“The fact of being an immigrant in Euskal Herria, unfortunately, has more drawbacks than good ones. To begin with, all of us who come from outside do not have that label, because those who come from the European Union are foreigners, but those of us who are not of the upper class and outside of it are given an immigrant label,” Karim has launched. “We receive oppression and discrimination in many areas, because of our roots, because of our religion, because of the color of our skin…”

He has stressed that on the street we are seeing great police racism during the pandemic, especially in men of Arab or black origin, but that women suffer from such racism in other spaces. For example, in CIES migrant retention centres: “They are prisons for immigrants and they are justified by the institutions.”

“I am Muslim and the Islamophobia we receive in public spaces is great, it is reflected in the street in Islamophobia fed in media, social networks, videos on the internet…”. Equally in the world of work: he says that they close their doors easily, that titles question their ability and that the scarf is always a source of conflict: “The handkerchief asks us to be removed from the working world or becomes a difficulty accessing employment.”

Karim wanted to recall the exploitation of women who work in the world of care: “Between 80 and 90% of the people who work in the world of care are women in Latin America and their labor rights are scarce: they are in a model that is not covered by any law (working all week and only a couple of hours on Sunday) and for a salary that does not reach 1,000 euros. There are many women who are taking on care work and society is looking elsewhere, because these women can go out to work with the care of their homes, that is what their economy is based on.” It has defended the need to guarantee these workers decent working conditions with minimum rights and has pointed out that domestic workers are already struggling to improve the situation.

"Prostitution is called work, but it's slavery."

He recalled that about 97 per cent of women in the world of prostitution and sex trafficking are foreign and that they are an enslaved group. “Even if you call it work, because it’s slavery. The money generated by these businesses is a great deal, and that is why it is not in the interests of politicians to ban it or impose fines on consumers. Because consumers are primarily responsible, because in our capitalist and patriarchal society many men think that with money they can do anything, and specifically in this area, that they can do anything with the body of women if they are paid. A part of society argues that it is a sex work, but it is not a job, this structure is called work because it interests it, but when talking to anyone who is there, it realizes that it has more slavery.”

Tarana Karim has warned that another institutional oppression faced by migrants is the law itself: immigration policy. “Here you have three years of illegality, working without papers… How can a person live without documentation? They deprive the person of the right to live in dignity: to buy a home, to work legally, to pay...”

“When people move from one place to another we move to improve our economy and the situation of our family, to work and seek a better future. If the rights of immigrants are defended, the economy and society itself will win with migration,” he stressed. He has made it clear that they will continue to fight collectively “to change this and to ensure that our rights are protected”.