Cros sing the Spanish-Moroccan Border with Migrants, New Islamists , and Riff- Raff

Ninna Ny berg S¢rensen

S�!rensen , Ninna Nyberg 2000: Crossing the Spanish -Moroccan Border with Migran ts, New Islamists, and Riff-Raff. - Ethnologia Europaea 30, 2: 87-100.

Practice:; of movement between Morocco and Spain have fo r cen turie:,; been a common econom ic, social and political livel ihood strategy f(Jr thousands of individ­ uals and fa milies inhabiting the border area ofTetmin/Yebala, Morocco. However, only fe w studies have approached the border as obj ect for anthropological inqu iry.

Th i:;essa y analyses the Spanish -Moroccan border fr om the perspective of th ree male crossers, as well as from the perspecti ve of Spanish and Moroccan eth no­ landscaping in Tetuan. I argue that the common Tetuani ambivalence towards Spain as well as towards the Spanish Protectorate era must be understood within the wider context of ihe impress of the Moroccan stale on Northern Moroccan identities.

Ninna Ny berg Srensen, Senior Researcher,PhD, Centre for Deuelopment Research, Gammel Konge uej 5, DK-1610 Copenhagen V, Denmark. E-mail: [email protected]

In a 1998 article, Henk Driessen points to the time a growing number of persons who had

celebration of 1992 - including the celebration hoped for better lives elsewhere find them­ of the European integration process, the com­ selves stuck in Morocco. memoration of the 1492 discovery of America, In this essay I wish to analyse the Spanish­ and the remembrance of the 1492 fall of the Moroccan border as seen from Tetmin, a north­ Muslim kingdom of Granada - to highlight the ern Moroccan city. I will use the narratives of irony of the fact that 1992 became the year in three male border crossers to reflectupon past which North African clandestine migration to and recent changes in this particular border­ Europe broke all records (Driessen 1998). Since land. Together with the large majority ofTetuan 1992, however, much effort has been put into inhabitants, these young men share a critical controlling Europe's southern sea-border and view on Spain and Spaniards, simultaneously border towns on the southern shore. In 1993, as their symbolic resistance towards the Moroc­ the European Union decided to build an 8 kilo­ can state and the fo rmer King Hassan II is metres long defensive wall around Ceuta, the expressed by reference to Spanish ethno- and Spanish enclave in northern Morocco, consist­ urban landscaping (terms I advance to refer to ing of two parallel wire fences, 2.5 metres high, traditions and architecture), especially to the 5 metres apart, and with a line of sensors fo rmer Plaza Espana, which in 1988 was recon­ between the wires. Although this defence line is structed and re-named Plaza Hassan II by the no more than a term in the same game that sets King. I will argue that the common Tetuani clandestine migrants against wealthy coun­ ambivalence towards Spain as well as towards tries further North ... that has to be reached and the Spanish Protectorate era (1912 -56) must surmounted (Harding 2000), it has become ex­ be understood within the wider context of the ceedingly difficult and expensive for North Af­ impress of the Moroccan state on Northern ricans to cross the border to Europe. Those who Moroccan identities. My argument is based on manage to beat European border controls find the assumption that public discourse and whis­ themselves in steadily deteriorating working pered narratives about the Plaza and the sur­ and living conditions in Europe. At the same rounding social space are expressions of vari­

87 ous power struggles over spati al ond socia l The Mediterranean : Bridge or Frontier? control. I have chosen to examine the everyday el The Mediterranean region is ma rked by a con­ fe eLs of' Lhe Span ish -Morocca n borde r in terms ti nuous rnove meni of people from boih sides of of the tensions between siate power and mobile ihe sea border. T Tisiorica l ly, ihe area now known livelihood practices. In doing so, I fo cus on ihe as Morocco was popu l ated by vari ous groups of agency of migratory subject s and at.ic mpis by pasioralisis, who were later io be know n as the states in question io regu late thei r activi­ Berbers. Their l ocal ti1rms of' mobi lity were ties and identities. My l arger goal, however, is io bound up wiih ihe search Jor pasture. Together redirect ihe siudy of contemporary migratory wiih ihe resi o!' ihe Maghreb region, iheir var­ processes beyond ihe geo-political frontier sep­ ious territori es were ai diffe ren t times invaded arating Europe from Africa or Spain from Mo­ by li1re ign intruders (e.g. Phoenicians, Romans, rocco. Inside Moroccan terri tory oiher bou nda­ Byzantines, Arabs, Iberi ans, and so iorih), of rim; prevail. which ihe Arabs perhaps made ihe strongest The analysi s ih at fo llows is divided into fo ur impact with ihe establishment of the Western paris. Pari l prov ides a broad histo rical over­ J slamic Em pire (consoli dated in 71 0). l shall not view of the region. This overview makes appar­ dwell long on these historical movements or ent that the Spanish-Moroccan border has var­ early global processes, but point to some of the ied in terms of permeabi li ty over time. In Part links of importance for present-day iden tity 2, I describe the fo undation ofthe city ofTetuan, politics in northern Morocco and for the identi­ its inhabitants, historical as well as contempo­ fications that ihe inhabitants of Teiuan often rary movement in and oui ofthe city, and finally employ. the recent changes in ihe urban space. Tn Pari After 710, ihe Western Islamic Empire ex­ 3, I present the narrati ves provided by the three panded into the Iberi an Peni nsula and subse­ male border crossers in extracted fo rm . Their quently consolidated Muslim power in Andalu­ migratory experiences are distinct, both be­ sia (Al Andaluz). This movement was later cause of their different socio-economic back­ countered by the Spanish expulsion of the Moors grounds and their different fo rms of encounters and Sephardic Jews ' (in 1492 and 1609), fo l­ with the border. The final part ofthe essay offers lowed by the movement of European colonials a theoretical discussion of the relationship be­ to N orthern Africa. In the Moroccan case, Ceuta tween the seemingly nostalgic imagery of the was incorporated into the Iberian Kingdom in urban landscape ofthe past, the current ambiv­ 1415, Melilla in 1497, and the two islands Penon alence towards Spain and the persistent cri­ de Velez de la G6mera in 1508 and Penon de tique ofthe Moroccan regime, prior to the death Alhucemas in 1673. Spain took effectivecontrol of King Hassan II and the subsequent demo­ over Western Sahara in 1900. In 1912, the cratic openings in 1999. This discussion gives European states met at the Algeciras Confer­ rise to my suggestion that we need to be more ence and shared out Africa between them. Mo­ precise as to which kinds of borders we are rocco was divided between France and Spain, talking and writing about, as well as to what the South to France, the North to Spain. In 1913 kind of global processes we refer to. It is often Spain occupied Tetuan and made the city its assumed that territorial state and cultural bor­ colonial capital (Miege et al. 1996, Ruiz Man­ ders are coterminous. But as my analysis of the zanero 1997). French and Spanish protector­ northern Moroccan borderlands will show, it is ates over Morocco lasted until Moroccan inde­ possible for borders to be erased in terms of pendence in 1956. Ceuta, Melilla and the Penons culture without being erased in terms of state still remain Spanish enclaves or EU territory in effects. Africa. From the beginning of the 20th century, these movements were once again reversed. During the First World War, thousands of Mo­ roccans fo ught fo r the French or worked as

