Thanks to its unique geo-strategic location, Morocco has always been a transit country for billions of immigrants coming from the Sub Saharan Africa to reach northern countries in Europe and America most of the time. Since Morocco is only fourteen kilometres from Spain, they assume that going through Morocco makes it easier-illegally- to reach European soil, some of them think they can make it swimming. However, a lot of them find themselves stuck in Morocco since there is an enhanced surveillance around the sea borders. Even though Morocco is an African country, a big number of its habitants are fair-skinned, and consequently many of them have wrong assumptions about dark-skinned people. Assumptions based on historical facts and made up stories ever since the beginning of time. They are often called on the streets “Aazzi” which is a word in Moroccan dialect that can be translated to “dark-skinned” and is often used for mockery. Moreover, they have been facing discrimination based on stereotypes such as they are dirty, dangerous and illiterate.
For example, ever since I was a little girl, I have heard family members or acquaintances say that most Sub Saharan Africans are dirty. That they live in forests and do not have baths or showers. However, I remember we had this plumber come over many times to our house and he is one of the cleanest people I have ever met. He would refuse to come in with his shoes on and leave them by the door. Then when he finishes working, he would usually ask for a floor cloth to clean up after himself and make sure there was no stain left anywhere.
They are also thought to be dangerous because of their physical abilities. I remember when we were moving out a few years ago, my father called a company to help us move. They sent us a big truck with four men to carry the heavy furniture. One of them was dark-skinned and had this blue backpack on him all the time. His supervisor asked him to put it down but he refused. At some point, someone accused him of trying to steal. Everybody expected him to get violent and start shouting, his colleagues gathered around him to stop him from making any movement. When he felt cornered, he opened his backpack where he was keeping his passport, some important papers, and the money he had so far gathered from small jobs he did during the week. He then explained that he was the one who actually felt scared that someone might actually steal his belongings from him.
In addition to all of this, many Moroccans think of Sub Saharan Africa as a very poor place where people do not have access to basic needs such as health services or good education. Contrary to this belief, there are actually many young sub-Saharan Africans who come to Morocco seeking higher education after earning a High School diploma in their home country. An example is the numerous students that are here at Al Akhawayn University, one of them is my friend’s roommate who has come here to study business. There was also this time when I went to an ophthalmologist once and he was Mauritanian, he had come to do his specialization and complete his education. Maybe their countries do not offer many opportunities but it does not mean that they do not go to school or do not know anything.
African/European immigrants in Morocco
Unfortunately, even European and American immigrants are faced with challenges when they come to Morocco. There are so many different stereotypes about them. Some people call them “blek” or “gouer” which both mean respectively in darija “white” and “foreign”.
One of the most common wrong ideas that many Moroccans have, is that all white people are rich. They think that since white people live in places such as the United States or France, they are very rich and very successful. I often notice when going to places such as the old medinas all over Morocco where tourists gather and sellers keep trying to convince them to buy all sorts of souvenirs. I have seen that many times in Fes, but there was this one time when I was in the old medina. In ‘fesjdid’ more precisely, my grandfather owns a little shop where he sells all sorts of home decor in argent and copper. As I was waiting for him to finish closing up, I saw two Asian people wandering in front of a shop where fake jewelry was exposed and the owner was telling them that it was very real in mixed French and Arabic. Some people were laughing at the back saying “ijiboulina chwiya dial lflouss” which can be translated to “They will bring us some money”. I also had an English teacher a few years ago who was from the United States, she had been living in Morocco for a few years. One day she told us she was on her way to a restaurant when a police officer stopped her. He accused her of exceeding the speed limit when she was sure she had not. He said that she had to pay immediately a very high fine. It was only when she responded to him in a perfect Moroccan dialect that he understood that she was not foolish. He understood his mistake and let her go.
In addition, some people think that anyone who is blond with eyes that are not brown and does not speak Arabic is Christian. They call them “nassara” which is Christian in the Quran or “koufar” which means non-believers. Those are mostly the illiterate persons in Morocco who do not know much about religions, they only know that a person is either Christian or Jewish. My mother’s cousin got married to a Swedish man years ago. She really struggled to try to explain to people that he was actually Muslim. She even had problems with her own family who saw her marriage as an invalid one.
Moroccans too do suffer from stereotypes when migrating to other countries.
For example, a few years ago, an international news channel had reported that Morocco was in war. Many people believed it. My father, who travels a lot, was asked multiple times during his trips if it was not dangerous living in Morocco. Once, a man sitting next to him on a plane was completely surprised when my father said that there was not any rebellion or war going on.
Ever since the terrorist attacks in France, many people have assumed that Morocco has raised terrorists. Especially since it was published everywhere that some of those murders were Moroccans, even though they all grew up in France. My aunt who lives there has been the victim of insults in the streets and in her neighbourhood. Even though, they had always known she was Moroccan. I also have a friend who went to Canada last month, and I was surprised to hear that people have shouted accusations at him and yelled at him to go back to his country.