Grace Stanley

Sub- Saharan Africans in Morocco: An Ethnographers Experience

UCLA International Development Studies Honors Thesis 2020

Introduction:

We live in a world where the movement of goods, services, ideas, and people has historically been the norm via interconnecting markets, cultures, and even politics in increasingly globalized landscapes. Within this world, many people take for granted the gift of safe and legal movement. For most people, however, the motivation and ability to move is captured by the many push and pull factors of the contemporary “migration crisis”. For those caught up in the migration crisis, the ability to move, and their vulnerability when moving, is shaped by how and whether they fit under various statuses as recognized by international law. These labels placed on individuals include but are not limited to, refugees, asylum seekers, internally displaced persons, and economic migrants. These labels have the potential to dictate individual’s rights. While in some cases these labels can come to mean little as we will see. For the purposes of this research, I will be using the phrase “migrants” frequently, building on the definition provided by Pickerill, “A ‘migrant’ is any individual who has altered his place of residence, in this case by crossing an international border, for an indeterminate period of time” (Pickerill, 397). The use of this blanketing term is not meant to undermine the varying levels of difficulty and persecution that force individuals to leave their homelands, but rather is used to concisely express the similarity of their experiences in their persecution as sub-Saharan migrants in the Euro-African migration system.

Many of these individuals find themselves in North Africa as a kind of funneling effect. They move from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East in hopes of finishing their journey and residing in Europe or North America. Instead of making it to their final desired location, they find themselves in a state of limbo in North Africa. I will be focusing my research on individuals from sub-Saharan Africa in this situation who find themselves in Morocco. I will be focusing this research on these individuals due to the fact that there is an abundance of information concerning all three portions of their Euro-African migration system which made researching this subject accessible. Additionally, I focused on these individuals and their journeys due to the way that their livelihoods and movement are specially controlled by powerful forces namely, the EU. Though the main reason I am focusing on these individuals is because of the unfair treatment they face in Morocco due to their migration status and race.​ ​Once the global movement and forces imposed on these individuals is understood, it is vital to look at how they survive on a human level in their new home of necessity, Morocco.

A vital theme that runs through this research is the economic status, opportunity, and persecution of these individuals throughout all realms of their journey while simultaneously exploring the social context of how these various actors understand the unfolding story they find themselves in. By looking at the economic opportunities migrants have access to and how they acclimate to and are accepted or rejected by Moroccan society, we can better understand how they are received by the world at large. It is important to first examine the relationship between governments, economic entities, and international organizations in sub-Saharan Africa, Morocco, and Europe. These relationships are the forces that create the sociological reality these migrants find themselves in. Once these relationships are understood it is of great worth to scale down and gain a humanistic understanding of how the cards are stacked against transitory sub-Saharan migrants on all sides of the Euro-African journey. It is worth noting that the economic, political, and social factors are intrinsically tied for these individuals and that global forces affect the human-level reality of immobility these migrants experience. Within this context, we come to find how international forces, in this case, the EU, create local realities and perpetuate global racism. Within this context, migrants become part of the wider global community of migrants stuck in a taboo informal situation.

I went into this ethnographic experience most fascinated by the economic opportunities these migrants have access to and the economic endeavors they pursue as they are forced to call Morocco home for extended periods of time. I traveled to Morocco with the intention of gaining quantitative and qualitative data on how these individuals survive economically and how the social, cultural, and racial affect their economic opportunities and movement as migrants. As I moved through this experience I found it impossible to gain this data, as a lack of formality hindered my research and subsequently shifted my research interest. ​This research shift highlights my experience with the bureaucratic roadblocks as an ethnographer attempting to collect data on the economic endeavors and survival tactics of migrants in Morocco. These barriers and informalities I experienced mirror the lived experiences of these sub-Saharan migrants.​ This comparison is not meant to belittle these migrants' experiences but rather to gain some personal understanding of their experience via my own. I make the explicit claim the limbo and waithood I endured can be used as a window into the lives of these migrants which is defined by forced immobility and informality.

While still looking at the economic opportunity of these individuals, I became fascinated by the international forces, external governments, and policies that build the groundwork for these individuals' movement and reality. While this is an economic and political situation taking place between individuals in Morocco, it is part of an overarching umbrella that is affected by global sociological forces. These individuals find themselves at a rare point in history that is defined by mass migration, polarization, and nationalism where the movement of migrants can be controlled by powerful international actors, in this case, the EU. By scaling down this analysis we can see how such migratory movement is controlled by the EU in this case when the EU funnels money into Morocco and Morocco, in turn, provides these migrants with residency in Morocco and forced immobility is imposed on these individuals as they can no longer move to Europe. This hospitality from Morocco is surface-level and reflects ill intentions of the EU where they desire to extend their borders to North Africa. With these citizenship granting efforts there is no work done by the Moroccan government to shift the society that these migrants now find themselves. This inaction results in little economic opportunity for migrants and vast bureaucratic barriers, as well as structural racism against these individuals. In short, I intend to look at how this global situation affects individuals on the ground in an extremely sociological way.

By taking a holistic and humanistic look at this situation, a sociological understanding can be gained on the way forced immobility is imposed by powerful actors that dictate migrant’s movement and quality of life. This study examines the ways in which interpretations of sub-Saharan migrants based on race and migration status affect their movement, opportunity, and access to basic human rights. By looking at how Sub-Saharan migrants are accepted or rejected by Moroccan society we can better understand how they are received by the world at large. ​This thesis will take a personal and humanistic approach that has been lacking in previous research by comparing my ethnographic experience of attempting to research this phenomenon and the bureaucratic barriers I faced and compare it to the lives of these migrants which are defined by this same informality, forced immobility, lack of economic opportunity, and limbo due to purposeful actions by powerful global forces. Then, this research will use migrant’s economic opportunity while in Morocco as an example and case study of the lack of opportunity, informality, and limbo these individuals are forced to experience while in Morocco mainly due to their race and migration status. Lastly, this research will then examine interviews I performed with college-aged Moroccans and one college-aged sub-Saharan migrant in order to hear narratives and gain a more nuanced understanding of how various players feel about their role in this Euro-African migration system. ​Preliminary findings suggest that cultural, political, and economic realms inform each other and create the sociological reality these individuals find themselves in which is expressed through forced immobility and lack of agency.

Literature Review
Migration: Historical Context

According to The Migration Data Portal, Morocco currently houses 98,600 migrants (​https://migrationdataportal.org/?i=stock_abs_&t=2019&cm49=504​). UNHCR claims that 5,940 of these migrants are refugees and 1,835 are asylum seekers (UNHCR). These refugees originate primarily from Syria (60%), sub-Saharan Africa including Central African Republic, Cote d’Ivoire, and the Democratic Republic of Congo (25%), and from other Middle-Eastern countries including Iraq, Palestine, and Yemen (15%) (UNHCR). Migration flows from sub-Saharan Africa to Morocco are due to a variety of forces including political unrest, ethnic violence, civil war, the deportation of migrants, and economic downturns (Kostas). Transit migration increased considerably during the second half of the 1990s in the aftermath of political crises in countries like the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Great Lakes region, Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and the Ivory Coast (Kreienbrink, 202). While it is vital to look at the history and progression of migration from sub-Saharan Africa to Morocco as a whole, within this research it is more important to consider the current state of the migration crisis. International migration has peaked during modern times and will continue to be an aspect of our interconnected world. The forces that will continue to fuel this international migration include but are not limited to: climate change, environmental degradation, political unrest, urban to rural migration, and vast inequality within urban cities of the global south.

Migration Terminology

Migrants currently exist with different migrant status in Morocco. For the purposes of this research, I intend to simply use the term “migrant”. By using the term “migrant” I hope to make the argument that these individuals migrate due to hardship in their home country generally. Within international migration law, there are established definitions of various status including, “refugee”, “asylum seeker”, or “migrant” and various protections these individuals necessitate. Within the context of Morocco, there are misconceptions on these terms and their definitions which results in these individuals being largely treated the same regardless of their migration status in Morocco and the international community at large. This situation is due to structural racism within human to human interactions and institutional structures such as the way Moroccan police treat these individuals. In short, I will only be using the term “migrant” not to belittle these individuals' various lived experiences but rather to highlight the ways in which these migrants face similar hardships in Morocco based on the blanketing status of “migrant”. We can look to Dorinda Brinke’s explanation of the implication of these definitions, “I would argue that categories of migrants and refugees are interchangeable. A refugee can become an economic migrant and a regular migrant can become an irregular or illegal migrant through for example overstaying when his or her visa has expired” (Brinke, IV-V). We can see the negative repercussions of the misinterpretations of these terms in Morocco via this quote, “the perception in Morocco that all refugees are irregular migrants and the ignorance about the background and protection need of refugees makes it hard for refugees to integrate into the Moroccan society. Media often fail to distinguish between migrants and refugees” (Brink, IV). Thus, these terms are interchangeable and their various definitions hold little weight. Moroccan citizens, and at times officials, find it difficult to differentiate between refugees and migrants but have a blanketing negative attitude towards both. A young refugee from Iraq explains this situation, “Mohammed feels a negative attitude when telling someone he is a refugee. In an interview, he told me ‘I lie to my small sister about our situation because I don’t want her to know the negative thing.’ Many Moroccans do not know the true meaning of a refugee” (Brinke, 2). I will be using the term “migrant” exclusively due to the similar experiences of extremely different individuals from all over sub-Saharan Africa despite their varied experiences, simply due to their reception as unwelcome visitors. Additionally, this situation of misinterpretations of migrant status and the blanketing treatment of these individuals shows the racialization of these sub-Saharan migrants, which this research will break down in other forms and facets.

