MILE Ripollet training session 06/03

On March 6, the first MILE training session was held in Ripollet, with Asociacion Kudwa, where a brainstorming session was held to find the best way to achieve the utopia of active political participation. The main idea is to promote the idea of belonging so that everyone feels that they should and can have a say, recognizing not only the person, but the value they bring to the community and social.

In this session, the term "migrant" was defined as an individual who, with time, roots and things in common, identifies more from here than from there. Although some people explain that, after many years, they feel more from here than from there, they will always consider themselves migrants in both countries. It was also mentioned how the Alien Law creates a difference between migrants and locals, granting privileges to one or the other depending on the countries of origin.

Shared responsibility between migrants and locals for integration was discussed, which can happen through collaboration with local power to learn, share culture and freedom, and work together. All this based on respect, interculturality and a level playing field in relationships to promote security and trust. In addition, the importance of citizen participation, not limited to cultural participation, but transversal and applicable to all areas, was highlighted.

Tools were proposed for situations of discrimination and exclusion, beyond complaints, generating systems to facilitate complaints and having direct channels of communication with the administration and decision-makers to promote equality.

The main reason to participate in the project and in the "taula de participación migrante" is to generate the necessary trust to create a direct communication channel with the city council, creating it together to go beyond the established and to be able to reach the real problems of the people.

A diagnosis was made of the current situation of migrants in Ripollet, including access to work, the centralization of information in different languages for integration, and the need to speed up the bureaucratic processes that prevent them from obtaining the homologation of degrees in order to be able to work. In addition, access to housing was discussed and how to generate ways to avoid the housing prejudice suffered by migrants. To this end, it was proposed to participate with the census data of the different migrant communities, carry out diagnoses according to the different communities and then generate proposals for solutions. It was also identified the need to work with those migrant groups that have less voice and less privileges, in order to address their problems.

This first session was very fruitful and we hope to continue working collaboratively to find solutions and improvements in the situation of migrants in Ripollet.