Yes, three months ago we were told by the members of the Mbolo Moye Doole association of Senegalese street vendors in Bilbao that they had obtained their license in 2015 to work as self-employed salespeople and that they had to prove a minimum contribution of 200 euros to renew their papers, but from one day to the next, they changed the Spanish Law for Foreigners and began to demand a contribution of 800 euros, an unmet requirement for Manteros. And although they act flexibly in many cities of the Spanish State (they have enough to quote, they do not demand a minimum amount), they are strictly applying the requirement in Bilbao. The conclusion? Yes. Many Mantero have moved to other communities, and Baba, for example, has not been renewed. Baba has been living in Bilbao for 11 years and has become an illegal citizen.

“In this sense, there is no change, the Office for Foreigners of Bilbao follows strictly, they will have some interest, interest in keeping us in the corner, to see when we get bored and leave,” says Baba. He has just returned from working at the Sanmarcial fiestas in Irún and is preparing his trip to the Sanfermines of Pamplona. “I’ve decided to rent a place to sleep at a friend’s house so I can rest and shower well because I have a small car and I don’t want to sleep there every day.”

Bouba will not go to Sanfermin, he will never leave Bilbao and its surroundings because of fear: “If I get caught without papers, I can end up in a CIE center for migrants and then who knows where.”

Over the past three months, the Spanish government has changed. “Pedro Sánchez said that if he came to the government he would facilitate the paperwork for the migrants, and some migrant associations are hopeful, but well, I think they are empty words of politicians that are said before they come to the government,” says Pape Niang. We didn’t interview him last time, but we met him on the way to creating the t-shirt, because he also belongs to the association of Senegalese street vendors. He has been living in Bilbao for nine and a half years and speaks pessimistically: “The law requires us to have a one-year contract to be able to legalize it, but which company makes a one-year contract? Much less a black man with no papers! It’s a vicious cycle and we can’t get out of it: they don’t give you paper, and without paper we can’t do anything. If you want a person to integrate, you have to give them the opportunity to integrate, to be able to make a living there.” But the law itself is an obstacle, “it is the ceiling that limits us so that, despite the fact that it takes a lot of time in the same place, despite wanting to format and work a lot, you never get out of this situation of marginality. It destroys us,” says Bouba.

If you are not hired, create a cooperative

“We don’t have any confidence that they will hire us, so we have to act on our own,” they say. For many years they have been selling streets without seeing any fruit, always fighting for papers and fleeing from the police. After leaving the streets and following the Catalan model, they are creating the cooperative, the Mbolo project: starting with a cleaning cooperative created by migrants and the idea is that the cooperative covers more areas, such as care and/or moving, that will include women and men – in street sales, there are hardly any women.

“We have several associations that help us and we have asked the cleaning professionals for their advice. We have also turned to restaurants, companies, home portals... to ask ourselves how they relate cleaning and to introduce ourselves. But many of them haven’t received us at all, some of them don’t even talk to us, they don’t even look at us,” they explain, with an air of normality to what they are accustomed to. They have hope, though.

“The shirt says it very clearly: no one is illegal”

The t-shirt is the other project that has awakened their enthusiasm. “They have already asked us in the area, it is being very well received and we are sending it to all the contacts”, they tell us. “We think it’s also a way to spread the message because the shirt says it very clearly: No one is illegal. Amul been nit ku lergalul in the Wolof language of Senegal.” For each t-shirt that LUZ sells for 15 euros (available here), 2 euros are for the members of Mbolo and they believe that it will be useful for them to advance the cooperative of migrants. They also sell t-shirts. “I’ll wear it whenever I can, so if someone tells me they like it, I’ll explain where they can get it,” says Baba. So, you know, maybe this summer you'll see a No One Is Illegal T-shirt salesman at a party in the Basque Country.

Of the shame of shame, if nothing else

Dark, very dark Papa sees the future. The future? What future? They're used to surviving. Baba reminds us that solidarity and support are essential in the struggle to combat the cruelty of the state. And Bouba speaks with optimism, with the broad smile in his mouth that we have always seen since we met him three months ago: “Always forward, believing in us and in our faculties. We have begun the struggle against unjust laws and states, and future generations, migrants who will continue to come in the future, will continue our struggle, and gradually things will change. They will have a better future. The saying wolof says ku rus di nga nangu; he will accept it out of shame. In the end, if it’s only a shame, we’ll have to face it.”

PDF of the article, in this link.