Morad El Boudouhi electoral poster in Lleida.
Messages have not stopped arriving on Mourad El Boudouhi's WhatsApp since he planted an electoral poster with his photo on a marquee on Catalunya Avenue in Lleida.
Those who have asked him about his political project (so incipient that not even he himself knows where it will lead) are many fewer than those who have written to him to threaten him, insult him or ask him to return to his country.
On the poster, this Spaniard of Moroccan origin appears running for a supposed political movement (“Rise up for Lleida”) along with a slogan (“I will never stop fighting for you”), a date (2025) and the juxtaposed flags of Catalonia and Morocco.
The initiative has given rise to all kinds of speculation, from the fact that the first Islamist party in Spain had just been created to the fact that a formation submitted to the Moroccan regime had emerged.
In conversation with EL PAÍS, Mourad denies this and assures that the poster is only “a wake-up call to the traditional political parties” to include citizens of Catalonia in their lists, in view of the regional elections next year. foreign origin.
“I was inspired by the Ukrainian war slogan,
Stand up for Ukraine
, but there is nothing more,” he says.
This newspaper has verified, in the registry of political parties of the Ministry of the Interior, that there is no party under that name or similar ones.
Mourad included his telephone number on the poster to listen to “proposals” from his neighbors.
But what has reached him in the last few hours are, above all, outbursts.
He checks, reads and shows his WhatsApp
messages
.
"You are sons of bitches, you defend the Moroccans before the Spanish, they have to lock you up, you bastards."
“We do not have to adapt to
Sharia
[Islamic law], if you do not like what is there, do not form ghettos.”
“Hello
Moor
, introduce yourself as mayor in Morocco.”
“Good evening, I wanted to know if snails [a very popular product in the gastronomy of Lleida] are
halal
or not.”
He is consulting with his lawyer about the possibility of filing a complaint.
The man, 39 years old and a member of the Consell de Ciutat de Lleida – a consultative body of the City Council – feels “sadness” at the reactions that his initiative has generated, which points to a nuclear issue in European democracies: active participation in politics of citizens of foreign origin.
A report from the La Caixa Foundation in 2020 concluded that the presence of these people in local politics is far below their demographic weight in society.
Very few become candidates for municipal elections and even fewer obtain a council position, according to the study.
“They ask us to integrate into society and participate in politics.
But when we try, they look at us badly,” explains Mourad.
“This is a wake-up call to the parties so that they can count on us and include us on the lists,” adds the man, of Berber origin, who, however, does not rule out creating a new formation if necessary.
“Our idea is not, in principle, to create a political party, because there are already enough of them.
But if in a few months we don't get our act together and people push us to do it, why not?”
Regarding the inclusion of the Moroccan flag in the poster, he says that it is just a way for the nearly 24,000 people of Maghreb origin who live in the province of Lleida to feel challenged.
“If I show up for anything, I want to count on them.”
Against the ban on the 'burqa'
Mourad is also the president of the Watani Association for Freedom and Justice, based in Lleida, an entity that promotes “the well-being and development”, as well as “the interests and rights” of foreigners “to facilitate their integration into the society”, as described on its website.
The man remembers that Watani opposed the decision of the Paeria (city council) to remove the image of the King from the plenary hall.
“We filed an appeal because we respect all institutions, including the monarchy,” explains Mourad, who is in tune with Esquerra's social policies but not with its project to achieve independence for Catalonia: “We defend the unity of Spain.”
Watani gained notoriety more than a decade ago because he filed an appeal against the ban on the full Islamic veil (
burka
) in public spaces, a measure that was approved by the Lleida City Council in 2010. The man claimed then that he intended to “defend women.” Muslim.”
The association won that legal battle: the Supreme Court annulled the ban, considering that it violated religious freedom.
But Mourad, who manages immigration-related procedures for immigrants, makes it clear that religion has nothing to do with his intention to make the leap into politics.
He is motivated, he says, to solve the day-to-day problems of Lleida.
“Spain is a secular country and religion should not be brought into these issues.
The objective in no case is to create a religious or Islamist party.”
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