Morocco: Transition Place to Europe

Historically and today there are multiple routes individuals take through Algeria, Tunisia, and Libya which funnel migrants and refugees into Morocco because of its proximity to Europe. The rates of immigration in Morocco begs the question: what makes Morocco a desirable destination for these transitory individuals? Dorinda Brinke explains this phenomenon of sub-Saharan Africans having their journey to Europe cut short in Morocco, “The geographical position of Morocco on the border of North-Africa with Europe makes Morocco an attractive country for irregular migrants who wish to go to Europe” (Brinke, III). Morocco is perfectly positioned as a transit location for sub-Saharan African migrants, is seemingly hospitality towards migrants, and is economically stable compared to other North African countries. All of these things make it a desirable transit country for migrants hoping to make it to Europe.

In order to understand these sub-Saharan migrants' place within this Euro-African migration system, it is first vital to understand Morocco’s shifting status as a country of emigration to a place of transit and increasing destination migration.​ ​Historically, Morocco was predominantly a place of emigration, but in recent decades this trend is transforming. Brinke speaks to the growing pains Morocco is experiencing, which are similar to other North African countries in close proximity to Europe, “Morocco used to be a land of emigration in the second half of the 20th century when European countries like Spain and Italy and later on the Netherlands and France were in need of temporal workers. Due to a more restrictive European immigration policy since 1990, Morocco increasingly became a land of transit and immigration (de Haas, 2005 and Kreienbrink, 2005). However the European Union strongly inclines to protect the European hinterlands from unwanted ́ immigration or so-called f́ fortune seekers’ (van Houten & Pijpers, 2007, p. 292) and guards the coastlines and border areas through the European agency Frontex” (Brinke, 3). In short, in the past Moroccan citizens had predominately been emigrating from Morocco to Europe, now this is less of the case, and migrants from sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East instead are flocking to Morocco in hopes of transiting to Europe or gaining residency in Morocco for an extended period of time. Within this context, the EU has swooped in to extend its borders and ensure that these new migrants do not find their way to the shores of Europe.

Kostas speaks to this historical yet shifting situation, “the ‘push’ and ‘pull’ factors that propelled irregular migration in the past continue to be powerful forces driving many millions to undertake hazardous journeys today in search of personal safety and better lives. Morocco, which had long been a source country and more recently a transit country, has lately emerged as a destination country as well” (Kostas).​ ​As Morocco is positioned to become a receiving country it is vital that it takes on this responsibility humanely, “adjusting to these changing circumstances, and assuming the responsibilities that they entail, will require of Moroccan authorities a careful reassessment and further strengthening of national migration policies such that they both adhere to international human rights law and facilities immigrants acceptance by local society” (Kostas). As we will see in subsequent sections, the Moroccan government has been lacking in implementing the necessary changes when granting residency cards to tens of thousands of migrants. This lack of creating a hospitable environment for these new residents can be most starkly seen through the Moroccan government's failure to provide the legal framework necessary to integrate these individuals in the economic and socio-cultural sectors. An example of this is migrants lack of access to welfare services which is due to and perpetuates widespread structural racism. As stated, Morocco has recently adopted a new role in this Euro-African migration system in large part due to pressure from powerful actors, namely the EU. As we will see in subsequent sections, the EU​ ​encourages Morocco to adopt policies on migration that benefit Europe and reflect its lack of desire to receive migrants. In short, Morocco is growing to hold three roles in this Euro-African system, “that of a source, transit, and final destination country” (Kostas).

Morocco and Europe’s Policy Regarding Migrants

Morocco’s policy on migration has changed drastically in recent years facing the increase in immigration and pressure from European countries to strengthen their borders. As stated, this pressure is in an effort to keep sub-Saharan migrants out of the Mediterranean and more importantly, out of Europe. After approximately 50 years of independence, Morocco’s regulations regarding migration finally became “decolonized” in 2003 with the “Migration Act of 2003” (Kreienbrink, 210). With this Migration Act, Morocco gave itself a legal basis for the new challenges of emigration, transit migration, and immigration. Unfortunately, this act was neither clear nor effective. Throughout it, no mention is made of the social, economic, or political rights of foreigners which left much room for “discretionary decisions” by Moroccan officials (Kreienbrink, 210). To this day Morocco still lacks the adequate legal framework to manage and give adequate care to the migrants and refugees it finds within its borders. It can be argued that Morocco’s lack of migration policy is due to Morocco’s allegiance to the desires of the European Union. As we will see in the next section this allegiance has been created by the EU funneling funds to the Moroccan government and is similarly upheld due to the Moroccan government desiring favoritism from the EU in various political disputes.

In the past 10 years, migration of sub-Saharan Africans into North Africa has further progressed alongside Europe’s fear of these refugees and migrants invading their borders. Jacobs describes how this situation is handled by Morocco and the EU, “Countries throughout North Africa, especially Morocco, have continuously been labeled Europe’s “policeman” for supporting the EU’s “externalization of the migration problematic. Morocco often pushes back, at least rhetorically against this role, but at the same time, “it uses the migration question as a valuable bargaining chip in its relations with the EU, as well as in bilateral relations with countries like Spain” (Jacobs). As the population of immigrants and refugees increased in Morocco and there was no subsequent change in policy or laws to accommodate these visitors there were various reports of ill-treatment of these individuals. Jacobs speaks on these reports and King Mohammed IV’s response, “After more than a decade of civil society lobbying efforts, Morocco’s King Mohammed VI officially announced a plan to adopt a “humanitarian approach” to migration and asylum in late 2013... It can be argued that this “Humanitarian Approach” claimed by Mohammed IV was simply an act funded by the EU in hopes of externalizing its borders through Moroccan public policy” (Jacobs). In any case, this speech by King Mohammed VI in 2013 lead to two naturalization campaigns that “gave residency permits to a large majority of undocumented migrants and refugees from sub-Saharan Africa” (Jacobs). The first of these naturalization campaigns took place in 2014 where, “according to the World Bank, more than 25,000 individuals from 116 different countries received one-year residency permits (Jacobs). This population came mostly from Senegal (25%), Syria (20%), and Nigeria (9%). The second round of regularization was in 2017 and legalized approximately 28,000 individuals. In theory, these naturalization campaigns sound promising but the intentions and powerful forces behind them, namely the EU and the Moroccan monarchy, are less than welcoming.

To this day in large part, the Moroccan government and Moroccan individuals still desire for Moroccan citizens to have the ability to emigrate to Europe and access economic opportunity there. In this context it is interesting to see Morocco adopting similar migration policies to Europe in terms of the sub-Saharan Africans they find within their borders. Kreienbrink speaks about the ironic nature of these shifting relationships between Morocco, Europe, and sub-Saharan Africa, “until recently emigration of Moroccans had been described in a positive way and the government has considered its mission to criticize the restrictive aspects of other countries’ migration policy. Together with the new negative stance on migration and their own restrictive measures the government runs the risk of losing the legitimacy to criticize other countries” (214, Kreienbrink). Similarly, Morocco’s immigration policy is increasingly resembling Europe’s anti-immigration rhetoric, “Like in European states the media were speaking of the “breaking“ of “waves of clandestine immigrants from black Africa”, of “invasions” and the successes of the national security forces” (Keienbrink, 212). In this instance, we can see a small scale example, between Morocco and Europe, of a worldwide trend of presenting immigration as a security issue and assimilating necessary migration with crime and terrorism due to fear of “invasion” (Kreienbrink, 212). Similarly, we can relate this situation to the ways in which the social becomes the political in this instance where racism and fear of migration translates into policy and economic opportunity for these individuals. This situation can be depicted as three shifting tiers of power between the EU, Morocco, and sub-Saharan migrants. The EU is the top and most powerful tier and imbeds its social-political motives on the second tier which is Morocco, who takes on the EU’s motives via policy and soft power. The last tier is the sub-Saharan migrants who are at the will of the two tiers above them. These individuals' livelihoods and movements are at the will of the EU and the Moroccan government.

