents described the Pere Garau district of the city as dangerous and highlighted the mosques. Pere Garau has a significant Moroccan community. Hanin considers that this was "hate speech" and says that members of the community are scared and are contemplating leaving.
Farouk Pino of the Immigration Platform in the Balearic Islands, which brings together more than 20 associations of different nationalities, explains that there are "more than 300 nationalities and 70% are in an irregular situation, some 15,000 people". They expect positive agreements with the Partido Popular but at the same time fear that "the extreme right will contaminate them". "This will not be a good thing, either for the islands or for Spain, because they could restrict many of our rights and freedoms for which we have fought so hard."
Groups representing migrants and people in an irregular situation point out that if families decide to leave, labour will be needed. Unskilled jobs are currently covered by migrants, who represent a large part of the workforce in the Balearics. The president of the Federation of Balearic Immigrant Associations, Aida Quisbert, has denounced having suffered racist and xenophobic attacks by groups related to Vox and fears that these will increase.
The Balearic Islamic Commission is meanwhile downplaying the situation. Mahfouz Abu Mahfouz stresses that "religious people are independent of politics, we have no opinion". As to the Balearic Islands Chinese Association, its president Fang Ji says that they are "neutral", but "we will reach out to those political forces that watch over for the rights and interests of the Chinese community".
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Richard PearsonThe only time Spain's economy has been in the Top 10 was a couple of years in the 90s and 2000s. In the 70s and early 80s it was a poor country. Franco held back Spain in every way - compare it to France for example. I expect you're getting you 'facts' from some pro Trump/Putin/Vox website (all the same ****). And what an odd comment about East Germany. As someone who lived under a similar regime I can assure you it was as murderous and poor as Franco's Spain.
Richard PearsonYou may be right. The UK took that plunge, and took a poll to return to a rose tinted past when everything was great - ...and without immigrants. And those who didn't vote for it indeed found themselves in a whopping 49% minority. And look at how great that turned out. England may not ever catch up with the rest of the world. Isn't that great?
Zoltan, I can also assure you that most Brits, not to mention other European societies, would welcome going back to a “mythical past” which actually existed, with no immigration from different cultures, no crime, or very little and a sense of community that no longer exists. You may think this is an old fashioned way of thinking. So be it. I think though that you would find yourself to be a minority if ever a vote were held about this. Good luck anyway.
By “irregular” I presume the writer means “illegal”, like for instance a U.K. citizen who overstays his 90 day allotted time. Zoltan. Have you never heard about the Great Depression or about life in Germany during the 1920’s and 30’s ? Spain wasn’t the only country that suffered during the last century. It did though, during the 70’s and 80’s become the world’s 8th industrial economy, in spite of not benefiting from the Marshall Plan. Compare that to your heroes who governed East Germany.
The Francoist, luddite Vox party want to take Spain back to some mythical past when there were no immigrants, no crime, everyone was rich etc. Of course the reality was very different, mass poverty, an illiterate population and Spain isolated from the rest of Europe. Rather than demonizing immigrants they should be thanking them for doing the jobs that the locals refuse to do. And while we're at it, maybe the Vox politicians should do DNA tests. I don't think they'd like the results.