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Today, migrants face a series of daily frontiers that make it difficult for them to live with dignity and equality with the rest of the population. Within the Spanish state, migrants face obstacles in accessing universal health care (despite the reversal of the health reform), impossible legislative requirements, their right to legal attention is violated, their socio-political participation is limited... This unfair reality does not only affect migrants who are in an irregular administrative situation. This reality affects migrants with a high level of roots, people who, despite living in the country for many years, are second-class citizens.
Discrimination against migrants is invisible in the eyes of society. A large part of the population still uses false data to talk about the collective. They arrive en masse, they take advantage of the system, they come without papers, they are criminals, they impose their culture on us...But what would happen tomorrow if all the foreigners living in Spain today leave the country? The 2019 report of the Ombudsman answered this question: the employment level of the economy would fall to 16.7 million employed, 20% below the level of employment reached before the economic crisis. The economic and social consequences are imaginable.
The exclusion faced by the migrant community is a consequence of ignorance and the result of considering migration as a problem rather than an opportunity. Currently, one of the most important demands of the migrant community is to claim real political participation and representation, without which their recognition as citizens and their legitimate interests are mutilated.
What is the current political scenario? What is the place of the migrant population?
In Spain, there are a total of 5,800,468 people (with a valid residence card), 11.4% of the general population. And in the Valencian Community, out of 5,057,353 people, 743,597 are foreigners, 14.8% of the population. Before these percentages of the Spanish population of migrant origin, the Congress of Deputies, made up of 350 people, should have 40 foreigners. And Les Corts Valencianes, made up of 99 people, should have 15 foreigners. Currently there is only one PSOE deputy in Congress and only one Unides Podem deputy in Les Corts. There is, therefore, an under-representation of migrants in the political sphere in relation to their demographic weight at the national and regional levels. It should also be recalled that Organic Law 5/1985, of June 19, 1985, governs the General Electoral System. It does not seem that Spanish legislation takes into account the socio-economic context which, with globalization and migratory flows, is multicultural and diverse.
Also noteworthy is the low participation of the migrant community in the last local elections, the ones with the highest turnout. Only 20% of the population of migrant origin voted; 26% abstained, but were eligible to vote; and a high 54% are not eligible to vote. Data provided by the latest report of Cáritas Española and the University Institute for Migration Studies (IUEM) of Comillas Pontifical University.
And in this scenario, 'Citizenship School' was born, an initiative developed by Jovesólides, Espai Obert el Marítim and ACOEC. The objective: to promote the political participation of migrants in the Valencian Community. More than 90 students have participated in its two editions. And in the last one, the entities have presented 'The 15 measures for the inclusion of migrants in the political sphere of the Valencian Community'. More than a hundred actors from the political, social, academic and communications fields have worked on the document. The ultimate goal: to promote the inclusion of migrants and work against their underrepresentation in the political arena at the regional level.
Join us in spreading the word! Join us in demanding a just society for all people without exception! For if nations are 'imagined communities' as Benedict Anderson said, let us imagine together a just and equal community for all people.
The 'Citizenship School' is a pioneering initiative in Spain. The objective: to promote the social inclusion of migrants After two editions, they have participated in a project funded by the Consellería d' Igualtat i Polítiques Inclusives and the Diputación de València.