Geo-Political Connection with Sub-Saharan Africa

The Moroccan government is similarly politically and economically incentivized to accept these migrants in order to appease members of The African Union in an attempt to rejoin the AU and expand into African markets. These two opposing interests lead to Morocco adopting opposing policies as stated by Jacobs, “the openness Morocco looks to demonstrate to African countries, both in terms of markets and the movement of people, is often limited by EU pressure to secure the borders and keep migrants and refugees far from Europe’s shores” (Jacobs). Due to

the contradictory nature of these policies and the surface-level nature of their intentions to assist sub-Saharan migrants the reality of the integration of these individuals into Moroccan society is less than graceful. It can be seen that migrants that are in need of hospitality and assistance are simply being used as political pawns to further the agendas of powerful actors.

Treatment of Migrants In Morocco

The hypocrisy behind these naturalization campaigns and the subsequent mistreatment of migrants can be explained by the Moroccan governments desire to gain funding, receive support for political issues such as the Western-Sahara political unrest, be in the general good graces of the EU, and rebuild its political and economic ties with sub-Saharan Africa and The African Union. These border control campaigns pushed forward by the EU and implemented in places like Morocco can lead to more insidious behavior like the human rights abuses immigrants face in Morocco. These human rights abuses are experienced even after individuals are granted residency in Morocco through naturalization campaigns. Due to civil society groups shedding light on these abuses the EU has provided various initiatives in Morocco including humanitarian projects and a 140 million euro program to “support border management and a resumption of negotiations on readmission and visa facilitation with Morocco” (Jacobs). Alas, these aid and humanitarian packages are often overshadowed by the regional politics of securing the border in order to keep them out of the European Union. The contradictions and lack of honest intentions behind these policies are expressed via human rights abuses against sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco.

These abuses are witnessed in many realms, perhaps most strikingly against migrants that are storming the Mediterranean and the Spanish enclaves in Morocco, Ceuta, and Melilla. These migrants are pursuing these risky, and at times deadly, endeavors in hopes of gaining access to the EU’s treatment and policy regarding migrants and refugees. Goldschmidt speaks on two particular events in 2005 at these borders which are just a few of hundreds of events of this nature, “Of those attempting to enter Fortress Europe in Ceuta on the night of September 28, five were killed and over 100 wounded. Six more fell at the Melilla border on October 6, and the total death toll from the forays is estimated at 15. Some of the dead were reportedly killed by Moroccan and Spanish fire, others are said to have fallen or been thrown down from the barriers” (Goldschmidt, 36). The hope of crossing into Europe through these Spanish enclaves in Morocco has been dashed since 2000 when Spain built a large double barrier fence topped with barbed wire in order to deter migrants (Goldschmidt, 39).

Human rights abuses can also be seen more recently and perhaps more insidiously through the exportation of sub-Saharan migrants that have gained residency in Morocco via the two naturalization campaigns of recent years.​ ​Alami speaks about these odd round-ups in a 2018 article describing the frightening scene, “sub-Saharan migrants, even some with valid residency permits, described wholesale roundups in which they were herded onto buses with little more than the clothes they were wearing and taken to cities hundreds of miles to the south” (Alami). This is an extremely frightening reality for people that believed they had gained safe and legal residency, but are still being persecuted by government officials. The desperate situation of these migrants is illustrated dramatically by Goldschmidt when she states that these migrants find themselves in a country “surrounded by a sea of water and a by a sea of sand” (Goldschmidt, 39).

Structural Racism Translating Into Economic Opportunity

These various policies and actions by officials and the Moroccan government create Moroccan citizen’s negative view of sub-Saharan migrants, creating and perpetuating structural racism within Morocco. The Minister of Communications speaks to the racial issues sub-Saharan migrants face in Morocco,

“Khalfi says more legal changes are expected to battle racial discrimination. But even with documentation, life in Morocco for black Africans is incredibly hard. ‘They are faced with big big problems’ Hicham Arroud, a Moroccan who advocates for black African migrants. ‘The Moroccan society doesn't accept them, because we are not used to seeing black people living with us.’ Arroud says Morocco is a largely homogeneous society. Police are accused of mass arrests and abuse when it comes to black migrants. Landlords won't rent to them; employers won't hire them.” (Fadel)

This structural racism permeates throughout society and into the economic sphere, where migrants find a lack of economic opportunity and availability of jobs.​ ​It is crucial to examine how this structural racism translates into the economic opportunities sub-Saharan African migrants have access to while they are in a state of limbo in Morocco for increasing periods of time. It is vital that these individuals obtain a source of income as forced immobility is imposed on them and they must call Morocco home. Although some refugees do receive stipends from UNHCR, this income is not sufficient and even in these rare cases, it is necessary for these individuals to gain an additional source of income.

This situation of structural racism in Morocco reflects a global structure of racism that is perpetuated within Morocco. Interestingly I witnessed Moroccans who referred to sub-Saharan migrants as “black Africans” or simply “Africans” as if Morocco was a part of a different continent altogether. In subsequent sections I will be looking to interviews I conducted with young Moroccans to better understand their view of sub-Saharan migrants and their place within Moroccan society.

How Migrants Pursue This Environment

Goldschmidt speaks to the difficulty of accessing income in a country that already has economic issues of its own, “in unemployment ravaged Morocco, they survive as best they can. Some live on their savings; others are supported by family members already established in Europe who wire them money. Those with neither resources nor relatives abroad must smuggle, peddle, or appeal to Islamic charity by begging in front of the mosques or in the streets” (Goldschmidt, 39). Pickerill speaks on the economic endeavors these migrants pursue. She refers to these individuals as, “micro-entrepreneurs” who adopt, “small businesses in the underground economy” (Pickerill, 395). Pickerill looks specifically at entrepreneurial activities pursued by migrants in the informal economic sector such as shoe repair, sale of African products, cuisine, construction, hair styling, childcare, house cleaning, landscaping, prostituting, and begging. Pickerill also mentions how some migrants are able to “integrate into existing structures” and “find ‘regular’ jobs in non-governmental organizations” (Pickerill, 402). Pickerill notes that the transitional nature of these migrants lives and the uninviting nature of the Moroccan economy means that “this population does not preclude a lively desire to seize economic opportunities in Morocco” (Pickerill, 396). Pickerill also observes that it is difficult for individuals to rationalize long term investments and business building as they still hold the overarching goal of migrating to Europe while some desire to return to their home country. Alas, some individuals do take the Moroccan economy they find themselves in and pursue it with creativity. Pickerill speaks on these individuals, “one of the most remarkable characteristics of sub-Saharan entrepreneurship is their ability to create valued niches within the Moroccan community... they adapt to their new context to learn new skills” (Pickerill, 406).

While simultaneously migrants face great difficulty in succeeding in this economy due to hostility expressed by Moroccan citizens. A Congolese migrant illustrated this difficulty by stating, “‘From the moment he sees you, a Moroccan registers your difference as a negro, an African, and a destitute individual’. According to him, Moroccans insist that theirs is simply an unconscious racism” (Pickerill, 407). This creates a situation where Moroccans are unwilling to hire sub-Saharan migrants. Pickerill states that about 54.7% of Moroccans are willing to hire or work with a sub-Saharan migrant (Pickerill, 407). While it was my original intention to spend my time in Morocco conducting research on and gaining quantitative data on the types of work sub-Saharan migrants were taking part in, I found this data impossible to collect and instead shifted my research interest into the bureaucratic barriers that plagued my research and the lives of the migrants I wanted to get into contact with. In the evidence section I will speak more to the labor I saw migrants participating in and my lack of ability to gain data on this subject.

Benefits Of Integrating Migrants Into Economy and Society

These statistics and facts are discouraging but it is worth noting that positive growth in the livelihoods of these migrants will in turn improve the livelihoods of Moroccans as they pay rents and consume goods and services. Along this vein, Pickerill makes it explicitly clear that the perception of these migrants should shift,

“An increase in the revenues of sub-Saharan entrepreneurs does not only translate into an improvement for the migrants and refugees themselves, and for their families back home but for Moroccans as well. Though constrained to work informally, inconsistently, and often under inhumane conditions, sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco exhibit a remarkable capacity to adapt and generate revenue. It is both unhelpful and inaccurate to consider these individuals as helpless victims, reckless adventurers, or a dangerous, invasive horde that saps all local resources. Rather, sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco should be recognised as the rational, economic actors and creative entrepreneurs that they are” (Pickerill, 411).

These concepts of welcoming hospitality that results in the betterment of humanity pays tribute to the concept that migration has been a constant global phenomenon throughout history and will continue, thus should be embraced. It will be to humanities benefit to work to embrace and integrate migrants. By embracing the positives migration provides humanity we can reject notions of nationalism, racism, populism, xenophobia, and the polarization that often define modern European and North American politics.

