- Bouba Diouf has referred to the difficulties experienced by migrants during the pandemic, the influence of the absence of papers, and the laws and policies they have on the most vulnerable: “Human rights should be above all.” He is a member of the Association of Senegalese street traders Mbolo Moye Doole of Bilbao and the INOR EZ DA ILEGALA project. In addition to the video, you can also listen to the podcast conversation on this link.
Bouba Diouf tells us that the pandemic is being very harsh for street vendors. Without work and papers, many migrants have difficulties in maintaining their housing, for example. “We create the resistance box to help those who are worse and now less money comes in, but we think we’re solving something; they’re helping families who need a lot.
The pandemic has been used to criminalize, inter alia, migrants and racialized persons. “The weakest are always criminalized, even in the pandemic. Every day we see the municipal police go to the blacks to put them on the wall.” He explains what happened to one of his friends: how they asked for the papers and how they beat him before he had time to take them out.
Second-class citizens? “Not at all”
Do you feel like second-class citizens? asked by journalist Mikel García Idiakez. “We are by no means like you, with great dignity, but it is true that we do not exist institutionally and that we feel marginalized. We live here and we are from here, but the institutions ask us for many things, which we must demonstrate at all times.”
They have used the health crisis to reclaim the roles for all: “We’ve made a lot of noise, but politically nothing has moved. Moreover, the procedures are being lengthened a great deal by the pandemic. I have been waiting for seven months; I started the paperwork in February and in September I got my card, imagine.” And having papers is fundamental, because without them, “you don’t exist, you can’t do anything here. You only have to commit an illegality, to do the hardest jobs that no one wants.”
They have used the health crisis to reclaim the roles for all: “We’ve made a lot of noise, but politically nothing has moved. Moreover, the procedures are lengthening a lot because of the pandemic.”
And yet, people are still ready to kick and risk life. “It’s very sad, but Europe’s dream is still alive.” Diouf has made it clear that migration policy must be changed, that politicians must open another path to facilitate migration to people, otherwise the paths are the only alternative and “human rights should be above all”.
The journalist has also asked him what we should learn from this pandemic: “We need the strength of solidarity so that no one is left behind. An example of this is the resistance fund, as well as the Inor Ez Da Ilegala project, in which the money has been earmarked for that purpose.”