88 replacement labour in th e French industry and ranean ha�; at various points of time shi lled agricu l ture . During th e Spanish Civil War from serving as a bridge, defined by inclusion; a (1936 -39), Franco recru ited 60,000 Moroccans boundary, definedas a symbolic divide bciween (pri marily from the northern Ri fi region) to groups; and a frontier, defined as a political and fightin Spain fi)r the national ist cause (Collin­ legal divide adjacent nation states. According to son 1.996). At the same time thousands of oppo­ Henk Driessen (1996, 1998), the Medi terra ne­ sition al Spaniard s fleeing Franco's oppression an Sea never acted as a barrier between Europe found a safe refuge in Morocco. an d North Mr ica. It was rather a river that From Uw e arly 1960s, Moroccan movements united more than it divided by making a single towards Europe began to be conceptualised as world out of North and South. It was not unti l labo ur migration . Until 1965, the number of the beginning of the 16th century, and the final Moroccans in Europe was still very modest, expulsion ofMoors fr om the Iberi an Penin �;ula, estimated at some 70-80,000 persons. The over­ that the Strait of Gibraltar became a political all majority ofihese 'guest workers' or migrants fr ontier; and only by Spain's incorporation into were young men from rural areas, generally the European Union in 1986 that the southern married, who left their families behind and border of Spain was transformed into a fr ontier remitted large parts of their European salaries of major concern for Western Europe. This fron ­ back home. Although the EEC countries re­ tier is not only a political and economic divide, stricted entrance in th e early 1970s, family but also an ideological and moral fr ontier, in­ reunification programmes made it possible for creasingly perceived by Europeans as a barri er Moroccans to continue travelling to various between democracy and secularism on the one European countries. Deteriorating economic and hand, and totalitarian and religious fanaticism political conditions in Morocco as well as estab­ on the other (Driessen 1998: 100). lished fa mily networks in various European For many Moroccans, the Strait of Gibraltar countries made migration to Europe both at­ has lately converted into a Wall, which they can tractive, conceivable and fe asible. According to only pass legally with a visa in their pocket. If official estimates, 1.1 million Moroccans en­ Europe was once seen as a continent of opportu­ tered Europe between 197 1 and 1982 (ib.). nities, it is now increasingly seen as a force that In comparison with pre-1970 Moroccan move­ will employ all means to keep Moroccans fr om ments to Europe, these migratory movements entering. Still, Moroccan perceptions ofEurope, were characterized by a progressive incorpora­ although ambiguous, tend to be more nuanced tion of new sending regions, especially the At­ than European perceptions of the North Afri­ lantic Coast and the interior. People fr om larger can migration threat, neatly summarized be­ urban areas such as Casablanca, Rabat, Fez, low : "In the North you finddemocrac y, prosper­ Meknes, Kenitra, Marrakesh, Agadir, Tangier ity and fr eedom from tradition. Also individual­ and Tetuan also began to add their numbers - ism, violence and fe ar. In the South authoritar­ and experiences - to what was fo rmerly under­ ianism, the hard struggle for the Dirham and a stood as a rural labour migration (Colectivo Ioe separation of the sexes. But also solidarity, the 1994). At the same time economic adjustments sweet life and patience" (Valenzuela & Masego­ and a restrictive university reform produced a sa, 1996:27). massive abandonment of advanced Moroccan When we direct our attention to the fo rmer students. Many of them chose to migrate to centre of Spain's colonial administration in Europe, oftento new destinations such as Spain, Morocco, Tetuan, the perceptions become even other Maghreb countries and the Persian Gulf, more complex. Paraphrasing Anne Michaels we which became added to the traditional EEC could say that the search for facts, for places, countries.2 Others were fo rced into exile by names, influentialevents, important conversa­ their oppositional political beliefs and conduct. tions [ ...and] political circumstances account to As hopefully stands to reason after thisshort­ nothing if you can't find the assumption your cut summary of more than 1 200 years of back subjects live by (Michaels 1997 :222). Border and fo rth population movements, the Mediter­ landers tend to live by complex and ambiguous

