- The resistance box of the Senegalese manterers of Bizkaia has already reached over 100 people in a situation of extreme need. They cannot sell on the street and many have no paper – that is, they are outside the aid that the administrations have announced. So far, Senegalese street merchants and ARGIA have set aside some of the money we have in the project "No one is illegal" for the cooperative they want to create in the future. At this time, however, the new revenues obtained from the project have decided to devote them to the resistance fund.
“Many street people live with the day, and when it falls down, it’s over. Many, right now, can’t afford the rent, can’t buy food… People can’t call on their phones, because they don’t have a balance,” explains Khadim Samb, a member of the Senegalese street association Mbolo Moye Doole. Fortunately, there are many citizens who are contributing to the resistance box: “Since we started, we have distributed almost EUR 13,000 and have reached over 100 people. In Euskal Herria, we're having a support, not just because people put money in, but because there are people who call us to ask us how we are, to encourage us. That is also to be welcomed.”
The future too, dark
After lockdown, the problems won't end for street vendors. On the one hand, Sambe is convinced that the new situation will affect the sale: in the bars, in the restaurants … ensure that the new measures will make the sale more difficult. On the street they will not be easy either: “People are afraid and many will not want to buy it from us, for fear of contamination, or for fear that the products they buy from us will be contaminated,” because there are no few prejudices.
“People are afraid and, even after confinement, many will not want to buy us, for fear of being contaminated, or for fear that what they buy from us will be contaminated.”
On the other hand, unjust laws have long condemned migrants to illegality, secrecy and precariousness, as is now the case, also in deconfinement. "We're working on this work because we have nothing else to do, because we don't want it," says Samb. They have to work for three illegal years, in black, and they have no other way out, and then they can start a long process to prove that they are rooted in the territory. That is why, in this pandemic situation, many have been left without any financial support, because they are illegal for the administration. The papers would give access to employment in a legal way, to contributions, to the right to life… and that’s why the “legalization now” campaign is underway. The government has given papers to the country’s migrants in Portugal, but in our country there does not seem to be any intention to do so.
Nobody Is Illegal
ARGIA and the Mbolo Moye Doole association have long been in the project "Nobody is illegal": we have t-shirts, jerseys, bags and books (you can buy online, in the address azoka.argia.eus), we claim that there are no illegal people up and to promote both projects. Half of the profits from each of the sales are to strengthen the ARGIA project and the other half to take forward the cooperative that Mbolo has in mind. In the situation we are experiencing, half of the profits from each sale will now go to the resistance box.
It can also be provided directly in the Mbolo resistance box. Given current account on behalf of SOS Racism Bizkaia (ES67 2095 0005 1838 3074 5829) as "Mbolo Support".