Conclusion of Literature Review:

Through the present research on the subject, we can see how the cards are stacked against sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco in all three portions of their Euro-African journey. Firstly, they are in transit moving away from areas that they could no longer stay due to various circumstances including war, persecution, environmental change, or lack of economic opportunity. This research focuses on the second leg of their journey where they find themselves in a state of limbo, informality, and forced immobility in Morocco. While in Morocco these migrants face persecution in terms of human rights abuses committed by the Moroccan government, lack of economic opportunity in Morocco, and structural push back by the EU as the walls of Europe rise higher. While focusing on the bureaucratic barriers, informality, and economic opportunity these individuals have available to them in Morocco it is clear that they face a lack of opportunity on both sides of the Meditteranean due to structural racism and fear of immigration.

After examining the global structural restraints on these migrants it is vital to look at how these migrants are received in Morocco on a human level in regards to how their migration is perceived and how this has implications on their livelihoods. Although Morocco holds great responsibility in this scenario, it is important to note that Morocco is a developing country and struggles to support its own citizens economically but simultaneously has more economic opportunity compared to other developing African countries. In this regard, I will be quoting interviews conducted with young Moroccan college students on their perspective of economic opportunity within Morocco. Moving beyond the responsibility and capabilities of Morocco within this situation it is important to note that the EU should take greater responsibility in receiving these migrants. Looking to the future, migration will continue to be a global concern as rural to urban migration, political turmoil fueled migration, and environmental crisis migration continues. Thus it is vital that the approach to the modern migration crisis is re-evaluated. The international community should be held responsible for creating an international agreement on migrant flows so individual countries do not have the capability to use their own interests and funding to control migration within and between other countries.

Evidence, Methods, and Interviews Overview

Through the review of the literature we find it explicitly clear that the migration of these individuals and their livelihoods upon arrival in Morocco is defined by the international policies that are created regarding them, the economic opportunity they find in Morocco, and the society and culture they attempt to acclimate to. All of these aspects are simultaneously underpinned by structural racism against these individuals. These realities come together to create a reality of limbo, informality, and forced immobility. Through my evidence, methods, interviews, and observations I hope to make the explicit claim that the culture, political, and economic realms are intrinsically tied for these individuals. I will be breaking down these connections by looking at the way these individuals are received sociologically by the world at large based on their race and status as migrants.

My evidence will first be based on my experience in Morocco working at Fondation Orient-Occident, a foundation that attempts to assist sub-Saharan migrants. I hope to parallel the bureaucratic hurdles and informality I faced with the bureaucratic hurdles these migrants face in accessing assistance. I intend to use my experience of informality in Morocco as a tool to understand these individuals’ experiences in Morocco. By using this approach I do not mean to belittle any migrant’s extremely difficult experience. Rather I intend to use this method to gain insight into their lived reality via my experience in the same bureaucratic system that limits their success in Morocco. The next evidence portion of this research will look to theoretical frameworks to understand the realities these individuals find themselves in such as forced immobility and the taboo of migration. The next form of evidence this research will touch upon is contextualizing the informality and lack of economic opportunity these individuals experience based on the informal labor I observed migrants taking part in. As I was not able to gain quantitative data in regards to the economic endeavors these migrants partake in I must rely on what I observed. Lastly, I will utilize interviews I conducted with 4 college-age Moroccans, 1 college-age sub-Saharan migrant, and one child of a sub-Saharan migrant and a native Moroccan who has lived in Morocco his whole life. By looking at these interviews I hope to contextualize the ways in which Moroccan’s perceive sub-Saharan migrants within their society and how they view the Moroccan economy as a place able to handle them and their new migrant counterparts.

My method and evidence approach will cover three broad areas. The first of these being, my ethnographic experience, the bureaucratic barriers I faced while in Morocco, and theoretical frameworks like forced immobility and limbo to understand migrants and I’s experience in Morocco. The next area of the evidence and methods sections will briefly look at the economic endeavors I saw migrants partaking in in hopes of relating those economic opportunities to the structural racism and informality spoken about in the research. The last form of evidence will feature excerpts from interviews I conducted with college-aged Moroccans and one college-aged sub-Saharan migrant.

Methods and Evidence

1. An Ethnographers Experience

• My experience at FOO, theoretical points tying together what I am focusing on, forced immobility, limbo, bureaucratic barriers, and being a migrant in a polarized world

2. Economic Informality and Structural Racism

• Looking at migrants economic opportunity, structural racism, and informality through observed labor I saw migrants participating in

3. Interviews

• Looking at interviews to understand the view of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco and the Moroccan economies capacity to house Moroccans and migrants

An Ethnographer’s Experience

Going into my experience in Morocco I intended to gain quantitative data on various subjects regarding sub-Saharan migrants including what they were doing for work presently, what their previous work and academic experiences were, and how they felt they were received by Moroccan society both economically and culturally. I planned on gaining this quantitative data via an internship at Fondation Orient-Occident (FOO). FOO is a foundation headquartered in Rabat, Morocco, and provides various services and resources to migrants. FOO’s mission is: “​Bridging the gap between the Western and Eastern realities for the benefit of the economy, societies and cultures; operating nationally and internationally through development projects, through socio-economic partnerships and cultural actions'' (orient-occident.org). ​During this internship, I planned on hosting career-building workshops where I would assist individuals with career-enhancing tasks such as resume building, cover letter writing, creating email accounts, and searching online job boards. ​Although I went in with this intention I did realize that I knew little about the issues and barriers these individuals faced and expected to learn more about how I could assist them simply by meeting with them, learning more about their situations, and the barriers they face in finding work during the first meeting I held. I intended to use these workshops as a way to give back to a group of people that I hoped to gain data from.

This experience did not go as planned and as an undergraduate student, it may have been naive to expect to collect data in a four-month period. Within a few weeks of arriving in Morocco, I gained approval for my workshop from FOO but it took approximately three months for the workshop to be scheduled. Although FOO told me that they had held workshops of this nature in the past, they made it extremely difficult to schedule, host, and create an accessible signup sheet for this workshop. I had multiple conversations with the main organizer of programs at FOO and she made it seem as though this workshop would be useful for the migrants, but continually did not assist me in scheduling the workshop or assist me in getting in contact with the migrants that would benefit from this workshop. Based on my experience at FOO it seemed as though they were extremely understaffed and underfunded. Their lack of organization made it difficult to get the necessary resources to these migrants, even if they did have the resources at their disposal. The situation was extremely unnerving due to the fact that I made an extreme effort to host this career-building workshop, and needed little resources from FOO except for the ability to contact the migrants they work with in order to send date, time of the workshop, and sign up sheet. The main event organizer informed me that they had held workshops of this nature in the past and that a workshop of this nature would be of use to the migrants at FOO which made me recognize this period of waithood I was experiencing clearly.

After this experience, I came to the conclusion that what I had experienced was extreme bureaucratic barriers, limbo, and informality. I then realized that my personal ethnographic experience could be used as a window to better understand the experience of bureaucratic barriers, limbo, and informality that these migrants experience. While Morocco does provide migrants with residency and some resources, these resources are not sufficient. Resources for migrants are hindered by lack of funding, lack of managerial support, and potentially funding from insidious sources. In short, my experience at FOO had the potential to be informative but I faced many hurdles that I dedicated much time and energy to overcome. Throughout my four months of attempting to work with and collect data from sub-Saharan migrants, the hurdles I faced caused me to be unable to gain qualitative or quantitative data during my time there. My experience at FOO is very telling of the confusion, miscommunication, and bureaucratic hurdles that migrants face while in Morocco.

While I did not host the amount of workshops I intended or gain the quantitative data I had anticipated I did speak with migrants that helped me to understand their situation. While attempting to host one of my career building workshops, I invited three young South Sudanese men into the classroom I had for my workshop and began to chat with them. While this was an informal interview and as such I do not have a recording of the conversation, I can speak with confidence about what we discussed. Throughout this conversation, there was an extreme language barrier but one of my Moroccan friends was able to speak Modern Standard Arabic to these young men, as they did not speak English or Moroccan Colloquial Arabic fluently. I began this conversation by asking these young men what they were doing for work and what economic opportunities they have access to in Morocco. They promptly answered that they were doing nothing for work and felt very unwelcome in the Moroccan society and economy. They went on to explain that the language barrier is very difficult and they were taking Darija (Moroccan Colloquial Arabic) and English courses at FOO. One of the individuals also mentioned that they were working to gain a credential to be certified to work as a mechanic in Morocco. This is a vital time to mention that many sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco face the difficulty of transferring their credentials to Moroccan society and being recognized for their academic and technical skills.