89 assumpti ons. Recent cha nges in :::uropcan con­ l 688, the al-Naqsi�:�f amily - descend ants ofihe cepti ons of the southern border, la ultima Ben i lder tribe - won power over th e city and fro ntera (the ultimate frontier) to the African managed to keep the city free and independent continent, have not made a�:�:,;umpiiom; less from oui�:�ided omination li>r more than 40 year�:�. ambiguou s. From 1. 688 and until the war between Mo rocco and Spain was declared in 1860 , various fami­ lies (the Ri tis, the Ash-ashs) held powe rovcr ihe Tetuan: City on the Border of Things ci ty. The entire period, however, was dom in ated The city of Teiuan" is located in the north­ by a strong Andalusian influence. An influence western pari of Morocco - some 42 kilometres characterized by ambiguous relations to Eu­ south of the Spanish enclave of' Ccuia, 54 kilo­ rope, by at the �:�arnetime hostility and persist­ metres south-cast oi'Tangi cr. For more th an 40 ent nostalgia inward the pl aces left behind years, Tetuan was the capital of the Spanish (Miege et al. l 996, Ruiz Manzanero 1.997). Protectorate, but the ciiy's Andalusian heritage Teiuan received more than 40,000 Moors in has a much longer history. Around 710 and the the prim ary phases of expulsion from the Iberi ­ following centuries, a small village was founded an Peninsul a. Their numbers increased consid­ between the natural barriers of two mountain erably during the successive centuries. By the chains, Dj ebel Dersa and Dj ebel Ghorghiz . These end of the 19th century, however, some of their mountains still supply Tetuan with gentle sum­ descendants had moved on to other and more mer breezes and chilling winter winds . In the important urban centres in Morocco. Still, both years 961-962 (at the time of the Caliphate of their numbers and their cultural influence re­ Cordoba), the village gained status as a city. mained profound. The Muslims exiled fr om the This city was destroyed somewhere between Granada, th e indigenous Berbers, the Hebrews, 1399 and 143 7, but with the expulsion of the and the Christian Spaniards have all contribut­ Moors in 1492 it rose again to a thriving city, ed to a local fo rm of speech, a special Tetuani hijuela de Granada, soeur nonchalante (little dialect. Today, Spanish is perhaps the strongest daughter of Granada in Spanish, nonchalant influence. A bag is called a borsa (bolsa in sister in French) (Ruiz Manzanero 1997). You Spanish), a kitchen is a kuchiniia (cocina in may ask any contemporary gold or silk sales­ Spanish), a cracker is a bexquittu (bizcocho in man in the Medina about the trades history and Spanish), and so on. But when I was invited to soon the sighs of the Moorish past resonate participate in an upper-middle class wedding in between old and damp walls. August 1.997,I was given an Arab-style party­ The firstAndalusians arrived around 1483­ dress by one of my male informant's sister to 84. For years they fo ught over the rights to the wear during the night fiesta. By good fo rtune I city with the inhabitants of the Kabila de Beni decided to wear my own European dres s. Luck­ Hozmar, a dispute that was not settled before ily, because the rest ofthe party guests were all the Sultan of Fez sold the area in and around dressed up in AI Andaluz party-wear. Tetuan to the Grenadinians for the sum of 40,000 In 1912, prior to the Spanish protectorate mizkales. Grenadian Jews arrived together with era, circa 20-25,000 Muslims, 7-8,000 Jews, the Andalusians, and their presence influenced and 1,000 Europeans lived in Tetuan. In the the economic, commercial and cultural develop­ rest of the 20th century, Tetuan experienced a ment of the city profoundly (ib.). considerable demographic growth. In 1940, the The local Berbers, Andalusians, Moors and city had approximately 70,000 inhabitants, in Jews were governedby the Grenadian Captain, 1950 80,000, and in 1960 101 ,000. In 1971 the Sidi AI Mandari. When he died in 1511, firsthis number of inhabitants had grown to 139,000, in son and later the son's wife, Sit al Horra, contin­ 1981 to 213,000, and in 1991 to more than ued to govern Tetmin independently from the 300,000. 12,228 Riff-migrants of rural origin Sultan of Fez. The second half of the 16th (from the provinces ofAihucemas, Chauen, and century was characterized by a series of civil Nador) moved to Tetuan between 1975 and fightsover power. From the mid-16th century to 1982. In the same time-span, Tetuan received

