by Paola Del Vecchio - The first Islamic party in Spain is getting ready to have representation in the key municipalities in the administrative elections in 2011. The Renaissance and Union of Spain Party, promoted by Mustafa Barrach, a former journalist and Arabic professor in Granada, is close to Rabat, according to a report today in the ABC conservative newspaper. Member of the Al Hegira Muslim community and treasurer of the Spanish Islamic Council, Barrak aspires to gathering not only votes from the nearly 1,300,000 Muslim residents in Spain but also from immigrants who represent 10% of the Spanish population. Mustafa Bakkach, who has been living in Spain for 15 years, dedicates much of his time to supporting immigrants. The Islamic Council, an organisation inspired by the Sufi branch of Islam, is made up of a majority of Spanish converts belonging to the Yamaa Islamica-Liga Morisca.
Moriscos is what the 300,000 Muslims are called who stayed on the Iberian peninsula after the expulsion of the Catholic kings and were forced to convert to Christianity and then banished for good in 1609. In the internal gazette, the organisation expounds a clearly national vocation not only for consolidation in one area or autonomous region and considers Islam the base of its principals in political activities, a determining factor for the moral and ethical regeneration of Spanish society.
However, at the same time, it respects the Spanish constitution and refuses terrorism as an instrument of political struggle. The organisation does not realistically aspire to winning the municipalities but wants to obtain a discreet number of councillors in some key Spanish cities.
According to ABC, the government does not hide a certain worry, since there are currently 1,300,000 resident Muslims in the country including Spanish converts and immigrants from Islamic countries of which there are 700,000 from Morocco. But there could be more than two million if illegal immigrants are counted.
The politicians fears have to do with the new party eventually lead to the non-integration in urban area with high Muslim presence and that in cities where they already have a majority, the Muslims could attempt to impose their customs through municipal regulations.
| Almost sounds like a plan or something ... |