New Europe spoke throughout the electoral marketing campaign for the executive election with Salim El Maoued, candidate mayor of Padova with an impartial civic listing. El Maoued, who speaks Arabic, Italian and English, was born in Palestine and studied medication in Padova, he then obtained a job as “household physician” within the northern metropolis. The title of his listing is “ Padova di Tutti “ which consists by commerce unionists, ladies and members of associations and overseas communities. Among the many political proposals in his program El Maoued needs to create a “ survival revenue “ for folks incomes much less that 1000 Euros monthly, this measure may assist amongst others: households in want and enterprise homeowners hit by the disaster.
New Europe:What was the start line of your political profession and the way you determined to place in place an inventory and run for mayor right here in Padova?
Salim El Maoued:My political engagement begins a few years in the past with my assist for the Palestinian trigger then 5 years in the past after seeing what was occurring at native, nationwide and in addition worldwide degree concerning folks in want and largely immigrants I based an affiliation referred to as “Stella Polare”. This initiative was placing collectively experiences by:folks coming from many various nations: Africa, the center east and Asia, but additionally Italian born sons of immigrants that skilled a troublesome life right here in Italy. From right here I noticed the necessity to reply to totally different wants and attempt to clear up issues that had been rising daily, this group was based not solely by me however by many different folks. Throughout this era we mentioned about many points and never solely subjects associated to immigration, we handled issues and subjects peculiar to the town of Padova then we determined to create a civic, fully impartial listing with a purpose to implement the plans that we began to debate 5 years in the past.
NE:We see that in your listing of candidates there are additionally Italians, why?
SELM:I didn’t wish to cut back all this political mission solely to immigrants, I feel that insert additionally Italians was essential as a result of in my imaginative and prescient for the long run, a significant politics have to be inclusive, all collectively we’ve got to work with a purpose to create one thing vital. This by no means occurred earlier than, Padova will not be a “straightforward” metropolis to handle then even when we’ve got one of many oldest college in there world there may be nonetheless a kind of diffidence for folks coming from outdoors, up to now it was concerning immigrants coming from the south of Italy. I hope that that at some point Padova may settle for this inclusive tasks, could also be now the time will not be prepared, possibly sooner or later . For certain this can be a metropolis with a whole lot of sons of immigrants who can also be mutating, it has totally different cultures and it isn’t a static metropolis and in addition the political future might be multi-ethnic.
NE: Did you meet in Italy with different “non-italian” politicians throughout this era?
SELM:In these years I used to be in touch with a lot of politicians from totally different origin: Africans, Syrians, Moroccans, Egyptian, they had been in Rome, Treviso, Vicenza, Bergamo, Milano and Sicily. The difficulty is that I by no means noticed elsewhere a so related and impartial political mission and that is our actual power right here.
NE: Are you from the left or from the fitting?
SELM:We’re a brand new political mission, this has the potential to be an actual structured political celebration however we must always work with a much bigger group, from the political standpoint we are going to by no means be from center-right of center-left as a result of the “classical” celebration nonetheless didn’t perceive this alteration that it is happening now in entrance of us. This political mission is totally different as a result of we’ve got totally different wants and we handle the issues of our metropolis another way. We’re preventing for younger residents with out a political illustration and I hope to seek out residents in different cities and hopefully we may work collectively. What we miss not is a construction in a position to put collectively everyone, we might be the third political celebration on this nation. Then again from the immigrants and second technology Italian born residents to speak about left and proper doesn’t make sense, they don’t have our political references as a result of they’re coming from different political contexts.
NE:Speaking now about numbers, what number of immigrant we’ve got right here with vote energy? And what number of within the subsequent years?
SELM:In Padova now there are 18.000 residents then sooner or later they could possibly be thrice extra. The energetic electoral pressure of the immigrants within the subsequent years goes to be very robust, they’re younger they usually have a robust motivation to work laborious to create a greater society.
NE:You travelled so much throughout these years, what’s based on you crucial component to create integration? How is it doable combine immigrants communities that right here in Padova are divided?
SELM:There may be not integration with out data not solely from the linguistic standpoint, when immigrants will get the citizenship they don’t do a cultural path. We’ve to re-establish sure values, they need to be extra hooked up to the values of the internet hosting nation. It isn’t straightforward right here in Padova, it’s important to know the totally different tradition of every nation however there are factors of convergence. I see clearly the need to do one thing optimistic for Padova, what’s missing is a real construction that hold all these totally different energies collectively. For me it’s simpler to work with them than to collaborate with teams or realities from Padova.
NE:If you’re going to have seats within the metropolis council that are probably the most attention-grabbing political areas for you?
SELM:At Padova degree for certain the suburbs, the true downside is there particularly from the financial and social standpoint, we’ve got to work extra on integration. Within the suburbs we will actually change the town and do one thing vital. We skilled that immigrants households within the suburbs are asking for extra safety however we’d like concrete options. There are a whole lot of points however politics in Padova may be very removed from the true issues of households with out an sufficient well being help for instance. Immigrants want extra cultural and linguistic mediators for instance within the hospitals, we’d like professionals in a position to converse totally different languages with a purpose to assist others, the issue is that the funds had been minimize to assist an environment friendly help technique additionally with trainings to assist immigrants. Even when Padova is ruled by a centre-left coalition, I feel there’s a lack of curiosity in Padova on these vital points, I’ve by no means seen a mayor right here who was engaged in a severe dialogue with the overseas communities, this additionally means going to the totally different celebrations and ceremonies. I additionally hope that there would be the chance to develop some tasks financed by the European Union, it might be good to create a cultural centre designed for the second technology of Italians open to all, we’d like multicultural locations the place folks can meet.
