Vox promotes the young Calvet and the Islamophobic Tomás, who wants "moors out"

BarcelonaShe is not a spokesperson nor does she hold any position in the parliamentary group, but in mid-February it was she who intervened in the control session of the president, the last one by Albert Dalmau as Salvador Illa's substitute, who was then on sick leave. This is Vox deputy Júlia Calvet Puig, born in 2001. She is one of the people promoting the far-right party, and sources from the party consulted by ARA call her "the bet for the future" in Catalonia.

Calvet's is one of the trending names in Vox in Catalonia, at a time when the party aspires to have a broader spectrum. Sources consulted by ARA summarize this by explaining that they aspire to a "more choral" leadership, that is, more polyphonic, in a party where plurality precisely shines by its absence. Calvet's profile serves the far-right to connect with young people —she was also president of S'ha Acabat— and, alongside her, the spokesperson in Parliament and leader of Vox Barcelona, Joan Garriga; and the leader of the party in the Terrassa City Council, Alicia Tomás, are also gaining weight. A change in tone that confirms that, beyond Ignacio Garriga and Santiago Abascal, the party also wants to project female voices.

Calvet was already appointed spokesperson for youth for Vox in February of last year and in December she was incorporated as a member of the leadership, surprising the national leadership, replacing Javier Ortega Smith. She excels in youth affairs, and is a voice against feminism mixed with rejection of Islam, and in defense of the use of Spanish —or bilingualism in Catalan–. In Joan Garriga's case, his provincial leadership work, his weight in inland Catalonia, as well as the debate on Catalan identity, are noteworthy.

Tomás's campaign

Tomás has the most Islamophobic profile in Vox, which he exhibits without shame, last Thursday for example in a demonstration against Islam in Tarragona. Vox sources emphasize that his discourse "goes beyond what the party defends", but that they give him "room" because what he says suits them. Tomás's temperament is applauded among people in the orbit of Aliança Catalana, and this is one of the voting niches that the Spanish far-right wants to reach. Tomás directly utters the slogan "Moors out".

In conversation with ARA, he maintains that "one must be very forceful because Islamism does not stop advancing and it is a politico-religious ideology incompatible with the West, our way of life; a real threat". And he insists on a discourse that lumps all Muslims together, although he adds that women "must be liberated" because they suffer "violence" and are "victims of the morality police" in neighborhoods like Ca n'Anglada: "Saying Moors out is not hatred, I am coherent, it has to do with the advance of an ideology that has nothing to do with us [...] To the Moors who come here to impose a way of life and a religion and culture that attacks human rights and our civilization, all out". He then adds that "those who come to comply with the law, respecting identity and traditions and with the will to integrate, can pray to the god they want in their home".

He paints the horizon of a Catalonia "without freedom" because of Islam and assures that as a mother of three children who go to public school, she sees the "difficulties" they have in learning or the "drop" in educational level due to the high percentage of foreigners. Before entering politics, this hairdresser –who still practices– was linked to Spanish nationalist associations such as Terrassa per la Unitat, Somatemps or Espanya i Catalans, and had already accompanied Ignacio Garriga on a visit to the city.

But his visceral position has led to complaints from the Terrassa City Council or SOS Racisme –and makes Vox lawyer Juan Cremades rack his brains. The criticism against the mayor of Terrassa, Jordi Ballart (he wore a t-shirt asking the mayor "why he silenced the rapes in Terrassa"), has resulted in a fine of 1,200 euros.