Adding fuel to the fire

Spain has always had a complicated relationship with Morocco. The racial slur “moro” is a throwback to the Al-Andalus period when Christians, Jews and Moors lived in supposed harmony together on the Iberian Peninsula (711 - 1492). Following this, the integration of the north African cities of Melilla (1497) and Ceuta (1580) into the Spanish crown, the Spanish protectorate in Morocco (1912- 1956) and the “Marcha Verde” (1975), when 350,000 Moroccans entered Spanish Sahara to claim the territory for Hassan II, did little to advance feelings of mutual trust and understanding between two countries which share a border around the two autonomous cities and are separated by the Strait of Gibraltar.

Over the last couple of weeks, the press has been awash with the “Ceuta crisis” during the “dog days” of August. Dozens of pundits have appeared daily expounding on the merits and failures of the Spanish and Moroccan government, the daily situation in Ceuta and their own suppositions on why 80,000 immigrants entered the city at the end of July. Last week across Spain thousands marched in unity with Ceuta and to criticise the government's handling of the crisis.

In the face of a dearth of informed and meditated analysis, the spotlight has been occupied by inflammatory rhetoric, fake news and simplistic solutions. Politicians have waded into the affray, whatever their political slant, with a barrage of claims, conspiracy theories and falsehoods aimed at igniting public sentiment and pushing their own personal agenda. In the days following the tragedy (141 deaths on either side of the border), agitators flocked to Ceuta and were unequivocally rebuffed by the local population, unwilling to be the protagonists of incitive clickbait.

More than a month later, we are no closer to understanding the complex geopolitical motivations behind the situation, however approximately 5,000 immigrants (many of whom are minors and cannot be returned to their countries of origin without a lengthy legal process) continue living on the streets of a city of some 80,000 inhabitants. The European Union seems to be eerily quiet on offering a solution, probably due to the conflicting views of its different members and the fact that it pays millions of euros every year to Morocco to safeguard its most southern borders.

The situation is unsustainable and propagates ideas and hate speech which five years ago would have been repudiated by all sides. The scenes in Madrid last week with balaclava-wearing demonstrators (who probably couldn't put Ceuta on a map), with their arms in Nazi salutes and carrying symbols of the Franco dictatorship, and the suggestion last month by a far-right member of the Spanish parliament to “cazar (hunt) inmigrantes” are only adding fuel to the fire. While the whole of Spain stands with Ceuta, none of the politicians seem to be bothered about working towards long-term solutions, preferring rather to obtain electoral advantage by stoking public outrage.