I then asked these young men what issues they faced in regard to the Moroccan economy and how I could attempt to help them which transitioned the conversation into what they were actually doing for work. They explained that they were not working but their answers on how they were surviving financially were vague. As these individuals were refugees and younger students they did receive some stipend from FOO but as stated before, these stipends for refugees are very small. I went on to ask how I could be of assistance in their career seeking endeavors. It should be noted that I do understand that my experience and skills do not imply that I am an expert on career building but I was more than willing to offer my time, energy, and knowledge. When I asked how I could be of assistance to these individuals I was met with blank expressions. One of the young men went on to explain that my assistance would not help in a society that did not accept or see their value in general. It was not technical help they needed but rather the society that needed a cultural shift. As verified via another quote in this thesis, this young man also testified that when a Moroccan sees you and initially identifies you as a black African you are racialized in a certain way. This racialization is not conducive to being hired by Moroccan business owners. It is difficult for us to understand this lack of economic opportunity by using the capitalist system as a tool due to the way in which these migrants do not have access to any part of the capitalist system. Instead, we should consider the meanings and implications of migrants not being part of the capitalist hegemonic economic system rather than the opportunities they have available within it. This period of lack of access to the capitalist system and any real successful economic survival is defined by a period of “waithood” for these migrants. Instituted by the Moroccan state and its invisible guide the EU, this period of waithood is created by the state under the guise of being “moral”. Within this system of waithood, the government provides these migrants with access to various services and residency. Not because they morally care about these individuals but rather they are motivated to treat these migrants in a certain way because they are pawns in a larger geopolitical game. This state is working to portray itself as an agent of goodness in hopes of gaining funding, valuable relationships, geopolitical favoring, and rebuilding lost alliances between the EU and the AU.

As an ethnographer, I have witnessed these migrants on the sidelines of society. Perhaps more shocking is the ways in which you do not see these migrants at all. This scenario is due to the powerful monarchies ability to make you see what they want you to see. In this way, you only see these migrants when the state wants them to be seen. This situation is multidirectional and various individuals are involved and implicated. I use the example of myself as a researcher within this situation attempting to collect data on migrants within Morocco. The informality, bureaucratic barriers, and state of waithood I felt in attempting to conduct interviews and collect data is a part of this state of waithood the Moroccan government institutes regarding these migrants. I became a participant in this situation and experienced a period of waithood as I attempted time after time to schedule a workshop and make some sort of positive impact and in the end, was met with no response. Through this research, I intend to tell my vignette, in hopes of gaining an insight into the waithood, obstacles, and broken networks that these migrants face. This period of limbo I experienced can not be compared to the horrible and at times deadly experiences of these migrants. Rather my experience can be used as a tool to understand the actors and systems that control the lives of these migrants and create the system of waithood they find themselves in.

I utilize this experience in hopes of understanding the broken networks, sometimes on purpose, that go unspoken within this society but are very much visible and felt. This is often true with many aspects of the Moroccan government. This system is created and perpetuated through all portions of society from bureaucrats and administrators, to business owners, to nonprofit executive directors. Similarly, this system is felt in various facets such as blocking the migration of these individuals and not allowing for their continued movement. I hope to implicate my own story into this situation because I can speak to it with complete certainty and the bureaucratic barriers I faced hold great potential to be explanatory. I was unable to gain data because of the ways in which powerful institutions hinder researchers’ access to migrants stories that the state does not want these researchers to hear.

This situation of informality bordering on taboo is felt in many migration situations across the world. These difficulties are direct reflections of the informality and illegality that migrants all over the world face on a daily basis. This a context where migration, in general, becomes taboo. You can’t access migrants, statistics regarding them, or simply laws and policies surrounding these individuals and their precarious situation. As an example, within the Moroccan government, there is no department the receives refugees, rather UNHCR is tasked with this work and there is subsequent confusion between numbers of refugees and the handling of them. Within this specific context of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco, we see a more niche situation where race and the politics of the situation come to be in a strong Muslim monarchy state that holds a vast amount of power. Another interesting part of the informality and lack of streamlined bureaucratic functions in regards to migrants is within a lack of data on these individuals and their situations. It is the case where one group will have data and statistics on these migrants that differ from other entities. It is difficult to find the actual number of sub-Saharan migrants within Morocco and I was forced to look to UNHCR and The Migration Portal as the Moroccan government does not release numbers regarding migrants or have a webpage regarding their presence in Morocco. This fact highlights the ways in which the Moroccan government does little to shine a light on the reality of migration within their borders. The ways in which these numbers are not released, not well accounted for, or not complete also points to the way migrants lose agency and a voice while in a state of limbo and waithood.

This loss of agency is directly related to the ways in which migrants lose access to basic human rights when they find themselves in a society that they do not have citizenship in. It is difficult to imagine migrants accessing basic human rights in a context where they are not accounted for by the government of the country they find themselves. On top of this we must recognize the loss of human rights migrants face in a society where they are subject to structural racism, xenophobia, or other forms of prejudices. Incorporating the subject of lack of or ill reporting on numbers of migrants becomes a situation that is not about the numbers but rather about the lack of numbers that highlights the taboo, illegality, and existence of these migrants in general. In this Moroccan context, we see migrants not gaining “citizenship” but simply gaining a “card le sejour” which gives migrants the right to reside and work in Morocco and must be renewed every year. This calls for the comparison for the right to citizenship in a country and the right to reside and work there and the various human rights that are allotted to these two individual groups. Using my experience in Morocco and the different forms of informality I witnessed, I showcase the economic and political relationships within local, state, and regional realms. These situations must be patchworked together to expose a quilt of slow access to information, notions of bureaucracy, forms of informality, hurdles put in place by FOO, government agencies, and the international community at large.

I now want to take a closer look at Inka Stock’s book titled “Time, Migration and Forced Immobility: Sub-Saharan Migrants in Morocco'' to gain a theoretical framework for the ways that migrants face uncertainty while they are essentially stuck in Morocco. Stock examines this issue in a similar way to my research and looks at the various actors and forces that affect migrant’s experience in Morocco. She introduces the approach her book and research takes by stating: “In effect, by looking at migrants’ lives in Morocco ethnographically, this book seeks to make them visible as part of some unaccounted for movement of people through a space between worlds, where the normal rules and codes through which we recognize the humanity of others are in suspension” (Stock, 14). One of the guiding tools that Stock uses within this research which I implemented often throughout my own research, is this concept of ‘forced immobility’. She introduces this concept by defining it as,

“Migrants in Morocco who were inhibited from moving further did not stay there without thinking about their alternatives. In fact, many of the people I encountered had tried to move or were consciously weighing their decisions in this respect. For this reason, I prefer to speak of ‘forced immobility’, because it allows me to convey that migrants are not moving because they find that they have a lack of feasible alternatives to do so, which they are nevertheless pondering over... The book is centered particularly upon the ways in which forced immobility is experienced by migrants as a condition and a way of being in the world. In order to explore this, it is first necessary to show when and where forced immobility is created in the Moroccan context and how it converts migrants into rightless beings.” (Stock, 21-23)

These understandings come to explain the reality these migrants find themselves in which Stock describes as a state of vast inequality that makes migrants into ‘rightless beings’. Stock goes on to explain how Morocco is defined as a ‘transit country’ and how this definition is not only false but illustrates bad intentions by the Moroccan state. Morocco being defined as a ‘transit country’ is ironic because of the ways that, “migrants appeared to ‘get stuck’ in Morocco in increasingly difficult conditions and for increasingly longer periods, instead of traveling through it” (Stock, 13). This situation where migrants are stuck for undetermined periods of time is what Stock is speaking about when she uses the term ‘forced immobility’. This forced immobility and uncertainty also left migrants feeling “stripped of the possibility to participate meaningfully in economic, political, and social life” (Stock, 15).