90 11,648 mig rants of urban origin, of whom 25 per Mehdi, middle-class business men complain cent origin ated in th e urban centres ofAlhuce­ that even they now need a visa to go on a mas and Nudor (calculated fr om Ruiz Manzan­ business trip to Europe . Quite a few have expe­ ero 1997 and the 'l'etu{mi local government rienced to have their visa application turned statistics 1997). From th e early 1980s, poor and down . How in Allah's name can you run a landless peasants from all over the country business under these conditions? moved into the city, a mass influxthat several of Until the recent death of King Hassan II, the old families of Tetuan conceive of as a July 23, 1999, and th e new democratic meas­ ruralization of the city. At the same time, the ures promised by his son and contemporary majority of the state servants in the city are ruler, King Mohammed VI, Morocco has been Arabic speaking southerners from the Atlantic essentially an absolute monarchy, a fact that plains, in stalled by King Hassan Il after years among other things could be read by King of public unrest culminating with the riots in Hassan Il's omnipresent image in all public 1984. places, including bazaars and cafes. During my In the late 1990s, Tetuan had grown to a city fieldwork I fo und the King depicted with a with over 300,000 registered inhabitants. The receiver in his hand in phone offices, in post city centre, Place Hassan II, links the old Medi­ offices witha letter or a pen, and in the cafes he na to the new city added by the Spaniards, gazed down from the walls sipping a steaming where even now you can buy a bocadillo , where gilt-edged glass of mint tea . It was in the cafes expatriate Spaniards flockto the Cathedral on around Place Hassan II that I firstnoticed that Place Moulay el-Mehdi on Sundays, and where a photostat of an old Spanish Plaza more often local people speak Spanish more than any other than not was hanging next to, or right below, the foreign language - a fa ct referring as much to King's picture . On inquiry I learned that the the city's colonial heritage as to the local popu­ plaza depicted was the old Plaza de Espana lations dissociation fr om southern Moroccan constructed during the Spanish protectorate authorities who do not have Spanish but French but razed to the ground in the mid-1980s in as their second language. Local fo od and goods order to give space for the construction of a new are sold in markets in the Medina and the great palace for the Kingand a new Islamic architec­ Bazaar just outside the old city walls. European ture Place in fr ont of the Palace. and other foreign products - including every­ I shall return to this and the ways in which thing fr om soap to towels, plastic sandals to Tetuanis express resistance through wall decora­ kitchen utensils, synthetic sexy underwear and tion in a short while. Before venturing into the radio cassettes - are smuggled in from Ceuta public discourses and whispered narratives and sold on almost every street corner and side about the Plaza and its social surroundings, let walk without much notice fr om the authorities. me introduce the three male border crossers Anddiscarded goods collected from the garbage from Tetuan. Their experiences and narratives cans in Ceuta are sold or bartered among the are of course individually specific. However, poorest of the poor in the narrow and dark like de Certeau I consider individual narratives passages in the very heart of the old Medina. the locus of a plurality of social relations (De It is also to the heart of the Medina, long the Certeau 1984:xi). Seen in this perspective, indi­ place for transactions of the greatest diversity, vidual narratives may serve to make the com­ that would be migrants, who lack the means to mon visible through the specific. buy fo rged papers and a flight ticketacr oss the Strait of Gibraltar, will turn. The bodies of Crossing the Border with an Old hundreds of Moroccans who during the last ten Ye llowed Picture and ConflictingTravel years have washed up on Spanish and Moroc­ Stories can shores reflecthow much some are willing to risk crossing el Estrecho, the Strait. Outside During the summer of 1997, I spent quite some the Medina, in the fancier coffeeand tea houses time together with three young men, whom I in around Place Hassan II and Place Moulay el- the fo llowing shall refer to as Maruf, Haddu,

91 and Mohammad.r. I knew Moha mmad fro m an centre:;ar ound the good and the bud in differen t earlier vi sit i n Spain , Maruf and Hudd u were pinceR. Ji i:-; to:-;omc ext ent based on ste reoty pes, new acq u a intances. but to the extent that the na rrator ha:; been to

Informal gathering with Maruf and IladdC1 the place::� taked l about, it i::; al:;o ba ::;cd on

u sually took place in cafes or during laic after­ experien ce. When experience from abroad is

noon city and Med ina walk:; (not curtailed by used to criticize local form:;of practi ce, bo rder caf6-walls with ears). As confi dence grew, ou r conversations often take the form of counter conversations began io move into ihc house of narratives.

Maruf's pare nt:;, a ti n y two-room inner -city When ou r conve rsati ons Loo k place, Mamf apartment, housing not only Maruf's old father, was 36 years old. He is of Berber and migrant mother and himseH; but also his younge r broth ­ origi n. Both his parents moved to Teiuon before er - a taxi driver - and his newly div orced sister he was bo rn. He grew up in Tc tuon, was trai ned and her one-year old son . I was never inv ited as an electrician in Malaga, Spain, but retu rned into the home of Haddu, who tempora rily lived to Morocco sh ortly after his appren ti cesh ip was in the apartment of his grandparents - a, seen served . Through fam ily networks he got himself fr om the outside, gloo my apartment in the in ­ to France, where he worked ill egally a:; an ner city. Mohammad several times invited me to electrician for six months, before he decided to his fa mily's duplex city house located in the new go back and make himself a life in Morocco. suburban housing sectors of'retuan. J. was also Back in Tetuan he found a j ob at a fa cto ry, but invited to either of the fa mily's two beach hous­ was laid of!" because of problems between his es outside Tctuan a coupl e of times. Wh en ou r fam ily and the fa mily of th e factory owner. conversations took place in public spaces, Mo­ According to Marut; the fa ctory owner - a new­ hammad made sure th at other persons were comer fr om Casablanca - wanted all th e fa ctory present. He attached great importance to not positions fo r his own fa mily and friends. Local ruining my - and his own - reputation. Haddu workers ofBerber descent were gradually fired, had lived in Denmark in the early 1990s. Our always on the grounds that they were trouble­ relationship was to a large extent a conse­ makers. Maruf admitted that he at times did quence of my citizenship (Danish) and the po­ kick up a row, for example when he refused to tentiality of discussing Danish immigration take part in fr iendly turns and bribery arrange­ policy as well as using my expertise to sort out ments. Mter a few months of unemployment he the papers and letters related to Haddu's depor­ once again went to Spain. He entered on a tation, Haddu's Danish visa re-applications, tourist visa and worked any odd job fo r two and the refusals given by the Danish Consulate years before he heard about better luck in in Rabat. Maruf was a fr iend of Haddu. He northern Europe. Why not?, he thought, and remained slightly reserved and uncomfortable entered Denmark illegally in 1990, married a with my research. Danish woman and was subsequently granted All their differences not withstanding, con­ a residence and work permit. The marriage versations with Maruf,Haddu and Mohammad turned out to be more troublesome than antic­ often slipped into the genre of border-talk, a ipated. The Danish wife appeared to be a drug discursive fo rm based on comparisons between addict and when the domestic disputes passed lives lived in different places; in Morocco, be­ beyond reasonable limits, Maruf moved to a hind the border to Ceuta, in Spain and the rest fr iend's apartment. His wife still asked him for of the continental Europe. A genre Schade drug money, but when he one day refused to give Poulsen defines by its capacity to identify and her any, she reported him to the fo reign police mirror socio-moral concerns about the kind of (on the grounds that they no longer lived to­ life a citizen ought to live (Schade Poulsen gether and that Maruf's residence permit was 1997: 167). Such concerns have to do with ab­ no longer grounded on marriage). Unfortunate­ sence as well as presence, fu ture-oriented activ­ ly the wife was killed in a car accident before the ities and expectations as well as accomplished case was solved. Five days after her death, the ones .6 Border talk is comparative in nature. It fo reign police presented him with an order of

