Community
Manifesto
The following excerpt contains the opening statements of a community manifesto written by a neighborhood association consisting of residents living in Artigas, a small town in Northern Catalonia.
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We the residents of Artigas and Sant Roc denounce the state of degradation, lack of security and coexistence (convivencia) that we have in our neighborhoods. The disinterest and neglect of the city government in controlling the state of the area - over-occupied apartments, businesses without license, occupation of public and private spaces with a complete lack of compliance with city rules and [norms of] coexistence by groups of people of different ethnicities - has provoked an over-occupation of space that makes it impossible to live and work in normality and to coexist.
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Fights in the streets, plazas, and bars in the area are a daily occurrence. The deterioration of street fixtures and filth are continual. Our children can no longer play in the plazas and playgrounds, which are being used by groups with aims that are foreign to their intended use ... We demand from the city government a constant regulation of public spaces, which today are owned by certain ethnicities that make coexistence impossible. We demand oversight of private spaces and compliance with the [civic] ordinance and civic norms. Because the present situation is forcing many residents to leave if they can and, for those who can’t, to suffer true hell in their neighborhood, our city and our country.
The following excerpt is a continuation of the previous manifesto that specifically addresses concerns related to the proposed Mosque to be constructed in the city center.
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For all of that, we the residents of Sant Roc and Artigas do not estimate that the opening of a mosque in our neighborhood is acceptable, in these moments, for [the sake of] coexistence and for [the sake of] impeding our conversion into a ghetto, if we are not one already. We are concerned that that mosque, moreover, will be converted into a county-wide referent for Muslims, leading to an even greater over-occupation of public spaces which generates problems of coexistence.