Nadia Nemeh Shomaly, Mayor of Bermeo (Bizkaia), after taking office on June 28. CITY GOVERNMENT OF BERMEO (CITY GOVERNMENT OF BERMEO)
Nadia Nemeh Shomaly has been mayor of Bermeo (Bizkaia) since last Wednesday and in just 24 hours the Basque-language Wikipedia had already published her biography. He was born in Bermeo 43 years ago and is of Palestinian descent. She studied law and economics at the University of Deusto and works as a financial advisor in the BBVA branch in the aforementioned fishing village. She has represented EH Bildu for four years and feels that she is equal parts Basque and Palestinian: “I’m both, 50%.” I’m a Basque by birth and I love Euskal Herria. I am 100% Palestinian and will always carry that with me,” he said in a recent report on refugees. Nadia Nemeh has just happened to take command of the Bermeo City Council. Independence Party list leader Asier Larrauri resigned the day after his election as mayor after suffering a car crash at dawn and a positive breathalyzer test.
The sudden resignation of Larrauri has enabled Nadia Nemeh to rise to the post of mayor, a woman who is “a warrior with her own thinking and philosophy” as she describes herself on social networks and who likes to “raise her voice to help to enforce that.” Rights that were not respected. A lover of sports, travel and reading, she has been involved in various NGOs and left-wing movements since the age of 15. In 2019, EH Bildu suggested that he should appear on his list for that year’s local elections (he was fourth). During this past term he served on the Citizens Commission and the Fiestas Commission. In the last municipal elections, Nemeh jumped to second place. She is mayor thanks to the support EH Bildu (five councilors) received from Guzan Civic Platform (four councilors) to unseat the PNV, the first force with eight MPs.
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Nadia (meaning “hope” in Slavic languages) is the eldest of three sisters born in Bermeo. His father came to Pamplona to study medicine, specializing in psychiatry. He obtained a position as an intern at the Bermeo Psychiatric Hospital, where he developed his professional career as a doctor. “My father wanted to marry a Palestinian and decided to return to his country, where he married my mother,” says the mayor. His parents, both Catholics, decided in 1978 to settle in Bermeo. He was 33 and his mother — who spoke Arabic, English and French — was 16 years his junior: “There were no immigrants here at the time, so they drew in a lot of attention,” though Nadia says she was well received “They loved us very much. [en Bermeo] and they helped us a lot. My father was well known, he was a doctor and that gave him a further reputation,” he recalls.
The Palestinian cause was always present in Nadia’s life. “As a person of Palestinian origin, my life will always be linked to politics; otherwise it would not be a Palestinian,” he assured this newspaper in writing. When she was one year old, her mother took her to Amman (the capital of Jordan) to finish her studies. He lived there for a year, although the family has since made several summer trips to Palestine. “My identity is Basque-Palestinian or Palestinian-Basque, in whatever order you want, because I’m both,” he says. His last names and physical features give him away. He speaks perfect Basque, specifically the Bermaic variant of the Biscay dialect.
Nadia claims “the liberation of Palestine and the end of the genocide of the State of Israel”. She has participated as a volunteer in several NGO missions in the area where her ancestors come from, as well as at the Food Bank and the Ongi Etorri Errefuxiatuak association, among others. “I have given many lectures on the situation of women in the world and of course on Palestine,” she comments. In 2003 she acted as a “human shield” and translator for NGOs in a humanitarian operation in the Gaza areas and throughout the West Bank “to see the struggle from the inside”. “I exposed myself very much and was detained at the checkpoint in Nablus,” she explains. It was 40 degrees and there was a very long line with many people waiting: “I told the military that it was very hot and they should let them through.” They answered me: “These dogs? No water or anything.” I threatened them that I would hydrate these people with the water we brought in the ambulance. As punishment, they held me for about three hours, with my eyes covered and some reins on my legs.”
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She is the mother of two minor children and divorced – “that was a scandal for my paternal family,” she admits. She comes from a Christian family but describes herself as an atheist and recalls that as a child she “discussed with the teacher whether Jesus was a Palestinian or a Jew”. In addition to defending the Palestinian cause, Nadia completed her law and economics degrees and has worked as a financial advisor at BBVA’s Bermeo branch since 2006. He will now leave that job because, as he says, “the commitment to the office of the Bermeo mayor requires exclusivity.” He has also renounced the power of general meetings [Parlamento provincial] of Bizkaia managed to devote full-time to municipal tasks in the last regional elections 28-M.
Nadia reads “about 150 books a year,” mostly historical novels. “The love of reading is learned but not taught. Just as nobody can force us to fall in love, nobody can force us to love a book. “Somewhere in the library there is a page that was written for us,” he wrote on his Facebook profile. He does a lot of sport, especially running, and has competed in a half marathon (21 kilometers) and the Behobia-San Sebastián race in 2016 (which he completed in just over two hours). And she likes to travel “to see the world”.
Last Tuesday, during the inauguration as mayor of Bermeo, she particularly remembered her predecessor, the fugitive Larrauri, and denounced having received “sexist and xenophobic attacks” because of her Palestinian origins, which she doesn’t want to give her all details known. . But he issued this warning: I will say loud and clear that we are on the right track in this city when the fascists have gotten angry.