The controversies around the figure of the town crier at the Mercè festivities already seem to be one more tradition every summer. On this occasion, the election of the Catalan writer of Moroccan origin, Najat El Hachmi, by the Barcelona City Council, now headed by the recently elected mayor Jaume Collboni, has not been an exception. The criticisms continue almost a week after the announcement and this time they are turning out to be especially bitter, to the point that some LGTBI and anti-racist groups have explicitly asked to veto the writer's participation.
The reasons for this forceful reaction can be found in the literary production of this more than renowned Catalan author, winner without going any further of awards such as the Ramon Llull (2008) or the Nadal (2021). Born in Nador (Morocco) 44 years ago but Catalan by adoption since she was 8, Najat El Hachmi has written numerous novels and articles throughout her career in which she has always hovered over a main theme: a highly critical view of Islamism. radicalism, oppression and discrimination of women in religion. El Hachmi, for example, has always refused to wear a veil, as she considers it "a walking pressure." Along these lines, the writer is committed to ending the imposition of the veil on Muslim women as a "patriarchal and macho" symbol.
In 2021, Najat El Hachmi criticized Ada Colau, Mónica García, Mónica Oltra and Yolanda Díaz for "incorporating the symbol of our oppression into their ranks" after an event organized in Valencia attended by the spokesperson for the Movement for Dignity and Citizenship in Ceuta, Fátima Hamed Hossain, dressed in the Islamic headscarf. These positions against a conservative vision of Islam have been criticized by some groups as they are considered "Islamophobic".
But most of the criticism these days has had his position on the Trans Law as its central theme. In some of his articles, El Hachmi has expressed his doubts about the new law that, at the time, became one of the hallmarks of the Spanish coalition government. In an article published in El País in 2021, the Catalan writer wrote that she found "terrifying the possibility that a 14-year-old boy or girl is completely abandoned to her fate in everything related to her sexual identity ". In this sense, she Najat explained that she did not understand that "there is so much insistence on disavowing medical opinions when there are conflicts with the body, whatever they may be." At the same time, she wondered "what logic obeys that more procedures are required to be born or die than to change sex."
Just a few months ago, El Hachmi again charged against this law in another article in the Ara, where he criticized the "tension and polarization that the law was causing" and revealed himself against the "self-censorship" that the accusations of "intolerance" were causing. and phobia". In this sense, the Catalan writer launched a series of questions in which she questioned many of the principles of the Trans Law.
Najat El Hachmi has also received much criticism for his alleged "racism" in some of his positions for his criticism of radical and conservative Islamism. The writer acknowledged in 2019 that the Islamophobic accusations that were leveled at her were "quite surprising", since she claimed that she had suffered racism in her own skin. Two years earlier, after the attacks on August 17, 2017, the writer assured that she was "shocked" after seeing that the public reaction was to "warn against Islamophobia rather than talk about the victims."
The Catalan writer has also spoken a lot about current feminism, whose positions have not gone unnoticed by her critics either. In this matter, El Hachmi criticized feminism for trying to "incorporate the discourses and diversity of all women" and advocated separating religion from the feminist cause. "Did we look to the Bible to establish the current rights of women?" she wondered. Along these lines, the Catalan writer gave as an example the fact that there were people who explained to her the oppressions that "she had experienced" because "they had done a master's degree in gender studies at a foreign university" and comments that she invited them to visit the town where he grew up.
The Observatory Against Homophobia (OCH), ACATHI, Unit Against Fascism and Racism (UCFR) and the Trans-State Platform have signed a manifesto expressing their "concern and rejection" over the election of Najat el Hamchi as the herald of the festivities de la Mercé. They explain that it is "inadmissible" for a public person who "has hate speech focused against the rights and freedoms of trans women", in addition to "openly Islamophobic statements" to open the city's festivals.
In this statement, the signatory entities consider that in these parties "there can be no place for messages and speeches that violate human rights" and criticize that Najat el Hamchi "has exercised discriminatory, Islamophobic and transphobic positions and has gone against the sex education in our classrooms.
To end the manifesto, the entities conclude that they are "forced to demand that the municipal authorities reconsider the election and look for another public figure with a feminist political perspective." Lastly, they call on the public to "join the rejection and guarantee that La Mercè is a friendly festival free of machismo, xenophobia, transphobia, Islamophobia or any other form of discrimination."
After the statement and the wave of criticism that Najat el Hamchi has received on social networks, there have been some important voices that have wanted to come out in defense of the writer. Writers like Quim Monzó, Blanca Llum Vidal or Joan-Lluís Lluís or journalists like Enric Calpena or Daniel Arjona have railed against the attempt to "censor" the writer and have defended freedom of expression.
There are also those who join the statement and criticize the choice of Najat El Hachmi as the announcer of the next Mercè. This is the case of the ERC LGTBI policy coordinator, who issued a statement showing "concern" over the election of a person who "has been publicly and openly against trans people." At the same time, they explain that "the profoundly transphobic drift of the PSC-PSOE is once again confirmed, giving space to hate and trans-exclusionary speech."
For her part, the leader of the Commons and former mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, has defended the election of Najat El Hachmi as the herald of Mercy, despite "disagreeing" with some of her opinions. So, despite these differences, Colau has stressed that "it will not promote the culture of cancellation".