92 deportation . They told him, thai ifh e left volun­ boat bw.;in ess i s low.7 tarily, he could apply Ji>r a new vi:;a in Morocco Ai ihe age of 28, Mohammad was slightly without any trouble. Th is was of course a lie. By you nger than ihe other iwo. After the rece nt the ti me 1 met Maru t; he was desperately trying death of his father, Mohammad, being the eld ­ to get a new visa f()r any European country after est brother, has taken over as the male head of havinghisDa nish visa application turned down. his mother's household. In rea li ty, he is on ly Haddu was 35 years old, of Berber origi n and given ibis rol e in the di spute about the succes­ in the summer ol'1 997 he had been unemployed sion io property with hi:; fa ther's fa mily. I nside for nearly a year. He is ihe fortun ate hol der of a the nucl ear fa mily, his mother is taking the Spanish passport, a valuable document he has decisions. Her side of the family is among the obtained through fam i ly con tacts working in better off families in ihe region . They run a the Spani:;h consu late. His grown-up life has wholesale business with oflices in Ceuta as well been spent circu lating between mainland Spain, as in Tetu an . His father's side ofthe fa mily has Ceuta and Teiuan . During his time in Spain, he several smaller businesses in Tetuan, but the has ty p ically been e mpl oyed in ihe agricultural lather himself was an intellectual who never sector, lately as well in ihe service sector. His made any big money. Both parents studied in latest job in Spain was in a restaurant in the Spain, a fa mily tradition Mohammad has taken winter resort of Sierra Nevada, a real good job over. Neither he nor his family consider his stay he had to quit because he couldn't take ihe cold abroad migration. He will return as soon as he weather. To Haddu , work and employment is has obtain ed his PhD- degree. Local bribery and associated with being outside of Morocco. He the system of having to know the right people could, if he wanted to, find employment in are among several reasons fo r getting his PhD Tetuan, yes, but the wages are too low compared abroad. According to Mohammad, you will nev­ with the earnings you can have on the other side er get a scholarship at the local university of the Strait of Gibraltar. In addition to differ­ unless you bribe the university authorities. One ences in wage levels, findinga job in Tetuan has of Mohammad's younger brothers failed his nothing to do with qualifications but every­ university exams in 1996. He passed during my thing to do with connections. If you do not have stay in 1997, most probably because the fa mily access to such connections, forget it ... you might presented his professor with a brand new moped. as well go to Europe right away. To cope with Mohammad's fa mily has both Berber and Arab these conditions Haddu has developed a strat­ ancestors. They are serious religious practition­ egy based on 2-3 months of work in Spain, 2-3 ers of Islam, and Mohammad has joined an months of rest in Morocco, and, while in Moroc­ Islamic student organisation in Spain. While in co, occasional trips to Ceuta to buy products fo r Spain, Mohammad prays the prescribed five distribution among the street vendors in Tetuan. times a day and makes sure to go to the mosque An activity which in legal terms is to be termed every Friday. In Tetuan, his religious practice is smuggling but which in Haddu's and most other more relaxed. Mt er all, he is on vacation. Dur­ Tetuani small-scale businesspersons' percep­ ing the summer of 1997, Mohammad was trav­ tion is doing business. During my time in Tetuan, elling back and fo rth between Tetuan and Bar­ Haddu was time and again moving around celona. In Barcelona he made the finalprepara­ Tangier, Ceuta and Tetuan. His explanation for tions for his thesis while at the same time these short trips (2-3 days) was always that he buying equipment for a sandwich bar he and his was going to find out if he could get himself a family were planning to establish next to the working contract in Spain. As time went by, he beach house. Each time he came back to Moroc­ got more and more nervous and less communi­ co, the family went to Ceuta to pick up not only cative as to what his business trips were all him but also loads of kitchen hardware for the about. I got the picture, however, when he one sandwich bar. Such things are indisputably day told me - in his awkward and typical cheaper in Spain but, as the family reluctantly Tetuani way - that too many Moroccans are admitted, they are also of a better quality than drowning on their way to Spain these days. The similar Moroccan products ... and young Maroc­

