Government
Policies
The local governments of Catalonia are demonstrating Islamophobia through their current policies used to prevent Muslim immigrants from attaining the proper space to worship. Currently, inner cities use oratories as worshiping space. These oratories are often too small to support an entire religious community and lack the presence of Islamic culture. The government views these oratories as fit and restricts permits and zoning rights for the construction of large scale mosques on public property in city centers.
Mosques are allowed to be constructed on public property that is located on the outskirts of towns. However, these mosques are inefficiently located and result in the overcrowding of oratories. While the government claims that these conditions must suffice. Local Muslims are willing to fund their own construction undertaking by funding a mosque in city centers. Consistently, local governments refuse zoning and permits for construction on the basis that Islamic architecture will disrupt appearance. This is yet another example of Hispanidad returning to present day Spain.
In Spain's democratic government system, the current oppressors of local governments should be immediately voted out by the increasing Muslim population. In theory, eventually voters can govern who will represent them and gain them permits for mosque establishment. However, the Spanish government does not grant immigrants the right to vote or the children of immigrants the right to vote. Those living in Spain can only vote once they have adopted citizenship. These rules are obsolete and lead to the misrepresentation of the Muslim population in local governments and their decisions.
POPULAR (VOX) PARTY
The misrepresentation of Muslims in local governments will continue to be a growing issue in Spain. On the rise now is a far-right political party known as the Popular or VOX party. This group campaigns on the basis of Islamophobia and achieves great success through this practice. Many of those that have endorsed this party have won their election. These new members within the government can be detrimental for the representation of Islamic people and mosque establishment in the future as the population continues to grow.
The Popular Party uses these tactics to appease the locals living alongside the new Muslim populations. By neglecting and refuting the Muslim audience, this party is not losing any voters. This relates back to the Spanish policy that only those with Spanish citizenship can vote. In other words, the Popular Party is not dependent on the Muslim vote and can use such extreme campaigning slurs that the locals, whom have developed extreme hate towards these immigrant groups, can support and vote for. Their campaigns promise the expelling of Muslims from small - town Catalonia and establish their inferiority to the rest of the Spanish population.
The success of the Popular Party, especially in Catalonia, has lead to more anger from the locals targeted at Muslim communities and has made it appropriate for there to be blatant Islamophobic behavior towards them. The Popular Party can not be stopped until Islamic people are given the power they deserve to gain their right to worship.
Local
opinion
The locals living in Catalonia's municipalities do not support the new influx of Muslim immigrants or their desires for mosque establishment. They feel that their communities are being overrun and taken advantage of. Local governments have looked past locals for years and have not provided them with the proper public space they desire. Locals feel that the government should not permit mosque establishment for new Muslims because that shows priority for immigrants over citizens. In other words, locals would like to see construction on public property in city centers that could be used for all. For example, locals would like to see more community centers, hospitals, public parks, or libraries constructed in these spaces. They feel that mosques are strictly for Muslim practices and exclude all others from their own public property in the town that was once all their own.
To facilitate a more general use of public property, locals have formed community groups and neighborhood associations that petition and draft statements that can be passed on to the local government forbidding the granting of building and zoning permits. Additionally, they put their support in rising right-wing groups such as the Popular Party because of their campaign claims to restrict the right to worship for Muslims. Locals make strategic decisions with the malicious intent of denying new immigrants their right to worship and their ability to make their new country feel like home.
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