Similar to this research Stock takes a closer look at Moroccan policy to understand the motives and intentions of the Moroccan government. She then uses these policies to decipher the social, economic, and human level implications of these policies and intentions. First, Stock breaks down Morocco’s regularization campaigns which worked to give sub-Saharan migrants residency cards. Stock states that “while this measure indeed helped over 20,000 migrants to legalize their status at least temporarily, it had only a very marginal impact on their employment situation and their access to social services, or indeed on their abilities to move on” (Stock, 13). Based on what I saw and experienced in Morocco these regularization campaigns had not had significant positive effects on these migrants and I share Stock’s understanding of their lacking positive effects. Stock then takes a step back and examines policy approaches and their implications from a global scale in which current literature criticizes “the human consequences of migration control policies in Europe and beyond”:

“In addition to exploring the constraints such policies impose on migrants’ lives, this text explores how policy measures that help to criminalize and persecute migrants also challenge them to design a creative life plan and find strategies to maintain their individual human dignity. Second, through a critical assessment of migration from a perspective of ‘forced immobility’, the study contributes to literature that challenges some of the bias in contemporary migration theory with respect to the importance accorded to mobility at the expense of immobility as well as liberal economic thinking at the expense of universal human rights values.” (Stock, 15)

Stock closes this policy argument by making it explicitly clear that the movement and livelihoods of these migrants are defined by various “policy frameworks, economic situations, social and cultural ties, and the role and nature of migrant networks... it will become evident that these dynamics are due to a series of complicated political, economic and social developments in the European Union and beyond which cannot be reduced to market forces alone” (Stock, 18). This is the type of work that deciphers histories, international relationships, and political intentions. Within this book Stock works to break down these confusing connections and similar to this research, learn how macro-global intentions guide relationships, policy, and trickle down to affect these migrants every day realities via their economic opportunities and social interactions. I use Stock’s research and tools such as her understanding of ‘forced immobility’ to guide my research and my conclusions on migrants situations in Morocco. Stock’s research informs this thesis via her understanding of how ‘being-stuck’ in Morocco affects migrants' lives, what factors contribute to their lived experiences, and how their immobility affects their “actions and their perspectives on their present and their future” (Stock, 15-16). I will now use migrant’s access to economic opportunity as a tool to illustrate the informality migrants face while in Morocco for extended periods of time.

Observed Labour Migrants Participated In

While in Morocco I observed sub-Saharan migrants participating in various forms of informal and formal labor. In terms of informal labor, I observed sub-Saharan migrants owning small businesses within the medina where they would sell sub-Saharan products such as foodstuffs, beauty products, or other essential goods such as stationery and electronics. Similarly, I saw sub-Saharans participating in informal forms of begging and contract labor. This contract labor could have been within the formal or informal market depending on the situation. Similarly, I observed migrants working within the service industry at coffee shops, gas stations, or restaurants. ​While in Morocco and researching the international forces that control these individuals’ movements it became explicitly clear that these forces also informed interpretations of these individuals that affected their access to economic opportunity in Moroccan society. Based on my observations, conversations, and research I found that these individuals’ economic opportunity is drastically negatively affected by the structural racism they face. This situation is defined by the ways in which social norms and beliefs become the economic opportunities for these individuals as seen through the informal economy, Gibson Graham’s varied economy, the role of the state in the creation and perpetuation of capitalism, and racial capitalism.

How do these migrants fit into this situation in a society made up of capitalism where they seemingly do not fit? These individuals often do not participate in traditional forms of wage labor but rather find various and creative ways to survive through the informal economy, small entrepreneurial endeavors, and begging. Gibson-Graham’s argument for the necessity of a diversified economy is explained as, “We propose to repoliticize the economy by challenging the representation of capitalism as the necessarily and naturally dominant form (or identity) of economy... we construct a language of the ​diverse economy i​ n which the economic landscape is represented as populated by a myriad of contingent forms and interactions'' (Gibson-Graham, 54). With an understanding of the diverse economy, we can contextualize the various ways in which migrants that are often excluded from the formal capitalist economic structure via wage labor instead take to the diverse economy creatively to find various ways to survive economically. When we consider what forms of labor these migrants are taking part in we must consider the “different kinds of transactions, kinds of labor and ways of compensating it, different forms of enterprise and ways of producing, appropriating, and distributing surplus” (Gibson-Graham, 57). To show the magnitude of these various forms of labor that do not fit under the traditional label of ‘wage labor’ it is worth noting that the most prevalent form of labor the world over is the unpaid work that is conducted in the household, the family, the neighborhood, or the wider community. This type of emotional and care work that goes unpaid can be seen performed by young sub-Saharan women with children that I observed begging in Morocco. These migrants, at times refugees, did not have the familial support to help with child care and are left unable to work because they must take care of their children. In some cases, migrants are surviving through traditional formal wage labor, but as most migrants in Morocco can rarely find access to these jobs they must pursue different forms of work. It is now vital to consider why these individuals are forced to pursue various forms of economic activities and can not access wage labor positions. This situation is drastically affected by the institutionalized racial capitalism they face.

Sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco face much cultural and structural racism in this society they call home for extended periods of time. This can be interpreted as a form of racialized capitalism and capitalist creation by the state. In this situation, we can see how these sub-Saharan Africans race that is assigned to them through historically and culturally real racial creation does not work to their advantage in integrating into the Moroccan capitalist society. This is an example of racialized capitalism in practice, where an individual's race affects their relationship to capitalism, whether positively or negatively. Through this denaturalizing of capitalism and interpreting the different forms of capitalist production and how racialization plays a role in all of this we can begin to understand how structural racism creates the economic opportunity sub-Saharan migrants have access to in Morocco. We see that due to the historical and culturally real creation of race, sub-Saharans are negatively affected by structural racism in the case of lack of economic opportunity within Morocco.​ ​Moroccan citizens do not see sub-Saharan Africans as vibrant and productive members of the economy and capitalist society. This is due partially to a lack of understanding and appreciation of their experiences, education, and ability to add to the Moroccan economy.

With a better understanding of Gibson-Graham’s idea of the diversified economy, hegemonic understandings of capitalism, and structural racism we can now work to understand the state’s role in all of this. In order to understand the state's role in this situation, we must decipher capitalism’s relationship to the state, law, and regulation. When we consider these questions it is important to think about how the state plays a vital role in integrating individuals into society, how they acclimate to the economy and have access to work and economic opportunity. This process not only happens through the formal production of jobs by the state but also through social and cultural relations where the state promotes the acceptance of outsiders into a given society. In the case of sub-Saharan Africans in Morocco, the state is doing little to integrate these individuals into the economy and at times perpetuating and creating structural racism against them. The government does not work to acclimate these individuals into society culturally, so the culture and citizens within it do not shift in their understanding that these migrants can and should be integrated into the economy and be viewed as assets rather than unwelcome visitors. The state plays an integral role in the perpetuation and creation of a capitalist society. These two institutions, the state, and capitalism have never been separate.

This research works to better understand what sub-Saharan Africans do not have access to in this society, how individuals are forced to participate in capitalism or completely excluded from it, and what forces create this reality. Through Gibson-Graham’s tools, I am able to contextualize what work I did see migrants participating in via the diversified economy. Through Beckert and Cattelino’s writing, I can more clearly decipher the structural racism I witnessed and how hegemonic understandings of capitalist participation affect individuals' access to economic opportunity and the state’s role in capitalist production.

Interviews:

I first wanted to discuss how my three Moroccan interviewees viewed sub-Saharan African migrants within Moroccan society. It is worth noting that these interviewees are young college-aged Moroccans so they might have more modern and liberal views of this situation while they also may hold their parents’ views of the situation. My first interviewee was with a young man named Aamir (I will be using pseudonyms for interviewees protection). Aamir my friend that helped to translate interviews at FOO and due to the way he had seen the struggles sub-Saharan migrants faced in Moroccan society he held similar views to me on this situation. I really appreciated how he introduced the issue to me when he stated:

“I remember the first two years when they were coming a lot in Morocco, in like 2011 and 2012. And the Moroccan people did not like that, they were being very offensive. Even though the religion told them not to suppress people based on where they came from. It was not based on if they are white, or black, or their color, it is not about that. It is about when you are stuck and struggling and people just come in and you don’t even have the things that you want. And now there is a lot of migrants here, so that is why they do not like the refugees. But not all of the people, and not the younger generation. This all also tied to education.”

I went on to ask Aamir if he thought Moroccans knew about the ways that the Moroccan government was accepting these migrants and giving them residency due to money being funneled to them from the EU to gain political favoring on various political issues. He responded, “they absolutely do not know about that. They just think they escaped to Morocco and want to immigrate to Europe. That’s the plan”. One of the most interesting parts of this interview was when I asked Aamir how he thought that racism within Moroccan society against sub-Saharan migrants could change. He responded, “I think the only way to try and change Moroccan people is by using religion. There is a lot of things in Islam that do not allow for you to treat people with racism and discrimination. This is good. I feel like we need to teach people that this wrong. But it is difficult to change anything in Morocco, people don’t want to change”. I went on to ask if he could expand on the reasons why Moroccans were not hospitable to sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco. He synthesized the competitive nature of a climate where both Moroccans and sub-Saharan migrants want to go to Europe:

“Let’s say that a lot of Moroccans want to go to Europe and then a lot of these migrants come here and also want to go to Europe. There is not a lot of opportunities for people to go to Europe so it becomes competitive. Like you go to the place to migrate to Spain in Melila or Ceuta, they will find there is a group of people. There is a line of Moroccans and a line of sub-Saharans and they both want to go to the same place. Someone was telling me one day he was trying to escape to Europe, he is Moroccan, but he was in a boat with sub-Saharans, refugees. He thought in one way they wanted to put him in the water or something. I think that this is the understanding for young people and then for older people it is just a lack of education. People just don’t have education at all. Yes and I see this first hand how when people come from sub-Saharan Africa they treat them with racism but when people come from Europe they treat them like kings.”