93 can costumers attach higher symbolic valu e to tern s ofancient ca rpets ... a work of real art. 'l'he European style restaurants. Span i ards may have thought ofthis as Span ish The above descriptions of the local circum­ handicraft, but we Irnow that they learned it al stances in which these three border crossers from the Al Andalu :tes."What a shame, what a fo und themselves are by no mean s complete. I pity (Haddu), what a provocation (Moham mad) , do hope, however, that they may give some what an act of terror (Marut) to demol ish it. context to the following analysis of narratives Prai se would often be followed by severe and discourse. criticism of the new Place Hassan II, construct­ Cafe talk in Tetuan is often border talk. ed aiter a French architect's designs in 1988. Sitting in a cafe with Maruf,Haddu or Moham­ Vocal tones would change from soft nostalgia to mad, conversation would often start with the something in between the harsh and painful; cafe wall decoration,just bel ow King Hassan II, !rom audible voices to ba rely perceptible wh is­ right in the middle ofthe old yellowed picture of pers. One day, while crossing the Place with Plaza Espana. Oh, wasn't it a beautiful Plaza, Maruf, he said: "The King had all the trees cut they would sigh, and addressing me they would down, and yes, I know, to be able to control that continue: "Look at the small gardens with high nothing hides from his gaze." Another day Mo­ palm trees giving shade to the burning sun, hammad took me to the end of the Place. "Look notice the pavilion in the middle ... many a at the Palace, one can neither enter nor cross its concert was given there." Mohammad, who be­ premises. And this is so although the King side his admiration fo r the Plaza also has an never comes to stay in Tetwin. He did once, in academic interest in the Spanish Protectorate the late 1980s, but somebody threatened him era would go into detail: "Notice the elaborate and he never came back after that. He probably mosaics covering the entire Plaza, all the small never will . He is not welcome here."Yet another coloured stones forming the complicated pat­ day Mohammad told me, that large parts of

The colonial Plaza Espana.

94 Tetu an's Univer�;ity wen:! moved out of the city desire. Outside the wedding palaces of th e old after the 1984-85 riots - a move intended to Medina, both Manuf and Haddu would com ­ prevent the stu dents fr om demon strati ng in th e ment on th e enormous amount of money Moroc­ city. On various occasions they would all point cans spend on weddings. "Lots of gold, all th ese to the enormous amount of money used to women want is gol d. Mter the wedding (and all construct the Palace and the new Place, often of the money invested in the celebration of the comparing the sum to how many workplaces wedding) many marriages turn into divorce. - could have been established instead . Haddu Women demand and demand. They do not un­ and Maruf both saw a close relation between derstand that a man needs to be left alone once the region's links to wider spaces in Morocco as in a while, to have some peace and quiet. Upon well as to Spain. "Th e Ki ng doesn't care about divorce, all your money is lost." the North of Morocco ... al l the revenue is One of the reasons why Haddu and Manuf transferred to the South ... there is no develop­ are still unmarried is - according to themselves ment here, no fu ture ... no wonder everybody - that they cannot afford a wedding. But on top attempts to get to Europe." of that they would also prefer a mutual love From Plaza-talk conversation would ines­ relation with a Europeanish woman. A decent capably slip into travel stories. Manuf would one, not a prostitute, Haddu would often make tell about his hardshi ps in Europe, encounters clear to me. "Oh yes, I had my experiences with with the police, racism, and so forth, but also prostitutes in Barcelona. They too want your about the sweet life he lived with European money." In the same breath Haddu and Maruf women (in Spain and in Denmark), women who would sometimes comment on the youngTetua­ did not demand gold jewellery, clothes and ex­ ni women who cross the border to Ceuta or pensive gifts from their male partners, but mainly Spain: "Most certainly prostitutes, at simply based relationships on love and bodily least the great majority."8

The new Place Hassan II.

95 Mu ruf' would also te ll stories about th e Mo­ ical parties of the opposi tion will pro bably get rocca n police, of how they beat up decent local more vote::; than the Ki ng'::;::;u pporte rs. But your 'I'etua nis on no solid grounds. Haddu , who on vote doesn't matter, the King will win anyw ay. severa l occasion::;has been ch a rged with ill egal That'::; the only thing you can be su re of' in (but widespread) street wending of' kif (hash­ Morocco." ish) lost four of his teeth in a beating in which The sociali sts actually won the local el ec­ it turnedout that he did not possess any kif in tions in Tetuan. The Isl amists, who were not his pocket. "You know the ordinary pol ice ofli c­ allowed to put up candidates, marched the en; by their unifbrm ... but who knows if the streets as soon as the election result was pu blic­ secret police is involved with the contraband ly known. They were spread with truncheons by mafia (basically con trolling the trade in tobacco the more than 1,000 extra police of1icers ::;ta­ and alcohol ) to trap peop le. Wh at you do know tioned in Tetuan du ring the elections. is th at the great majority of the police officers arc not local. They are brought up by the central The Moor's Last Sigh or a Silent Cry of authorities to control us, the northern rebels. Local policemen are different. I know ofseveral Resistance? cases in which a 'l'etuani police oflicerhas cov­ "Translation is a kind of tran substanti ation; ered up fbr a hometown boy. As long as you get one poem becom es an other. You can ch oose your incarcerated in 'l'etuan ... they may treat you all philosophy of translation just as you choose right. If you are transferred to Rabat or Casa, how to live; the free adaptation that sacrifices fo rget it. You won't be able to walk out of there, meaning to exactitude. 'l'hepoet moves fromlife not after the torture they put you through." to language, the translator moves fr om lan­ Mohammad's narratives, although of a dif­ guage to life; both, like the immigrant, try to ferent kind, would also be very ambiguous. identify the invisible, what's between the lines, They would occasionally concem the beach rub­ the mysterious implications" (Michaels 1997: bish, which he would claim to be dumped in the 109). sea in Spain and Ceuta (no matter how many Arabic consumer labels on the driftage I would According to James Clifford, thinking histori­ be able to point to). On baddish days he would cally is a process oflocating oneself in space and tell the story about how his youngest brother time. Such analytical processes oflocation should was killed in Spain by incompetent doctors who be seen as initiaries rather than bounded sites deliberately did not give him the proper treat­ - as series of encounters and translations in ment for a harmless diarrhoea. How his father which the use ofcomparative concepts or trans­ afterthat experience had chosen to get medical lation terms work as approximations. Given the treatment in Morocco, no matter his means to historical contingency of translations, there is cover the expenses in a European hospital . no single location from which a fu ll comparative About Europeans who trust any Moroccan to be account can be produced (Cliffo rd 1997:11). a fu ndamentalist terrorist when many - though Seen in this perspective, cafe conversations not many enough - are just pious practitioners around the old Plaza Espana in 'l'etuan can be of Islam. But also narratives about the King's seen as a privileged site for border-talk among failed policy in northem Morocco. About the inhabitants of 'l'etuan. In such conversations regime's transfer of development fu nds fr om people translate fe elings of old empires lost, the Yebala region to dubious projects in the ambiguous fe elings of belonging to more than south, not least in Sahara. During the 1997 one nation state, as well as feelings of not local government elections he would tell me belonging to the nation state in which they hold why he wouldn't make a fo ol of himself by at least nominal citizenship. voting. "Al Adl Wal Ihsan (the semi clandestine On another level, Plaza-conversations be­ Islamist movement) is banded by the King.'l'he come the condensed site fr om which other sites movement's leader, Abdesalam Yasin, has been fo r socio-moral concerns ofthe good and the bad in house arrest in Sale since 1989. Other polit­ life can be constructed. 'l'he divide between

