The haves and the have nots

More than a month and a half has passed since the recent incursion by Moroccan migrants into Ceuta. This throws into stark relief the huge differences between Spain and Morocco. For a long time now Spain has been seen as the promised land that is within relatively easy reach by sea and even more so by land as we have recently witnessed.

Reports have indicated that the government had been forewarned of an impending “invasion” yet it continues to deny these and blamed Russia, Israel and the absence of a visit by the royal family to Ceuta. Pedro Sánchez even went so far as to deny any involvement on the part of Morocco.

With the population of Ceuta becoming more and more angry at the government due to its lack of any action to resolve the crisis, shops, bars, hotels and restaurants are facing the loss of 50 per cent of their business while the inertia on the part of the authorities shows no sign of ending. While Moroccans sleep on the streets, scrounge for food and live in improvised shacks on the beaches, something has to give.

In order to understand the underlying sociological factors leading up to the influx of migrants you have to appreciate the domestic situation in Morocco. Between 2014 and 2017, I spent a lot of time in Tangier having put together the paperwork to become resident while renting an apartment there. Immersing yourself into the Moroccan way of life you understand and appreciate the vicissitudes of the people and what makes them tick.

It is very much a male dominated society with women treated as second class citizens and subservient to their husbands or partners. Men who work tend to have jobs in factories while some women may also have factory work, cleaning or domestic duties. Work however is scarce for both sexes. With little work for women, those who are not educated wish to be married as soon as possible and have a family.

Those who are educated do not want to marry a Moroccan and be treated as subserviant and instead would seek a French or Spanish partner with the idea of leaving the country.

Another way of illustrating the Moroccan way of life is to examine the stratification of the population. The top five per cent own the factories and the means of production and benefit from huge tax incentives with further tax breaks on profits made. Being very rich they do not pay much in taxes. 65 per cent of the population either work in a factory earning 300 euros per month or have no work at all. The remaining 30 per cent is made up of professionals in the form of lawyers, accountants, engineers, architects and public officials who pay a large part of the taxes.

The problem of the lack of work is partly due to the country having few natural resources. Morocco has no coal, gas or oil but does have huge reserves of phosphates and produces 70 per cent of the world's supply used to produce fertilisers.

With 20 million tourists per year this figure pales into insignificance when compared to the 200 million who together visit France and Spain. This lack of work leads to poverty and the resultant misery is the catalyst for the recent events in Ceuta. There is a certain irony that as a result of the “invasion” the migrants find themselves living in a situation which, with time, more and more resembles the country that they have just left behind.