Last August marked 28 years since the arrival of the first boat to the Canary Islands: in 1994, two young people of Saharawi origin managed to reach the coast of Fuerteventura through a migratory route that, at present, has been placed as the most dangerous in the world.
Today, Lanzarote represents the worst link in this chain: the figures collected until September 2022 show that it is the island that accumulates the highest number of arrivals with 38.6% -4,919 out of a total of 12,737-, according to data from Red Cross.
Redwan Baddouh, activist and member of the Citizen Network of Solidarity with Migrants, is one of the people who tries to make the journey of the almost 4,000 migrants who have arrived in the territory of Lanzarote so far this year a little easier, providing them with "social and legal support so that their rights are not violated".
From Argana to migratory activism
Baddouh is an 18-year-old young man born in Arrecife who, since the age of 12, began to get involved in the world of social action.
"At first I didn't give it that name. I simply went to the "poli" (Argana Alta pavilion) and there was a social worker, Irene, who did dynamization activities in which I began to participate," he explains.
Through this involvement, the shortcomings of his neighborhood began to surface: "We didn't have leisure infrastructures, so I began to protest for our rights as children to be respected."
After that, he was part of the Argana Alta Neighborhood Association and went through the Platform for Decent Housing, until in 2020 he came face to face with the migratory reality, seeing that "boats and more boats were arriving and I didn't understand why," he says, referring to the reactivation of the Canary Route that occurred during that period.
As a result, he and a couple of other colleagues began to learn about the issue and created the Citizen Network of Solidarity with Migrants "to try to fight for respect and dignified treatment of the people who arrived," a battle that continues to this day.
Lanzarote, a "disaster" in the treatment of migrants
Since the Canary Route began to reactivate in 2019, there has been an acceleration in arrivals that has experienced higher or lower peaks - for example, last September 2,000 fewer migrants landed on the islands than in the same period of 2021-. This trend, which in general has remained on the rise, has highlighted the "disaster" and the "lack of protocols" that exists in Lanzarote to address the situation.
"The last few years have been a real madness... Now it seems that the situation has stabilized a bit with the CATE of Arrecife (Temporary Care Center for Foreigners), but I don't think this is a suitable place to install people," says Baddouh.
The young activist points out that he does not understand this arbitrariness when it comes to treating migrants, since "the state administration has had three decades, since that first boat, to establish effective and real resources, and has not wanted to do so."
"When a boat arrives, nothing is known. They go to the CATE, but then it is unknown if they are going to divert them to Tenerife, Gran Canaria... There are no protocols that respect human rights at any point in the migratory chain," he adds.
However, what worries the volunteer the most is the "normalization" that has become widespread regarding these trips, which he describes as "inhuman", and about the number of deaths: according to figures published by the International Organization for Migration of the UN, since 2021, 1,532 people have lost their lives on the Canary Route.
"After all, the Canary Islands has a cemetery full of all the people who literally give their lives to exercise their right to migrate around it," says Baddouh.
An "odyssey" that continues during the stay in Spain
And this is precisely the first fact that "is violated with respect to migrants": "Article 13 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights establishes the right to migrate, but the reality is that these people are being forced to come in dangerous boats for them," details Baddouh. In the same way, he points out that, at the state level, "we do not offer other alternatives nor do we intend to create safe and legal channels."
Beyond this, the odyssey, in the activist's opinion, continues when migrants reach land and are restricted by an immigration law "that forces them to wait three years in an irregular situation and without any rights, to obtain the supposed social roots that allow them to obtain a residence permit."
However, the young man criticizes that this method lacks logic, because "they are forcing them to have to work illegally in order to live and also so that they cannot contribute anything to our system."
Institutional racism, the basis of the problem
All this situation is what gives rise to social and political movements that misinform through instruments such as "the false idea of the call effect: it does not exist, because there is no way to stop world migratory flows, they have always existed no matter how much border we want to put up," argues the volunteer.
In that sense, he also expresses that we must discard the belief that all black or Arab people come to Europe escaping from hunger: "Once I met a Moroccan boy who came by boat, not because he could not cover his basic needs there, but because he was a person with university studies and in his country he was never going to be able to practice. He came in search of his dignity, not food. And like him, there are many."
Baddouh attributes these situations to the deep racism that exists in Spain, which, in his opinion, is largely perpetrated by institutions.
"I don't want to minimize the racism that exists in the street, but it is difficult for me to ask someone not to be racist when they are immersed in a system with administrations and laws that are racist," he details, giving his own case as an example: he could not obtain nationality as soon as he was born, despite having done so in Lanzarote.
This is explained in that this condition is obtained by "right of blood", so that "if a person is born in any country in the world but has a Spanish parent, even if they have never set foot in Spain, they do obtain nationality. But since my parents are from Morocco, even if I was born here, they would not give it to me."
Canarias Youth Award 2022
Baddouh's career and involvement with associative, educational, social and neighborhood movements in Argana Alta have led him to obtain the Canarias Youth Award 2022, awarded by the Ministry of Social Rights, Equality, Diversity and Youth of the Government of the Canary Islands.
This recognition makes the young man reflect on his years dedicated to caring for others: "I have seen the worst side of the tragedy through migration and, in addition, I have felt very alone in terms of social support. The activists who fight for migratory rights are tremendously criminalized... It is like wanting to tear down a concrete wall based on friction."
Despite this, he tips the balance towards the good side, remembering all the people he has met in these years, thanks to whom he has been enriched; and he also recalls with a smile the moments in which he focused on neighborhood activism "when we claimed things and we achieved them."
"The deaths on the Canary Route are not deaths, they are murders"
However, with immigration it is much more difficult to obtain that satisfaction, because "as much as it hurts me, I have come to understand that it is an issue that I am not going to be able to resolve."
Although he acknowledges having had "many existential crises" and having spent "too much energy trying to raise awareness among people", he now focuses on small actions: "If from my place and where I am I can help, at least, one or two people to continue their migratory project and to support their rights, I am happy."
Looking to the future, Baddouh does not hesitate about how he would like the migration situation to conclude, both in Lanzarote and throughout Spain and Europe.
"I would like to see that there is social justice, that human rights are respected and stop being treated as wet paper. And, above all, that this murderous policy has been ended: because the deaths that have resulted from the Canary Route in all these years are not deaths, they are murders."