Aamir had a very enlightened view of this situation where it seemed he could see the motives and desires of the Moroccan government, Moroccan citizens, and sub-Saharan Africans. This was a refreshing take on the situation where he did not paint any of the characters in a negative light but rather was able to describe the forces that pushed them to act the ways they did.

My next interview was with a very liberal young woman named Farah. I enjoyed how her extreme take on these issues allowed her to speak very openly about the reality of the situation. Within Moroccan society and their strong Muslim monarchy it is rare to hear, a young woman especially, speak out against the king. This quote summarized her initial emotions regarding the subject:

“I think they are doing the same thing that we do, that’s why they come here because it is the closest point to Europe. But when they get here they get stuck here with us. So they leave their countries to go to Europe and then when they get to Morocco rather than Tunisia or Algeria where you will actually get to the other side of the Mediterranean, where Morocco is actually getting paid to keep them here, so we can’t let you leave, you are a prisoner just like the other Moroccans.... you see how he king is constantly benefitting himself.”

I also enjoyed Farah’s take on the ways that migration will continue to be a norm and an issue due to environmental issues and climate change when she stated, “I think environmental issues will cause people to create international consensus on a lot more issues, such as migration”. This is a subject that is spoken about throughout this research, the necessity of coming up with an international agreement regarding migration patterns and the amount of migrants countries should take. This international consensus would create an environment where individual countries can not take advantage of the situation and pay for other countries to take on the migrants they are supposed to receive within the agreement.

The next young woman I held an interview with was named Khadija. Khadija was also a young Moroccan college-aged women who worked to synthesize the situation to me by stating:

“Well, Morocco is trying to reconcile these relationships with Africa just like you said, so that kind of makes sense. But not everybody likes it. Because we already have our own problems, we are not a happy country. And now all of a sudden they are here and it feels like we are fixing other people’s problems. Also there are a lot of rumors about the king doing something to help people in Africa, something to help people somewhere in France. And people are like, why is he doing something to help people outside of Morocco? We need help here... But when it comes to the society, how it views it, it is kind of like, what are these people doing here? Especially the ones that don’t have jobs, the homeless people, like we already have our homeless people, we don’t need more homeless people.”

Khadija went on to speak about the ways that these sub-Saharan Africans are viewed as drastically differently culturally, socially, and religiously than Moroccan citizens. She stated that these were things that she would hear here entourage talk about while she was in high school which led me to believe that these notions were passed down by children’s parents. Her views seemed to have changed after she moved out of her parents ultra-religious and conservative household. She synthesized Moroccans views of sub-Saharan migrants by stating, “what people would say is that like we don’t have the same virtues, we don’t have the same values. They are less covered, their women are not covered, they should be covered, talk less loudly”. This is an interesting quote to consider in a Muslim society which is extremely homogeneous and religion is held to the highest degree. It is important to reiterate that similar to other societies, these views are shifting and Khadija worked to make it clear that her understanding of the situation had expanded since highschool.

Now that I have introduced these three young Moroccans views of sub-Saharan migrants within Moroccan society I wanted to take a moment to look at how these young Moroccans view the Moroccan economy. I will examine their opinions on this subject in hopes of gaining a better understanding of how Moroccans view their country as able to provide economic opportunity not only for them but also for sub-Saharan African migrants. By looking at their understanding of the Moroccan economy I hope to gain a better understanding of the structural racism, informality, and lack of economic opportunity sub-Saharan migrants have access to in Morocco. I will repeat the order of the interviews I went through in the previous section starting with the interviewee Aamir. When asked if he felt there was economic opportunity available for him in Morocco he responded, “I mean if they opened the doors, like 75% would just get out... I do not think there will be a lot of opportunities that will come in the future, I mean, they will come but not for us. Just for people that will get benefits and have gotten benefits before”. I went on to clarify what he meant by asking, “You mean the elite?”. He responded,

“Yes the rich, who get these opportunities. There are not opportunities right here. And if you like to expand, to go and find opportunities in other places, the door gets closed in your face. There is a lot of negativity in society. I mean I was this way, I was very negative and complaining all the time. But one day I woke up. The government, society, your family, Morocco, they will not get anything from it. There is a good thing in this though, you will grow up, and struggle a lot, and you will learn from it. That is the good thing about Morocco, it teaches you.”

I now wanted to move on to Farah’s view of the Moroccan economy and the opportunity it held for her. Farah made it explicitly clear that she believed that the Moroccan monarchy was working to suppress the growth of the Moroccan economy in our to keep its citizens subordinate, poor, and without any real political power. After these statements I asked Farah, “Do you see an opportunity for yourself here?” she responded, “Yes I do. But it is going to be very difficult”. She recognized the power structures in place in Morocco and the lack of opportunity within the system it had built but also saw potential.

Moving on to Khadija’s responses to my questions regarding the Moroccan economy when prompted to speak about this realm she stated: “The problem is that we do not have a lot of the ‘investment’ mindset. Where people just want to work, they do not want to create”. I responded to clarify, “So you mean it is not very entrepreneurial here?” She responded,

“Yes, and I watched this documentary and it talked about how the Moroccan government and monarchy control the Moroccan economy and that the composition is really not fair. Like the government has control of the biggest industries and companies, like what can you do when you are against these? Like we do not only have a king he is a businessman as well. So that is a problem for people that want to compete... When it comes to the Moroccan economy too, when it comes to being an entrepreneur in Morocco that is very beneficial. Because we do not have a lot of competition. But I mean we are very pessimistic in Morocco. Whatever you want to do, you will just say ‘aw the government won’t let me, nobody will help me, I am just going to go abroad.’ So they don’t even try.”

I now wanted to take a closer look at the interview with Mehdi who is a child of a woman from Moroccan and a man from Liberia. Mehdi was born and raised in Morocco and has Moroccan citizenship and has a very interesting perspective of the ways in which sub-Saharan migrants are treated in Morocco due to the ways he grew up seeing his father treated in Morocco. Mehdi introduces this perspective by stating, “I wonder how my father is African and my mother is Moroccan. I do not find a lot of people like me. In Europe or the United States you see a lot of people like this, but in Morocco not so much”. I went on to ask him, “how do you feel that sub-Saharan migrants are received in Moroccan society?” He responded,

“Moroccans taught me that they do not really respect them 100%. Like when they walk past him, they say a lot of bad things, insult him, all of the bad things Even my father had a lot of problems with this here. When he goes out of the house they call him names. They insult him. And me too when I hear that I feel bad. But I told him to have patience, Moroccan people are like this.”

Then I asked Mehdi why he thought Moroccans harbored this racism, was it more cultural, religious, or what did he think was at the root of this racism. He responded,

“For me, it is because they are not informed and educated about the subject. Maybe if someone gave them information about why we need to help these people and what resources would assist them, then maybe they would understand. But people are not educated and informed in that way. Even when they go to school they want to go just for work, they don’t go to university or if they go to get their baccalaureate they simply go to work after that.”

I then went on to ask Mehdi how he felt about the Moroccan economy and if he saw himself staying in Morocco. He responded, “Absolutely not. Because the ideas me and my friends have will not work in Morocco. Maybe they will work in Europe or the USA”. I responded by asking Mehdi how he though the Moroccan economy could be improved. He had an enlightening response which I feel many young people in countries all over the world feel today, “They have to give young people and students more chances. Like when people are graduating, they do not find any work. They go to the parliament for protests, and the police come and beat them. And 90% of young students want to quit Morocco, for many reasons, like lack of chance, lack of opportunity”. This interview with Mehdi was an interesting combination of a young college man that had the lived experience of growing up within Moroccan society with a sub-Saharan African father but looks like a Moroccan and was completely assimilated into Moroccan society.

My last interview was with a young man named Justin from Liberia who had been living and going to school in Morocco for 8 years. Justin is not a migrant, refugee, or asylum seeker but a student on a student visa provided via an agreement between the Liberian and Moroccan governments. Justin is getting his masters in economics with a focus on the economic effects of public policy which allowed for him to have a great understanding of the ways that government and policy affect the economic and social realities of individuals’ lives. I first began by asking Justin if he thought that Moroccan citizens and government officials understood the difference between the various status sub-Saharan migrants have in Morocco. He clarified his understanding of the issue by stating:

“I think for the bigger cities in Morocco like Rabat, Casablanca, Marrakech, and some cities around these centers are more open to these issues and understand these situations better. So they don’t just judge a black person just on seeing them but they actually try to get to know them and see what they are doing in Morocco. Because you have some people that are having businesses here, who actually work here, apart from the students, you have people here that are just transiting. for me personally, I wouldn’t see the word racist, I think they are ignorant.”