96 Berber and Arabet hnic group::;in Morocco, a nd and Morocco south ofYebal a - as experiences of' the Berber'::; feel ing of' excl u::;ion!' rom national rea l f'ro nii er::; ihat noi only divide adjacent politics could be one example; aversion aga inst nation states but also nations within state::; - local bri bery practice:; a:; well as i ngrain ed they do at the same time fu nction to establish a patterns of' friendly iu rn::; and mercha nt-li ke bridge over the river th at once united North and social re lations cou ld be another; and concep­ South in Al Andaluz. tions of' !cmi nini iy, masculinit y and gender re­ Mobility and fixity in place are aspects or lations o n boih sides o!'iheborder co uld be yei border societies which have a bearing on the other examples. people who live there, for example by helping to Borde r crossing subj ects fr om Tetuan - define the strengths and weaknesses of whether travelling in ihoughi (through imagin­ commu nities, nations and states at th eir junc­ ing and critical ly debating thei r own and oiher tu re on the borders. As such, the anthro pology worlds), or in space (from one location io anoth­ of borders is simultaneously one nation's histo­ er) - expose their capacity of imagining lives ry and of one or more states fr ontiers (Wilson & tran sn ationally but maybe less a capacity of Don nan 1998). Among the border landers in forging and sustai ning si mulian eous multi ­ northern Morocco, the Strait of Gibraltar has at stranded social relations that link together their times been less an important border than ihe societies of origin and settlement than predict­ various boundaries established towards south ­ ed by Basch and Gl ick Schi ller (1 995 :48). In ibis ern sultans and kings or the Spanish/European process they engage in dialectics of belonging, frontier around Ceuta. Representations of th e opposition and resistance to the hegemonic log­ fo rmer Plaza Espana and the present Place ic of their own nation-state as well as to the Hassan II are part and parcels of this. But as nation states in which ihey occasionally live Chris Hann states (quoted in Wilson and Don­ their lives. Their practices may not be self­ nan 1998), " ... local experiences of the state and consciously resistant toward their state of citi­ resistance to it cannot be limited to the imagi­ zenship (although they often are), nor even native consequences of the actions of states for loosely political in character understood as lead­ local populations" (Hann 1995: 136). ing to collective organization against oppres­ Concrete material consequences are (un-)for­ sion) (Smith and Guarnizo 1998). They are, tunately easy to deduce from the border talks I however, counter narratives to a state fr om had with Maruf, Haddu, Mohammad and other which they are excluded on ethnic, regional, persons in Tetuan in 1996 and 1997 . Lack of economic, political, religious, or gender grounds. development and development fu nds, the gov­ It is in this sense that the public discourses and ernment's transfer of resources fr om Ye bala to whispered narratives about Plaza Espana and the south and the transfer of state servants the surrounding social space can be understood. fr om the south to Ye bala, fr aud, bribery practic­ Understood as expressions of resistance to the es, and close-knit networks of personal rela­ regime's spatial and political control. The very tions, are integrated in the discursive fr ame­ act of hanging up the picture of Plaza Espana work in which Tetuanis articulate their opposi­ below the obligatory picture of the King in tion to national identity politics. Experiences of public places is a direct challenge to state con­ vulnerable labour market conditions in Spain trol. The state may decree the display of the and other European countries, of increasingly King in public places, yes, but it cannot control closed borders to Fortress Europe, of being met what is put up right next to him, nor can it not only with xenophobic reactions but also control the meaning attached to the additional accusations oflslamic fu ndamentalism and ter­ wall decor. At the same time the discourses and rorism if you actually manage to beat the bor­ narratives are expressions of a divided nation, der, with apprehension and repatriation and speech acts through which a boundary to state subsequent family setbacks in Morocco, if you power is defined. While the public discourses are caught in clandestine attempts at landing and private narratives can be read as simulta­ on European shores, fe ed into yet other feelings neous ambivalent feelings toward both Spain of abandonment.

