2/ Social projects for Manteros in an irregular situation. But even though the Manteros are legally resident in Spain, they are still harassed by the police. However, due to low wages, it may still be better to work as a street vendor. As Zarif, a street vendor from Sitges, explains, he can earn a better income selling than working in a formal job, even taking into account the fines he sometimes has to pay. On the other hand, we publicly reject the political use of Manteros by the right and the left to try to win votes in the next elections, we think it is immoral and unethical to instrumentalize poor migrants for electoral purposes or for their power struggles, where the one who loses is always us, we will not allow it and we will denounce it every day. Last Friday, 2. The embryo of the association was conceived during a meeting at the Arts-Santa Mónica Cultural Center on the Rambla. A first contact, where Diop made his debut as a lecturer, with eighty other providers, most of them of African origin. “At the moment, we are eight representatives, six men and two women,” explains Ulises, “who will be the voice of the collective” in the three districts of the city with the largest influx of Manteros: the port, Passeig de Gràcia and Plaça Catalunya.
Out of curiosity, members of the new entity have membership cards that have already been distributed. “Retailers complain about the number of manteros and cite unfair competition. And he denounces an organized mafia that would operate among the manteros, where with the union of the police, the manteros are blackmailed and have to pay for the work,” he explained. â To belong to our union, you do not need papers or documents. Maybe someone says it`s not official, but we have the support of neighborhood associations, human rights organizations, anti-prison organizations and anyone who condemns the criminalization of vendors,” Rosa says. “No problem can be solved with the police,” he says, calling for “social projects to help these people get out of poverty, have dignity and rights.” In this sense, the Union has already presented eight projects that would allow dozens of manteros to abandon this activity, but which require financing and employment plans: one for organic agro-farming, another for screen printing, local fishing and local or sustainable sewing. The Manteros respond today to the offer of the Consistory by the foundation of a union. Clashes between street vendors and agents in Barcelona intensified after clashes in Salou in mid-August. “From the associations Espacio del Inmigrante and Tras la Manta [the neighborhood network that monitors police actions against vendors], we condemn the criminalization to which the Manteros are subjected,” said Rosa, a member of the Espace Immigrés. “Street vendors and manteros, we can be accused of violations, which is a problem that needs to be solved and is secondary, but we are not associated with crime,” he said. We have been fighting manipulation and accusations against the Manteros for some time. Whenever it comes to a black person, our version is not the first to appear in the press.
There are always images and videos that are cut and edited to show people that we are violent or criminal when we react to a racist act. For Lamine and Daoud, the cooperative and the brand are tools that can give members a better life, but the union`s goal is to fight discrimination against manteros. Many of them have no choice but to sell to survive once they arrive in Spain and are often forced to emigrate due to circumstances beyond their control. As they explain, many manteros actually have other skills, such as fishing, but cannot survive in Senegal. Compañeros and compañeras thank you once again for taking to the streets to denounce the death of our comrade Mantero Mame Mbaye Ndiaye.