He went on to explain his own personal experiences with racism as a young sub-Saharan man in Morocco over the past 8 years. He stated that he does not have a generalized view of Moroccans and their behavior and beliefs but rather states,

“All of these people are individuals. Just because one Moroccan says something does not mean I am going to judge them as a whole by that statement... I mean at first even in the classroom, you see the professor is going to refer to you as ‘African’. At first, I used to be angry, like why do they call us ‘Africans’? I do not think they see themselves as Africans. Like when you are not black you are not ‘African’.”

Justin had spent 8 continuous years in Morocco and he kept eluding to the fact that he had seen significant change within Moroccan society and Moroccans during his time there. Due to this, I asked if he thought that the situation had improved since he arrived in Morocco. He responded,

“Yea I think it has and I think it is improving over the years. I think Moroccans are coming to a point where they are realizing they should accept people for who they are... Things are actually changing in Morocco, I can talk about that. You can see a Moroccan kid and a black moving together, doing everything together. One thing that I have noticed is that those who want that, actually try to learn about us and try to know who we are and what our culture is.”

I went on to ask how he thought the international community as a whole receives these sub-Saharan migrants. He responded,

“I feel that there are a lot of stigmas surrounding these people. For example, one time I was sitting in a gallery and I heard some people saying that sub-Saharan migrants are bringing a lot of disease to their country. I went on to ask them what disease they had caught from a sub-Saharan women or man. They had no response. They also said that sub-Saharans are ‘thieves and that they come here and harass people’. There is no black person that is going to come to Morocco and harass people, I have never seen it, and you will never see it... Sometimes you go to a gallery or something and as a black guy, everybody is afraid you are there.”

Justin and I went on to speak about the more economic implications of these situations.

He summarized his understanding of how Moroccans view the status of their country by stating:

“The thing about Moroccans, at least what I have observed in general, and even with the youth is that they think they think the best way out is through going to Europe or North America. What they don’t realize is that the government is paving the way for them to be able to succeed in all parts of Africa. As for the human capital, I think they have built that but the Moroccan citizens are not exploring or benefiting from what the government has done for them. Because I have even seen it in school where we are doing economic evaluations of public policies. But my classmates do not see themselves working with North African or sub-Saharan countries, rather they see themselves moving and working in Canada, the United States, or Europe. I tell them what they don’t understand is that these countries have plenty of human capital, they do not need you there. You can benefit from what you are learning and benefit the world if you bring your degree to sub-Saharan Africa. We have a few, I will call them the visionaries that want to make a better life for themselves, their family, and their country here in Morocco. I think these are the few people who rule the country. The rest of the people feel like they do not have a place here in Morocco, they feel left out.”

I went on to redirect this conversation about the economy into what all this meant for the socio-economic setting sub-Saharan migrants find themselves in by asking, “Let’s imagine that there is a sub-Saharan migrant and a Moroccan and they both have the same education and work experience and are applying for the same job. Do you think that the sub-Saharan African would have less opportunity in that situation?” Justin went on to state something that I had not considered but made perfect sense in my research journey to investigate the economic implications of political ties between countries, “Yes exactly. I am not sure of this 100% but most of my friends have tried to work here and they think there is a policy in place where if there is not a Moroccan that is qualified for the role they will then consider individuals for 7 sub-Saharan African countries. The first of those is Senegal because they have good relations with Senegal”. I had not considered the implications and specific examples of the ways in which Morocco works to rebuild economic and political ties with sub-Saharan Africa. When looking at this example, although it may not be totally factual and based on evidence, it is something that is spoken about within Justin’s circle. At times things come into reality simple when they are socialized between people. Justin had a strong view of the ways in which macro country to country government relations can inform micro human to human interactions in hiring processes which solidifies much of what this thesis is working to prove.

At the end of this interview, I asked Justin if he wanted to close with anything or have any final remarks. I was empowered by hearing his response after a conversation that seemed to be fraught with the struggles he and individuals from sub-Saharan Africa face. He asserted, “I have never regretted coming to Morocco. It has challenged me in so many ways and I have grown so much. When people would say things to me that would really challenge me, I just sit and laugh and think they do not know what they are saying”. This was an amazing way to finish this interview and an empowering way to consider Justin view of his life in Morocco and moving forward in regards to the issues sub-Saharan’s face.

Conclusion:

Throughout this thesis, I use the literature review, methods, and evidence to discuss the ways in which macro governmental relations have implications on the realities of sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco. These realities are defined by forced immobility, bureaucratic barriers, lack of economic opportunity, and global stigmas against sub-Saharan African migrants that then inform micro human to human interactions. I first prove this relationship through my own experience as an ethnographer and the various barriers and states of limbo I experienced. I use these experiences as a window into the lives of limbo migrants experience as they are forced to call Morocco home for extended periods of time. I then go on to look at Stock’s theoretical framework to understand this waithood and informality. Then I take a look at how this informality and lived realities contextualize through migrants access to economic opportunity while in Morocco. This research takes a more economic look at the ways in which large governmental structures create the socio-economic reality of these migrants have access to while they are in Morocco. Lastly, I utilize interviews I performed with college-aged Moroccans and one sub-Saharan college student in order to have more peer to peer conversations on the situation as a means of putting a human voice to the theoretical, economic, and political understandings of the issue. ​By taking a holistic and humanistic look at this situation, a sociological understanding can be gained on the way forced immobility is imposed by powerful actors in order to control migrant’s movement and quality of life.

This study examines the ways in which interpretations of sub-Saharan migrants based on race and migration status affect their movement, economic opportunity, and access to basic human rights. By looking at how sub-Saharan migrants are accepted or rejected by Moroccan society we can better understand how they are received by the world at large. Preliminary findings suggest that cultural, political, and economic realms inform each other and create the sociological reality these individuals find themselves in which is expressed through forced immobility, lack of agency, waithood, and lack of economic opportunity. ​This research looks at governmental relations, economic realities, theoretical frameworks, and my own personal ethnographic experience to assert the idea that​ ​the global political economy works to create these individuals realities in terms of, controlling migrants movement, the economic opportunity they have access to, and how they are received socially and culturally on a human to human level within Morocco. Lastly, this thesis hopes to give a voice to migrants that are often left voiceless while dismantling the power relations that work diligently to make migrants voiceless and their migration experience taboo.

Bibliography

Martin Baldwin-Edwards (2006) ‘Between a rock & a hard place’: North Africa as a region of emigration, immigration & transit migration, Review of African Political Economy, 33:108, 311-324, DOI: 10.1080/03056240600843089

Alioua, Mehdi. “Transnational Migration The Case of Sub-Saharan Transmigrants Stopping Over in Morocco.” ​Transit Migration in Europe​, Amsterdam University Press, 2014, pp. 79–98.

Brinke, Dorinda. “Being a Refugee in Morocco. Analysing the Livelihood of Refugees in Morocco and the Relation to Geographical and Social Mobility.” ​Radboud University Nijmegen​, 2011, pp. 1–121.

De Bel-Air, Françoise. “Migration Profile: Morocco.” European University Institute, Robert Schuman Centre For Advanced Studies, Migration Policy Centre, 2016/05, Apr. 2016, pp. 1–16.

Fadel, Leila. “Morocco, Long A Stopover For African Migrants, Becomes A Destination.” ​NPR​, NPR, 12 Apr. 2016, www.npr.org/sections/parallels/2016/04/12/473972929/morocco-long-a-stopover-for-african-mi grants-becomes-a-destination​.

Goldschmidt, Elie. “Storming the Fences: Morocco and Europe's Anti-Migration Policy.” Middle East Report​, no. 239, 2006, p. 36., doi:10.2307/25164730.

Jacobs, Anna. “Morocco's Migration Policy: Understanding the Contradiction between

Policy and Reality.” ​Moroccan Institute For Policy Analysis​, 8 July 2019, mipa.institute/6872

Knapp, Katherine, "Sub-Saharan Refugees Finding Space and Place in Rabat, Morocco" (2016). Independent Study Project (ISP) Collection. 2379. https://digitalcollections.sit.edu/isp_collection/2379

Martin Baldwin-Edwards (2006) ‘Between a rock & a hard place’: North Africa as a region of emigration, immigration & transit migration, Review of African Political Economy, 33:108, 311-324, DOI: 10.1080/03056240600843089

Pickerill, Megan. (2011) Informal and entrepreneurial strategies among sub-Saharan migrants in Morocco, The Journal of North African Studies, 16:3, 395-413, DOI: 10.1080/13629387.2010.484217

Keienbrink, A. (2005). Country of emigration and new country of immigration? Challenges for Moroccan migration policy between Africa and Europe. Stichproben 5(8), 193 – 219.

Stock, Inka. ​Time, Migration and Forced Immobility: Sub-Saharan African Migrants in Morocco​. Bristol University Press, 2019.