97 Epilogu e nyms and :-;l igh tly blu rred their iclenlily. 6. Schade Po uiHen'H study is concerned wit h the de­ On January 31 , 2000, my phone rings . The cal l parture cullure among young men in lhe Oujda is fr om Morocco, from Tetm in . It is my fri en d, region who have not yet managed lo "bea t. the border". He therefore talks about absence rat er th e i:iCribc, who has spent good parts of his h than p resence, future-oriented activitieH ra ther grow n-up lite in imprisonment charged of anti­ than accomplished ones. state poli tical activ ities. His addiction to sports 7. Ferrying people across th e Strait to Spa in for and health f(>od cannot conceal the result of money has been a lucrative traflicki ng bu!5ine!5H in pri son treatment. His eyes arc fo rever out of northern Morocco. Accordi ng to Hard ing, t.hiH busi­ ness has in the later years been substitu ted with fo cus, hi s row ofteeth only the faintest memory drug trailicking, an incomparable better bu!5iness. ofhis childhood smile, his fitbody disfigured by 15 passe ngers on a fish ing !5 mack, paying around marks of iortu re. Through the lisping I cannot $ 1,300 each , cannot match t he ea rning:,; of a drug fa il to noti ce the joy in his voice. "So what's up, run (Ha rding 2000:22). 8. During my work among Moroccan mi�-:rants in Abdellah?", I ask, "What can I do for you." ­ Spain I have found the percentage of Moroccan "Not hi ng", he answers, "absolutely nothing. women in prostitution to be very low, compared to Th ai's the reason fo r my call." Silence, then other migrant groups. Most Mo roccan women - be laughter. "You heard about the death of Hassan they single, ma rried or divorced - work in the domestic sector. IT, right? I just call to say that you do not have to do your research in Morocco anymore. De­ mocracy has finally reached Tetuan. Why would References people want to leave, then? " Basch, Linda & Nina Glick Schiller 1995: From Immi­ grant toTransmigrant. In:Anthropology Quarterly : Notes 48-63. Clifford, James 1997: Routes . Cambridge. 1. Sefarad means Spain in Hebrew. Collectivo Joe 1994: Presencia del Sur: Marroquies en 2. Migration researchers often point to a diversifica­ Cataluiia. Madrid. tion of demographic characteristics in the Moroc­ Collinson, Sarah 1996: Shore to Shore. The Polit ics of can migration process, in which single men began Migration in Euro-Maghreb Relations . London. to migrate toward the new destination countries, de Certeau, Michel 1988: The Practice of Everyday whereas women and children continued to travel Life. Berkeley. toward the EEC countries (through family reuni­ Driessen, Henk 1996.At the Edge ofEurope: Crossing fication). and Marking the Mediterranean Divide. In: L. 3. A note on spelling: The city is called Titauin in O'Down & T. M. Wilson (eds. ): Borders, Nations and Berber, Tetouan in French, and Tetuan in Spanish. States: Frontiersof Sovereignty in the New Europe . I stick to the Spanish naming and way of spelling, Aldershot: 179-199. since this was what most local people used when I Driessen, Henk 1998: The New Immigration and the conducted field work in and around Tetuan in the Transformation of the European-African Frontier. summers of 1996 and 1997. This local spelling In: T. M. Wilson & D. Hastings (eds.): Border !den· practice is of course significant for the argument I tities: Na tion and State at International Fro ntiers. attempt to make. Cambridge: 96-116. 4. Analyses of the 1984 riots in Morocco tend to Hann, Chris 1995: Subverting Strong States: The emphasize immediate price increases as the most Dialectics of Social Engineering in Hungary and important catalyst of the riots and to neglect the Turkey. In: Daedalus: 133-153. more complex causes specificto a region or a city, Harding, Jeremy 2000: The Uninvited. In: London like Tetuan. Of direct relevance for the Tetuan Review of Books 3 February 2000: 3-25. case, but based on findingsin and around Melilla, Me Murray, David Andrew 1992: The Contemporary Me Murray argues that the little noticed IMF­ Culture ofNador, Morocco, and the Impact of Inter­ inspired anti-smuggling measures taken in Mo­ national Labor Migration. Dissertation from the rocco in August 1983 were more inflammatory University of Texas at Austin. Michigan. than the price rises that followed. For while prices Michaels, Ann 1997: Fugitive Pieces. London. ate into all Moroccan household economies, the Miege, Jean-Louis, Mohammad Benaboud & Nadia anti-smuggling border tax destroyed the incomes Erzini 1996: Tetouan: Vi lle Andalouse Marocaine. of the mass of lumpen smugglers outright (Me Rabat. Murray 1992 :158). Ruiz Manzanero, Cirilo 1997: Te tuan Es Mi Ciudad. 5. In accordance with 'Maruf', 'Haddu', and 'Moham­ Tetuan. mad', I have changed their real names for pseudo­ Schade Poulsen, Marc 1997: Men and Migration in

98 Morm;co:To wards l uropean Borders. In: 1•'. Wilson Va lenwcla, ,J avier & Alborlo Ma:=;om;a 1996: l a & B. F. Ji'rederi ksen (eds.): 1-illf•lilwod. ldc•11/ily a11d Ult ima Pro!l f.c•ra: Marmc•c·os, El Ve c:ino lnquil'l a/1 /t•. ln sla bilily. Copenhagen: l!i7 166. Madrid. Smith , Michael Pet er & Lu fs E. Gunmizo19 98: The Wi lson, Thoma M. & llalings Donnan 1998: Na ­ Locat ion:=; ol' 'l'ransnat.ionalism. ln: M.P. Smilh & liolls, St.ale a11d.ld ellt.it.y at In ternational Bordc•rs. L. E. Guarnizo(ee ls.): '/'mns!la/ ion alism ji·01n JJe­ Cambridge. low. New Brunswick: :J-:34 .

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