Elahi Mohammad Fazle is one of the most active members of the Valiente Bangla association, which since 2007 has been “advising foreigners to regularize their situation and promote their integration into Spanish society.” The entity shares a block, in two adjacent premises in the heart of Lavapiés, with the Association of Senegalese in Spain. Both neighborhoods belong to the local administration and are assigned to the Municipal Housing and Land Company (EMVS), which was transferred through a rental contract to these organizations during Manuela Carmena’s term.
A few days ago, Elahi received a message that could radically change the situation of her group and that of her neighbors. EMVS itself informed them that they had to leave these spaces on Provisiones Street, having decided not to renew the leases. From this entity of the City Hall led by José Luis Martínez-Almeida, they were told that the contracts would not be extended and that they had to leave.
“We don’t understand, we’re fighting for the neighborhood. We’ve been working in Lavapiés since 2007 with the Bangladeshi community, undocumented immigrants and vulnerable people in general. We offer registration assistance and Spanish classes for women, men and children. We have a solidarity food pantry and we’re still distributing food at the end of Ramadan or at Christmas,” Elahi tells Somos Lavapiés.
In recent years, he says, they have built a community through different initiatives: “During the pandemic, we created an agency with a telephone support for all types of questions and translators 24 hours a day. Every two weeks, the women of the neighborhood come together to create all kinds of activities, like the lamb festival, women’s day or language day.”
We don’t understand it, we are fighting for the neighborhood. We have been working since 2007 in Lavapies with the Bangladeshi community, undocumented immigrants and vulnerable people in general.
Elahi defines Valiente Bangla as a “neighborhood and protest” organization. He points out that they even collaborate with institutions such as the Reina Sofía Museum, through the initiative Museo Situado. He calls this eviction an “atrocity” that causes “great damage to the Bengali community and the entire Lavapiés neighborhood.”
The councilor of Más Madrid, Lucía Lois, expressed the same opinion in statements to this newspaper: “The EMVS has a social function and its premises cannot have a better purpose than to be transferred to groups like Valiente Bangla. But the Almeida government does not care about the essential work they have been doing for years in Lavapiés and has decided to evict them from the premises they have occupied since 2017.”
He considers it to be “one of the most important associations in Lavapies” because “they have been working for years to build a community in the neighborhood, defending human rights and helping people in the neighborhood.” Lois explains that “they provide coverage and support to various groups of migrants and have also promoted the integration of the Bangladeshi female community with a sewing workshop to socialize and learn the language.”
“During the pandemic, they launched a network of translators to guarantee access to health care for Spanish-speaking migrants and organized solidarity food banks. That is why we are with Valiente Bangla and we will take this issue to all the necessary bodies of the City Council to stop this expulsion that we consider intolerable,” concludes the councilor of the formation led in the capital by Rita Maestre.
This performance comes as Almeida’s team has launched a public consultation on immigration. In addition, the mayor of the capital has described the situation in the Canary Islands as a “migratory invasion” and accused Pedro Sánchez’s government of promoting a “call effect”.
No alternative in case of expulsion
Meanwhile, the Valiente Bangla group does not give up and continues to believe in a solution: “We responded to the email sent by EMVS, in which they do not give us dates or tell us what will happen, in addition to asking for a meeting. At the moment, they have not given us any response,” says Elahi. “The people of the City Council and the councilor of the Center [José Fernández] “They know our work, so we are waiting for a solution,” he says. The support from all the groups they have contacted is remarkable: “They support us and our Senegalese colleagues, even if their association is currently less active.”
Municipal sources from EMVS tell this media that the associations “cannot continue since the initial contract provided for a period of five years with an extension of two additional years”. They assure that “the deadlines set have been respected” and that it is now up to the technical services to set a precise date for their departure from the premises, as well as the procedure for handing over the keys.
If the closure does go ahead, the alternatives for the Valiente Bangla association are uncertain: “It is very difficult to continue elsewhere because here we have a community that has been forged since we arrived in this headquarters seven years ago.”
