Immigrant rights struggle heats up abroad

May Day 2006 in Paris. African and Asian solidarity. WW photo: Lal Roohk

Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s minister of the interior, just took a short trip to Mali and Benin—two former French colonies in West Africa—at the same time that the French parliament was passing a law on “selective immigration.”

The trip was part of Sarkozy’s presidential campaign for the 2007 election. In both countries, he was met with bitter protests from a wide spectrum of groups.

In Mali, when he got off the plane from Paris, protesters greeted him with banners reading: “Sarkozy, xenophobic racist! No to scorn! Yes to respectful cooperation.”

African Solidarity for Democracy and Independence, which participates in the government’s coalition, issued a statement calling on all to join the protest. “This visit of Nicolas Sarkozy to Mali aims to legitimize the repressive policies of the French government against immigrant workers,” this party pointed out. “Selec tive immigration is fundamentally racist.”

Hundreds of local officials joined the protests in Kayes—a Malian city which is the origin of many immigrants to France—as well as in Cotonou, Benin.

Spain and Morroco have closed off the straits of Gibralter and Ceuta and Melilla, the two Spanish enclaves in Morocco, to workers looking to enter Spain and Europe from Africa.

But since May 18, more than 5,000 Africans from Senegal and Mauritania have landed in the Spanish Canaries, islands that require a six-day trip from the African coast. Good weather made it possible for open boats to make the trip.

About 1 million undocumented workers are currently in Spain, many working in the greenhouses that supply fresh fruit and vegetables to Europe in the winter.

—By G. Dunkel