What happened a few days ago in Fnideq had the effect of a bomb. We are talking about it here because there are images that hurt. Images have this power that words will never have: they tell you everything, even more, in a fraction of a second. They do not need to be translated, or even commented on.
Let us dwell on two snapshots, each of which is a shock in its own right. The image of these hundreds (3,000, according to the government spokesman) of candidates for the “hrig” storming the barbed wire that separates Fnideq from Sebta. And the image of the half-naked young people, their arms behind their heads, bearing traces of blows on their backs, piled up on the ground, near a courier of the auxiliary forces.
The prosecution has opened an investigation to determine whether manipulated images could have slipped into the batch and to know the circumstances in which they were taken and when. Because other images exist and some are unbearable. The results of the investigation must not be long in coming, because they are eagerly awaited. Everyone wants to know, needs to know.
The emotion born in Morocco and elsewhere is an important parameter. It is emotion that shapes public opinion. And it is public opinion that dictates government policies.
Fnideq brings back two terrible images. Despair and hogra. Here we must salute the initiative of the CNDH (National Council for Human Rights) which launched an appeal for witnesses intended for people who were victims of violations. The investigation by the public prosecutor must also cover this aspect. In Fnideq, the young people and the police did not exchange bouquets of flowers.
“These young people live in a bubble, a world apart, apart. As strange as it may seem, they are an unknown.”
According to figures from the Ministry of the Interior, and in the first eight months of the year alone, Morocco prevented 45,000 people from emigrating illegally to Europe. We are facing a social problem. A phenomenon.
These young people live in a bubble, a world apart, apart. As strange as it may seem, they are an unknown. The figures that can be read on the rates of unemployment, illiteracy or “daily emptiness” give indications, but they do not tell the whole story.
Some of these young people are repeat offenders. They have tried everything and will try everything again. Ceuta, Melilla, the Canary Islands… They have not finished facing the barbed wire, the pateras of the Mediterranean or the Atlantic. We even saw a young “tiktokeuse” film her crossing (swimming!) to Ceuta.
The despair and hogra that the images of last weekend reflect back to us, and that flow through the veins of this youth, are counterbalanced by a fascination for the world opposite, that is to say Europe. And this world is so close, visible even to the naked eye.
Europe begins in Morocco, since only a barbed wire separates them. This proximity alone exerts an almost unstoppable attraction. It is also the only problem that will never have a solution.
As for the rest…
Note that when Moroccan officials talk about the fight against illegal immigration, they simply list the dismantling of smuggling networks or the attempted assaults broken or foiled by the various police services. That is the problem. The fight against illegal immigration does not begin in front of the barbed wire of Ceuta but elsewhere, in the aisles of parliament and government offices. It is first and foremost the job of public policies, which have the means and the duty to develop what could be called a “youth integration plan.”
No boundary is insurmountable when one is armed with despair.
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